The planet Uranus was not discovered until 1781. If you knew where to look, it would be very easy to show that it’s a planet with 18-century technology.
There are a lot of Physics experiments which you could probably do, given a good laboratory, which I learned Freshman and Sophomore year in College, which had yet to be performed in 1701. By predicting the results ahead of time, you’d show off your futuristic knowledge. Franklin’s experiments into electricity, Newton’s experiments in optics, and Curie’s experiments in radioactivity all spring to mind.
Also, this is the best one I can think of: The continent of Antarctica was not known until early in the nineteenth century. If you could convince a well-equipped expedition team to get down there, you’d be vindicated.
Of course, you would be extremely hard-pressed to prove that you were from this century, since we’ve only had about eleven months of it so far.
I think about all I could do is wow some people with my math skills which would be pretty impressive at that time for that area, I think.
I could present all sorts of theories which I could in no way prove, but wait until I find someone who could pull me some wire and scrape up some natural magnets——alternator! That would be sure to get some wows, though it wouldn’t do much since there wouldn’t be anything that used electricity
Also, err, we could probably develop the steam engine with some metalworkers of the time, or at least explain the principles so they could make it. When was the steam engine made, not until the 1800’s, right? That’d be an interesting headstart for the Americas, but I’d have a hard time not spilling the revolutionary beans. Such a blabbermouth.
Depending on what the chemists had I might be able to (if I were allowed time to prepare) show them how to make some neato hallucinogens like DMT. That would get me burned at the stake for sure!
I could go to Maryland and accurately predict the future (immediate future) family structure of several families.
Plus do major event predictions.
I could also do some neat math and science things. But that might just make them think I’m some kind of insane genious. I may be able to make an early train if I had enough start-up capital. Once you get that you can start full blown industrialism and make yourself as rich as you want. As long as you don’t piss off the wrong people doing it.
If you picked where you were going in a smart manner you wouldn’t have to worry too much about being accused as a witch and stuff.
Although if you’re smart you’d never tell them when you were from and go about making yourself very rich and comfortable.
If i could find a good blacksmith, or even better, a machinist/watchmaker, etc. i could instruct them on how to build a simple internal combustion engine…i just dont know how well it would run on grain alcohol…
Perhaps if i did a little more studying on biochemistery, i could make penicillin for them…even if it didnt convince them i was from the futre, it would help them out a lot.
I could teach them how to make paper from wood fiber (during the 18th century, all paper was made from linen and cotton, just like our money is today)
A steam engine would be hard to build because of all the valves and fittings needed.
Provided i could find what was needed to make an alternator/generator, i could build a device to pick up radio signals. (making a machine to send radio signals would be the hard part, but perhaps the static would be sufficent for them)
Teach them how to cure tobacco until it was golden. (tobacco in the 1700s was smoked semi-green.)
build a telegraph…sure, it was a 19th cetury invention, but they wouldnt know that…
I wouldn’t even try to prove I was from the future. Would they even have the concept of time travel then?
Instead, I would try to prove that I was an angel, sent to test their knowledge of God and the bible (which means I wouldn’t have to know the bible myself).
With my superior nutrition I imagine my body would seem godlike and my hygiene would project a type of purity that would seem beyond them.
The first thing I would do is challenge their finest warriors to unarmed combat, naked. (I’m assuming I’m dealing with Europeans here, who had lost a great deal of their martial art prowess by the 1700s.) If I won, then I’d have proven some unearthly skill. If I lost, then it probably wouldn’t matter.
Once I had beaten their warriors, I would try to do my best to act angelic and peaceful. Then I would die a miserable, lonely death as an angel because I’m betting even their finest women were kind of disgusting.
I’d work with what I know: find a gunmaker and help with refined gunpowder, rifled barrels for guns, and rockets. The Army is a great teacher.
I don’t know a lot of the exact methods but I could show them things that could be done: refining oil for gasoline, kerosene, and plastics; electricity basics like the storage battery, telegraph, telephone and light bulb; high explosives like TNT; the germ theory of disease; anesthesia with ether and nitrous oxide- leading to basic dentistry; the Heimlich maneuver, CPR, and basic first aid; light aircraft and balloons; the internal combustion engine and all its applications… more will come to mind.
None of which would prove that I came from anywhere- just like now, some people would believe, some would not.
Oh, yeah, I forgot one thing. Because our storytelling sensibilities are so vastly difference than theirs, I would frequently tell stories of such magnitude and unusual structure that they wouldn’t fully comprehend it.
Plus, I’d tell them Shakespeare was the devil and all his works should be burned.
Wash my hands and astound them when they don’t die after childbirth?
If I’m not mistaken, most of the hygienic practices we perform automatically didn’t show up 'til the industrial revolution (at least in Europe), so I’d imagine I could out-doctor their surgeons with what is now just common knowledge.
Heck, at least I’d be a decent midwife (midhusband?).
Explain how the total of human knowledge increases exponentially over time. Then show that your knowledge surpasses theirs by enough orders of magnitude.
I DON’T BELONG HERE! I BELONG IN A WORLD OF T.V’S AND MICROWAVE DINNERS!!! I DON’T KNOW HOW TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF! IN OUR WORLD, WE HAVE ROBOTS THAT DO THAT FOR US!!!
Besides getting killed, you may end up way off, because of the chaos theory. Your very existence in the year 1701 could throw history way off what it ended up being.
If I wanted to prove I were from this century, I would tell people about things like Uranus, Neptune and Pluto along with the number of discovered moons they each possess, or other then-undiscovered things, like various facts about pre-historical society or complex mathematics, things that could not change.
But then again, it would depend on where I ended up, whether the time machine were still with me, and whether or not I still had my clothes and the stuff in them (usually some pens and my electronic organizer). The electric organizer would be of prime interest to the people of 300 years ago, because it has an accurate clock and calculator in it.
After convincing them I’m from the future, I might try to warn them about the dangers of fascism and religious fanaticism by teaching them the history I knew.
Then again, I might convince them I could and would kill them with one button on my organizer unless they give me lots of riches, the prettiest girl in the village and a nice place to live. With such tactics, I just might become the leader of a nation or at least a cult. In either case, the manipulation of my subjects’ minds would be amusing.
d’oh! displaying ignorance about everything those futuristic people are doing (or maybe saying, “I told you so” if they’d used up all the oil or coal or whatnot).
'course, it would also help if they’d invented an immortality pill somewhere around 2030 or so and your offspring took it… maybe he/she’d back you up… and maybe not…
But… I’m not from this century. I’m from last century. Only little bitty babies are from this century.
There’s no way to “prove” when you came from. You might be able to convince some people your aren’t from around now, but mostly they’ll think you’re a big nut-job.
Knowlege of inventions? Math? Germ theory? Yer makin’ stuff up, man. Or a good guesser. Or just a derned clever tinkerer. If the people around you aren’t ready for a bit of information, they won’t believe you. Artifacts are a good start, but how do you prove their provenance?
I might be from the future. But I ain’t sayin’ nuthin’.
-Rue.
