Poll: If you could choose another time and place to be born...

[The Event]

It has to be the future, I just don't know how far forward I should go to ensure the right mix of awesome things being available though.
Would 1000 years be enough to have my own interstellar space craft and sufficient medical tech to achieve immortality?

 

[Zontar]

Id like to go to america hundreds of years ago before it was colonised by fucking morons. Either that or pretty much any jungle tribe

heres a good quote (pretty sure its bullshit butthe sentiment is good):

Spoiler

We have far too much shit going on today. It would be so nice to live in a society where you just eat, sleep and spend the rest of your time just chilling the fuck out in your little hut. You call that uncivilised then you clearly dont know the meaning of the word

You saying it's pretty much bullshit is actually spot on. Despite what people may think (the idea arose in the late 1700s due mainly to the catholic church in Europe chastising conquistadors long after the fact for destroying what they called a garden of eden) before explorers arrived to the Americas, the natives had all the same problems the rest of the world had (interpersonal conflicts, wars, etc.) and in some rare cases had had whole nations which fought each other tooth and nail (the conquest of the Maya, for instance, was mostly done by local tribes which had them as their common enemy, before the Spaniards conquered them as well). In fact, apart from the Mexican-American war, I can not think of a single conflict before 1850 in both our continents which did not have natives on one or, in most cases, both sides, and where always fighting for their own personal gain (usually at the expense of another tribe).

The idea that north and south America where paradise before explorers arrived is mostly a romanticized fiction.

OT: I'll have to say that, because things are at an all time high in terms of life expectancy and quality of life, I was born not a moment too soon.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I wouldn't. Everything used to be more racist, more sexist and less hygienic. Why go back?

You don't have to, you can go forward instead - the time doesn't have to exist yet. Alternatively, you can choose to move very little in terms of time, but much farther geographically. Ever wanted to see Switzerland, for instance?

Not really, no. I'd rather be in Germany or Italy the following day.

 

[FPLOON]

Ohh can i be born in the 90s as a white male in the US? Man how great it would be to have all the opportunities at my fingertips , without any pressure from society!

...and, just like that, I got ninja'd!

... Speaking of which , why haven't we invented a way to change someones skin color yet? While i'm sure it would get the same reaction as the mutant cure from X-men 3, it would be nice to have the option...

What? And make racism more complicated than it already is?? /sarcasm

OT: Since krazykidd ninja'd my first choice, I'm going to go with 1979, so that I can grow up alongside the origins of hip-hip itself...

 

[Flovarius]

Where to start?!

First effort: being born as an exceedingly rich, white, heterosexual, male (it's not a very tolerant timeperiod, I admit), French aristocrat around 1860. Belle Epoque Paris, here I come!

 

[dyre]

Hmm, since I don't get to choose the race or class I get born into, then the future is probably the safest bet. I'll go with "100 years in the future, UK." I think, projecting 100 years into the future, UK's a relatively fair bet for "reasonably wealthy country that hasn't been wiped out by nukes."

You saying it's pretty much bullshit is actually spot on. Despite what people may think (the idea arose in the late 1700s due mainly to the catholic church in Europe chastising conquistadors long after the fact for destroying what they called a garden of eden) before explorers arrived to the Americas, the natives had all the same problems the rest of the world had (interpersonal conflicts, wars, etc.) and in some rare cases had had whole nations which fought each other tooth and nail (the conquest of the Maya, for instance, was mostly done by local tribes which had them as their common enemy, before the Spaniards conquered them as well). In fact, apart from the Mexican-American war, I can not think of a single conflict before 1850 in both our continents which did not have natives on one or, in most cases, both sides, and where always fighting for their own personal gain (usually at the expense of another tribe).

The idea that north and south America where paradise before explorers arrived is mostly a romanticized fiction.

OT: I'll have to say that, because things are at an all time high in terms of life expectancy and quality of life, I was born not a moment too soon.

I like the part in that quote about "when someone was so poor he couldn't afford a horse [...] he would receive it all as a gift." Which horses does he mean...the wild horses that died out ten thousand years before he was born, or the domesticated horses brought to North America by the Spanish?

That said, while the "the natives were all peace-loving communists" thing is a bunch of bull, I'm sure some tribes lived in relatively pleasant simplicity.

 

[Lieju]

Sometimes I feel like I should've been born twelve or thirteen hundred years ago and been a viking soldier. It was undoubtedly a uncomfortable life with a high mortality rate (I would've died in my early teens due to my appendix), but every day had meaning and all choices were important.

What do you mean? If it's the constant threat of death, I don't see how being born into whatever day and age stopsyou from 'giving every day meaning' by running into traffic every now and then or something.

And are you assuming you'd be the one making those choices? And not your parents, or your superiors?

dating from a mans point of view, also called "getting lucky" because getting into a relationship is like gambling: Low odds and results feel like random chance rather than earning anything.

Oh man, you've just described my (lesbian) dating life here.

 

[McElroy]

West Germany in the mid 80s. No particular reason other than hey, it's West Germany. Also there are a couple of historical events that happened when I was a kid that I would've liked to grasp a bit better from the get go.

 

[Gauntlets28]

If I could be certain that I would be reborn as an aristocrat of minor note-nothing particularly significant, cos that's how a man get's hung or assassinated-I'd like to be born in the 1790s in the UK. Lots of lovely things going on, even despite the Napoleonic wars, which I would try my best to avoid. I'm pretty keen on the idea of the Romantic era, and the possibility of meeting people like Byron and such. Also, people might not laugh at me as much about my interest in the occult. But mainly I just want to dress like a dandy and be a roguish charmer at court.
Either that, or I'd like to be reincarnated as a Japaner in the present day. Actually Japanese mind though, none of that weeaboo stuff. I want to blend in.

 

[Lieju]

What do you mean? If it's the constant threat of death, I don't see how being born into whatever day and age stopsyou from 'giving every day meaning' by running into traffic every now and then or something.

And are you assuming you'd be the one making those choices? And not your parents, or your superiors?

You're right, there's no real reason that it'd be better in those regards.
I'm dysthymic, which basically translates to being in a constant state of low depression, and there are so many things in life today that you have to do, keep an eye on, have an opinion about and so on, that I feel constantly overwhelmed.
In comparison, living back then would've been a lot simpler and transparent and that's the core of what I meant.

Eat, sleep, fuck and fight. Sounds like a good life to me, even if it ends in horrible painful death by disease or a sword to the face.

You have a pretty over-simplified image of what kind of life the vikings lived and what their culture was like.
It's not like you'd be able to escape social pressures or interaction like that.
You'd probably be stuck on a ship for long periods of time. So lots of social interaction and worrying if your opinions on what god is the raddest and whether Sven makes the best arrows even though he is kinda a dick and so no-one really likes him(or whatever viking-men talked about, I dunno) will affect your social standing and whether you'll be viewed as a valued member of the team.

For that you'd better be off being a lone farmer middle of nowhere or something. (although probably less opportunities to rape someone.)
Although what stops you now from doing that?

Doing the 'just eat sleep and fuck' part anyway? Except that being a viking warrior would have provided certain opportunities for the 'fucking' part of it which are generally frowned upon in polite company.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Honestly, I'm pretty happy with the the year that I was born in.

I got to experience the fun and awesomeness of being a child of the 90s and was able to experience the evolving technologies that are a commonplace in all aspects of life.

 

[wolf thing]

The Future always the future, if life and history has tought us anything everything get better the further forward in time you go

 

[Lieju]

You have a pretty over-simplified image of what kind of life the vikings lived and what their culture was like.
It's not like you'd be able to escape social pressures or interaction like that.
You'd probably be stuck on a ship for long periods of time. So lots of social interaction and worrying if your opinions on what god is the raddest and whether Sven makes the best arrows even though he is kinda a dick and so no-one really likes him(or whatever viking-men talked about, I dunno) will affect your social standing and whether you'll be viewed as a valued member of the team.

For that you'd better be off being a lone farmer middle of nowhere or something. (although probably less opportunities to rape someone.)
Although what stops you now from doing that?

Doing the 'just eat sleep and fuck' part anyway? Except that being a viking warrior would have provided certain opportunities for the 'fucking' part of it which are generally frowned upon in polite company.

Obviously that's not all there is to it. If I didn't simplify or point out what I wanted out of it, it wouldn't be interesting. No matter how you swing it though, times were simpler socially. It doesn't mean easier, just simpler.

As for what's stopping me now? Mostly anxiety, comparatively advanced morality and world perspective.

Simpler socially? I'm not sure. I grew up in a small village where there were old wounds and memories run deep.
Then I moved to the city and I no longer have to give a crap about how me saying something wrong to the neighbour reflects badly on my grandfather because of something that happened 50 years ago and I have no idea about because it's not talked about openly.

I'm not sure how simpler and easier are different. You'd just find lot more things to worry about.

And you'd have much less options. And no matter how bad dating is these days, you generally aren't punished if you don't manage to get married... And if your financial situation and overall social standing wasn't good, you'd be left with less options. Although I'm sure even today you'd find someone if you just lowered your standards enough and found someone desperate enough.

But grass is greener and all that.

 

[Strazdas]

Future. Cannot give you precide date but can give condition. When we have the technology to transfer human intelligence out of this bag of meat into a computer and live forever!
Place: wherever its legal and i could afford the mentioned procedure.

Yeah, no, what about all the social progress the world has made. A few short decades ago, anyone who wasn't a straight white male was seen as inherently inferior, and this was enshrined in law. Now, we still have massive problems, but things are not nearly as horrible as they were.

on the other hand, if you are straight white male and are willing to abuse it....

 

[Barbas]

(Snip).

Heh, that reminds me of something Louis C.K. once said about being white in the past:


Well, if there's something positive to be taken from the answers to the poll so far, it's that people still watch good movies as a species, our greatest years are ahead of us.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Hmmm...if I was going to pick a previous age based on foolish reasoning, then mid to late 90s.

Star Wars prequels haven't come out yet, no New Dr Who, Games Workshop haven't stuck the Tau and the C'tan into 40k...