Andy Weir has a question he likes to ask people: “you have to go back in time with no recourse to return, and you must do so in multiples of 100 years. Which year do you choose?”
He then goes on to note that people usually pick the closest date, and draws from that that we are progressing and getting better as time goes by.
I would pick a time before the advent of agriculture and animal husbandry. 15000 years ago, just to be on the safe side. Most infections haven’t crossed over from other animals. A diverse diet. Sure, I’d have to find and befriend a nomadic group, and escape predators. But I’d rather take my chances there than in any other “civilized” period of history.
Another option is, if I can pick the place, I’d go to one of several points in the western shore of the Americas that were not inhabited by cannibals in 1426, try and befriend as many locals and convince them to KOS any European. Which has the added bonus of creating a time paradox.
Hopefully your minor infections are too foreign to them and don’t simply wipe them off the earth. And hopefully the food available doesn’t completely fuck up your modern digestion.
But I’m with you on going back really far. Before property ownership. Before human-caused climate change started (which was well before industrialization, due to cook/heat fires).
Downside: dogs and cats not domesticated yet. Probably no/limited pack animals either. If you don’t find the locals relatable or existing, you’re in for a rough time. Also most/all food hadn’t been selectively bred yet, and was nothing like what we are used to today, was all small, hard, seedy, not very sweet. Most foods we eat are also non-native, and were brought back from global exploration, so that varied diet you are anticipating might be largely salted or smoked meat, instead. Certainly the case if you go somewhere with seasons. I have a rough idea of what can be foraged around me, but most of it is modern cultivars. The wild ones are kinda meh, tbh, you have to get really creative to use them.
But a major upside is even if you are the dumbest person alive today, you’ve got a LOT of knowledge to offer such primitive societies.
There’s a lot of strong evidence that agriculture reduced variety in human diet considerably. But you’re right that the variety we have nowadays is hard to beat (though scurvy is making a comeback).
Andy Weir has a question he likes to ask people: “you have to go back in time with no recourse to return, and you must do so in multiples of 100 years. Which year do you choose?”
He then goes on to note that people usually pick the closest date, and draws from that that we are progressing and getting better as time goes by.
I would pick a time before the advent of agriculture and animal husbandry. 15000 years ago, just to be on the safe side. Most infections haven’t crossed over from other animals. A diverse diet. Sure, I’d have to find and befriend a nomadic group, and escape predators. But I’d rather take my chances there than in any other “civilized” period of history.
Another option is, if I can pick the place, I’d go to one of several points in the western shore of the Americas that were not inhabited by cannibals in 1426, try and befriend as many locals and convince them to KOS any European. Which has the added bonus of creating a time paradox.
Hopefully your minor infections are too foreign to them and don’t simply wipe them off the earth. And hopefully the food available doesn’t completely fuck up your modern digestion.
But I’m with you on going back really far. Before property ownership. Before human-caused climate change started (which was well before industrialization, due to cook/heat fires).
Downside: dogs and cats not domesticated yet. Probably no/limited pack animals either. If you don’t find the locals relatable or existing, you’re in for a rough time. Also most/all food hadn’t been selectively bred yet, and was nothing like what we are used to today, was all small, hard, seedy, not very sweet. Most foods we eat are also non-native, and were brought back from global exploration, so that varied diet you are anticipating might be largely salted or smoked meat, instead. Certainly the case if you go somewhere with seasons. I have a rough idea of what can be foraged around me, but most of it is modern cultivars. The wild ones are kinda meh, tbh, you have to get really creative to use them.
But a major upside is even if you are the dumbest person alive today, you’ve got a LOT of knowledge to offer such primitive societies.
There’s a lot of strong evidence that agriculture reduced variety in human diet considerably. But you’re right that the variety we have nowadays is hard to beat (though scurvy is making a comeback).
I’VE TRAINED FOR THIS DAY
SEND ME BACK TO THE 6th CENTURY BCE
I’M READY TO REINVENT CIVILIZATION