Martian

You'd be fine, so long as you could prove you weigh more than a duck.

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

Daniel_

I think I'd be OK.

I know the land, I know the safe foods etc. I can make soap and gunpowder from first principles, I can build a furnace, a still, can work iron and case harden it to make tools in advance of a lot of what was around at the time, can cut glass, work with lead.

I can make a bow and arrows, a spear, given enough matal I can make a sword or a knife. I can use all of these weapons with reasonable competence.

If I was dumped in England 1000 years ago (i.e. 1008) I'd head for Westminster and get a job on the abbey.

__________________

╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗
Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
╚═════════════════════════════════════════╝

LoganSnake

I would probably be mauled by wild animals or killed by the villagers within the first 24 hours.

__________________
Maturity is knowing you were an idiot in the past. Wisdom is knowing that you'll be an idiot in the future. Common sense is knowing that you should try not to be an idiot now. - J. Jacques

Pacifier

german maybe ... but do you speak Middle High German?

Wie sol ich den ritter nû gescheiden
und daz schœne wîp
die dicke bî ein ander lâgen ê?
dâ rât ich in rehten triuwen beiden
und ûf mîn selbes lîp

daz sie sich scheiden und er dannen gê.
mâze ist zallen dingen guot.
lîp und êre ist unbehuot,
ob man iht langer lît.
ichn singe eht anders niht wan: ez ist zît.
stant ûf, ritter!'

__________________
"It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death
— Albert Einstein

Tully Mars

I'm with you. I think the survival rate, regardless of how smart you are, would be nil. I'm sure I wouldn't last long.

__________________
I used to drink to drown my sorrows, but the damned things have learned how to swim- Frida Kahlo

Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club

Leto

hehehe... you betcha! Can you say sphagnum moss?


what are first principles?


hehe... Caecilius ego sum...

Willravel

Nope, I speak broken Medium German.

highthief

I think that's about the extent of it along with a few handy sayings about there being truth in wine and coming, seeing and conquering. Oh, and lots of stuff about Agricola.

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Daniel_

Starting from raw materials avaialble in the world commonly at the time - wood ash, fat, sulphur, charcoal, salt peter, things like that.

__________________

╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗
Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
╚═════════════════════════════════════════╝

DaveOrion

Willravel would be dead inside a week, witches and heretics are not tolerated. Daniel might survive as his ego isnt quite so inflated.

__________________
Syriana...have you ever tried liquid MDMA?....Liquid MDMA? No....Arash, when you wanna do this?.....After prayer...

Willravel

So you're saying they would kill the man who introduced the idea of sanitary medicine about 700 years early—the man who would likely save many lives—just because of "witchcraft"? The church had way bigger fish to fry with the fast expansion of Islam. Actually, I'd probably enjoy more success with the Muslims, considering they developed the scientific method.

Tully Mars

Yep, I do. IMO, your biggest problem would be getting them to listen you. Nostradamus was a trained physician prior to his stint as a "fortune teller." He differed with some of the main medical practices of the time. For some crazy reason he thought keeping the cities clean, i.e. washing the shit out of the streets, was important. More important then say bleeding the evil out of people. He had serious issues with the church. By the time he started writing his prophecies he had to do so in "quatrains." Basically in code to keep him from being labeled a heretic. He knew the local lingo, the politics etc... and still had problems. He came along some five centuries later when "new ideas" were much more widely accepted. I think you show up and the minute you start talking, esp. going against the establishment, you're toast... literally.

__________________
I used to drink to drown my sorrows, but the damned things have learned how to swim- Frida Kahlo

Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club

Willravel

Nostrodmus made a simple mistake: he didn't argue from scripture. While the act of Jesus cleaning his disciples' feet was clearly an allegory for humility and service of leadership, one could also argue from this teaching the holy nature of cleanliness.

The main issue I'd have would be gaining access to the Bible, as it was not widely distributed at the time. I'd probably have to become a priest of some kind.

hannukah harry

the church would very likely get rid of you... you'd be a heretic.

back then, cleanliness was not next to godliness. my understanding of the time is that it was believed that washing frequently was a bad thing, showed excessive pride or something, for soem reason was against god.

but more importantly, by 1000AD, the church had little to worry about with islam for another 400 or 500 years. they'd been stopped in western europe in the mid-700's by charles martel at tours/poiters. eastern europe was orthodox, so not the pope's concern, and muslim expansion there was still being halted by the romans (byzantines).

so they'd have plenty of time to burn your heretic butt.

__________________
shabbat shalom, mother fucker! - the hebrew hammer

debaser

Everyone involved in this thread should pause to read "The Year 1000" by Robert Lacey. The assumption that Anglo Saxon Britain was simply a barbaric backwater could not be further from the truth. The Saxons were a very pragmatic people, if you had knowlege that could help them, they would very likely welcome you with open arms.

__________________

Willravel

Debaser to my rescue! Wait, what?!

snowy

But not all of Britain in the year 1008 was populated by Saxons.

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

LoganSnake

Or Anglos...

__________________
Maturity is knowing you were an idiot in the past. Wisdom is knowing that you'll be an idiot in the future. Common sense is knowing that you should try not to be an idiot now. - J. Jacques

snowy

Angles.

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

LoganSnake

Obtuse.

__________________
Maturity is knowing you were an idiot in the past. Wisdom is knowing that you'll be an idiot in the future. Common sense is knowing that you should try not to be an idiot now. - J. Jacques

pocon1

nothing to say

hannukah harry

the only thing i really think you have right is that we'd all die. EVERYONE PANIC!!!

__________________
shabbat shalom, mother fucker! - the hebrew hammer

pocon1

nothing to say

hannukah harry

eh, muslim territories would be the easier to live in as a jew, but jews were all over europe, just highly persecuted, easy scape goats, and generally lived in their own communities, apart from christian society.

__________________
shabbat shalom, mother fucker! - the hebrew hammer

pocon1

nothing to say

Willravel

Not only had Hinduism predated Christianity by thousands of years, not only did Judaism predate Christianity by thousands of years, but Islam was flourishing in Northern Africa, the Middle East, and East. So no, there were many churches in the 1000s. While the hypothetical postulates being transported to Europe, I doubt it would be difficult to leave Europe should the situation present itself as dangerous due to that incarnation of the church.
And can you imagine if someone stole a few copies and delivered them to the masses? *cough* Protestant reformation. *cough*, and a bit early.

The most organized group in the dark ages. That's like the tallest ewok. Record keeping across long distances was horrible due to slow transportation. "I'm a missionary from the far East who was ordained by *insert other real missionary's name here*' can't be corroborated, but more importantly it can't be refuted. At worst they test me and I recite biblical verses I have memorized from catechism.
Galileo wasn't a politician, he was a scientist. I've seen enough BillO to spin conservatives without too much difficulty.
I'd probably do quite well due to my current state of health and experience in landscaping being applied to agricultural work.

pocon1

nothing to say.

Baraka_Guru

After 1,000 A.D., there was great unrest between the Catholic Church and monarchs. Take Frederick II, for example.

Will could survive by finding forward-thinking men like Frederick II and supporting his causes with his advanced knowledge, which I'm sure would have impressed him.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

pocon1

nothing to say

hannukah harry

lack of survival skills aside (how many of us could actually survive in the wilderness on our own for any real length of time?), the language barrier really would be the biggest short term problem. if this scenario really happened, feigning muteness would possibly be a smart idea...

__________________
shabbat shalom, mother fucker! - the hebrew hammer

pocon1

nothing to say

LoganSnake

He can invent the printing press!

__________________
Maturity is knowing you were an idiot in the past. Wisdom is knowing that you'll be an idiot in the future. Common sense is knowing that you should try not to be an idiot now. - J. Jacques

pocon1

nothing to say

Willravel

I can read latin, though I'd only understand a bit of it. And people would likely be used to my strange accent, so they'd dismiss any mispronunciations as my accent.
I never said I'd manufacture anything. I said I's steal the bible and give it to people.

Also, I never said I'd pursue an atheist agenda. The world has really only been ready for that for maybe the past few hundred years, at most the Renaissance. I can play ball if it means avoiding persecution from a church.

HH has a good idea with muteness, but not understanding would mean pretending to be mentally handicapped. Who knows what they did with people afflicted with a mental disability.

pocon1

nothing to say

Willravel

Nobility was not doomed to live an illiterate life, pocon, which could be my "in". Find a low-level noble and provide him with what was essentially the key to the church, and things could get shaken up.

TheNasty

Willravel: What can he not do?

Seriously though, if any of us were magically transported to the year 1000 we'd have a very rough time surviving. The middle ages were a rough time, and around the year 1000 A.D you'd be about 100-150 years away from any sort of major intellectual revival. Power was decentralized, and life was about survival. The muslims were going through a practical golden age while the Europeans were in many ways still recovering from the collapse of the Romans 600 years prior.

Leto

I posed this Q to my wife, who stated that as a Chinese woman, she would be quickly detected and either chattled or killed. That surprised me. Would European society be so xenophobic? But then earlier posts re the ownership of records buy the church ring true.

highthief

Then I'd suggest you can't "read" it. Reading does require comprehension.



What good will "giving the bible to the people" do - none of them can read.

I'm not sure that all areas of Europe were so xenophobic. They'd be worried if Genghis Khan's army came strolling over the hills - I don't think they'd be that alarmed by a single Asian woman.

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Pacifier

I think noone of us would do well 1000 years ago.
The language barrier is one point and an important point. Another point is the general behaviour, society has chanced a lot. I don't know what those people would do to someone who talk and acts in a strange way.

Hunting may be prohibited in most areas, poaching may be punished harshly.

So what kind of job can we do? most of our current jobs are useless (I work in the IT buisness ...) but even most crafting jobs will be useless because things will be done in a much different way. Most workers today rely on modern machines which will not be available. Only people who are trained in classic craftsmanship will stand a chance (and by trained I mean trained, not "I've done some blacksmithing in my backyard")

So, I don't think it wil be easy, I think most of us will end somewere as an unskilled worker who has to do heavy labor.
It may be possible to do some academic work (math perhaps) but I don't think it will be easy to get "into" those jobs. Medicine is difficult, I know how to deal with normal, small wounds, but I have no clue how to treat illness or how to make drugs.

I know some Talhoffer and other swordfighting moves (mostly japanese though), don't know if that would help me...

__________________
"It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death
— Albert Einstein