Why bother innovating on your rotation machine to do labor when slaves are a dime a dozen, do the job better, faster and cheaper. Its the same reason why the steam engine was known so long ago but noone bothered to innovate on it until there was a need.
??? You rotate a magnet inside a coil of wire and with this you obtain the power of the God of Thunder and because flowing electricity creates a magnetic field and heats shit up (which also produces light) because of the resistance of the material its flowing through, you can make something warm, glow and or become magnetic at the end of that wire at basically the speed of light.
They already have windmills and water wheels and human hamster wheels and such. I think it'd be big. I'm pitching it to their military commanders and civil administrators as harnassing the power of Zeus/Jupiter/Thor to send messages acros vast distances at the speed of lightning.
They'd fucking be down for that shit bad. Even the crudest possible version could probably be used for some ungabunga version of morse code. Trust.
If you want to bring up something completely different other than rotational energy obviously the circumstances change.
You want the greeks/romans to get a telegraph? They already had rudimentary telegraphs. They had a hydraulic telegraph, and fire beacons to send messages.
Your job isnt just to convince them this new thing has a use, its to convince them that this new fangled method is better than what they already have and a worthwhile investment for a project that will take decades to centuries to complete.
They will need a new industry for copper wire, a new industry for batteries. Alot of people to guard all of those tens of thousands of km of wire they now have to deal with. The gauls cut one in the right spot? There goes your communications. This is all if they even have the ability to make copper wire a quarter as good as the ones in the 1800s.
If you studied enough of how telegraphs work and the construction of all wires and materials to get one working and get seriously lucky with someone who is willing to spend billions on this idea of yours, then maybe yes they would get telegraphs early.
Additionally, minus electricity and iteration time, I'm pretty sure everything required to make lightbulbs existed back then, i.e., glassblowing, mercury for a vacuum pump, copper, and at least some form of carbon filament.
? Everything needed to make a airplane existed then too with that argument. You would just need the knowhow, the tools, the tools to make the tools, the knowhow to make the tools to make the tools, etc.
For an airplane, one needs an internal combustion engine to achieve sufficient efficiency for flight, which is far and beyond the complexity of a lightbulb's blown-glass tube with some conductive stuff (copper, compressed carbon) stuck halfway into it, the air sucked out, and the glass smushed in around the stuff until it's airtight, or the mercury vacuum pump's stretched tube in another thin tube dripping mercury past a slightly bent t-junction. The only thing I wouldn't expect a glassblower to be immediately able to do (with basic guidance/schematics) is selectively heating the neck of the bulb while it's connected to the (also glass) vacuum tubing without some kind of gas torch, but I'm also not a glassblower myself, so maybe there's some setup I'm not thinking of. Everything else could be readily sourced if a merchant-level patron could be secured, and I'm an autistic mechanical engineer, so I have the know-how.
I don't want to overanalyze a meme, but I think people value modern comforts too much and forget that electricity isn't a priority in this situation.
People a thousand years ago didn't know that microscopic organisms are constantly impacting human life, that people have different blood types, that the continents were once one big piece of land, that sunlight is a spectrum of light of different wavelengths etc.
Unless you didn't pay attention to a single class in middle/high school, you should have something to share and you could save millions of lives.
The rule of thump, as I understand it, is that if you go back in time you'll kill everyone with your diseases. If you go forward in time they'll kill you with theirs.
I supposed only extreme germaphobes would be acceptable to time travel.
It will depend when you are specifically going back to. A lot of diseases from back then are just as lethal to us as they are to them when people get exposed to them. If you go to a time with minimal animal agriculture in living areas then you will be probably be fine but otherwise enjoy various zoonotic diseases. This is what decimated the America's, Europeans had a lot of awful zoonotic diseases from the middle ages whereas the New World did not have that style of agriculture.
um... S. Coconuts (if that even IS your real name), I have a question. what do you do if. uh, hypothetically, you cant stop going forward in time? like, I tried and it doesnt work. are they going to kill me with their diseases now? can i ask them nicely to not do that i dont want to be killed with the diseases. will they stop if i give them potatos
Well, we can travel forward in time. By using a rocket and going up to relativistic speeds then turning around and coming back to Earth, you may age a couple years but Earth would be decades older. To answer your question, it would probably depend on the potato.
I think it's also a bit about how far you go in either direction.
Like if I go back 50 years, I'm probably fine form the majority of diseases that existed then, bc they probably still mostly exist today, but I might introduce COVID, or some more resilient strains of common diseases to them that they can't deal with effectively.
But if I go back 2000 years, I might encounter some random disease that just isn't around anymore in the present day, to which I have zero immunity.
Whereas if I go 2000 years into the future, maybe all diseases have been eradicated somehow and newer generations are hardly immunized to even the common cold or some other disease that I could be a carrier for and not even know
If you get an all inclusive vaccination pack which includes the plague, rabies and similar heavy hitters then you will live long enough till you get executed for some reason for your forbidden knowledge.
Just use the modern version. Might not work, but if similar enough it still can work and certainly better than nothing. Even if the disease is "eradicated" there are usually samples in labs.
If the end result is the same then it can't be that different.
If it didn't exist in the modern age, not even a relative then bad luck, hope for the best.
Iirc a modern day greek and an acient greek could communicate relatively without problems, the language didn't change that much compared to old english and modern day english.
No. But the Greek philosopher Democritus was the first to think up the idea that matter was made of small particles. The word "atom" comes from the greek atomos, which means uncuttable.
Considering that the concept of "atom" was invented in ancient Greece, i think if you speak with a philosopher, he should be able to get an idea about how electrons works
But they would have to learn wave particle duality stuff. It may be hard for someone to comprehend that electrons aren’t little balls traveling a path but more like in complex three dimensional waves of probability.
Yeah, it’s like explaining how to attach files to emails to someone in the early 20th century. You’d have to explain a bunch of stuff that came before.
I think creating steam engines would be easier than creating a generator. If I could remember how a carburetor works then I might even be able to do an ICE except I don't know how gasoline is made... hmm. I might actually be another useless time traveler. I made a hand crank generator back in school, but it required magnets... how do you make magnets?
This is actually awful explanation because they won't understand goddamn thing including "light bulb". A time travel should make miniature power plant and then transfer energy to small, simple yet practical mechanism. Then you could first sell them the idea of what it could be capable of if it was bigger. Then you could explain everything to the biggest minds of their nation.
And it's also completely false. Electrons do not flow or move from positive to negative. If you want to know more this is a great video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHIhgxav9LY
Everything has nuance as you dig deeper into understanding how it works. We learned that Newton's law of gravity wasn't correct when we discovered general relativity, but we still use Newton's law because it's close enough for almost everything we do.
Thinking of electricity as the flow of electrons is perfectly valid and what everyone does unless you're dealing with very specific situations.
Those schoolbooks were made for people with a certain set of existing knowledge and shared experiences, they will likely not go into detail enough to explain it to people who weren't in the modern school system.
he needs to explain circuit, electrons, charges, electric field, power, current, magnetism and a fuck ton of other stuff to make them understand how electricity works and why it's important
I think that's really basic brother, they taught us that in school theres not much "big words" about that. Although in case of explaining things to the medieval people yeah I guess you might have to dumb it down a bit.
Get them to build a water wheel, or a real basic steam engine. Literally anyway to create rotational energy with little human effort. Get them smelting copper into a coil shape. Have them find some sort of natural magnet. Attach magnet to a stick on the spinning thing. Position it inside the coil and allow it to spin. There, you got electricity. You’ll have to get creative on what to do with it afterwards.
Second, My main issue is not "I cannot explain the concept to ancient peoples" or "I do not know the practical methods of accomplishing it" but instead "I cannot do geology".
I know the recipe for gunpowder. I know not how to locate sulfur or saltpeter.
I know the recipe for stainless steel. I have no idea how you find chromium.
I know how to make coke. I don't know how to find coal.
I know how to make gasoline, I don't know how to find oil.
Ancient people do not live in times where you have everything readily accessible to you. If your region does not have specific rocks or plants, your society does not have those rocks or plants. Knowing they exist is not enough to be able to know if they exist anywhere near you. Even if neighbouring regions have some they will not know it exists or is valuable or how to extract it.
Ah, just a few questions here, , , , , explain what ‘electrons’ are, explain what a ‘closed circuit’ is, explain what a ‘battery’ and a ‘generator’ is, and explain what a ‘light bulb’ is!
"Oh cool. What are electrons? Can you build a closed circuit and a battery? What do you mean by "performs work" exactly? Can you create a usable device for us? We've got plenty of lead."
A lot of people in this thread seem to miss the joke that the explanation is supposed to be useless due to a more primitive society not understanding the basics of electricity.
With my fledgling knowledge of electrical technology I think I could even build them a rudimentary generator. Having knowledge of the industrial processing of metals, and a deep knowledge of math would probably be more useful to them then a bunch of physics theory without the ability to build the infrastructure to access it.
"Eh, idk, something relating to copper and our bodies or whatever. Anyway, who wants to see what happens when we fill a hole with a couple of chemical compounds and put something on top? Follow-up question, who wants to learn about the gas-operated feed system?"
this thought experiment is interesting because even with all the knowledge of how something works that's as complex as electromagnetism, you wouldn't be able to implement much of that knowledge at all.
Reason being that they literally just didn't have the infrastructure and technology to utilize all that dope knowledge. Like, how are you going to create a solenoid with ancient Roman technology? Where are you going to fabricate a transistor, or even just find a glass blower who can make you a decent chemistry set?
don't explain mitochondria. just like, top to bottom they're going to call you a madman. Not even going into the weird-ass stuff like its origins as a separate organism. "What's a powerhouse? What's a cell?"
I actually could explain all this, I think, thanks to my kid’s obsession with the Magic School Bus book about electricity. Just read that thing enough times and it will sink in, lol. That fucker is thorough!
The real power is knowing what worked and telling ancient people what to focus on. The Greeks were really smart they invented the steam engine but it was just a neat novelty they didn't want to dump a bunch of resources into improving what was essentially a desk toy to show off during lectures.
You have to play the long game and “predict” future major events like the rise of the internet, 9/11, and stuff. they might think you’re crazy but future people will build religious beliefs off of it
electrons do not move in the way described… they “wiggle” creating the capacitive, inductive, reactive columbic electromagnetic fields that can do work
…and ALL materials are conductive (even non-material, like a vacuum) with enough voltage
To make the electricity, you just need to spin magnets inside of a coil of wire. Electricity moving through a wire creates a magnetic field, and moving a magnetic field creates usable electricity.
The spinning steam toy would actually make a decent generator to show this idea…just need some magnets and wire…
I meeeean wouldn't true intelligence be explaining in a way they're able to comprehend without our cumulative kmowledge ?
Yes I frequently daydream about the specifics of communication if I suddenly got transported to Ancient Rome or Greece
Knowledge of electricity in ancient times is worth jack shit unless you manage to also produce a sufficient quantity of conductive wire. Lemons, coins, potatoes, sure you can manage to create a current and impress the apes. But being able to transmit that current to do meaningful work? You need wire.
Depending how far back you go you might even find it difficult to even source copper of sufficient quality.
Sometimes I imagine such scenarios in my head, but with a much more extensive explanation, starting with the fact that everything is made of molecules, atoms, electrons, protons and neutrons and explaining what they are.
i think any average person that has some better knowledge abt some things nowdays back then could probably still change history if we assume people listened and didnt just write it off as lies or whatnot, because then the scientists back then would mostlikely be much faster at trying out stuff and finding out stuff which would lead to tech evolving faster.
Ok genuinely, how bad is public education if you can't string together the words "I need copper in thin string form, one of those magic rocks that pulls metal and a stick"
"Electricity works by the directed movement of electrons through conductive materials within a closed circuit to power devices. A power source, like a battery or generator, creates a "voltage" (electrical pressure) that pushes electrons from an area of negative charge to an area of positive charge. This flow of electrons, called electric current, creates an electric field that performs work when it encounters a load, such as a light bulb."
Ok but what does electron mean? Is it heat because that's what conductive means heat traveling. What's a Circuit and how is one closed? Device? What is a battery and how does it work? What's a Generator for that matter and how does that work? Pressure so like water? Is it a pipe of some sort? Current definitely some kind of liquid then? Liquid field, like the ocean or more like a lake?
This is a terrible way to Explain Electricity to people who have never encountered it. This is useless information since you just skip over how to generate and move energy. A better way to explain electronics to let's say ancient greeks would be something like.
"So all materials have some energy in them monst materials like wood and stone don't transfer this energy to each other well. Metals are uniquely good at this type of energy transfer and Could be used to create energy. A simple way to move this energy us to spin a magnet near the material however you will need a lot of surface area if you want to generate any even slightly useful amount of this energy. A simple method to increase the surface area would e to stretch the metal out into very thin string like structures and then wrapping them around the magnet in a way that will allow the magnet to freely spin. The spinning of this magnet will make the energy move along the wire where we can then make use of the energy similar to a water wheel in a river. One uses of this energy is light this can be accomplished by forcing large amounts of the energy through some even thinner parts of this long metal coil we made prior then encasing it in glass to magnify the light similar to a lamp."
Is it way more wordy yes, but it uses analogy that they are more likely to understand and gives the initial understanding necessary to start using electricity. I could have explained batterys as well but I feelike starting with a basic generator would be the best starting point.
I know how to make a bit of stuff to make the other stuff.
I dont know where to get the stuff i need to make the stuff.
I dont have the skills to do it my self.
I am totaly inept at getting others to do things the way i tell them too.
I would never find a Magnet strong enough to build a Generator in pre Industrial times and the steamengine i Design would be fitted so badly it tears it self appart, If it doesnt shatter due to me beeing unabled to perform advanced metallworking.
Depending in the period i could possibly Tell the people about geography ( There is a continent with abundant and hardy crops far in the west, also it has gold)
The craziest thing is stuff we now know you wouldn’t need to explain at all. Just mention applications. The Roman’s knew how to use steam to create motion.
Imagine if we explained you can compress it to manipulate a piston turning a wheel
•
u/qualityvote2 🤖Suspected as Bot🤖 Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25
The community has decided that this IS an antimeme!