Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Preon1 on September 09, 2004, 10:33:26 AM
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I was asked an interesting/geeky/hypothetical question earlier this week that I've been pondering for the last few days:
You find yourself in posession of an item that has the capability of transporting a person to any point in the world at any point in history. The catch is that it will only work once, it will only transport one human being with no equipment, and you must use it in the next 10 years. Is it possible to use this device to take over the world?
The more I think about it, the more I think no... taking over the world is tough.
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no
but i would care about that crazy stuff, i would write on my body the winner of every superbowl / world series, AND which stocks to buy.
then go back to 1940
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going back to 1946 and buying up the surplus warbirds would be kinda nice..
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Originally posted by Furball
going back to 1946 and buying up the surplus warbirds would be kinda nice..
but you can't take anything with you...
from 40-46 i'd be earning money for after the war
...Preon1... you never mentioned, would you keep all knowledge?
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1: You got arrested for being nekkid in public.
2: The judge recommended the patriotic choice of volunteering for service in the infantry to get the discipline so lacking in your life over the choice of incarceration with Bubba Jenkins for the next six months.
3: When your unit was being loaded onto the landing craft for D-Day you punched your Lieutenant in the face ... and instead of his having you arrested and detained he made you stand in the front.
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If you're gonna be nekkid ... may as well transport yourself to Woodstock. Baybay!
Yeah .... it's muddy and they're passing some bad acid .... but there's naked, high, easy hippychicks all over, man.
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I would stick Bill Gates In HiTech's pocket and send them back 10 years!!! I'd be FILTHY RICH!!!!!!!!!!!!
( Insert evil MUUUUUUUHAHAHAA here)
NUTTZ
Originally posted by Preon1
I was asked an interesting/geeky/hypothetical question earlier this week that I've been pondering for the last few days:
You find yourself in posession of an item that has the capability of transporting a person to any point in the world at any point in history. The catch is that it will only work once, it will only transport one human being with no equipment, and you must use it in the next 10 years. Is it possible to use this device to take over the world?
The more I think about it, the more I think no... taking over the world is tough.
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Originally posted by JB73
...Preon1... you never mentioned, would you keep all knowledge?
Yes, you keep all your knowledge. I see three strategies:
-Go back to ancient/feudal times so that your increased knowledge gives an extreme advantage over everyone else in the world.
-Go back to a point in modern history where you can change a single event and take advantage of it
-Send somebody else back to make a number of choice investments so that you can spend the rest of the modern era taking over the world.
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That third option is really iffy there, bud.
WHAT AM I SAYIN'?! lol
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They're all iffy, which is what makes it such a cool question. A real exercise in military, social, and economic history. They all sound decent, but when you get into the details, you realize how complicated the problem is.
Strategy 1: I'm torn on location. You need a culture that's has the capacity to take over the world (look at the ones that nearly did), but also one where a barrage of magical new ideas would be readily accepted. I'm thinking ancient Persia would be a great choice... but that's a tough call.
Strategy 2: My first thought is to find my way into Hitler's place and correct all the mistakes he made. Other possibilities include Napoleon or Stalin. In any case, there's not a lot of personal research you could do to adequately prepare for such an undertaking. How does one person, even with today's knowledge of the past, usurp one of the greatest empire builders of recent history?
Strategy 3: Yep, it's a stretch. What could somebody possibly bequeath via will or otherwise that could be wielded in such a way that I could take over the world? I can't think of a single thing, but it at least strikes me as a possibility.
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Go back to adam and eve, knock out adam, get it on with eve.. you are now the proud father of the entire world..
Case Solved
-BM
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Heh thats easy.
In 10 years you can learn how to build firearms similar to those used in the wild west (simple to make even with very primitive metallurgy knowledge), you can learn basic medicine, chemistry and learn martial arts (sword/spear/bow/unarmed).
Then send yourself back to the very early bronze age, find a big tribe (200 peeps), take over them as leader, begin conquering tribes with your advanced stuff
in less than 20 years you will pretty much own the planet.
Just dont give your back to brutus. ;)
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i was wondering how WW2 would end if nazi germany wasnt nazi but fascist, meaning- without all the racism crap. just imagine what would happen if the germans where to treat jews right... einstein and a few thousand jews would be fighting for the "fatherland"
i bet on the axis, germany would obtein the A bomb. and then, who knows.
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Two problems with such assumptions.
1: In ten years you can also develop a disease that requires modern medicine to treat. Sure ... you can do your best to stay healthy .... have those check-ups ... and what-not. But if you're already in your 30s the odds are on the rise. Of course ... that's life anyway and it's a crapshoot so may as well carry on with the plan.
But ....
2: On the flip side .... no matter what type or how much advanced knowledge you carry back with you, if you don't have the skill or personality it takes to politically manipulate, inspire devotion or, failing that, successfully select and control an individual or group from the shadows - even without the advantages of having a gun built yet, then the primitive methods used to kill people back then will be just as effective against you.
Then there's the third aspect of this exercise.
Time travels one way.
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see with my plan, i dont want to take over the world...
i just want to be Biff Tannen
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I would go back to the 50's and blow General Pearkes away. Canada buys the Arrow and stays the leader in world aviation...that should do it.
NEVAR FORGIT TEH AROW!! :mad:
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Originally posted by Flyboy
i was wondering how WW2 would end if nazi germany wasnt nazi but fascist, meaning- without all the racism crap. just imagine what would happen if the germans where to treat jews right... einstein and a few thousand jews would be fighting for the "fatherland"
i bet on the axis, germany would obtein the A bomb. and then, who knows.
The driving force behind the Third Reich was hate. And not just hate of Jews. It's momentum .... it's excuse for gearing for war ... for getting the people to accept such and make sacrifices .... was hate.
It's easy to get away with that tactic when the people are already embittered from the losses and starvation incurred from a previous war and the ongoing sanctions involved. It's what gave Hitler a springboard via Hindenburg.
Had the hate not existed .... chances are the reason for it would have had to not exist, as well. A embittered nation is a despirate nation.
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I think that this relies on a faulty premise--that modern knowledge would actually be an asset in earlier times. I think the argument could be made in the last 200 years or so, but after that modern knowledge would probably be a severe disadvantage.
Case in point, hygene. We are used to it here to protect us form disease and well discomfort. However, back then the lack of hygene would not only be distatasteful, but potentially deadly (read bacteria, etc). Notice as well that past about 100 years the food would probably kill you.
Notice as well that basic concepts of human interaction have changed dramtically. Just showing up at a particular time in a particular place speaking a strage dialect would probably get you killed PDQ.
Also one would be quite unprepared to do the basic chores of life. Think making ones own clothes, butchering meat, procuring clean water, etc...and even if you could manage, the time it took would leave little time to take over the world.
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couldent go back beyond the early parts of the industrial revolution anyway. co2 concentrations would be to low to sustain us, we'd die.
however, if you could take back some weapons, you could take over medieval europe in a week, almost single handedly.
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i dont need 10 years, i would instant go back to where Bill Gates
was prior to start his company... and today we would all run "Ghost-OS" and i would rule the world LOL ;)
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If the UK was knocked out of WW2 in 1940 Germany and Japan rule 3/4 of the world - simple as that. Japan would probably take hold of the British colonies in asia and would thus be freed from their materials shortages, so no Pearl Harbor. As a result of this and loss of UK base the USA remains isolationst. The Russians could not hold out aginst a full attention of Germany and Japan without support and distraction from UK and US.
And if it wasnt for Churchill and some German blunders this could well have happened. Thank god for Churchill - he was the greatest man of the 20th Century..
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in reallity you could take over the world. but you would have to extraordinaryly smart to do it. Blacksmith and swordsmiths skills could be useful in hunter gather times. a engineer could easily become king of the world forthe simple fact that he can do almost anything from desgin guns to advance calculations.
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Originally posted by Arlo
The driving force behind the Third Reich was hate. And not just hate of Jews. It's momentum .... it's excuse for gearing for war ... for getting the people to accept such and make sacrifices .... was hate.
It's easy to get away with that tactic when the people are already embittered from the losses and starvation incurred from a previous war and the ongoing sanctions involved. It's what gave Hitler a springboard via Hindenburg.
Had the hate not existed .... chances are the reason for it would have had to not exist, as well. A embittered nation is a despirate nation.
i agree with you that hatred brought hitler to pwer, but it wasnt the driving force of the germans in the war.
german, like japan- had a blind belive in their leaders, that allmost machine like menthality (sp?) was their power source.
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Originally posted by Flyboy
i agree with you that hatred brought hitler to pwer, but it wasnt the driving force of the germans in the war.
german, like japan- had a blind belive in their leaders, that allmost machine like menthality (sp?) was their power source.
Not so much "blind" as "scared to death of." Japan is another story completely which deals with thousands of years of cultural conditioning.
I'll amend to say hatred started the ball rolling and fear kept it going until the world had to step in and take the ball away.
Hate and fear have always shared a close relationship.
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Originally posted by Preon1
Yes, you keep all your knowledge. I see three strategies:
-Go back to ancient/feudal times so that your increased knowledge gives an extreme advantage over everyone else in the world.
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Not a bad Idea but im thinking they would burn you at the stake real quick like.
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Originally posted by RTStuka
Not a bad Idea but im thinking they would burn you at the stake real quick like.
They've done it to every time-traveler so far.
I keep tellin' the dimensional time patrol ...... don't go to Salem! But ... noooooooooo. One went to France and held onto her liberated philosophy ..... wrong answer.
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Originally posted by Arlo
They've done it to every time-traveler so far.
I keep tellin' the dimensional time patrol ...... don't go to Salem! But ... noooooooooo. One went to France and held onto her liberated philosophy ..... wrong answer.
LMAO :rofl :rofl I know you would think they would understand, when you go back in time and cant take anything with you, you are so fluffied. Your just gonna be the naked crazy man who gets his head cut off. If we could at least figure out a way to bring back a gun to defend ourselves things would be all butter.
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I'd go back to September of 2004 and tell everyone that if elected president, John Kerry will destroy America.
Oooops, my secret's out. ;)
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Who want's to go BACK in time. Sure, you might rule the world, but a world of what???
Black and white t.v.? No computers? Girls who don't shave their privates correctly? What kinda world is that?
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Who would want to rule the world when you can go back 65-70 years and fly fighter planes?
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Originally posted by Preon1
Yes, you keep all your knowledge. I see three strategies:
-Go back to ancient/feudal times so that your increased knowledge gives an extreme advantage over everyone else in the world.
-Go back to a point in modern history where you can change a single event and take advantage of it
-Send somebody else back to make a number of choice investments so that you can spend the rest of the modern era taking over the world.
A complete explanation of the ramifications of strategy one:
http://www.literature.org/authors/twain-mark/connecticut/
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Originally posted by GRUNHERZ
... Thank god for Churchill - he was the greatest man of the 20th Century..
Now we agree on something!
Churchill was DA MAN!
Me , I'd just study history a lot and go back to the eve of the 20th century. I'd try to impress the world leaders with my 'divination' powers (by warning them in advance of disasters i.e. the Titanic...) and try to steer them away from WWI with the influence so gained.
I'd probably be just some kind of Cassandra, but it would be worth to try.
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Originally posted by BlckMgk
Go back to adam and eve, knock out adam, get it on with eve.. you are now the proud father of the entire world..
Case Solved
-BM
What if she was a *****?
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Originally posted by AKIron
I'd go back to September of 2004 and tell everyone that if elected president, John Kerry will destroy America.
Oooops, my secret's out. ;)
So it was YOU!!
LOL hehe :D
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Originally posted by JB73
no
but i would care about that crazy stuff, i would write on my body the winner of every superbowl / world series, AND which stocks to buy.
then go back to 1940
But then your landing site might be some road, you get hit by a car and die. Meanwhile, some doctor doing an autopsy, sees all your predictions and he makes the millions if not billions. He'd probably be dead by now of old age.
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Originally posted by GScholz
10 years. I think I could learn enough about nuclear physics in 10 years to instruct 1930-1940 era physicists to make an atomic bomb. Heil me.
But then because of the troble of getting enriched Uranium, your project isn't finished by the time Hitler's army invades your country. Hitler's Gestapo gets ahold of you, your scientists, and all your secrets. Nazi Germany gets the bomb first and rules the world. BTW, Hitler has you and your group of scientists train his German scientists, then has you and your group killed because he can't let you escape to the "other" side.
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Originally posted by GRUNHERZ
If the UK was knocked out of WW2 in 1940 Germany and Japan rule 3/4 of the world - simple as that. Japan would probably take hold of the British colonies in asia and would thus be freed from their materials shortages, so no Pearl Harbor. As a result of this and loss of UK base the USA remains isolationst. The Russians could not hold out aginst a full attention of Germany and Japan without support and distraction from UK and US.
And if it wasnt for Churchill and some German blunders this could well have happened. Thank god for Churchill - he was the greatest man of the 20th Century..
What if Hitler had withheld his invasion of the USSR. Would he have been able to conquer England?
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Originally posted by Arlo
They've done it to every time-traveler so far.
I keep tellin' the dimensional time patrol ...... don't go to Salem! But ... noooooooooo. One went to France and held onto her liberated philosophy ..... wrong answer.
Arlo and RTStuka,
LOL!!!! :rofl
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Depends on what Kingdom you want to rule -
Personally, I would go back a few years before Hugh Hefner got his idea about a magazine for men and beat him to the punch.
It might be a small kingdom in the grand scheme of things, but I can't think of a better one to rule :)
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Originally posted by Arlo
They've done it to every time-traveler so far.
I keep tellin' the dimensional time patrol ...... don't go to Salem! But ... noooooooooo. One went to France and held onto her liberated philosophy ..... wrong answer.
:rofl That's AWESOME!
Originally posted by OIO
Heh thats easy.
In 10 years you can learn how to build firearms similar to those used in the wild west (simple to make even with very primitive metallurgy knowledge), you can learn basic medicine, chemistry and learn martial arts (sword/spear/bow/unarmed).
Then send yourself back to the very early bronze age, find a big tribe (200 peeps), take over them as leader, begin conquering tribes with your advanced stuff
in less than 20 years you will pretty much own the planet.
Just dont give your back to brutus.
Hopefully that tribe of 200 people are near other tribes who have enough navigational knowhow to get you around the world to conquer it. The farther back in history you go, the more difficult it is to make a world wide empire due to limitations in travel and communications.
Originally posted by jEEZY
I think that this relies on a faulty premise--that modern knowledge would actually be an asset in earlier times. I think the argument could be made in the last 200 years or so, but after that modern knowledge would probably be a severe disadvantage.
Case in point, hygene. We are used to it here to protect us form disease and well discomfort. However, back then the lack of hygene would not only be distatasteful, but potentially deadly (read bacteria, etc). Notice as well that past about 100 years the food would probably kill you.
Notice as well that basic concepts of human interaction have changed dramtically. Just showing up at a particular time in a particular place speaking a strage dialect would probably get you killed PDQ.
Also one would be quite unprepared to do the basic chores of life. Think making ones own clothes, butchering meat, procuring clean water, etc...and even if you could manage, the time it took would leave little time to take over the world.
Dude, go camping. I used to teach survival in the Air Force; you can live without modern ammenities easy enough. I imagine the basics could be easily taught in a month. The rest of the 10 years would go to language, culture, science and engineering. I'm not saying it's easy, or even that it's possible, but the idea is certainly fun to ponder.
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"Hopefully that tribe of 200 people are near other tribes who have enough navigational knowhow to get you around the world to conquer it. The farther back in history you go, the more difficult it is to make a world wide empire due to limitations in travel and communications. "
The idea is that IM the know-how.
Communications are not an issue really. Just set up my own pony express for starters ;) .. it worked for the romans!