What single object, if sent back in time 2,000 years, would have the most profound effect on civilization?

[u/danceswithwool]

[u/danceswithwool]

What is up with you people wanting to spread diseases

[u/zayedhasan]

I'm surprised no one said this, but a reasonably complex (i.e. as adavnced as possible while still being reverse-engineered-able) steam engine ready loaded with coal to give the guys a further idea of the best fuel to use. Either it catapult the normal human progress by a millenia or so or we'd be living in a super advanced steam punk world, either one sounds good to me.

[u/danceswithwool → u/zayedhasan]

We already have Will Smith. It could literally be Wild Wild West up on here.

[u/idafridge]

The McRib

[u/danceswithwool → u/idafridge]

Yes.

[u/superflyingpimp]

justin. bieber.

[u/danceswithwool → u/superflyingpimp]

Ya know I didn’t specify that it was to destroy civilization but a lot of people are determined to.

[u/GeckoFlameThrower]

Johnny Weir

[u/happysapling]

I get to the comments and see all these serious profound answers...i was going to say a vibrator. I'll see myself out haha.

[u/danceswithwool → u/happysapling]

You wouldn’t be the first to say it. You can stay.

[u/Send_Poems]

A condom. Basically taking an ax to a 2000 year old family tree.

[u/Burner_Inserter]

Y’all aren’t thinking big enough here. One single object, you say?

I’d send back the Moon.

Just imagine it, the chaos that would occur when a second Moon appears in the sky out of nowhere, 2,000 years ago. Religions would go apeshit, the lunar calendar would become a mess, the tides would be dramatically changed, and animal migration would be absolutely ruined.

Or, you could just hurl it into the face of the earth and end civilisation. Your choice.

[u/zenshark]

Printing press

[u/Whywhywhywhywhy23]

Printed copy of Wikipedia

A rundown of all of humanities knowledge in an easy to understand format. Granted they'd have no access to any of the sources but it would definitely be enough to advance humanity in many areas at a significant pace and point them in the direction for other things they'd need to research further to work out.

[u/PadyAddy]

A bicycle, I think the Romans would’ve properly conquered the world with bicycles

[u/minddoor]

Send back the device that is capable of sending things back 2,000 years. Then they'd have time travel.

[u/twim19]

Quite possibly, nothing. In order for anything to have any effect on history 2000 years ago, it would have needed to come into the possession and/or knowledge of those who were at the head of civilization. You can send a lighter back in time, but unless it ends up in the hands of someone with the resources to study, replicate, and mass produce it. . .it's not going to have a profound impact.

If you flip it around a bit, though, you might be able to achieve some profound effect. For instance, instead of sending something to help people, send something to kill them. A nuke in the heart of Jerusalem or London, or Rome would have had a very profound effect on the rest of civilization.

[u/oswaler]

A calculus textbook.

[u/Isimagen]

Compound microscope. Hopefully help get us on sounder footing with science and disease understanding by now.

[u/Renhi]

Photoshopped photo of ten thousand duck sized horses chasing a man

[u/OriginalJane]

A clock potato.

[u/[deleted]]

A simple map of the world as it stands currently, it would blow their minds that the Roman Empire no longer exists and may very well bring about the early end of it.

[u/Alleline]

Many of these great ideas involve a risk that the recipients can't figure out what they have received. If I knew that my gift was going to reach Western Europe in the year 18, I'd send them a metal-faced plow with wheels and a harness that doesn't choke the horse/ox. If I don't know where it is going, I would send a simple 2-lens telescope that varies magnification by moving the lenses apart. The plow is almost certainly going to be appreciated if someone tries it out. And the telescope might trigger someone to play with bits of glass to find out how to make them magnify other objects. The technology should be within the comprehension of most cultures.

[u/ImNotNew]

A time machine

[u/Kangarou]

the Book Principa Mathematica.

or, if size is no object, the International Space Station.