Comments on: Alternative Scientific History

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 15:19:29 +0000

I haven’t read The Guns of the South (yet), but I do recall that the South Africans from the future bring back AK-47s.

I’d be inclined to bring back an early Maxim gun, which was originally designed for blackpowder — although the North would be in a much better position to produce cartridges for it.

By: Neovictorian23

Neovictorian23 — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 00:36:13 +0000

M-16s to Robert E. Lee. No, wait, is that a good idea? Not original to me, of course.

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 17:09:31 +0000

I don't think I ever saw that episode as a child. (It's available in high quality through Hulu, by the way.)

By: Rollory

Rollory — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 15:46:32 +0000

The steam engine and the Bessemer process (you need that to make the first worthwhile), and basic hygiene. Of course, to communicate those sorts of engineering concepts, one must first understand them, which most today don't. Here is a very relevant item, the Twilight Zone episode "Of Late I Think Of Cliffordville".

By: James James

James James — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 13:29:03 +0000

“Democracy, Abolition, Freedom and T???” (DAFT)

By: Edward M.

Edward M. — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 05:26:33 +0000

On the subject of germ theory, it seems to have been around for longer than we generally realise. Not only is there this passage in Varro, but Anglo-Saxon medical theory attributed some ailments to the activity inside the body of creatures too small to be seen by the naked eye, to which were applied the catch-all Germanic term for creepy-crawlies: "worms." Toothache was caused by the tooth-worm, pains in the finger joints by the hand-worm, etc. You would almost think that someone had tried to introduce germ theory to the ancients, but that it had slowly been assimilated to the existing cultural context... :)

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 15:03:04 +0000

Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court has that "Wake up sheeple!" tone, but in a 19th-century Yankee style. I had always assumed his Yankee was bringing back scientific and technical prowess, when, really, the book is about bringing Democracy, Abolition, and Freedom of (or from) Religion to the oppressed Masses.

By: Marc Pisco

Marc Pisco — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 03:24:36 +0000

Cargosquid:

What are the advantages of all that to a society?

By: Cargosquid

Cargosquid — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 02:30:26 +0000

Principles of sanitation and germ theory AND the pill.

You get fewer but healthier people, with more children living to adulthood.

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 18:37:24 +0000

My copy included David Drake's To Bring the Light, in which a later Roman gets transported back to Rome's founding.