# What Historical Figure Would You Bring Forward In Time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 2, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848 "2010-10-02T16:42:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/1 "2010-10-02T16:42:29Z")
No doubt this has probably been asked before; my apologies as I’ve only been reading a few months… If you could bring someone forward in time to stay with you for say, a month, who would it be? No real restrictions, doesn’t necessarily have to be someone well-known. They have to still have all their marbles though. I’m thinking Ben Franklin, I’d like to get his reaction to modern technology and American history. And tips on French chicks. **Also, how would you handle the last day? They have to go be dead again. What if they didn’t want to leave?** ---
**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:** [October 2, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/2 "2010-10-02T16:46:13Z")
Mozart. I assume we have a universal translator or something? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/3 "2010-10-02T16:49:48Z")
Crazy Horse and Krazy Kat ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/4 "2010-10-02T17:02:42Z")
Isaac Newton. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/5 "2010-10-02T17:25:27Z")
I’d bring forward Jesus and Mohammad, and have them explain themselves, because both the Gospels and the Koran tend to be murky in places. ---
**Author:** ![Liche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@Liche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liche)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/6 "2010-10-02T22:43:56Z")
I sometimes idly ponder how the modern world would look through the eyes of W.S.Gilbert were he to appear in the present day. Don’t remember why I started, or why him in particular, but it’s been going on for years now. “No, Gilbert, you can’t call them that any more.” “Yes, there really is a Conservative-Liberal coalition.” “Here is an an iPod nano with your life’s work.” “Try listening to this Sondheim. Best not to ask what he thinks of you.” The conversation would be priceless. ---
**Author:** ![Gil-Martin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Gil-Martin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gil-Martin)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/7 "2010-10-02T23:16:14Z")
H.P. Lovecraft. We could start a blog together. ---
**Author:** ![Jennmonkye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/278dde/32.png) [@Jennmonkye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennmonkye)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/8 "2010-10-03T00:19:42Z")
Abraham Lincoln, Billy the Kid, Socrates, Joan of Arc, Beethoven, Genghis Khan, and Napoleon 😃 ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/9 "2010-10-03T00:40:37Z")
> [@Jennmonkye](#): > > Abraham Lincoln, Billy the Kid, Socrates, Joan of Arc, Beethoven, Genghis Khan, and Napoleon 😃 What about Freud? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/10 "2010-10-03T00:44:45Z")
Jesus. That’s the historical figure I have the most personal curiosity about, and the one whom it would be most satisfying to present to fundamentalist Christians. ---
**Author:** ![Jennmonkye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/278dde/32.png) [@Jennmonkye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennmonkye)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/11 "2010-10-03T00:47:13Z")
Darn it…I knew I forgot one! ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/12 "2010-10-03T00:57:45Z")
Not from a terribly long time ago, but Marshall McLuhan would be fun to have around in 2010. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/13 "2010-10-03T01:00:15Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Jesus. That’s the historical figure I have the most personal curiosity about, and the one whom it would be most satisfying to present to fundamentalist Christians. “If I can ask the Evangelicals in the audience to please not fall into shrieking convulsions when you see his skin tone. It was perfectly normal for the area at the time.” ---
**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:** [October 3, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/14 "2010-10-03T01:11:09Z")
Ayn Rand, for intellectual and personal reasons. For one thing, I’m much better prepared to counter many of her assertions than I was 45 years ago. And Mohammad, to set some of his followers straight . . . unless of course he agrees with them, then we are all in very deep shit. And my father, for maybe a couple of hours. I want him to have some understanding of the man I have become. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/15 "2010-10-03T01:16:06Z")
Nikola Tesla. Just to see what he could do with and to today’s technology. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/16 "2010-10-03T01:26:20Z")
Leonardo da Vinci. Where is Vinci, anyway? _looks it up_ [Tuscany](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vinci.JPG). Okay, then. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/17 "2010-10-03T02:10:41Z")
It couldn’t be a scientist. They’d spend too much time getting caught up or looking into current technology. Gotta be a politician or religious figure. I’d take Jefferson for the head exploding goodness. Although if his annotated bible doesn’t do it… ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/18 "2010-10-03T02:25:22Z")
I am very tempted by Jefferson, but for purely selfish reasons I think I’d have to go with Ben Jonson. Because having a fountain of Elizabethan / Jacobean / Caroline theater gossip coming to stay with me for a month would be _awesome_. (Also, I think he would be hilariously, cynically bemused by the modern world.) ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/19 "2010-10-03T02:38:40Z")
Abe Vigoda. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/20 "2010-10-03T03:14:17Z")
Oscar Wilde, I think he’d be astounded at how the love that dares not speak its name has evolved. After he got used to modern society, I’d like to see him write a book or a play, updated to our time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848.md?page=2)