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Survival tips if you find yourself in the Middle Ages?

kottke.org

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Re: Survival tips if you find yourself in the Middle Ages?

#41

Post by russell »

robg wrote: post #4
pg wrote: post #2

1000 plus or minus 200 years covers a huge range. 1000 was just about the fulcrum of the medieval period: life in 800 would have been a complete disaster, whereas life in 1200 was in some places a mini-Renaissance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_of_the_12th_century If you really got dropped at a random place, it would probably be grazing land or forest, especially in 800. You'd have to find the nearest tiny…

What one invention would you introduce ahead of its time?

I would introduce the horse collar. It existed in Europe as early as the 10th century but was not widespread until around 1200. It enabled horses to pull plows and was much more efficient. In order to use my much increased grain production, I would introduce distillation and whiskey. Ah the riches.

Re: Survival tips if you find yourself in the Middle Ages?

#42

Post by russell »

vaksel wrote: post #19
fauigerzigerk wrote: post #16

What would you do to prepare if you knew the journey back in time would start in one hour?

Backpack full of seeds. Potatoes, corn, etc etc. The agriculture of that time was pretty much non-existent. You'd get something like 20x the output from your seeds.

Commercial corn is a sterile hybrid. Potatoes are heavy, but you can carry lots of beet and turnip seeds, good for high volume food production.

Re: Survival tips if you find yourself in the Middle Ages?

#43

Post by russell »

ctingom wrote: post #21
fauigerzigerk wrote: post #16

What would you do to prepare if you knew the journey back in time would start in one hour?

I think I'd grab a gun and some ammo and maybe get some jewelry and gold. And then I'd grab a history book.

I would add a good ski parka, extra boots, tooth brushes, and as much penicillin as I could scrounge up.

Re: Survival tips if you find yourself in the Middle Ages?

#44

Post by mechanical_fish »

icey wrote: post #20
mechanical_fish wrote: post #3

Prediction is impossible, we all know that. What we don't know is that retrodiction is also impossible. History is a form of science fiction. The future is history that hasn't happened yet. History is the sensibility of one time, assessing another time, that it cannot possibly know. -- Bruce Sterling, http://www.viridiandesign.org/notes/1-25/Note%2000001.txt

Superman can't really fly, but he's still fun to watch.

I'm sure Sterling, who has made his living writing SF, would never wish to suggest otherwise.

Re: Survival tips if you find yourself in the Middle Ages?

#45

Post by lionhearted »

Fascinating to think about. I did some fencing in college, and some archery and horseback riding when I was younger. I think I'd try to survive and move over land until I got to a coastal trading city, and then convince the nearest Lord that I was shipwrecked from a distant, mystical land and try to enter into military or guard service. Then catch up on the local language and customs, do what I can to get land or a title, then try to figure out what modern process improvements I could invent to build a lot of wealth. If I was in a rigid caste system type place, I'd definitely recruit potential great men from non-aristocratic classes and get them working for me. Depending on which invention path I went down, take over in terms of commerce of have myself a mini-revolution displacing the aristocracy and becoming ruler and protector of the land. It probably wouldn't be a party, but it wouldn't be so bad either.

Re: Survival tips if you find yourself in the Middle Ages?

#47

Post by crotu5 »

there is a very high chance you would die rather quickly from illnesses to which the local (temporally speaking) would have been building immunities too. the advice in kottke's blog to have a "recent smallpox vaccine" is silly, the strains now and in 1000 would be in no way similar.

by the same token the flu of 1918 would likely get you too, even if you got a flu shot in 2009

Re: Survival tips if you find yourself in the Middle Ages?

#48

Post by crotu5 »

lionhearted wrote: post #45

Fascinating to think about. I did some fencing in college, and some archery and horseback riding when I was younger. I think I'd try to survive and move over land until I got to a coastal trading city, and then convince the nearest Lord that I was shipwrecked from a distant, mystical land and try to enter into military or guard service. Then catch up on the local language and customs, do what I can to get land or a t…

they would see the fillings in your teeth and have you put to death immediately as a witch

actually that you have teeth at all past age thirty would show you up as a witch

Re: Survival tips if you find yourself in the Middle Ages?

#49

Post by crotu5 »

nazgulnarsil wrote: post #33

you'll die of infectious disease. I'm almost 100% sure of this.

absolutely. and quickly. your 21st century immune system has had a lifetime to protect you and adapt to our hazards...it would offer you zero protection against viruses and bacteria of 1000ad.

Re: Survival tips if you find yourself in the Middle Ages?

#50

Post by pg »

robg wrote: post #6
pg wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hygiene.

How can you make money with that? Purveyor of scented soaps? ;)

You could not die, which would be pretty valuable.

But come to think of it, you could also make tons of money. An ordinary educated person today knows way more about medicine than medieval doctors did. So your optimal career goal should probably be to become a court physician. You could become as rich as minor nobility doing this, and (most importantly) without having to take sides in power struggles.

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