If you were sent back to the roman era and could only bring a backpack of goods. What would you bring?
Current geological mineral distribution map. A dozen ball screws, some linear rods, bearings, grease. A dozen staters of various sizes, and a few hundred thousand diodes, maybe millions. Then as much enameled copper wire and magnet steel as I could carry. Then a e-paper tablet with a long list of patent documents, along with text books from Primary school clear to graduate level physics, chemistry, and math.
Then I would lug a vintage mini lathe over my shoulder for the few steps I have to take because you didn’t specify how far I have to walk.
I should be able to make the industrial revolution from there.
…welcome to 1500 years in the future…now!
I would also make room for some seed packets - potato, tomato, chili, etc.
I want some good food while I prestart the industrial revolution.
Cipromax, isoproyl alcohol, neosporin, and and as many Band-Aids as I could stuff. I’ll make room for an English-latin dictionary.
Maybe one of those “facts about everything” almanacs in the outside pocket, because I’m too stupid to remember my sines and cosines or the difference between sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. I can figure out the rest from there.
Spices, all knowledge I can carry as microfiche tapes, magnifying glass, a domesticated strain of penicillin, and seeds of modern crops.
I will be able to talk to at least some of their merchants for, ahem, reasons. From then on I have at least some chance of survival.
Can I order these goods from our time travling agent? Maybe a pocket electron microscope, a bunch of capsule corp products, sanitation pills, maybe the bugout bag of some rich future CEO near the end of capitalism
1 gun and as much ammo as I can carry. I’m gonna need to get some people to work for me if I want to survive.
It better be a solid revolver and your aim better be on point because if that thing jams or you miss too many times you’re gonna get rocked, literally.
I’m a gambling man. I’ll take those odds. Better than the odds of me making it as a farmer.
Buy bitcoin in 100AD…
Just wait 1950 years and you’ll be rich
Holy shit man!
— Julius Caesar
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Not a bad idea, but also, you could definitely still make hash out of schwag.
Bringing the seeds would be easier though.
And since you mentioned seeds, let’s go ahead and also bring seeds of modern potatoes, tomatoes, definitely chilis like proper habaneros. Salads, perhaps. Definitely modern brewing yeasts! Bananas, maybe? Tobacco, definitely.
There’s even yeast strains which produce opiates instead of alcohol (purposefully made with gmo ofc), but I wouldn’t be able to get my hands on those.
Also, medication. Lots of modern medication.
But a backpack full is a lot. So, seeds, electronics (full Wikipedia and other such information), solar charger, tons of meds. A few good blades, a gun, and several reliable methods of making fire. Several good modern bowstrings. Gunpowder, if there’s room. (Making bullets isn’t too hard and modern smokeless powder would be preferable to basic black powder.)
You might like a new game i just saw the trailer for called Kingmaker.
A man’s gotta sleep
Submachine guns eat ammo very quickly. You’ll maybe survive one fight or two, depending on your proficiency - and then you’re that barbarian with the death stick whose death stick isn’t working anymore, but has made a people who are famous for holding deep grudges for years and coming up with very creative punishments for their defeated foes extremely angry.
Also, it’s not like Romans don’t have ranged weapons. They were experts at using the sling, which can kill you at the same distance as a firearm. They had bows and crossbows, throwing spears, etc. You are not prepared for any of this.
You’re not really thinking this through. You started from the premise that this will fail and are only presenting thoughts that support that premise.
The gun gets you whatever you want, including armor and whatever else. Kill one person, hopefully Caesar, and do it in front of as many people as possible. Then your demands start and must be met ASAP.
There are plenty of possible paths to success just as there are to failure and neither is guaranteed.
Dude isn’t planning on sleeping for the 15 years of life expectancy left.
A (tape) camera to document how I obliterate the roman empire by spreading pathogens that have yet to evolve but I have developed immunity for.
And something like a time capsule to burry the camera in.
I don’t think you would survive either. People wasn’t stupid back then and you’d probably quickly get fridged for being a walking curse.
Do I look like i mind get fridged?
Dont want to be that guy, but the platic softeners inside the tape will most likely evalporate, causing the tape to break up und cruble to dust as soon as you try to play it. The magnetic orientation of the bits will also degarde. Manufacturers give an expected shelf life of 30 years for any magnetic storage medium.
Yeah I was aware of the bits that’s why I said tape. I know there’s some kind of tape they use for long term data storage so that’s why I said tape. There has to be some way to store it that long…
Were working on a medium that uses diamonds.
Keep in mind that there were of plenty of pathogens back then that you aren’t immune to now. A good example is smallpox
Well I didn’t expect to survive anyways
Managing expectations 👌🏼
Sorry, what’s a “tape camera”? A film camera?
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A sports almanac would be all I need
I’m all in on Caesar being stabbed today
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A book with pictures detailing all the processes required to make paper, and the schematics for a printing press. I know better than to presume my knowledge of electricity will be of any use, I know better than to think that I understand math better than ancient mathematicians, and I know better than to try to convince them that tiny little creatures are what cause illness. What I can do is jump-start humanity’s ascent to modern technology by improving literacy a few centuries early
Dont forget ink recipe. A new type of ink had to be invented for the printing press. Soot, turpentine, and walnut oil should do it.
frantically writing and drawing
And you give away the press for free, but the ink will cost a fortune!
Epsonius son of Heuletio Paquardius.
Seize the means of printing, Epsonius! educate the masses!
I want two books: How to Invent Everything and How to Rebuild Everything in the Aftermath of a Cataclysm. I’m good from there.
The reason I bring picture books is because I know that I’m gonna die within a week, and anyone more than a few hundred years old would never be able to read English after I’m gone. But if Ptolemy gets his hands on a printing press? Buddy we’re exploring the galaxy by Y2K
Probably mostly medical supplies. I don’t want to die of a stubbed toe.
You and everyone you interact with will probably get very sick. Neither of you will be resistant to each others germs. Maybe you will set off another plague. Probably. I’m not an expert.
Hence the medical supplies. Antibiotics, painkillers, antiseptic, bleach, etc.
Antibiotics. All of the antibiotics. Textbooks, dictionary, precious metals, etc.
