You are sent back to 1750 and can take one technology of your choice. What do you take?

Rhymehouse

Rhymehouse

ROB wants to spice up the 18th Century and wants to use you to do it. You are given 24 hours to prepare being sent to the past. You can take one and only one piece of modern technology with you (even if you don't own it). You can choose any place on Earth to show up on January 1st, 1750. You show up in the past as a healthy 20 year old. You immediately learn the local language of that location and you can change your appearance & even gender to better fit in. The piece of technology you choose is indestructible, has infinite uses (does not require fuel, ammo, electricity, etc.), and can be summoned to you whenever you want it. What are you taking?

I would be tempted to travel to the Caribbean with an attack helicopter and start liberating some colonies. Then I realized I can't fly a helicopter and Apaches require one pilot and one gunner. I would just take an Alienware laptop with 8 terabytes of space instead. 80% of the storage would be dedicated to downloadable archives like Wikipedia, Library of Congress, Project Gutenberg, British Library, Internet Archive, etc. That laptop will contain more information than what existed in 1750. 1% of the hard drive would be system partition format stuff. 9% of the hard drive would be productivity programs like office suites and CAD. 5% of the hard drive would be personal entertainment, and the final 5% would be unused space for any writings I want to make along with audio/video recordings me or others want to make. I would show up in 1750 New York City, acquire money, advance technology, get married, and bide my time. After the Seven Years War, I would abolish British Empire Slavery early by using my future knowledge, keeping the union better, and buying lots of slaves. By the time I die, Europe and its colonies should be at least 100 years more advanced than it was in real life.
 
I like the idea of bringing back a high-end laptop loaded with useful information and personal entertainment, but would probably take a different direction.

So, start out girled up (thanks ROB!) in Philly and go from there in building up a network with which to launch my own American Revolution, with the active involvement of as many working class folk and native peoples as I can manage to sell on my principles. Then, with a growing grassroots movement at my back, start the production of bolt action rifles with nitrocellulose powder, Bessemer process steel mills, penicillin, synthetic ammonium nitrates, and other such developments that would both make beating the British Empire easier and bring up living standards.

Once a healthier and more moral (probably socialist) America is established, work on building a rail network would begin, alongside a pre-dreadnought navy and a well-funded research group. The navy'd be rather necessary to keep the Imperial Powers of Europe from wrecking things and the creation of a West African Squadron.

I'd also, somewhere along the line, find myself a girlfriend or two and get to sciencing up some babies for us (IFV tech is quite flexible...).
 
One sarco pod, so that things would be quick and painless.

The past sucked giant donkey balls and there is exactly zero modern technologies, fiat backed or not, that would make it suck less on their lonesome. Better to just make the suffering short, effectively giving a finger to the asshole ROB that wants you to live through shit history for its entertainment is just a bonus :V

... barring that, maybe a nuclear armed submarine or something along those lines. Mentioning the british empire is a good point, if you have the opportunity to just delete it and whatever other empire-adjacent things you can hit, well. Good odds it'd save several million lives on the net, so far as impact goes that'd be pretty hard to beat.

If you end up in a particularly bad mood, you can see if you can get some super volcano or another to go off, give some other species a chance to evolve. There's worse ways to flip off an overpowered kidnapping bastard.
 
Frumple said:
... barring that, maybe a nuclear armed submarine or something along those lines. Mentioning the british empire is a good point, if you have the opportunity to just delete it and whatever other empire-adjacent things you can hit, well. Good odds it'd save several million lives on the net, so far as impact goes that'd be pretty hard to beat.
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I'm betting there are at least 10 ways that could backfire horribly. Got a feeling that the British aren't the only ones who wanted such control. Now France, THAT is a choice with no downsides.
 
I feel like it's more beneficial to bring back something that could be replicated by them. Yeah sure, "laptop will all the worlds knowledge" works but it feels like cheating.

I'm thinking like something they were on the verge on, but a better version of it, like a solid internal combustion engine. Nothing TOO modern, snag something from like the 60's. Let some people poke around in there.

So, start out girled up (thanks ROB!) in Philly and go from there in building up a network with which to launch my own American Revolution, with the active involvement of as many working class folk and native peoples as I can manage to sell on my principles.
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That might be a personal win for you, but it's going to make your object downright impossible. Nobody is going to listen to a woman.
 
Evilchumlee said:
That might be a personal win for you, but it's going to make your object downright impossible. Nobody is going to listen to a woman.
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1750s colonial America was way less misogynistic than Mideaval Europe. People would be less inclined to listen to me as a girl than as a guy, but there'd still be people who would listen. And with twenty-five years to preempt the American Revolution, I'd be able to afford spending a few years as a wandering preacher/craftsman healing the sick and making helpful tools to build up a reputation

Also, you can just select what you want to quote and click quote/reply, rather than copy-pasting into a blank quote box. That'd ping the person you're responding to.
 
Sandy River DL said:
1750s colonial America was way less misogynistic than Mideaval Europe. People would be less inclined to listen to me as a girl than as a guy, but there'd still be people who would listen. And with twenty-five years to preempt the American Revolution, I'd be able to afford spending a few years as a wandering preacher/craftsman healing the sick and making helpful tools to build up a reputation
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Perhaps, but it's still pretty misogynistic.

If you're not a white male land owner... you're fighting an uphill battle. Not impossible, just... much more difficult. If you do gain traction, the improvements introduced should put new, fledgling America in a good spot.

It would mildly concern me though that the new US just doesn't have the straight manpower to fight a real war with a Britain dedicated to winning... and with all of these goodies that America has now that Britain would definitely want, we might up for a real doozy of a new-timeline War of 1812 stand in (not to mention the other powers... France and Spain might be looking in our direction now, too...)

Overall, I think this type of scenario is interesting to REALLY try to ponder the ramifications of our changes. And really, unfortunately, I think that usually means "more war". If you drop some super-tech onto somebody, naturally everyone else is going to want it. If you drop it into a more vulnerable position, like say, Revolution-era America... the best of intentions might just lead to a suped-up British Empire.

I tend to want to avoid going super butterfly on good intentions because... well... butterflies. Knocking down the British Empire a few pegs seems like a great idea but we have no idea what takes its place.

Also, you can just select what you want to quote and click quote/reply, rather than copy-pasting into a blank quote box. That'd ping the person you're responding to.
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Formatting error, I apologize.
 
Chloe Sullivan said:
The current day America is pretty misogynistic and plenty of people won't listen to you if you are female presenting.

It's an obstacle, but not insurmountable.
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I would say the main difference is a question of relative freedom and safety. It was far easier for a woman to be deprived of her rights and subjected to abuse with no recourse of appeal in the 1750s than in the contemporary era. Remember that a woman's right to property and bodily autonomy was near totally subject to the control of their husband or father in this time period. There was some small leeway for the upper class but even then an independent woman managing to control her own business or become a powerful political force would be an extreme aberration. What would stop a man from claiming you are their daughter or wife and thereby seizing control of all you own? This wouldn't even need to be motivated by an understanding of the technology as the base desire of men to seize possession of an unprotected beautiful woman would easily provide sufficient incentive.

The scenario isn't a typical Isekai where the "cheat" means that you don't need to be worried about violence from average civilians or making enough money to survive daily. The only means of making enough a living would be to publicly use the technology and there is nothing stopping anyone who caught on to the value of the technology from overpowering you and trying to seize it for themselves. This wouldn't even require a full understanding of the value of the technology as much as a simplistic appreciation for the value of worked glass and metal. The fact that you could summon the technology back can prevent theft but not murder or enslavement. This is a problem for both men and women but would be significantly worse for women given the default state of women as the de facto possession of their male owner and relative disadvantage in a direct fight.

A patron would be needed to secure long-term safety and the resources that are required to turn future knowledge into useful reality. This brings up the issue of how you would secure your continued position of power once the patron becomes familiar with the most lucrative technological advancements and no longer needs to rely on you as an interpreter. There would be an obvious potential for conflict once the narrative goes beyond the immediate acquisition of wealth to attempting to make the world a better place according to 21st-century morals. What could you offer to your patron or the wider society that compensates for the extreme financial advantages that come from imperialism, slavery, and the exploitation of workers?

PS: I thought this through a bit more and believe that there is a tremendous opportunity if you push the timeline ahead by a few decades. You could start off right next to Napoleon in the years immediately before he becomes First Consul and immediately form an alliance with him. The ability to summon the technology and the futuristic knowledge it contains would be sufficient to prove your story while there is a natural path to alliance between two people seeking to change the course of human history. Napoleon should be more than willing to implement some 21st century reforms (oppose slavery and imperialism, rights for women, discourage Native American Genocide with no Louisiana Purchase and greater French involvement in the Americas) in exchange for your warnings of future disaster and assistance in the technological uplift.

There is also the obvious opportunity to marry Napoleon and forge a new dynasty. His first marriage was in 1796 when he was a respected general and powerful political figure in Revolutionary France but had not yet seized power as First Consul. The timeline is flexible enough for you to come in before his first marriage without being concerned over the butterfly effect disrupting his rise to power.
 
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Let's drop the gross tangent on how awful sexism was. Yes it was bad, but it's not as if women couldn't and weren't enormously influential. It would just be an uphill fight. Now on to the real question.

A laptop full of information is absolutely cheating. So.

We're dropping into 1796? The Smallpox vaccine is going to be invented in 20 years. So can we do the MMR vaccine, or maybe Polio? I don't know which vaccine would have the biggest impact, but I do know that earlier vaccines put a MASSIVE hit on human suffering for the next two centuries. If you let us skip a few years ahead in our own timeline, those Malaria vaccines they're doing trials of now could change the world.

Antibiotics would also be a really good one. Or reliable birth control.
 
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