If Someone Randomly Appeared...

[Slash]

Just saw this on reddit, but I'm going to take it further. If someone were to randomly appear from 50 years ago, 100 years ago, or several hundred years ago, what would be the toughest thing to explain to them?

Good lord I don't know where to begin.

 

[Zenith]

War on Terror

 

[Dotini]

Just saw this on reddit, but I'm going to take it further. If someone were to randomly appear from 50 years ago, 100 years ago, or several hundred years ago, what would be the toughest thing to explain to them?

Good lord I don't know where to begin.

Rather than jumping to explain things to them, I'd first ask, "How did you do that?!

 

[CodeRedR51]

Rather than jumping to explain things to them, I'd first ask, "How did you do that?!

👍

 

[opelgt1969]

Just saw this on reddit, but I'm going to take it further. If someone were to randomly appear from 50 years ago, 100 years ago, or several hundred years ago, what would be the toughest thing to explain to them?

Good lord I don't know where to begin.

Gangnam Style

 

[Danoff]

From 50 years ago, 100 years ago, and from several hundred years ago all the same answer:

 

[D3ATHS1NBUNCH3S]

American culture. I think he/she would puke at the sight of the of welfare and food stamps taken advantage of, how much our nation is overweight, and the godawful sight of teenagers being rebels against their parent by being pregnant, taking drugs, etc;.

 

[MoLiEG]

For someone from a 100 years: Social Networking...

All these Facebook, Tuiter, Tuenti and that stuff...

For someone from 50 years ago... IDK... maybe the same thing...

 

[Omnis]

Pete Burns.

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

Reality TV such as big brother, survivor etc..

 

[Slash]

Reality TV such as big brother, survivor etc..

They wouldn't know what a TV is....

 

[Lizard]

It would be interesting. The hardest thing I think would be modern music.

I think it would be very intersting to take a medieval european peasant and give them the life of a very rich person in modern times. I wonder how they would view modern technology etc.

 

[xXKingJoshXx]

Danoff, who is she?

Just kidding, of course.

I'd have to agree with the people saying modern music, TV shows, and stuff. I think they would find social networking (mainly just Facebook) pretty interesting, as it can be used to find family members that you haven't met/haven't seen in a ok time (which is how I use Facebook). They'd also not be able to understand todays children. It would also be interesting to show them cars and electronics and aircraft and that we've been to the moon and space etc.

 

[PeterJB]

50 years - the Internet
100 years - The comparatively rebellious western society
Medieval - The vast advances in technology and cosmopolitan nature of humanity.

 

[Minty]

But see, 50 years ago they had totally talentless people who still gained notoriety. That wouldn't much more difficult to explain to them than it would be to anyone from some place where they don't get news about people like that.

What would be tough to explain to someone from any time period prior to the internet:

But serious answer:


50 years: The advances in computer technology compared to what they had at the time. Namely the vast differences in the size required for power. 50 years would be tough but the are still people who've lived that long ago, so it wouldn't be too hard to get someone to help explain things from their POV.

As far as 100 years or farther...I really don't know where I'd start.

 

[niky]

Politics and terrorism would not hold anything new for time travellers from a hundred years ago, when the Bolsheviks had their own War OF Terror on the rest of Russia, and the world in general. Heck, someone from fifty years ago might approve of the McCarthy-ish methods of the "War on Terror".

A time traveller from several hundred years ago, if they knew their history, would not be surprised either at the tension in the Gulf.

-

Aside from technology (which would both delight and disappoint travellers from fifty and a hundred years ago... We still have no flying cars), what would most likely surprise time travellers is how far we've come in terms of equal rights for women (mostly), the abolishment of slavery (mostly) and how far we haven't come in keeping people from killing each other im petty wars and genocides. And anyone from beyond a hundred years ago would be shocked at how efficiently we can do the genocide part nowadays.

 

[CodeRedR51]

^^ No.

Edit: Oops, @ Minty.

 

[Danoff]

For hundreds of years ago I think perhaps evolution would be the toughest thing to explain. That and human rights - a black president? really? Women can vote? Ok but they can't own land right?

For 100 years ago, I think it would be the internet. Also it would be very difficult to explain the insane wealth that we all have to someone in 1913. We have food coming out of our ears. Everyone has multiple cars, heat, access to soft comfortable lightweight clothing that we constantly wash and throw away. We can afford to travel anywhere in the world at a moment's notice, we have massive homes, fine furniture, ridiculously comfortable mattresses, etc. etc.

For 50 years ago, I think it would be the fact that we're still using internal combustion engines. Seriously, where are the flying cars?

 

[Minty]

And the jetpacks. They were promised jetpacks.

^^ No.

Edit: Oops, @ Minty.

So you're saying it would be easy to explain, then?

Also, it was a joke.

 

[Danny]

Pete Burns.

It's not even worth trying. It can't be explained to people who were there.

 

[CodeRedR51]

So you're saying it would be easy to explain, then?

Also, it was a joke.

Just not even remotely the best thing.

 

[Azuremen]

American culture. I think he/she would puke at the sight of the of welfare and food stamps taken advantage of, how much our nation is overweight, and the godawful sight of teenagers being rebels against their parent by being pregnant, taking drugs, etc;.

Pretty sure a lot of these problems existed in the 60's.

I think smart phones/internet would a bit to explain. I mean, hell, I have enough trouble explaining them to people that are currently alive sometimes.

 

[CodeRedR51]

I think smart phones/internet would a bit to explain. I mean, hell, I have enough trouble explaining them to people that are currently alive sometimes.

Parents! Oy....

 

[nobuffalo]

Pretty sure a lot of these problems existed in the 60's.

Exactly, people act as if there were no world problems "back then".

I don't know, new discoveries in science maybe, both here on earth and what we know about space. Telling someone from 200 years ago we walked on the moon might come as quite a shock and be difficult to explain. Technology in general.

 

[Lizard]

It would be hard trying to tell a Japanese Samurai the concepts of modern warfare. A tank? Where is the honour in that?

 

[Johnnypenso]

How Americans got $16Trillion in debt, a $Trillion more each year and it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal to the people in charge..

 

[D3ATHS1NBUNCH3S]

Pretty sure a lot of these problems existed in the 60's.

I guess it's just social media making this generation seem worse than the last.

 

[Ken]

Glitter Bombs and flash mobs.

 

[Lizard]

I guess it's just social media making this generation seem worse than the last.

Yes the media do that. They magnify issues.

A point nicely shown by the work of Stan Cohen.


I have always wondered what a pre guns army would think if they came up against the modern US military.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Pretty sure a lot of these problems existed in the 60's.

I think smart phones/internet would a bit to explain. I mean, hell, I have enough trouble explaining them to people that are currently alive sometimes.

I look at my school pictures from the 60's and there isn't an overweight kid or teacher in the whole lot. I look at my son's school pictures from the last 15 years...and oh the humanity