# If you could bring one person from history to the present day, who would it be? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392 "2013-08-05T14:37:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluffy_PickleSniffer)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/21 "2013-08-06T22:47:28Z")
Jules Verne. I love his stories and would like to see what he would come up with for new stories after taking a look at how things have advanced since his time. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/22 "2013-08-07T00:01:15Z")
A nice quiet month-long historical interview (de-briefing?) with Alexander the Great. Doggone, that would be fun! ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/23 "2013-08-07T00:35:26Z")
Wouldn’t it be great to explain to George Lucas that his movies would inspire [threads like this on](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=471355)e? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/24 "2013-08-07T01:27:07Z")
Mozart or Bach. Probably Mozart… Bach was a bit of a stiff, while Mozart would probably die even earlier from all the hard-core partying. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/25 "2013-08-07T03:33:43Z")
Gut feeling-but Ben Franklin would adapt and not go immediantly insane at being transported into the future. Electricity, speed of travel, Ghengus Kakn = sword through your gullet. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/26 "2013-08-07T10:15:09Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > …my first choice would be Hitler. Mostly to ask him “What the fuck were you thinking?” He’d be wondering why we let the Jews loot our economies and why we didn’t follow his sterling example. Then again, he might come to enjoy the more convoluted and conspiracy minded racism. Big fan of the Turner Diaries, I bet. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/27 "2013-08-07T11:54:46Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > Wouldn’t it be great to explain to George Lucas that his movies would inspire [threads like this on](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=471355)e? While I’m not complaining about bringing that thread up from the depths, technically George Lucas isn’t actually dead yet. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/28 "2013-08-07T12:25:40Z")
I wouldn’t mind seeing what [Hypatia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia) could do with the opportunities a modern education, and today’s less rigidly defined gender roles, would provide. It’d let us see just how good at math she really was. Seeing what Shakespeare would do in today’s media industry would be a kick too. I agree with **QuickSilver** that Jesus’s reaction to what his teachings have brought about would be hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/29 "2013-08-07T14:19:47Z")
Newton. First off, once he gets up to speed with modern chemistry he wouldn’t spend half his working life dicking around with alchemy. Second, can you imagine what he’d be capable of with a little computerised assistance? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392.md?page=1)