What knowledge could YOU bring to the dark ages

[Ghengis John]

"There is no god."
I'm sorry if this ignites a flamewar, but I had to.

Your trip will end quite abruptly. On top of that you will lose any chance you had to do any good.
I, on the other hand shall claim that the good lord did send to me a holy vision of how to fight the illnesses which plague the land and that he sent me to spread this knowledge for the good and glory of the just mother church. Saints be praised. Amen.

Invent the flameproof suit first ofc.!

You may be amazed to know that they already had the flameproof suit. While they may not have known how bad asbestos fibers were for you, it was already being made and used. They called it "stone wool".

For that matter, religion was not really a technological sink. Islam unified an entire sub continent bringing about a scientific explosion and Christian monks did much to preserve and advance the sciences (you can thank them for genetics and music). Your real technological sink was the invading barbarians that leveled thriving civilizations on a regular basis. You would do more to advance progress by defending the Arab Caliphate from the mongols than by trying to get them to abandon Allah. In my opinion anyhow. It seems to me at any rate, as a moderate and pragmatic man, that even if you're such a gung-ho atheist that you can't see a way to co-exist with religion that you could acheive your aims more effectively by bringing people prosperity and separating them from superstition in the working of the natural world than you could by attacking it directly and then allow them to form their own conclusions and opinions over time without ever making yourself a target.

I always like to wonder what our world would be like if Christianity hadnt stifled the growth of Europe during what we call the "Dark Ages". And it is an apt description as well. We could quite possibly be 100's of years more advanced technologically. We could have landed men on the moon 300 years ago instead of 50. But the "Christian Age", i mean "Dark Age", really isnt a time i would like to travel back into time to.

Well for starters, perhaps it's wasting my breath to say this but it wasn't Christianity that brought the fall of Rome, it was ineffectual governance and mismanagement. It would have fallen and created the post apocalyptic existence and savagery of the feudal era anyhow. An era not known for intellectualism, what with the highest form of humor being "a hop, a whistle and a fart". After the fall, people did a fine job inventing their own superstitions to persecute others. The existence of witches for instance was propagated by villagers and was actively denounced by the church until the corrupt reign of Medici pope Leo X who only recognized them to sell protection from them. For that matter, technological and scientific oppression existed well before the church. Nerva as roman emperor, when presented with the steam engine by Hero was told it could "allow one man to do the work of 100 slaves.", Nerva, before he forbade it's use responded "Then what would we do with the slaves?" Furthermore, the "dark ages" had a few bright spots as well. Christianity emphasized the sanctity of human life, a concept all together absent in Rome and Pagan lands and the Magna Carta did much to advance the causes of the rule of law as well as human rights and established precedents for the limits of power granted to rulers. I would say to you, good luck getting any ruler of the time to accept that one.

 

[Ham_authority95]

"BEHOLD! THE 'CONDOM'!" I would yell, waving its latex glory at the bemused peasants shortly before they either eat me or burn me at the stake. Besides that, I would play Black Sabbath for them, and die because of it.

On my time traveling trip, I will arrive in a haz-mat suit with my own packet lunches to avoid getting, you know, The Plague.

 

[Uzbekistan]

City planning. Ditches, refuse, pest control, things like that.

 

[ediblemitten]

Well first off...

You're in the dark ages, which means you've basically been dropped off into a cesspit of warring, and migrating 'tribes', which would later become the kingdoms of Europe (The dark ages is the early middle ages, not the entirety of the Medieval period). First off, you've unlikely to actually be able to spread your idea (unless it is a physical creation) very far at all, due to the very low population density present in western europe at the time. Most people were, of course, agrarian, uneducated, illiterate and very widely dispersed. If you've arrived in about the 9th century, congratulations, you might witness the birth of feudalism. Another issue becomes one of language; that is, good luck understanding Frankish, Gallic, Celtic, Goth languages, early Germanic tongues, or any other for that matter. Another issue is that there are very few major cities or settlements that were present in the dark ages, so you're unlikely to find one or even spread your idea. As well, your strange clothing and indecipherable language would make you appear foreign and insane, and unlikely to be taken seriously. Of course, any attempt to communicate any ideas or philosophies that we take for granted today is impossible (like the inane above comment "God doesn't exist"). You're likely to die of starvation, barbarians or disease.

 

[Ghengis John]

Well first off...

You're in the dark ages, which means you've basically been dropped off into a cesspit of warring, and migrating 'tribes', which would later become the kingdoms of Europe (The dark ages is the early middle ages, not the entirety of the Medieval period). First off, you've unlikely to actually be able to spread your idea (unless it is a physical creation) very far at all, due to the very low population density present in western europe at the time. Most people were, of course, agrarian, uneducated, illiterate and very widely dispersed. If you've arrived in about the 9th century, congratulations, you might witness the birth of feudalism. Another issue becomes one of language; that is, good luck understanding Frankish, Gallic, Celtic, Goth languages, early Germanic tongues, or any other for that matter. Another issue is that there are very few major cities or settlements that were present in the dark ages, so you're unlikely to find one or even spread your idea. As well, your strange clothing and indecipherable language would make you appear foreign and insane, and unlikely to be taken seriously. Of course, any attempt to communicate any ideas or philosophies that we take for granted today is impossible (like the inane above comment "God doesn't exist"). You're likely to die of starvation, barbarians or disease.

Just thought I'd say that this is an excellent post, a tip of the hat to you.

 

[SinorKirby]

How to put piss in a jar, because they sure as hell don't know how to do that yet!

I love you, and Australia will likely name you their king for giving them that gift.

Finally, someone recognizes my genius!

 

[Uncle_Brainhorn]

That there is no god, and hope they don't kill me.

 

[Ghengis John]

That there is no god, and hope they don't kill me.

They will. Big time. You might get a trial though. Depending on if there's any ducks handy.

 

[Wushu Panda]

"There is no god."
I'm sorry if this ignites a flamewar, but I had to.

What? Its actually a really good one!
Genocides made in Gods name would be avoided. Kings would fall and the people rise to power.
Witchhunt would end and the holy-mens shunning of new technology would be gone.

With the technological pitfall that is Christendom gone, a world of enlightenment would prosper.

Sure, great one. Say Good bye to the Renaissance. Instead of people killing in Gods' name they just kill in their own. Genocides would happen whenever a new power-hungry man wants power, shunning new technology because it keep 'the people' in check and under control.

Dont act like you can improve the world just because you take religion away. People are gonna find one cause or another for an excuse to kill. AT least with religion it also inspires people to help the less fortunate.


I would bring, reading, writing, good comedy and democracy.

 

[Toaster Hunter]

"Hey guys, try washing your hands. Its really easy, trust me it will only help in the long run. Oh, and the whole bleeding thing for medical use is not a good idea. Just a thought."

 

[GrimGrimoire]

"Hey guys, try washing your hands. Its really easy, trust me it will only help in the long run. Oh, and the whole bleeding thing for medical use is not a good idea. Just a thought."

Actually, the use of a blod sucking leech can help some blood conditions.
However, it could not do a lot of harm.

Personally I would learn them to make sandwiches!
Hope someone gets the referance.

 

[TheHappySquid]

Coconut milk is an antiseptic.

 

[Gizmo1990]

Whales are not fish they are Mammals.

I think that they world benifit from this.

 

[Heronblade]

There are two obstacles to overcome here:

One, I like to think of as the 'Connetticut Yankee' problem (from a certain book whose title includes those words). Most modern technology, even with all of the knowledge required to construct it, is absolutely useless without other supporting advances. For a single individual to go back and revolutionize society, they need to not only have an extensive grasp of the tech they wish to introduce, but also of all (or nearly all, certain specific applications might be skippable) of the intermediate stages in between the dark ages and now. For example, most of the tools required to build modern technology were made from refined metals that could not be found in the time period, made with a precision likewise not possible in the time period.

Two, involves actually being listened to. Old English and the modern variants use mostly the same words, but the specific syntax and dialects for each are radically different. Quite frankly, Old English might as well be Greek in terms of being able to understanding one another. Language barriers aside, whether burned as a witch, killed as a heretic, or locked up as a madman, they're not likely to listen long enough to actually benefit. One nice little proclamation the church had at this time was to effectively ban technological progress, under the belief that the suffering of the people was god's will.