What would you have participated in if you lived for last 3000 years?

Discussion in 'History' started by kwhilborn, Nov 14, 2012.

  1. kwhilborn Banned Banned

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    Imagine you were alive for the past 3000 years or longer.

    Is there any event that you would have participated in?

    Would you have joined the Gold Rush? Although I guess you'd be rich beyond imagining by then.

    This is a imaginary quest to find historical topics aside from wars in our past.

    Obviously famous battles and plagues would not be high up on the list..

    But would you ride the titanic (obviously not knowing it would sink beforehand)?

    Visit the pyramids as they were being built?

    Go to Disneyland?

    Looking for happy points in known history.
     
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  3. skycloud86 Registered Senior Member

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    Do we have the knowledge that we are going to live that long? If so, I'll probably spend much of it building up a vast library from all over the world.
     
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  5. kwhilborn Banned Banned

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    Yes. I am thinking of a person that knows he could live that long and would be mortal and likely live in safe countries and avoid wars/violence.

    - Books among other collections would be a good natural progression. Thanks.

    I guess I am thinking this thread is a good place to list favorite Characters / Leaders / Empires / Situations / Authors / Poets

    Take in a Shakespeare Play at the original Globe Theatre?

    Hire Leanardo DaVinci for a portrait?

    I imagine you would grow very smart, and gravitate towards intellectuals, and be skilled with music, art, fighting, etc.

    This is an odd sort of history thread.

    Would you paint alongside Churchill and discuss the war?
     
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  7. Buddha12 Valued Senior Member

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    It would all depend upon certain factors like where you are located and do you know what the history is about where you live. It is interesting to live that long but if you live in an isolated area in Africa with tribes people then you don't see much change. Since you probably don't have history about what is going on how would you know where you are or who is who? So without some kind of historical knowledge you'd be left in the dust for if you weren't smart enough to know when something was going to happen, like a revolution or war, then you'd be caught up in many dilemas that would cause you great anxiety and confusion.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2012
  8. kx000 Valued Senior Member

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    Be the father of Jesus, and kill Napoleon.
     
  9. kwhilborn Banned Banned

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    I agree Buddha12. I imagine you would have enough money to get current events and meet with various celebrities after they have become famous or notorious, and would take care of avoiding a war that could end your life before your time is up. However you could easily be caught up in a plague / war / crusade without foreknowledge.

    @ kx000
    Kill Napoleon and not Hitler?
     
  10. AlexG Like nailing Jello to a tree Valued Senior Member

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    If I had lived for the last 3000 years, I'd probably be bored to undeath.
     
  11. seagypsy Banned Banned

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    I'd rather be the mother of Jesus, rather than the father. Mamma's baby daddy's maybe ya know. Find out if she was really a virgin or just a very inventive liar in a society full of superstitious nutjobs that could be deluded when the truth was too embarrassing.

    I also would have attended at least a few of Michael Jackson's concerts.

    I would have liked to witness the opening of the Library of Alexandria. And the grand reopening after it was accidentally burned by Julius Caesar in 48BC.

    I would also probably pass myself off as a god from the beginning since I would obviously appear to be immortal and know a hell of a lot more than the other people. How else do you get inbred superstitious nutters to listen to ya.

    The OP kinda implied that we would have lived those 3000 years with the knowledge that we have now in his titanic remarks. Otherwise, If we lived all that time as average to the rest of the existing population, I probably wouldn't have participated in much other than being pregnant and serving men, women didn't get treated as people until relatively recently in history.
     
  12. kwhilborn Banned Banned

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    Michael Jackson Concerts seem to be a good idea, and the Library of Alexandria might be more impressive shortly before it burned than on opening day, but the lighthouse would be nice to see when they cut the ribbon.

    Yes, it is possible Mother Mary was roofied, but who knows. Actually; that would not be something a living person could plan.

    The OP meant live the history without foreknowledge, but either is of interest for a purely fun thread on history.

    I write as a hobby and am writing a story that would have someone live a long time as the main theme, like vampires or highlander, but unrelated otherwise.

    @ Seagypsy,
    I was thinking of a male perspective, but you make a interesting point about the constant oppression of women throughout history. In contrast however; your god projection could work somewhat unless they decided to stick a knife in you or fear you as a witch. Your wealth, knowledge, and constant youthfulness might protect you.
    a) Lead the Republican Party?
    b) Become a mod?
     
  13. Rhaedas Valued Senior Member

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    Ever see the movie The Man From Earth? Sort of the same idea you're presenting. The biggest problem is being able to anticipate and be in the right place to see and participate in major historical points. Or like in that movie, have unintended but huge consequences on history.
     
  14. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

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    I've always found construction sites more interesting than finished buildings. When somebody I know is building a new house, I want to see it when it's still "skin and bones".

    I'd like to see the pyramids under construction, and the Great Wall of China, the Suez Canal, etc. I'd rather watch Apollo 11 being assembled in the VAB than ride it to the moon.

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  15. Buddha12 Valued Senior Member

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  16. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

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  17. kwhilborn Banned Banned

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    at Rhaedas,
    I have not seen the movie to my recollection (limited), but I will note to look for it. TY
    @ Sideshow Bob,
    Yes. Construction would be interesting. Unsure if The Great wall would be as inspiring during construction as when finished, but good point. Some bridges were major feats in their time, such as the Brooklyn bridge. Proclaimed the "eighth wonder of the world" on its opening on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first steel cable suspension bridge.

    I guess the other wonders would all be equally worth a look, but we've already covered Great Wall, Pyramids, and Brooklyn Bridge.

    @ Buddha,
    I find the design of those trucks in the video more impressive than the rockets on them. Although none of them could go to the moon.

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  18. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Right up until the middle of the 19th century, about 99% of the human population "participated" in only one activity: producing and distributing food. It wasn't until the Industrial Revolution was in full force that a significant portion of the population were freed up to engage in other activities. It's easy to forget this today, when only about five percent of humans work in the food industry and even they (at least in the Western countries) work 40 hour weeks with free evenings and paid vacations.

    So for most of those 3,000 years you would have been a farmer. If that's not bad enough, in the age of the Greek and Roman empires you would probably have been a slave. In the Middle Ages you would have been a yeoman: an ostensibly free person but one who owed 2/3 of your output to the Lord of the Manor: "One for my Master, one for my Dame, and one for the little girl who lives down the lane."

    So the odds are vanishingly small that you would have had the opportunity to witness or participate in any of history's great moments. You and your mule would have been plowing the fields with a primitive wooden plow, so your village could eat. You probably wouldn't even know they had happened!
     
  19. kwhilborn Banned Banned

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    @ Fraggle Rocker,
    It might take an unusually dumb person to remain poor for hundreds of years, and we are discussing over three thousand.

    Lack of news however is a good point, but I am sure you would hear about countries rising and falling and have opportunities to explore if you wished. Producing food was not the only profession available. Jesus was allegedly a carpenter due to the lack of cnc machines at the time.

    I think there were also Doctors, Sorcerers, Farriers, Furriers, Boat, wagon, an weapon construction. There were fireworks and chemists, and miners. I imagine the list is quite long.

    Stone masons, artists, musicians. I imagine one could get quite awesome on a lute after 1200 years of practice. Enough to make it as a busker anyways.

    Another good point is that in 3000 years one might be expected to face more than one food shortage from droughts, taxes, or simple bad judgement. Someone fictional alive today may hoard food because of fears of reliving starvation for himself and loved ones.
     
  20. Lakon Valued Senior Member

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    A most interesting and informative post. I had no idea about what you say in your 1st paragraph, but it does seem to make sense. Any reference / link ?

    Also, your ..

    In the Middle Ages you would have been a yeoman: an ostensibly free person but one who owed 2/3 of your output to the Lord of the Manor: "One for my Master, one for my Dame, and one for the little girl who lives down the lane."

    What's changed ? Now it's one for the mortgagee / landlord, one for the state, etc.
     
  21. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Wikipedia says, without any numbers, "Until the Industrial Revolution, the vast majority of the human population labored in agriculture. Pre-industrial agriculture was typically subsistence agriculture in which farmers raised most of their crops for their own consumption instead of for trade. A remarkable shift in agricultural practices has occurred over the past century in response to new technologies, and the development of world markets."

    Subsistence agriculture, by definition, requires most of the population to grow food, because they're growing their own food with (at most) a tiny surplus to sell or trade.

    Further down, the article gives us a sense of proportion: "In 2007, one third of the world's workers were employed in agriculture. The services sector has overtaken agriculture as the economic sector employing the most people worldwide. Despite the size of its workforce, agricultural production accounts for less than five percent of the gross world product (an aggregate of all gross domestic products)."

    Agriculture has been industrialized. Other economic sectors have surpassed it in the value it produces. Yet it still employs 33% of the population. I'll keep looking for historical statistics, but my assertion is hardly remarkable, that before the Industrial Revolution almost everybody had to grow food to keep the population alive.

    You're right. The nursery rhyme "Baa Baa Black Sheep" has probably been revised several times since the era of yeomanry, keeping abreast of evolving economics but hanging onto medieval social structure. In those days the farmers certainly did not get to keep one-third of their production as disposable income. Even the Lord of the Manor didn't have that large a profit margin! Sorry I didn't catch that.

    However, the song is about a man who owns an extremely rare black sheep, long before modern dyes made fabrics in every color and combination possible. That was exceptional, so perhaps he was allowed to keep a larger portion of the profits from that one sheep. Otherwise he'd have no incentive to devote any of his time and labor to an attempt to establish a bloodline of black sheep. As a dog breeder I can imagine how hard that would be.
     
  22. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

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    Polygamy and pillaging small coastal villages....
     

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