Who would you bring back from history to show the modern world to?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Because this was mentioned in a book I’m currently reading and I thought it was interesting, the authors choice is also a good one, the Wright Brothers.

For purposes of the question you can bring back a single person, a couple of people or a small group.

2

Of the western intellectuals know to us, it’d have to be Sir Isaac Newton.

3

That’s a good one.

And of course the title is supposed to be ‘show the modern world to’, I changed it because I realised ‘who you would show the modern world’ is ambiguous but still messed it up.

4

Ben Franklin: I’d love to witness this intellectual, witty, polymath’s perspective of the modern world in general.

Beethoven: First I’d send Ludwig to an otolaryngologist, who would hopefully restore at least some of his hearing. Then I’d love to see his reaction to hearing his 9th symphony played by a top orchestra with modern instruments. Then I’d take him to a Lady Gaga concert for fun.

Issac Newton: I’d love to see Izzy’s reaction to scientific conferences on General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics.

Alexander the Great: I’d love to take Al to a military airshow and see him drool with envy seeing fighter jets and attack helicopters in flight.

5

I’d be interested in Alan Turing’s thoughts on progress in computers, AI, gay rights and his elevation to UK national hero.

6

I’d like to show 1980 Ronald Reagan what has become of the Republican Party.

7

I’d like to take Lovecraft to a movie theater and run Alien and The Thing for him.

8

I would bring da Vinci forward. He sort of predicted a bunch of stuff that we would up inventing, and I’m positive he’d be ecstatic over modern medicine and medical imaging.

9

I would love to bring back Sigmund Freud and invite him to psychoanalyse Donald Trump.

10

I’d like to take Lovecraft on a walk in midtown Manhattan and see how his “Italians and Welshmen are degenerate subhumans” worldview copes with how diverse the city has become today.

11

Jesus, to attend a Joel Osteen sermon.

12

This has been a fun daydream for me over many years.

I’d like to take Newton to JPL to see a gravitational slingshot maneuver being executed for a probe to the outer solar system.

I’d like to show the Wright Brothers a 747 taking off.

I’d like Watt to see a million horsepower gas turbine in a power plant.

I’d like Galileo to see solar telescopes and large telescopes resolving star disks.

It just goes on and on.

13

I’d like to see and hear what Mozart would do with modern instruments and studio tech. And I would play him some of my favorite albums and ask for his opinion.

14

I would bring back advanced thinkers because they helped pave the way to what we have today. I think they would get a big kick out of seeing what eventually arose from their imaginations. I’m thinking about people like Edison, Einstein, Franklin, the Wright brothers, etc.

15

Ben Franklin, first and foremost.

I’d like to hear Mark Twain’s take on the modern world.

Also, a certain painter.

16

Yeah, it’s hard to single out one in particular, but it would be fun to bring forward a composer, writer, inventor, or other creator from the past, to

  1. Show them how their creations are still listened to/read/used/etc. and appreciated today
  2. Let them see and appreciate what has been done in their field since their day (especially things that have been influenced by or built on their own work), and
  3. See what they could come up with using modern technology.

Oh, and to take them to the San Dimas Mall.

17

He’s aware of them.

18

Yep, Ben Franklin and Mozart have been my two go-tos when having this fantasy.

Franklin because he was, as mentioned, a polymath living at the cusp of a lot of upcoming changes in science and industry, and though he’d be amazed at the modern world, he’d still roll with it pretty well I think, not be all “what witchcraft is this?!?”

Oh yeah, he might also be interested (hopefully not too horrified) to see what became of the U.S.

Mozart because he was to some degree an iconoclast who I think would be fascinated by modern music and accept and adapt to it much better than say, Beethoven, who I think (if he was able to hear it) would be all like “what is this infernal noise?!?”

19

It’s always been Ben Franklin when I run this program in my head.

Close enough to our world to have some small purchase on it, we speak a related language, and he’s smart, imaginative, and worldly. What cool conversations we’d have as I show him around the 21st Century.

20

Really? I would have thought it was the other way around.