A powerful laptop with multiple hard drives detailing the result of every major event that I can put money on, a comprehensive list of gold ore deposits in North America, and a full engineering program. With the money I make from betting, I would be able to mine for gold and then build structures that had only been dreamed of.
Then again, I am from Manitoba and there would be nothing but Cree and Sioux for miles. Maybe a sniper rifle with 50 cal. bullets. If I can drop something at 2000+ meters, I should have an advantage. Hunting is easier too.
A pair of shortwave radios. (One would be useless, obviously). Then I’d hire someone to take one of them to the other side of the Atlantic. Instataneous communication between the US and Europe would be of enormous value.
Good. Then I’m fully in complaince - A machining millis a single machine. One. Singular. Not a shop. Not even close to a shop (which would contain many metal working machines in addition to the mill). Fully in compliance with rule #1. I’m a’ takin; it with me!
But in 1800, severe heart problems (they called it ‘apoplexy’) were a rather minor cause of mortality. The affluence (and associated diet) that is so common today was rare then.
I’d take a helicopter as well (no surprise to people who read some of my threads), but I’d take a Black Hawk. It’s more practical than an Apache. You can haul loads in it, carry paying passengers with it, and it would be a helluva camper.
A heli would be so much cooler!
Helicopters are easy to operate. You just have to know how.
I wouldn’t. No, I’ve never flown a Black Hawk; but I’ve heard it said that ‘If you can fly a Robinson R-22, you can fly anything.’ Seriously though, larger helicotpers (I’ve heard) tend to be easier to fly than smaller ones. The aerodynamics are the same. Turbine transitions only take about 10 hours of training, and I’m sure I can figure it out in a pinch. (Yes, I have a big ego; but going from a Robbo or a Schweizer to a turbine is not the same as going from a Cessna 172 to a Boeing 747.)
Helicopters are better. No need to find a flat, calm stretch of water; just a small patch of flat ground. I’ve landed in a few river beds, by the way.
When I was driving home today I realized that I also should have picked a seaplane. I can already fly a regular small plane so that shouldn’t be too much harder although I tend to get lost a lot without the fancy navigational equipment so that would suck.
I also realized that I have another problem. My house, that I am typing from now, was built in the 1750’s so it will be there when I get banished to 1800. The original family stilled lived in it at that time. I have to kick them out. I am sure that they built it for something like $250 in supplies. I need to bring my deed with me to show that I am the rightful owner and I bought it for hundreds of thousands of dollars. That should blow their mind. Some of the men were pretty ornery back them just coming out of the Revolutionary War 20 something years earlier so I might have to pick a machine gun.
A screen weaver. No kidding. When asked to name the technology that had the most impact on her life, a 102 year old woman from my neighborhood said, “Easy, window screens.”
A calculator was my second choice after the Apache. I had a friend who used to say “if I took this TI-82 back to the Middle Ages I could rule the world!”. I was never sure exactly what he meant, I think by using it to calculate the trajectory of cannon balls or something.
I read a short story one, I think it was in Omni magazine, about a guy who took a very special calculator back in time to give to Isaac Newton. The story was written in the early-'80s, so it wasn’t a computer; but it was a very powerful scientific calculator. It was powered by a small nuclear power module that would explode after six months. This would allow Newton to use it without running out of power, for a sufficient time to make even more incredible advances than he made historically and would ensure that no one else found the calculator after it was discarded.
Brilliant plan, eh? Except the guy made a mistake. The first time he demonstrated the calculator to Newton, by doing a simple division problem with very large numbers, the result happened to be six hundred sixty-six. Newton thought he was the Devil. I don’t remember if Newton killed him, or just ran him off; but the calculator was thrown into the river. Six months later there was an explosion, which people attributed to something demonic.
I’m going to be a historical stickler here (and this is a thread about being a historical stickler, isn’t it?), and point out that state-sponsored persecutions of “witches” in Britain and North America ended in the early 1700s. And that witches were never burned at the stake in America; they were usually hanged.
The answer here is obvious. A vibrating massage chair with built in refrigerator. No one machine is going to make you the ruler of the world. (Heck, if Ewoks can take out Storm Troopers (and I have film proof that they can), then the US Army in 1800 can take out a single tank given time.)
So if you are not going to rule the world, man, it’ll be nice to relax in that chair!
Cash. Cold hard cash. If I am stuck there, no single item is going to make my life as simple as it is today, but with some startup capital, I could invest in emerging technologies (which I know are going to succeed), and at least live a rather luxurious lifestyle, allowing me to focus on my real plan, finding Michael J. Fox, kicking the crap out of him and taking his Delorean back to the future where I am an instant bazillionaire from all my investments.
Interesting! I had never heard cash referred to as a machine before. Learn something new every day.
But actually, cash from today wouldn’t do you much good in 1800. Unless you enjoy going to prison for forgery! Now straight gold would work. But to match the OP it would have to be oh, say, a solid gold bicycle.
