SciFi Question of the Day: The Mayans were right. The world is ending this December. You and a small group with minimal supplies (no, you don’t get to choose them, but they include scientists and engineers and other pros) have the opportunity to jump back in time to any place on Earth, with the goal of pushing human advancement to the point where, when December 2012 comes around again, humanity can be saved. Where and when do you take refuge?
Facebook Answers:
Marc Blake That would depend entirely on what hypothetical improbability does us in.
Debbie Chong Monroe start a new calendar lol
Christopher Dorda 300 Special Forces, 1000 Engineers, 10k tons of stuff, 200 scientists, 300 teachers (K-6), 60,000 B.C. Boom!
Anthony Falvo Id go back and save Edith Keeler…
Henry Anona Sorry, but these days K-6 teachers would ensure extinction
Gwendolyn Wilkins Back in time to save Atlantis
Dennis Hotston I’d go back to the 80s- Wrath of Khan was released- TNG came on- the economy was rocking- Seriously, it really was the advent of computers, cellular technology, etc. I’d nudge all that technology to help prevent disaster, not get more channels or have bigger woofers. All that stuff was cool, though
AmyBeth Fredricksen Ummm… Anthony … bad things happened historically when Bones saved Edith Keeler…
Anthony Falvo Yes but it no longer matters! and she was hot!
Dennis Hotston Wouldn’t that have been a great scene between the three of them? Arguing over what to do?
AmyBeth Fredricksen I’d want to be close enough to an established civilization that the everyday things like food and clothing could be bought or bartered, but far enough away that our group could rule and protect itself.
I’d want to be far enough back in time that our scientists have plenty of time to give the next generations a good head start on advancing technology.
Like in Stargate Universe (old spoiler alert) when they discover that instead of the crew going off through the gate into oblivion before some weird time-thing reset it, the crew went off through the gate far back in time. They started a civilization that thrived.
Dennis Hotston And you’d want that geodesic dome thing too, right?
AmyBeth Fredricksen I love domes! I prefer monolithic concrete, but the machinery required to build them might be more than the refugees can take when they escape.
Melissa Conway 1863. Right at the start of modern technology and before the WW’s so that we could alter the use of nuclear technology and warfare for a more positive outcome, to include space travel at a much earlier time. Possible colonization of other worlds would be a more attainable goal (hypothetically speaking…)
Robert B. Fredricksen I have had two thoughts about this.
First was to go back to 1941 where the US was producing war machines and technology was gobbled up and used with out corporate profit seekers. To save the human kind you need to get around their greed.
Secondly if you were able to end the dark ages (which served no purpose to human kind) and bring some of today’s medicines like penicillin and the cure for bubonic plague (black death).
Daniel Beard Chicago 1891
Angela Leopold 1470ish, Italy. I would convince a young Leonardo Da Vinci that solar collection and windmills are, in fact, a good idea. Then I would build a boat and get to the Americas to warn the natives of the impending invasion. Oh crap, I just negated my own existence…
Google Plus Answers:
David Grigg Go back and exterminate the Mayans.
Brooke Johnson early middle ages. keep Catholicism from spreading through Europe, and nurture the advancement of scientific thought, bringing on the Age of Enlightenment centuries earlier. seriously, the Catholics pretty much ruined human advancement.
Mince Walsh You may want to go back to before banking and greed began to get their foothold in America. Force a change to the monetary system that would prevent any one person gaining control of too much. Not sure of how it would be done, but it would be necessary to make financial or economic crimes affecting more than a thousand people a capitol offense with automatic death penalty. Prevent the patent system from being subjugated to being a corporate tool for lawyers by making any patent lawsuit by a company that does not manufacture anything automaticly invalid as well as any copyrighted items no longer distributed null and void. No more free money without effort. More cooperation amongst companies instead of lawsuits preventing said cooperation.
Samuel Falvo II It’s not the Mayans’ fault. I was going to write most of what +Brooke Johnson wrote, but she beat me to it.
Samuel Falvo II +Mince Walsh That’s already happened twice in this country’s history, and in both cases, the reserve bankers have won. If not through market superiority, then through … more explicit means.
Brooke Johnson i asked my husband and he said that he would go back to about 5th century BC in Mesoamerica, unite all the indigenous peoples, and conquer Europe…
AmyBeth Inverness If we could prevent the Dark Ages, and/or the black plague humanity would be MUCH further along.
Samuel Falvo II However, as a counter-point to that, the history of computing has its roots in the black plague. Had it not happened when it did, we wouldn’t have computers today (at least as we know them now). I’d encourage the interested reader to watch the TV series “Connections”, hosted by James Burke, to find out more.
AmyBeth Inverness Good point. Sometimes the greatest advances come out of the greatest adversity.
Ashley Wade But why is the world ending? Global warming? Technology gone awry? I assume it’s not just the earth’s time and there’s nothing to be done about it (black whole, sudden exploding sun, etc).
Gloria Eagle Corruption,dear. The world of corruption has got to fall down.
Perhaps,the Mayans were predicting the downfall of western civilization.After all,consumer society has got to be stopped,before it consumes the entire world.Need I say more?
AmyBeth Inverness +Ashley Wade when I composed the question, certain details had to be left vague or the question grew too gnarly. For the sake of argument, the world is ending because of something that can be fixed/prevented/escaped if we have sufficient advances in technology.
Gloria Eagle Technology is not going to save anyone. And,the Mayans did not predict the end of the world.Their calender ends every 5125 years.They then begin a new calender,representing a new cosmic cycle.
Samuel Falvo II Au contrare; look throughout history, and it’s always been the judicial use of technology which has been the only thing that saved us. Repeatedly, going back to the caveman era.
Gloria Eagle (edited) You see, what you want to see. You believe, what you chose to believe.You argue,because you like to argue.It is all a waste of time.
Samuel Falvo II If it’s a waste of time, why post anything at all? You just invite a response when you do. That is what “conversation” is.
Gloria Eagle It is clear, when one just wants to argue,and does not listen to what you say.
AmyBeth Inverness Play nicely, please.
I would love to hear what you think! Even if you are reading this post a year or more after publishing, I hope you will leave a comment with your own ideas on this topic.
The previous SciFi Q of the Day is Convicts or Corporations
The shortlink for this post is http://wp.me/p1qnT4-UR
The next SciFi Q of the Day is Leaving the Solar System.
AmyBeth Inverness 
Another: How “thick” is the Milky Way Galaxy? If you drew it on a piece of paper, would it be thinner than the paper?
Which of The Avengers should be Doctor Who’s next companion?
(Then again… Inara would make an interesting companion…)
In what competition would the Mythbusters be able to defeat The Avengers?
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