# The five-year coma challenge! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2014, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228 "2014-11-21T05:48:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/1 "2014-11-21T05:48:21Z")
At the end of the First World War David Lloyd George said that had a man at the start of 1914 had been shipwrecked on a desert island returned to civilisation in 1919 the change would induce him to believe that he had gone mad - Germany turned from confident empire into timid republic. Russia, ruled by exiles. The thing that didn’t change he said, was Europe being a seething cauldron of hate. So here’s the challenge. Take any man from any period in history. He falls into a coma for precisely five years, wakes up in the same place without anyone telling him what’s gone on. Which time and place would induce him to think he’d gone mad and question his sense of reality the fastest? The question is addressed in the film [_Good Bye, Lenin!_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Bye,_Lenin!#Plot), an East German communist falls into a coma and misses the fall of the wall. Her son maintains the pretence that it hasn’t so the shock won’t kill her. My own suggestions; Japan, someone from 1942 waking up in 1947 would have missed a hell of a lot and wondered what the serious fuck was going on. Another obvious one; an Aztec in Tenochtitlan, 1518 waking up in 1523. He would have missed the collapse of his entire world. Last one from me because I’m sure this one will be mentioned. The end of 1860, Virginia. The state that had the highest slave population. Then waking up in 1865 with the Civil War over, slavery finished and the south crushed. Those are just my picks, though, all war based since military history is my bag, baby. I’m sure you have some better ones, from social, cultural, technological perspectives. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Joker_and_the_Thief)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/2 "2014-11-21T07:51:25Z")
Roanoke, falling asleep soon after arrival in 1587, and waking up soon before the arrival of the relief force in 1590. The person would be alone in the wilderness of a strange and foreign land, and there’d be no one around that would be conversant for hundred of miles. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/3 "2014-11-21T08:10:33Z")
Not five years but it reminds me of this joke: A man falls into a coma in 1953 and wakes up 20 years later in 1973. Upon being told he’s been out of it for a rather long time, he asks who the President is. Upon being told that Nixon is President, he sobs: “Oh my god! So Eisenhower is dead!” For five years, how about 1999-2004? 9/11, Iraq, all that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/4 "2014-11-21T08:32:25Z")
1964-69 would be a good shocker for an American-going from the complete triumph of postwar liberalism to the election of Nixon and the beginning of the collapse of the New Deal coalition 1988-1993 due to the end of the Cold War, collapse of the USSR, and all that jazz 2000-2005 for post 9/11 culture shock ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/5 "2014-11-21T08:46:32Z")
If you fell into a five-year coma in Pompeii in 75 AD, you’d get quite a shock when you woke up. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/6 "2014-11-21T08:51:49Z")
August 7, 1940 - August 7, 1945 . . . in Hiroshima. Go from a country at peace to a country defeated . . . and the bomb. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/7 "2014-11-21T10:07:17Z")
1999-2004 is a good one. _(“So, did Clinton ever admit to having sexual relations with that woman?..Whaddaya mean no one cares anymore?”)_ Sept. 1929 to Aug. 1934 would be a shocker, especially for someone invested in the stock market. Also, obligatory Simpsons scene: [spoiler] **KENT BROCKMAN:** Tonight on EyeWitness News: A man who’s been in a coma for 23 years wakes up! **MAN:** Do Sonny and Cher still have that stupid show? **KENT BROCKMAN:** Actually, she won an Oscar, and he’s a congressman. **MAN:** Good night! **beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep** [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![yo\_han\_go](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yo_han_go/32/130_2.png) [@yo\_han\_go](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yo_han_go)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/8 "2014-11-21T11:16:52Z")
Slight Hijack (and slight **spoiler** ). Just read Varley’s Rolling Thunder where main character (from late 21 century) skips ten years in a kind of stasis and then returns in a middle of an Earth extinction event. So I’d say I’d win this challenge by nominating some T-Rex from Year 64999999 BC. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/9 "2014-11-21T13:40:24Z")
Europe, 1346-1351. From before the first word of the Black Plague had reached Europe, to a continent devastated by it. 1994-1999 would be rather interesting. Way short of being the winner, but interesting. You’d be going from an era where computers were still on the periphery of American life, to the height of the dot-com boom. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/10 "2014-11-21T16:46:24Z")
I would say 1940-1945. Things changed after WWII. Regards, Shodan ---
**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:** [November 21, 2014, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/11 "2014-11-21T16:53:25Z")
October 1517-October 1521. From a united (of sorts) Christendom to a split Germany, half of which are shouting heresies unheard-of (well, at least openly) when you fell asleep. And all because some monk questioned whether it was right to sell promises of heaven in order to keep paying Michelangelo. ---
**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:** [November 21, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/12 "2014-11-21T17:24:10Z")
7 June 1788, [Day of the Tiles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Tiles) in Grenoble, France. Thought to be the first riot that kinda’ sorta kicks off the French Revolution. 7 June 1793, according [to this wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_French_history) of French History timelines, > [@](#): > > Revolutionary Paris sections took over the Convention, calling for administrative and political purges, starting 1-year and 2 months of what is known as the Reign of Terror. I’m not sure how much faith to put in the dates. So, from near absolute monarchy, complete with fake shepherd village to entertain the court, to [the king having his head cut off](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Louis_XVI), [his queen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette) soon to follow, and a nation in chaos. Things can change fast. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/13 "2014-11-21T18:06:57Z")
9 years, not 5, but the English Civil War from 1642 to 1651 saw huge changes in Great Britain and asserted the supremacy of the people and democracy. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/14 "2014-11-21T20:32:50Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Not five years but it reminds me of this joke: > > A man falls into a coma in 1953 and wakes up 20 years later in 1973. Upon being told he’s been out of it for a rather long time, he asks who the President is. Upon being told that Nixon is President, he sobs: “Oh my god! So Eisenhower is dead!” I don’t understand this joke but I really want to. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/15 "2014-11-21T20:34:04Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I don’t understand this joke but I really want to. Nixon was Eisenhower’s vice-president. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/16 "2014-11-21T21:19:48Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > Another obvious one; an Aztec in Tenochtitlan, 1518 waking up in 1523. He would have missed the collapse of his entire world. Honestly, I can’t think of anything to exceed that one. It’s like going to sleep just before the War of the Worlds and then waking up to find out that the virus that kills everything is mostly killing the humans instead of the aliens, and the aliens are still in control and reigning terror on everything. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/17 "2014-11-21T21:33:15Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Nixon was Eisenhower’s vice-president. I know but I don’t understand why he lept to the conclusion that Eisenhower was dead. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/18 "2014-11-21T21:44:24Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I know but I don’t understand why he lept to the conclusion that Eisenhower was dead. No one would ever elect Nixon, because Nixon is a crooked, evil man. Ergo, Eisenhower must be dead, probably assassinated by Nixon. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/19 "2014-11-21T21:57:43Z")
Ahhh okay. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Fuji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228/20 "2014-11-21T23:29:29Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Europe, 1346-1351. From before the first word of the Black Plague had reached Europe, to a continent devastated by it. That was my 1st choice. (“Hey - where’d every third person go?!”) > [@Shodan](#): > > I would say 1940-1945. Things changed after WWII. > > Regards, > Shodan And that was my 2nd choice. (Particularly for a propsperous German citizen from June 1940 to June 1945.) If I could stretch the coma slightly, I’d go for 632 (Death of Mohammed) to 642. From two superpowers (Sasanian and Byzantine Empires) versus a collection of Arab tribal raiders to the total destruction of one (Sasanian) and the latter’s severe mauling at the hands of a [dynamic entity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashidun_Caliphate#Military_expansion) possessing the whole of Arabia, Iran, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Egypt, and much of Anatolia, is quite a turn of events. Forced to stick to a 5-year period, I’d go for 632 to 637, during which time two of the [most](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_al-Q%C4%81disiyyah) [significant](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yarmouk) batlles in world history were fought. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-year-coma-challenge/705228.md?page=2)