Phoebe Avro

I would go back and invent Velcro ^^

Eris

Maybe give them the wheel to start with.

It would be hella funny to see what stone age tribesmen would do with stealth bombers. At least initially. The most likely result in the end would be Cortez and Pizarro would have found nothing but burnt out ruins to conquer.

Void

all true, but it's also fair to remember that global mass media was being born at this time, standards of behavior were different between the periods. those other things were still horrific, but they were also judged less harshly in light of the norms of the time, and by a smaller audience, without as much ability to appeal to those outside their locality. you'll notice that the continuation of events like those on that scale are seen in the most isolated places, and they tend to stay isolated.


If I were to honestly look at the question, I'd say go back to prehistory and make everyone broadcast telepaths... we'd either drive ourselves to extinction in short order, or be the nicest, friendliest, most cooperative race of beings imaginable.

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Soen Eber

Yup. I figure by the 30's there just would have been someone else. The atmosphere was so poisonous at the time nothing good would have happened after the depression set in.

The root cause was a powerful and dangerous fool. Take out Kaiser Wilhelm II and it would have made all the difference.

Hmm ... NDN's ... I'd say have the original viking settlers survive and develop good relations with the natives at the time, and give a century or two for peaceful trade and technology and germs and interbreeding to slowly work its way through to the native races. Then those Dutch English-speaking Talibangicles (the Pilgrims) would have been sent packing.

Argent Stonecutter

How about saving Richard from the siege of Chaluz?

Lord Darcy (character) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(I mean while we're jumping into SF timelines)

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The previous is a cybernetic datum published - in direct contravention of DoD Regulation #229RR3X3 - as being conducive to the physical, psychological and/or social well-being of the population.

Argent Stonecutter

Or else get Diziet Sma to prevail in The State of the Art - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

FlipperPA Peregrine

I would have let Alan Turing do a lot more after WWII without a homophobia bias.

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Beebo Brink

The Indian nations were devastated by disease that wiped out huge numbers, a staggering population blow that also left the survivors shell-shocked and emotionally defeated. If Europeans had been met by the full strength of the original population, our history would be very different indeed.

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Cindy Claveau

So is this a funny thread or deadly serious?

I'm still chuckling as I picture Sitting Bull in the Sioux Situation Room as a team of SEAL braves prepares to jump out of helicopters to take down Custer.

I doubt their call signal would have been "Geronimo"

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Bard Jameson

Well, if there are no limitations to how I can influence history, people, events, nations, etc...

The US Government and Americans as a whole would have been horrified beyond measure by the devastation wrought in two world wars, and having burned and vaporized hundreds of thousands of innocents with saturation, incendiary and nuclear bombing would have weighed on our conscience as blood shame.

Because of this and other factors (such as our incredible post-war wealth and well-being), the US would have led the world toward a commitment to mitigate war among nations by locking away nuclear armaments, creating and fully supporting the UN as a robust and powerful international agency. Yalta and Bretton Woods would not have been about dividing up the spoils of war into "areas of influence" and about setting the US dollar as the world's reserve currency, attempts to ensure American hegemony, but would have been the groundwork laid for an era that finally dedicated itself to the principle that the next war is the last war, and so must be avoided.

By example, the US would show with deeds that the UN was a truly democratic body, organized around parliamentary principles, with no permanent big powers with veto power. The US would have maintained the status of alliance and partnership with the Soviet Union as economic and political peers, and would have collaborated with them to avoid anything like Cold War, and all the hot wars that arose from this.

All military power would be invested in the UN, with each nation maintaining only sufficient standing forces within their own borders to repel an invasion until the UN forces could intervene with overwhelming force to defeat the aggressor and police the peace. Grievances between nations would be brought before the UN just as civil disputes are brought before a court. Leaders of aggressive nations who break the peace would be arrested by the UN and brought before an international criminal court.

All nations would be responsible and accountable for the implementation within their borders of the UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights. Nations could appeal to and rely upon the huge resources of the UN (created by generous donations of resources of all sort by member nations) to assist them in this, and wherever there is a difficulty in achieving those goals UN resources and those of other member nations may be applied to particular nations and regions by agreement of the entire General Council.

The world as a whole, led by the examples of the most powerful nations, dedicate themselves to the use of our boundless resources, time and treasure, toward the benefit of mankind as a whole, expanding trade to the benefit of all, increasing scientific understanding, raising the standard of living for all people everywhere, giving every human a chance to contribute their own unique talent and passion to the world, and ensuring that that nation-state as a political entity is no more a threat to world peace than a bumbling burglar is to the peace of a community of neighbors.

Go on...laugh. But a species that can collaborate and cooperate to create the most devastating wars and weapons, the most sophisticated means for oganizing millions of elements to wage war in a coordinated fashion, and to create methods for gaming an international system for parochial and narrow and short-sighted needs is certainly smart enough to collaborate and cooperate to achieve its opposite.

A great moment in world history was squandered, one that could have been grasped to create a world vastly different than what we have today. It was within reach. We just didn't stretch out our hands to take hold.

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OrinB

The biggest change in my history would be that I wasn't such a trusting, gullible, idiot on one particular occasion.

For history in general... I think we all should try to be more aware of every "butterfly wing beat" and how consequences consequence!

Sorry.. I have no specific history thing I know enough about to need it changing. Just my own one and only dipshit moment!

Eris

Seyla Warden

I think that was a serious post, but anyone who hasn't read Pastwatch really should.

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Soen Eber

I like the way its going right now :-)

History-heavy threads tend to acquire sturm & drang in here. I like the history coming up here and want to see more "what if...", but I don't want people taking things too seriously. If anyone gets angry or rude they're out of the club.

Seyla Warden

I would go back in time to ensure this thread never derailed.

Cindy Claveau

Every time I read this thread, I think of the old SNL sketch with John Belushi as Napoleon. The premise: "What if Napoleon had B52s at Waterloo?"

Zaida Gearbox

I would go back to the day my father started smoking and slap the shit out of him. Ditto the day my mom started smoking.

Void

I know exactly what you mean (and wish I could say it was only 1 particular occasion)....

also, right now I'd like to go back and edit my previous post to say EMPATHS instead of TELEPATHS... way more effective, but i can't do it now because it's wipe out the button commentary =P

another possible change? kill the precursur species of butterflies so we wouldn't have to worry about silly things like them starting hurricanes =D

Surreal

I'd have bought Microsoft stock in the first IPO.

Void

at that rate you could have just bought the whole company.... he tried desperately to unload for a while, at not much more than a song and a dance.

Jahar Aabye

Yup, Card is one of the few authors to treat the indigenous American societies as real social structures containing real people and not just ill-fated historical figures.

For non-fiction I'd also add:

Amazon.com: 1491 (Second Edition): New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus eBook: Charles C. Mann: Kindle Store

and

Amazon.com: 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created eBook: Charles C. Mann: Kindle Store



Now, on a less serious note, I'd be kinda curious tonsee the results of going back in time to tell the Christian proselytizer Saul of Tarsus: "Hey man, it's not worth trying to spread your message to the goyim". The I'd grab a cosmic-sized bag of popcorn and watch European history unfold in the absence of monotheism. I suspect, however, that I'd be sorely disappointed and that things would pretty much turn out the same.

Hmmmm, or maybe find some way to ensure that one of those.kinky Canaanite fertility cults becamenthe ascendant religion in the region instead....

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Jolene Benoir

I'd travel back into PRE-history to give them our modern tools with which to record their lives and history.

Would we still make the same mistakes? Probably. But nobody could say we weren't warned or didn't know better.

Great thread, Soen

Argent Stonecutter

Feed him some epilepsy meds before he got to that point.

Zaida Gearbox

Another one: I'd tie Michael Collins to a chair on the morning of 8/22/1922 and keep in there for awhile.

3) Be waiting, with a gun, for John Wilkes-Booth at the top of the stairs in Fords Theater.

4) Get the Frank family out of Holland completely.

Teeny Leviathan

I would head back to 1979 and tell Jimmy Carter to tell the Shah to keep moving. No room at the inn for him.