# Take a modern invention back in time **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2021, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-modern-invention-back-in-time/954446 "2021-11-16T10:16:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 7
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2021, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-modern-invention-back-in-time/954446/7 "2021-11-16T11:08:59Z")
Not exactly the same question, but you might want to consider some of the examples in this thread. > [@The most technically complex thing invented since 1820 that could be reverse engineered in 1820?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-technically-complex-thing-invented-since-1820-that-could-be-reverse-engineered-in-1820/855312/11): > > I went to the same place, but not as complex. I would arrive with a Kar98 Mauser rifle and ammo. Bolt action still makes it light years ahead of the standard of the day, and much easier to manufacture and adapt. I’d say anytime before the 1800’s - would be a good book that actually described how the body works and how to keep it in health. Something that WOULDN"T depend upon medicines and machinery only available now. Followed by a book that told how to manufacture ether and chloroform. Something like the manual used by: [Barefoot doctor - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_doctor) Except I’d have to rip out the pages which described “traditional medicine”. (You know the saying - if “alternative medicine” is shown to work - it becomes part of just - “medicine”.) --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-modern-invention-back-in-time/954446)._