Let’s give some ancient peoples a couple books on modern maths and calculus. Really fuck with the development of tech.
this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2025
18 points (84.6% liked)
Ask Lemmy
34926 readers
843 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
You would probably be surprised at how quickly they would figure out how it worked, save maybe some things that have a ton of prerequisite knowledge. If they had the proper materials/tools, they might even be able to reproduce it.
The modern human brain evolved a long time ago, so on average they are just as intelligent as people today (more so in many respects due to necessity). The things that hold us back technologically are usually lack of resources and discovering/making new materials that unlock new categories of tools.
To answer the question: It really depends on how “ancient” we’re talking, but antibiotics have been invaluable to humanity. So literally just teaching early humans how to cultivate the molds that can kill bacteria would change the trajectory of human history.
So literally just teaching early humans how to cultivate the molds that can kill bacteria would change the trajectory of human history.
Shit just teaching them the concepts behind science and (present day) basic stuff ("no the volcano is not erupting because the gods are angry") could probably head off religion entirely.....SOMEBODY GET ME A DAMN TIME MACHINE
A polaroid camera so they can steal each other's soul
Furbies. Just to see if we end up with a furby based religion.
Cool Ranch Doritos
[Solar powered strobe lights.](https://www.amazon.com/Solar-Strobe-Warning-Light-Flashing
/dp/B08HLL8JQL)
Sure the battery will fail after a few years but until then they will have something that won't exist again for centuries.
If it's a civilization that hasn't yet had a writing system, a writing system.
However, I will teach them a (semi-)featural alphabet, kinda like if the Hangeul jamo were its own alphabet. It'd be fun how long the orthography will diverge from the spoken sounds, and how fossilized the orthography can be--and more interestingly, how they might evolve the writing system.
If it's a civilization that already is using a writing system, emojis that they can use alongside their writing system. It'd be interesting to see if they'd eventually turn into ideograms for human feelings and thoughts.
aluminum bars, they won't be able to work it into things like with iron. even if they do, they can't make more
Nuclear bombs
If we’re including eras where people are able to read and write, a history book. They will see their future and will attempt to change it, for better or for worse.
Steam engines, clockwork and balloons. Hopefully they turn into a steampunk society.
Antibiotics
Talk about butterfly effect lol. I wonder where we would be today if antibiotics were readily available before plagues became plagues.
Me, too. That’s why I wanna do it!
Kite & surfboard plus the appropriate colorful dress.
I'd show them once how it is done, then watch whatever happens.