# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Baboonanza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f475e1/32.png) [@Baboonanza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baboonanza)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/41 "2010-10-05T08:49:25Z")
Or Freddie Mercury, for one last tour. And debauchery of course šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/42 "2010-10-05T08:57:58Z")
In any case, people from too far back in time would be in for a horrid culture shock. And would definitely be seriously un-PC for our times. ---
**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 5, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/43 "2010-10-05T13:48:40Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > In any case, people from too far back in time would be in for a horrid culture shock. And would definitely be seriously un-PC for our times. ā€œYou have a _Moor_ as King?ā€ ā€œYay, verily woman - cover those ankles before someone sees you!ā€ ā€œWhat do you mean I canā€™t beat my children bloody?ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/44 "2010-10-05T13:50:29Z")
Nicole Brown Simpson and/or Ron Goldman. Get that question answered once and for all. On a more serious note, Mozart. I think heā€™d love todayā€™s music scene. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/45 "2010-10-05T15:17:23Z")
Alfred Bester, from circa when he wrote The Demolished Man. Iā€™d love to see what he could do with modern publishing and graphics. ---
**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 5, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/46 "2010-10-05T15:22:09Z")
Van Gogh. . . . just to see the look on his face when he sees what his paintings are going for. ---
**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 5, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/47 "2010-10-05T15:25:50Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Van Gogh. . . . just to see the look on his face when he sees what his paintings are going for. Donā€™t know if youā€™re a Doctor Who fan, but that very idea was part of the plot of one of the episodes last season. [http://www.tv.com/doctor-who/vincent-and-the-doctor/episode/1343735/summary.html?tag=ep\_guide;summary](http://www.tv.com/doctor-who/vincent-and-the-doctor/episode/1343735/summary.html?tag=ep_guide;summary) ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/48 "2010-10-05T15:37:45Z")
Jesus? JESUS??? Are you people cracked? Itā€™s called The SECOND Coming for a reason. Not the third or fourth coming. You bring Jesus into our times and it is the End of the World. You canā€™t just send him back and say ā€œSee you next time!ā€ Me, Iā€™d go for da Vinci or Jefferson. ---
**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 5, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/49 "2010-10-05T15:44:04Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > > [@Lobohan](#): > > > > ā€œIf 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.ā€ > > Thatā€™s it. Bring on the hate. > > For me, Nikola Tesla. Put him in charge of the Department of Energy. I donā€™t know if we want to go whole hog into Teslaā€™s beamed power plan. For one thing anyone with an afro more than 53cm across is going to burst into flames. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/50 "2010-10-05T15:54:12Z")
> [@Baboonanza](#): > > Whatā€™s up with you guys, are you all gay for boring dead dudes or what! > > Iā€™ll have a month of debauchery with Marilyn Monroe please. Damn, you beat me. Iā€™d have to presume she would be veryā€¦ grateful. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/51 "2010-10-05T16:11:26Z")
Alan Turing, from before his arrest. Iā€™d love to show him how the digital computer is in everything, and the utter necessity of information theory in todayā€™s world. Iā€™d also like him to know weā€™d mostly grown out of the crappy attitudes toward homosexuals. The problem would be heā€™d definitely not want to go back, after reading about what they did to him. But maybe knowing the future would keep him from suicide if he did return. Edit to add: Say, could I return him to his own time in the States, instead of the U.K.? Still not enlightened at the time, but I think heā€™d be less likely to end up the way he did. Maybe he could work at Caltech and hang out in Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![Earthbound\_Misfit\_I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Earthbound\_Misfit\_I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthbound_Misfit_I)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/52 "2010-10-06T00:26:57Z")
Oh, how I love Freddie Mercury! How I would have loved seeing Queen perform. https://www.youtube.com/embed/lDckgX3oU_w?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque > [@Baboonanza](#): > > Or Freddie Mercury, for one last tour. And debauchery of course šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/53 "2010-10-06T14:47:22Z")
Without a second thought, Tesla. Iā€™d set him loose at Carnegie Mellon University and let the wonderworking ensue. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/54 "2010-10-06T15:52:35Z")
> [@Gil-Martin](#): > > H.P. Lovecraft. We could start a blog together. Lovecraft would be my choice, as well! ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/55 "2010-10-07T17:01:51Z")
Shakespeare, Iā€™d love talking to him about his work for hours, also Julius Caesar, Leonardo Da Vinci,Napoleon and Machiavelli. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/56 "2010-10-09T18:13:54Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > James Madison. > > Who better than the primary author of the Bill of Rights to help us interpret phrases like ā€œthe right of the people to keep and bear armsā€, ā€œcruel and unusual punishmentsā€, ā€œabridging the freedom of speechā€, and so forth, for modern times. And heā€™d point out that he was never a god, & when he wrote them they were not interpretations, but decisions, & you ought to be able to write your laws for your own age like he did instead of ā€œinterpretingā€ his like a bunch of scribes & phariseesā€“& if you canā€™t agree on what the fool thing means, why are you still hanging onto it? šŸ˜ƒ If I can get two, oh, I know itā€™s a small thing, but Nat Turner & Frederick Douglass. Get them together, give them some books on theory of war, & show them exactly how Reconstruction ended. Then send them back to try & change history. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/57 "2010-10-09T19:44:59Z")
[QUOTE=foolsguinea] If I can get two, oh, I know itā€™s a small thing, but Nat Turner & Frederick Douglass. Get them together, give them some books on theory of war, & show them exactly how Reconstruction ended. Then send them back to try & change history. šŸ˜ƒ [/QUOTE] Yeah, more slaughter of women and children led by a strangely dispassionate messianic figure would have done wonders for ending slavery. (Regarding Turner obviously, not Douglass.) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/58 "2010-10-09T22:16:55Z")
Anne Frank. And give her a penthouse apartment to live in while sheā€™s here. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/59 "2010-10-10T02:01:49Z")
I would like to bring Mark Twain to the 21st century. I donā€™t want any science fiction writers. How can I explain that we went to the Moon and didnā€™t bother to go back? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848/60 "2010-10-10T17:48:47Z")
George Orwell. I would like to get his reactions to everything that happened in the world after his death, including the decolonization of the British Empireā€™s holdings, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the fall of the Soviet Union accompanied by widespread revulsion for even democratic socialism, the rise of Jihadism, and the Information Age. And the tussling over his own legacy between LWs and RWs. I would also like to spend a month showing him around America, which he never got a chance to visit. In his writings there was both admiration and revulsion for American culture, but always fascination. As for his having to be dead again at the end of the month ā€“ well, Orwell was always the kind of man who can accept it stoically when life sucks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-figure-would-you-bring-forward-in-time/555848.md?page=4)