# You are transported to 1950. Can you convince anyone you are from 2009? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 30, 2009, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025 "2009-12-30T06:13:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/41 "2009-12-30T18:54:59Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Nonsense. Could never happen. > > By the way, does anyone know where I can get a flux capacitor to fit a Dodge Wayfarer Sportabout? I can’t seem to find one on your Internets machines. John Titor? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/42 "2009-12-30T18:57:04Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > In 1950? Not so much. A rarity, yes, but not at all unheard of. After all, Marie Curie had won the Nobel Prize (twice!) before 1915. Not even much of a rarity. However, if you represent yourself as a woman who \*likes \*chemistry… Also, I think that there were also plenty of people tipping off DeGaulle, whenever he was in power, as to cutting his losses…you would have to prove that you were from the future to get him to do anything. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/43 "2009-12-30T19:02:51Z")
I think I know enough about particle physics, such as quark theory, new particles, some of their masses, to convince people working in that field. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/44 "2009-12-30T19:02:57Z")
> [@Brandus](#): > > The further back we go the less useful we are. A common fantasy is to be warped back to the Dark Ages and be treated like a wise and benevolent god because of all of our advanced knowledge. Unless you are a historian, what can you possibly tell a King at the time to help him? I have vague ideas about the 100 years war, Charlemagne, uh… vikings? I would be totally useless to Britain circa 1300 AD or something. The only thing I could hope for is to help them with better hygiene with my knowledge of germs but before leading a wave of medical reform, I’d just as likely be beheaded for being a sorcerer. Depends - there are some relatively simple inventions/ideas that to us are obvious but to the people of the day just didn’t exist, and their implementation DID lead to massive change. Sure, as you say you’d need to actually survive long enough to get someone influential enough to help you facilitate any change, but it’s not outside the realms of possibility. If we’re talking dark ages then off the top of my head I can think of crop rotation, movable type/the printing press, a semaphore communication system and steam power as things it would be relatively simple to introduce if you could get some current day thinkers and someone powerful who you could explain the benefits to (particularly the semaphore system - someone who implemented that first would have a major boost to military communication and tactics before others caught on). That said the hardest part would probably be getting someone to actually understand you before they decided you were mad/an imbecile and just left you to die of exposure first. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/45 "2009-12-30T19:07:04Z")
Are there techniques that are modern (post-1950) and ground breaking? What if I demonstrated the Heimlich and CPR? Are there other significant methods/techniques that could be demonstrated that showed I was years ahead of my time? Then what? ---
**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:** [December 30, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/46 "2009-12-30T19:24:26Z")
Forget technology. I would simply pay a visit to a certain novelist who would have been halfway through her \*magnum opus \*around that time . . . and fill her in on all the details of that book. I’d even be there in time to suggest the title. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/47 "2009-12-30T19:52:37Z")
Depends on what part of 1950 we’re talking about. If it’s late September, I’d predict that Cal Abrams will be thrown out in the 9th inning as the tying run on the last day of the season by Richie Ashburn, and pray that my presence there isn’t going to have any sort of butterfly effect on the proceedings in that particular game (hope I am far far away from Philadelphia and that the press doesn’t get my name and story into print where one of the ballplayers can read it). ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/48 "2009-12-30T20:02:06Z")
“Bet every penny you have on the Phillies winning the NL pennant this year. Get a load of who they’re gonna have start Game 1.” ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Goliath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rex\_Goliath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Goliath)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/49 "2009-12-30T20:07:12Z")
Convince them I’m from 2009, when I could simply take credit for all the greatest ideas of the last sixty years? Yeah right. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/50 "2009-12-30T20:11:15Z")
I could describe in detail the nomenclature of an M-16A2 and could roughly reconstruct the schematics. Considering that Eugene Stoner didn’t invent the AR-10 (which the AR-15/M-16 was derived from) until 1955, I think that ought to be enough. I could also describe various calibers that had yet to be invented, but the M-16 should be proof enough. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/51 "2009-12-30T20:16:12Z")
“Pick up your telephone and ask the operator for the listing in Hope, Arkansas. The name is Clinton. The family has a four year old son who is going to be President.” I couldn’t prove he was going to be president, of course, but it would be a hell of a detail to know, I think. It might make people listen for a few minutes. Meanwhile, my glasses don’t look like anything from 1950 and I could do the typical Presidents/Olympics/Wars/World Series routine. Here’s an easy one: anybody who has had joint replacement surgery in recent years very strong evidence within their bodies. An X-ray would show that these people have a material in their hips or knees that couldn’t have been used that way in 1950. It would be very hard to explain that away. This wouldn’t apply to me, however. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/52 "2009-12-30T20:19:52Z")
Now that you mention it, just have a look at your average 2010er’s teeth. Lots of ceramic (or whatever it is) fillings that weren’t thought of in 1950. ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/53 "2009-12-30T20:48:41Z")
1950? I know the North Koreans are planning to invade South Korea, and that the Chinese won’t be bluffing when they threaten to intervene. But I also know that the Chinese won’t be Russian allies forever. I know that [Kim Philby](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Philby) is a spy. I can also prove that [Alger Hiss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alger_Hiss) is a spy, (focus on Venona intercepts, you dummies!). ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/54 "2009-12-30T20:50:34Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > “Pick up your telephone and ask the operator for the listing in Hope, Arkansas. The name is Clinton. The family has a four year old son who is going to be President.” The Clinton family moved to Hot Springs in 1950, so that may or may not work. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/55 "2009-12-30T20:50:37Z")
How about my fillings and crowns? I don’t know what the state of dentistry was, then. _I see I was beaten with this idea_ ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/56 "2009-12-30T20:53:55Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > How about my fillings and crowns? I don’t know what the state of dentistry was, then. Me neither, but today’s dentistry is probably not that much different than it was in post #52. _damn this editing feature … a fine jibe cut down in its prime_ ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/57 "2009-12-30T21:30:12Z")
> [@Otara](#): > > DNA? > > The double helix shape was found in 1952 according to Wiki. If you memorised enough about that area you’d be decades ahead. Genius alone cant predict all the subsequent findings you could share, although it might take years to verify it all. > > Otara This is probably my best chance of being considered a mutant freak from the future. I’ve got a fairly deep knowledge of biochemistry, including memorized dimensions for the structure of A-, B- and Z-form DNA. You could probably predict the central dogma of molecular biology in the 50’s, and sit back smugly as unfolding research verified everything I foretold. But as mentioned, this might be viewed simply as scientific excellence rather than genuine time travel. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/58 "2009-12-30T21:39:39Z")
My wife has titanium “snowflakes” in her head, showing where part of her skull was removed for brain surgery. Both the snowflakes (they’re screw mount plates) and the skull injury itself would be clearly visible on an X-ray, and the surgery itself would have been inconceivable in 1950, wouldn’t it? Similarly, I’ve got a missing gallbladder and nothing but laproscopic scars, also evidence of “mad future tech.” ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/59 "2009-12-30T21:55:35Z")
What **Jack** and **mlees** said. Give a dentist half an hour poking around in my mouth trying to figure out what various fillings and caps are made of. And I’ve had LASIK as well so there may be some unusual scars from that. Other that that I’ve really got nothing that would be remarkable that far back. History was interesting, but nothing I was ever inclined to memorize. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025/60 "2009-12-30T22:12:50Z")
“Build a serious telescope. Point it at Pluto. You’ll find Pluto has a good-sized moon, and the center of mass of the system is somewhere above Pluto’s surface.” This isn’t predicting the future, it’s predicting the present. Charon was around in 1950, but no one knew it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-transported-to-1950-can-you-convince-anyone-you-are-from-2009/523025.md?page=4)