What technology would you give to ancient people just to fuck with them?
I'd give laser pointers to Neanderthals. Even if they did figure out some useful application for them (maybe hunting?) they'd run out of batteries eventually.
Furbies. Just to see if we end up with a furby based religion.
Let’s give some ancient peoples a couple books on modern maths and calculus. Really fuck with the development of tech.
Fuck yeah, just give the ancient Greeks hindu-arabic numerals and watch them lose their minds. Teach Zeno calculus and watch him try to prove it wrong.
Pretty sure the greeks knew about the hindu number system, they were neighbours for centuries. They just thought zero was of the devil and geometry was better that algebra and never adopted it.
After further consideration, I would also give them a Solar-Powered TV that plays nothing but a Video of Hatsune Miku doing Fortnite Dances
If we’re including eras where people are able to read and write, a history book. They will see their future and will attempt to change it, for better or for worse.
Those little Roman devices nobody can figure out.
Imma come out and say it: they're old timey versions of copper coils or orgonite pyramids. Gnosticism got kinda big for a while and people were buying curses and prayers and stuff from people to write on little bits of broken pottery like little curses you'd write on scraps of paper in middle school. Somebody out there figured out how to weld little metal sacred geometry figurines and people were buying them because they look cool and some of them probably thought they'd resonate with the vibrations of the universe to cure dysentery or whatever.
I figured it was a game
Antikythera mechanism?
That's Greek and we have a pretty good understanding of them.
I think the person you're replying to is referring to these odd little dodecahedrons that we keep finding in former Roman provinces, but for which we've found no documentation as to what they were for, if anything.
No, those little dice things nobody can figure out at all. They're octagonal with a little ball on each corner.
It's how the Greeks played Minecraft.
I always thought it would be funny to take aluminum foil back in time to see the reaction. I mean, imagine if a time traveler showed you a roll of platinum that they use to bake cookies. That's basically what aluminum was for almost all of history.
You would probably be surprised at how quickly they would figure out how it worked, save maybe some things that have a ton of prerequisite knowledge. If they had the proper materials/tools, they might even be able to reproduce it.
The modern human brain evolved a long time ago, so on average they are just as intelligent as people today (more so in many respects due to necessity). The things that hold us back technologically are usually lack of resources and discovering/making new materials that unlock new categories of tools.
To answer the question: It really depends on how “ancient” we’re talking, but antibiotics have been invaluable to humanity. So literally just teaching early humans how to cultivate the molds that can kill bacteria would change the trajectory of human history.
So literally just teaching early humans how to cultivate the molds that can kill bacteria would change the trajectory of human history.
Shit just teaching them the concepts behind science and (present day) basic stuff ("no the volcano is not erupting because the gods are angry") could probably head off religion entirely.....SOMEBODY GET ME A DAMN TIME MACHINE
Antibiotics
Talk about butterfly effect lol. I wonder where we would be today if antibiotics were readily available before plagues became plagues.
Me, too. That’s why I wanna do it!
Cool Ranch Doritos
Sharpies. Think off all the confused scientist that have to explain sharpie marks under acient paintings.
To fuck with? Contraceptives, obviously!
rip
If it's a civilization that hasn't yet had a writing system, a writing system.
However, I will teach them a (semi-)featural alphabet, kinda like if the Hangeul jamo were its own alphabet. It'd be fun how long the orthography will diverge from the spoken sounds, and how fossilized the orthography can be--and more interestingly, how they might evolve the writing system.
If it's a civilization that already is using a writing system, emojis that they can use alongside their writing system. It'd be interesting to see if they'd eventually turn into ideograms for human feelings and thoughts.
aluminum bars, they won't be able to work it into things like with iron. even if they do, they can't make more
Slinky
Nuclear bombs
A polaroid camera so they can steal each other's soul
Rubiks cube.
A copy of Windows Vista
Advanced maths and physics textbooks
Meth
Kite & surfboard plus the appropriate colorful dress.
I'd show them once how it is done, then watch whatever happens.
Give them a 1/2 meter cube of stuff. Tell them its a device that summons god. Only true believers can do the ritual, heretics will die.
I pretend to pray, my partner flies in with the FG 204, 2nd Edition Ver. 2.31, I leave.
Its just a block of plutonium. Trollolol
(Sorry, my evil alter ego took control, I wouldn't actually do that, that's so fucking chaotic evil)
[Solar powered strobe lights.](https://www.amazon.com/Solar-Strobe-Warning-Light-Flashing
/dp/B08HLL8JQL)
Sure the battery will fail after a few years but until then they will have something that won't exist again for centuries.
Toothpaste. Try making that out of saltpeter and bronze!
Walkie-talkies would be fun. They'd figure out how to use them pretty quickly and what they could use them for. At the same time they'd be completely like magic to them.
A coke bottle
Drop it from an airplane. Bet they would then say among themselves:
God Must Be Crazy!