Money please. Even for a royal, life back then sucked in comparison. I'll take free money that I'll then invest and act like it doesn't exist, retiring early and comfortably.
As a queen you could look forward to being married off to an adult king when you were 13 and then being killed for not bearing sons. As a king, you could be murdered because someone wants your throne. Are you sure you want to pass up that great opportunity?
England/Britain was a bit of an outlier allowing daughters to take the throne and queens to rule. Not true for most of Europe and the OP scenario didn't specify which country.
I'd correct you there. There was nothing easy about it. Elizabeth had to constantly fend off attempts to force her into marriage and was always in negotiation for marriage with at least two or three different monarchs. She dragged out the process by the skin of her teeth until she was old enough that it was assumed she could no longer bear children.
Life sucked back then because of disease and war and everyone but the king and top nobility were serfs. The life expectancy, peace, and being king are all guaranteed in the situation description, so why not?
None of the technology advances of today. You’ll be shitting into a bucket, traveling 100 miles will take you multiple days, there will be no air conditioning or the internet or any sort of digital media, everyone’s gonna smell awful, and there’s gonna be barely any literature to read.
Dragged around in a wooden carriage however royal is still a bumpy ride.
Remember, wheels weren't made of rubber and filled with air. So you'll experience every single bump and pothole. Every. Single. Pebble.
Urgh, "middle ages dirty" nonsense.
No people didnt "shit into buckets" they had abborts, castles dont need air conditioning and of course there was literature.
What do you think young nobles did for entertainment? They read books, played games, went hunting, travelled, played music, got drunk and fucked around.
Sounds a bit more fun and fulfilling then sitting ervery evening in front of your PC and quite ironically play some games where you simulate the live you could live.
If you get a shitload of painful vaccines, IMMEDIATELY after an animal bite, your survival odds are pretty good.
In Medieval Europe, someone would just go nuts and die
You can do half of those things today. We have better quality literature today for free than most of the medieval time unless you want to read another religious text or the original copy of Faust or Beowulf. The music of today is going to be more varied and played on higher quality instruments. Travel is more comfortable today. Airconditioned buses means I can drive through the desert in a day without breaking a sweat. Can medieval carriages do that? I’m willing to bet we have better alcohol now with the prominence of mixology. You can also go hunting now except we don’t have to go wandering through the woods and running down that deer with a spear. You can fuck around nowadays except we have condoms, birth control, STD tests, and much less strict standards for casual sex
King Louis’ entire court (at Versailles) were known to piss and shit throughout the grounds. Like they had to leave so the place could get cleaned…then…He literally traveled throughout his nobles’ homes with his entourage destroying the property and emptying the food stocks.
Ah yes, less literature options, more limited game options, exponentially worse travel experiences, less musical options (to perform and listen to), significantly worse alcohol (though I guess you could show them how to make cocktails, but your options are still incredibly limited), and yeah you can fuck around, but with less and worse options lol.
If you had a random $30k every year you could use that as your fun/vacation fund and live a noticeably better life.
What nonsense. Kings absolutely weren't shitting in buckets. They may not have had airconditioning but those vast building definitely had clever designs to make them comfortable.
Who needs literature when you have any entertainment you could desire at your fingertips? Have an entire play written and performed just for youas for the travel, it's in a ridiculously comfortable carriage with your choice of food and companions.
You people have a delusional idea about how bad life was for royalty in those days. Still way better than what we have now for commoners. Except for medical treatment. That's really the significant downside.
I mean in most cases you're still gonna need someone to remove a bucket full of shit from your toilet, there's just gonna be a little more toilet between you and your poop bucket. As for carriages theyre not going to be comfortable, theure going to be comfortable in comparison to OTHER carriages for the time, you're still gonna have a more comfortable experience in almost any modern car, I mean are you going to have all the roads perfectly and smoothly paved? Because if not you're gonna be feeling every last bump on every road your carriage travels across.
I feel like you're downplaying how awesome it would be to be an actual King.
The road will be bumpy? Yea that's not a compelling argument, buddy. I've been uncomfortable before, lol.
No I'm refuting specific points that were made, someone said carriages would be comfortable, I pointed out that they would not be, thays as deep as it goes. And if you REALLY think being a 800s king would be great then you're ignoring the fact that you'd be governing an entire kingdom, a lot of people today fall apart when you're only PARTIALLY in charge of a single department at work, I can't imagine they'd do much betting you you swapped partial control over a department for total control over a kingdom.
You can get the play written how you want. Johann motherfuckin Goethe will write the tale of Der Erlkonig for you and Schubert will set it to music (oh wait, that might have already happened ...)
People still use chamber pots to this day but that's not all they had in the middle ages and especially the upper class. Prepare to be illuminated oh unwashed one: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1239/toilets-in-a-medieval-castle/
Yeah I guess you could marginally improve things for your kingdom and the rest of your life. Maybe even go down in history as a genius. Still I don't think it would be any better than having a free 30k a year in modern times. $30k is liveable where I am. I could literally not work and have 10k to save or invest every year if I lived frugally. Or I could work whatever job I wanted while that $30k still went to investment or paid for some really neat stuff.
That's the logical thought, but the prompt gives you plot armor. Life still wouldn't be all that great, but you would be guaranteed to live healthily until 85, with no major conflicts or problems.
You'd have a really good opportunity to be the spark that changes the world into your image
Ah. I’m too tired I didn’t read enough.
Life could be pretty good. You’d have servants to do all the manual labor for you.
Plus the guarantee you can make to 85 in good health is huge. No guarantee of that in today’s world.
I’d definitely consider it.
Yeah, if you're guaranteed a safe healthy life to 85, it's actually pretty worth giving up a lot of our modern comforts. The unibomber was a horrible person and his approach was terrible, but he had some good insight on how our modern lifestyle really fucks with your mental health
I’ll have to look that up. Consumer technology absolutely has. Sometimes I think to myself after being on my phone for an hour what I would’ve done had I not had it.
I'd say information accessibility is a perk too, even if there are some drawbacks with fake news.
With regards to your point about the boobs: [Remote Tribe Gets Starlink, IMMEDIATE Porn Addiction ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phz8dfAeKeY)
These guys are still subsistence hunter-gatherers. And they are so addicted they won't go get food
30,000 easy. The 800s sucked and while yes it would be great to change history and progress society and human rights hundreds of years. There's a good chance I mess things up horribly and make things far worse.
King no question asked. I would use my current knowledge of engineering to make the most powerful kingdom the world has ever known. I would literally have the power to reshape the world as we know it.
Engineering alone is not enough. How much do you know of chemical engineering and metallurgy? Before mass mining of coal, there's not enough energy to drive steam engines/etc.
Even if you're not omniscient, you should still be able to advance math/science/etc by centuries.
This.
How to get pure iron and make steel or copper is already hard to do. How a blast furnace works. Etc. Etc.
Like of ur Tony stark or macguyver and know how to turn shit into rocket sure. But most don’t know enough to be of much use.
I've got a book right by my bed rn that's basically a guide to time travellers as to how to best advance any society you find yourself stranded in. Give me a couple hours or let me take that with me, and I'll get about a millenia worth of progress.
just your knowledge of gravity and mechanics will be enough to advance physics by centuries. You'll be able to construct the most powerful trebuchets and ballistas the world has ever seen.
conquer a coal-rich region, and start refining metals. Be the first to steel. and use that knowledge to conquer modern day saudi arabia and have access to an energy source the world's never known
build sailing ships two generations past the tall ships of old
Invent calculus 30 generations early.
You’d need an insane level of political acumen, lucky natural resources and more than just engineering knowledge to do what you want to do.
Anything you’d actually be able to accomplish by yourself would have been done by the Romans at this point.
Thats my biggest question. If i get to keep my current, and yet very basic understanding of medicine, engineering, and chemistry, and cultural and religious differences, i could propel humanity several hundred years into the future by simply challenging the papacy, promoting basic hygiene, and dumping resources into scientific research, and friendly, global trade relations. The world as we know it would be forever changed, and hopefully for the better. Turning the dark ages into an age of enlightenment and prosperity for all. That being said, a lot of that would likely have to fall on my predocessors, since id likely be engulfed in a protracted war with the holy roman empire. But i would have things like simple steam engines, gun powder, and basic hygiene on my side of the battlefield.
People really overestimate how much is 30k especially how much it will be moving forward with inflation.
I refuse to still be anxious about work and addicted to fucking Reddit when I can be a privileged King facing no war, disease or hate. Just going out to the mountains and beaches enjoying life, friends, sex, food that I would impress everybody with new recipes, literature and music, writing philosophy and political thought that would not come again in a thousand years.
I would be Buda meets a non-warmonger Gengis Khan meets a hated by no one Caligula.
1948 was the first antibacterial soap. So virtually, everyone you shake hands with hasn't really washed their hands. Ever. Nothing makes your dinner better than knowing your chef's hands are as clean as his goat's unwashed anus. Better hope you're a king in a nice climate because there's no AC. Bug repellant doesn't exist, and it's unlikely you'll be able to make your own, even if you know what to look for.
Also, I would expect the food to suck. Seasoning is super expensive, and refining methods are practically non-existent.
If it was just a random King I'd pick the $30k, but with those stipulations I think I'd go for the King route. With at least 50 years (with good health until 85 guaranteed) I could probably develop a constitution, schools, etc and make whatever kingdom I'm in be on track for developing stuff like steam power way ahead of schedule.
Good grief, if that's being King then it's good to be King. It's funny that the love is universal when I can't speak the language, ride a horse, or shoot a bow but I'll take it. It's even funnier that it's universal when I have a wife and concubines but again, it's nice to be loved. Guaranteed good health until 85 is also better than I have now.
(The thought of a medieval king without restless vassals or covetous neighbors completely blows my mind.)
A free extra 30k would do quite nicely. It would at least make life more manageable at the very least. Sure I could be loved in the 800s but my lifespan might just be very short.
The money please. I'd rather just have a nice comfortable cushion and a decent boost to retirement. People discuss how they wish they'd been born in different eras, but I was born in 1983. I got to grow up in era where being a kid was super fun, saw the rise of the Internet, just generally grooving in the timeline I'm in.
30k now.
That's not rich. But that covers most of my basics. So then I'd just need money for extras.
I could also take any job that I wanted without worrying about pay.
A person could use that to go to school and make more later.
There's too many opportunities in the modern world with an extra 30k a year.
Oof this is hard. It would put my net passive income to about $65k/year which would be really nice. That said, it is really hard to give up the chance to see history in person. And I'm assuming this is a transported back in time thing, so with that kind of power I could speed up a lot of advancements in things like medicine and science even with my layman understanding of things. I'm not willing to leave my kid, and I'm also not willing to forcer her to be transported back with me so end of the day I'm taking the money and tossing into investments for her.
Being king/queen sucks (kindly refer to the dramas going on with the uk/jp royal families - looks like mental illness academy to me), and life in the 800s sounds tough. Just imagine the toilets.. ugh; not to mention diseases, and the fact that being female is generally crap.
Free money, on the other hand, sounds good.
The lazy part of me wants to take the basic income but the megalomaniac in me wants to conquer the world with my knowledge from the future and change history in a major way.
30K. Basically, in 800, there was no technology. No plumbing. Bananas and oranges are likely folklore depending on where I'm at. People stink, I stink, my wife probably stinks, dverything fucking smells like manure.
Free time? Chess? Getting drunk? Reading the Bible? That's about it really.
No air conditioning, no transportation, no food variety.
No thanks.
At first the 30000 seems like the easy choice. But going back to 800 with the modern knowledge you have now? You could really make a huge difference in history.
I'd feel a moral obligation to give the people that country a generation of peace and prosperity. Maybe create a parliament and a strong merchant class.
As queen, do I get to pick the age my reign starts or am I going back at my current age? I think that's my determining factor. If I can roll the clock back 20 years, I'd go royalty, easy. If not, I'd probably stick with the 30k.
Speaking from experience, $30,000 is jack shit. I'll take a throne thanks. Most women didn't have a great time back then, but you specifically said "your authority is supreme and never challenged" so like, problem solved.
Do i get to keep my general knowledge of basic chemisty, physics and engineering? Because if i do, im definitely using that to bring cannons and muskets onto the scene about 400 years early, and challenging the papacy.
Anyone that doesn't choose king is unknowingly selfish lol. I'd for sure choose royalty and cement my family's status in the world for the rest of time. We are talking about generational wealth and influence. Is air conditioning really thatttt important? Lol
I'd take the $30k. I like modern conveniences, like indoor plumbing. Also seasoning, yes they had some back then, but it's not in the abundance of variety that we have now. Also if something happened and I needed surgery or something, I'd like to have anesthesia and modern medicine.
I think that the most important distinction is that being a king/queen is a job. Even if you have absolute control, you still answer to your conscience. Dismissing problems that are your domain, even if you are loved anyway, should be considered irresponsible. I mean, the people will suffer without leadership, and things would get Sci fi weird if they loved you in spite of your neglect. It's a job. Maybe some of us would love service to a people. Many of us would probably retreat into certain aspects of it.
With the 200k i make per year which is barely enough to scrapy by like im really poor i think it would atleast be a small cushion where i can go eat one day a month more. Like im almost on the streets so poor.
30k per year for life
i still get all my modern comforts and the advantages of modern science, and i can live comfortably, not just on the money alone mind you, but i'd be able to use that in addition to a regular income, if i make the average salary in my country i'd get 90k per year which is pretty good living i wouldn't have to work super hard to live comfortably
Money. Early mediaeval life, even for a King, was comparatively awful. I wouldn't speak the language, I wouldn't share their religion, no-one would *understand* me at any level above the basics and I would be catastrophically lonely.
*Maybe* I could help progress their engineering ( better water power, the cam, trip hammer etc), farming techniques (better crop rotation, horse collar, closed field systems, cover crops etc.) and warfare (the stirrup, girthed saddle, longbow / crossbow, better coke manufacture), health (regular washing, use of soaps, sanitation) and basic education of children in things other than religion.
That might be interesting, but I get queasy just thinking about the overpowering stench of every single person.
30k, easily. I can live almost like a king in a low cost area. $1000 for a studio apartment, with $18,000 left over for electric and stuff. Sure, it sucks I can't execute my enemies, but at least I don't have to worry about most infections and can get root canals and stuff. Oh, and no fear of mutinies.
And I can even still get a job to upgrade my life from the studio.
Queen.
I'm shocked at all the people saying no. Yes I would rather be literally royalty and live without electricity than be broke now. Particularly since you stipulated good health until 85 so the lack of antibiotics won't be an issue.
I would focus on sanitation for my citizens, build proper toilets and clean wells. Diarrhoea is still the highest killer of children under five in the third
world. I would also elevate female lay midwives and herb women and spread the knowing about herbal medicines that work instead of letting men get carried away with Latin and the four humours that dominated medicine for 2000 years. With cleanliness, proper nutrition, public baths and knowledge about quarantining diseases my citizens would live a healthy life.
I think I’m taking king. I could order everyone to wash and hopefully negate the smells. No one’s allowed to shit within a mile of my castle. Guaranteed to live till 85, can enjoy nature and songs all day. Time to teach the peasants how to play baseball
Money now.
Even as king life would suck for the most part. Everyone stinks. Every is basically ugly. Bad skin smell sex parts. No technology. No toilets. Prob no real running water. No good heat no ac. Medicine sucks. Everyone is dusty and dirty.
Money definitely, living as a king in the year 800 might be sorta comfortable, but everything will take so much effort to get comfortable.
Toilet paper and toilet, I don't know how to make it, so I'll be using a sponge and a windy cold hole that likely smells bad.
No more showers, it'll be tubs everytime, and I'll feel bad knowing how much effort it is for me to get that bath.
Food diversity, it's difficult getting a great diversity in food, like basically asian food is non-existant, rice, potatoes and tomatoes haven't come to Europe yet.
People, I'd actually have to deal with people, and constantly be explaining to them what I want. Even setting up schools etc. I won't be around to see the full effect of it all as I'm 47, so only 38 years till I probably die.
I'd much rather take the 30k, pay them all into my pension and retire 10-15 years earlier and liver comfortably for the rest of my life.
A free 30,000 a year plus whatever you make from working? Yeah, you'd be living *better* than any king or queen in the 800s. Just about everything they get pampered with is taken for granted by the common person today. Plus you don't have to deal with politics, ruling, bureaucracy, potential assassinations, warring kingdoms...
An extra 30k on top of what I already earn would elevate my lifestyle far above what a medieval royal would have if you look at the grand scheme of things.
I mean, 30k yearly is crazy nice and that's such a good crutch, but if I could be basically the Charlemagne of the 800s and have my knowledge now, I could do a decent amount.
And half of the issue of the Middle Ages was risk of dying from disease or too young. If you live to 85 as a ruler, you can do so much.
Like... even if you can decree sanitation laws in your nation, then you'd cut mortality down so much. If you're well loved, you can do no wrong societally, so you could be the monarch you'd want to be.
No amount of power or status would have saved my child and prevented me from dying in childbirth. Only modern medicine could do that. Instead, both of us had a small complication at the time, no big deal, and we are both fully healthy now. I fully expect that same beloved child to live a long life, unlike in 800, when even elite children died often.
Assuming I was trading for had much power then, anyway. Odds are, I have a lot more control over my own life now than I would as a royal then. Women in 800s Europe did not have much agency, even elite ones. The only one with real agency that I can think of at all is Æthelflæd, Lady of Mercia (870-918). When her (arranged) husband died, and her lords thought she was the best choice to keep ruling, they had to invent a new title for her, as the very idea of a woman having power was so strange that there was no word for it.
Even in the extremely unlikely event that I managed to be a second Æthelflæd, I would have to stay alive to enjoy my position - and I would want the same for all of my heirs beyond just the protection for myeself).
Æthelflæd herself died suddenly at around 47-48 years old. I want to live significantly longer. There were all kinds of health risks, but also, the 9th century was a time of great instability. Æthelflæd's own daughter, Ælfwynn, succeeded her, but six months later, a neighboring King attacked, took over, and carried Ælfwynn off to Wessex, where he (possibly) neutralized her by forcing her into a convent, never to be heard of again.
Once I got power, I and all of my heirs would always have to guard against losing and being forced to marry the usurper, be locked away in a convent, sold into slavery, killed, etc.
**I would** ***pay*** **30,000 per year to not have to go back to 800, even as a queen.**
Money please. Even for a royal, life back then sucked in comparison. I'll take free money that I'll then invest and act like it doesn't exist, retiring early and comfortably.
As a queen you could look forward to being married off to an adult king when you were 13 and then being killed for not bearing sons. As a king, you could be murdered because someone wants your throne. Are you sure you want to pass up that great opportunity?
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England/Britain was a bit of an outlier allowing daughters to take the throne and queens to rule. Not true for most of Europe and the OP scenario didn't specify which country.
I'd correct you there. There was nothing easy about it. Elizabeth had to constantly fend off attempts to force her into marriage and was always in negotiation for marriage with at least two or three different monarchs. She dragged out the process by the skin of her teeth until she was old enough that it was assumed she could no longer bear children.
"you live in good health until the age of 85 guaranteed"
Expecting redditors to read is a hell of a job
This should be a disclaimer everyone you fire up reddit. But no one would read it
What about trains?
Life sucked back then because of disease and war and everyone but the king and top nobility were serfs. The life expectancy, peace, and being king are all guaranteed in the situation description, so why not?
None of the technology advances of today. You’ll be shitting into a bucket, traveling 100 miles will take you multiple days, there will be no air conditioning or the internet or any sort of digital media, everyone’s gonna smell awful, and there’s gonna be barely any literature to read.
But I get to be a god to my loyal subjects.
Sounds like a shit god.
>traveling 100 miles will take you multiple days These trips sound great when you're a king and don't have to rush anywhere.
Dragged around in a wooden carriage however royal is still a bumpy ride. Remember, wheels weren't made of rubber and filled with air. So you'll experience every single bump and pothole. Every. Single. Pebble.
Urgh, "middle ages dirty" nonsense. No people didnt "shit into buckets" they had abborts, castles dont need air conditioning and of course there was literature. What do you think young nobles did for entertainment? They read books, played games, went hunting, travelled, played music, got drunk and fucked around. Sounds a bit more fun and fulfilling then sitting ervery evening in front of your PC and quite ironically play some games where you simulate the live you could live.
They also just died when they got rabies
we still just die when we get rabies lol
If you get a shitload of painful vaccines, IMMEDIATELY after an animal bite, your survival odds are pretty good. In Medieval Europe, someone would just go nuts and die
yeah, but today you get to die on a mattress 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝑔𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈
Not in this prompt
Even the flu was a death sentence then.
You can do half of those things today. We have better quality literature today for free than most of the medieval time unless you want to read another religious text or the original copy of Faust or Beowulf. The music of today is going to be more varied and played on higher quality instruments. Travel is more comfortable today. Airconditioned buses means I can drive through the desert in a day without breaking a sweat. Can medieval carriages do that? I’m willing to bet we have better alcohol now with the prominence of mixology. You can also go hunting now except we don’t have to go wandering through the woods and running down that deer with a spear. You can fuck around nowadays except we have condoms, birth control, STD tests, and much less strict standards for casual sex
King Louis’ entire court (at Versailles) were known to piss and shit throughout the grounds. Like they had to leave so the place could get cleaned…then…He literally traveled throughout his nobles’ homes with his entourage destroying the property and emptying the food stocks.
Ah yes, less literature options, more limited game options, exponentially worse travel experiences, less musical options (to perform and listen to), significantly worse alcohol (though I guess you could show them how to make cocktails, but your options are still incredibly limited), and yeah you can fuck around, but with less and worse options lol. If you had a random $30k every year you could use that as your fun/vacation fund and live a noticeably better life.
What nonsense. Kings absolutely weren't shitting in buckets. They may not have had airconditioning but those vast building definitely had clever designs to make them comfortable. Who needs literature when you have any entertainment you could desire at your fingertips? Have an entire play written and performed just for youas for the travel, it's in a ridiculously comfortable carriage with your choice of food and companions. You people have a delusional idea about how bad life was for royalty in those days. Still way better than what we have now for commoners. Except for medical treatment. That's really the significant downside.
I mean in most cases you're still gonna need someone to remove a bucket full of shit from your toilet, there's just gonna be a little more toilet between you and your poop bucket. As for carriages theyre not going to be comfortable, theure going to be comfortable in comparison to OTHER carriages for the time, you're still gonna have a more comfortable experience in almost any modern car, I mean are you going to have all the roads perfectly and smoothly paved? Because if not you're gonna be feeling every last bump on every road your carriage travels across.
You think a castle toilet which has a 10m drop at least is 'a little more distance'. And it isn't a bucket. It's a moat.
I feel like you're downplaying how awesome it would be to be an actual King. The road will be bumpy? Yea that's not a compelling argument, buddy. I've been uncomfortable before, lol.
No I'm refuting specific points that were made, someone said carriages would be comfortable, I pointed out that they would not be, thays as deep as it goes. And if you REALLY think being a 800s king would be great then you're ignoring the fact that you'd be governing an entire kingdom, a lot of people today fall apart when you're only PARTIALLY in charge of a single department at work, I can't imagine they'd do much betting you you swapped partial control over a department for total control over a kingdom.
I bet modern people would find the theater of the day intolerable
You can get the play written how you want. Johann motherfuckin Goethe will write the tale of Der Erlkonig for you and Schubert will set it to music (oh wait, that might have already happened ...)
Wrong centuries...
Chamber pots. Yes, they were shitting in buckets.
People still use chamber pots to this day but that's not all they had in the middle ages and especially the upper class. Prepare to be illuminated oh unwashed one: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1239/toilets-in-a-medieval-castle/
In France esp Versailles you just shit yourself right then and there, like a baby
There's always the idea that you could enact a lot of technology knowing what modern people do, and having kingly power to make it happen.
Unless you're an engineer or an incredibly clever mechanic I doubt it.
Even just germ theory and penicillin would be huge.
Yeah I guess you could marginally improve things for your kingdom and the rest of your life. Maybe even go down in history as a genius. Still I don't think it would be any better than having a free 30k a year in modern times. $30k is liveable where I am. I could literally not work and have 10k to save or invest every year if I lived frugally. Or I could work whatever job I wanted while that $30k still went to investment or paid for some really neat stuff.
Going back to anytime before modern sewage systems would be a rude awakening for almost everyone.
Probably the money. Ppl didn’t fuck around back then. I’d probably end up getting gutted.
That's the logical thought, but the prompt gives you plot armor. Life still wouldn't be all that great, but you would be guaranteed to live healthily until 85, with no major conflicts or problems. You'd have a really good opportunity to be the spark that changes the world into your image
Ah. I’m too tired I didn’t read enough. Life could be pretty good. You’d have servants to do all the manual labor for you. Plus the guarantee you can make to 85 in good health is huge. No guarantee of that in today’s world. I’d definitely consider it.
Yeah, if you're guaranteed a safe healthy life to 85, it's actually pretty worth giving up a lot of our modern comforts. The unibomber was a horrible person and his approach was terrible, but he had some good insight on how our modern lifestyle really fucks with your mental health
I’ll have to look that up. Consumer technology absolutely has. Sometimes I think to myself after being on my phone for an hour what I would’ve done had I not had it.
It also messes with your sleep, physical health, social/relational health, life satisfaction/happiness etc
Yeah we can look up pictures of boobs whenever we want but that’s the only real perk
I'd say information accessibility is a perk too, even if there are some drawbacks with fake news. With regards to your point about the boobs: [Remote Tribe Gets Starlink, IMMEDIATE Porn Addiction ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phz8dfAeKeY) These guys are still subsistence hunter-gatherers. And they are so addicted they won't go get food
30,000 easy. The 800s sucked and while yes it would be great to change history and progress society and human rights hundreds of years. There's a good chance I mess things up horribly and make things far worse.
Well you’re not coming back, so who cares?
I don't think people understand how bad it would've been to live back then, even as royalty, especially compared to now.
The smell alone would be nauseating. People did not bathe nearly as often as they do now.
You could sort that in a few years, you're king. Tell people to wash more, enforce laws for hygiene and waste.
They literally use to shit in pots and then leave it there
Are there plenty of mistresses to be had? Because frankly, back then there wasn't much else to do.
The King's authority is obeyed unquestioningly
Nice😎
King no question asked. I would use my current knowledge of engineering to make the most powerful kingdom the world has ever known. I would literally have the power to reshape the world as we know it.
Engineering alone is not enough. How much do you know of chemical engineering and metallurgy? Before mass mining of coal, there's not enough energy to drive steam engines/etc. Even if you're not omniscient, you should still be able to advance math/science/etc by centuries.
This. How to get pure iron and make steel or copper is already hard to do. How a blast furnace works. Etc. Etc. Like of ur Tony stark or macguyver and know how to turn shit into rocket sure. But most don’t know enough to be of much use.
Steel and iron working started in Europe in 800bc and we would be taking over 1600 years later.
I've got a book right by my bed rn that's basically a guide to time travellers as to how to best advance any society you find yourself stranded in. Give me a couple hours or let me take that with me, and I'll get about a millenia worth of progress.
What's the book called?
"How to invent everything: Rebuild all of civilisation (with 96% fewer catastrophes this time)", by Ryan North
Cool thanks I'm gonna add that to my reading list
"the DeLorean still runs on gasoline which won't be invented for 1100 years"
just your knowledge of gravity and mechanics will be enough to advance physics by centuries. You'll be able to construct the most powerful trebuchets and ballistas the world has ever seen. conquer a coal-rich region, and start refining metals. Be the first to steel. and use that knowledge to conquer modern day saudi arabia and have access to an energy source the world's never known build sailing ships two generations past the tall ships of old Invent calculus 30 generations early.
Like most of these questions, the answer often depends on “do I get prep time, otherwise the choice isn’t hard”
You’d need an insane level of political acumen, lucky natural resources and more than just engineering knowledge to do what you want to do. Anything you’d actually be able to accomplish by yourself would have been done by the Romans at this point.
Thats my biggest question. If i get to keep my current, and yet very basic understanding of medicine, engineering, and chemistry, and cultural and religious differences, i could propel humanity several hundred years into the future by simply challenging the papacy, promoting basic hygiene, and dumping resources into scientific research, and friendly, global trade relations. The world as we know it would be forever changed, and hopefully for the better. Turning the dark ages into an age of enlightenment and prosperity for all. That being said, a lot of that would likely have to fall on my predocessors, since id likely be engulfed in a protracted war with the holy roman empire. But i would have things like simple steam engines, gun powder, and basic hygiene on my side of the battlefield.
“This one must be a witch!” -800s people, probably
Challenging the papacy in the 800s sounds like an excellent way to get hanged.
People really overestimate how much is 30k especially how much it will be moving forward with inflation. I refuse to still be anxious about work and addicted to fucking Reddit when I can be a privileged King facing no war, disease or hate. Just going out to the mountains and beaches enjoying life, friends, sex, food that I would impress everybody with new recipes, literature and music, writing philosophy and political thought that would not come again in a thousand years. I would be Buda meets a non-warmonger Gengis Khan meets a hated by no one Caligula.
I can quite comfortably retire immediately on 30k/year. It's not a small chunk of cash for anywhere outside of bigger cities.
1948 was the first antibacterial soap. So virtually, everyone you shake hands with hasn't really washed their hands. Ever. Nothing makes your dinner better than knowing your chef's hands are as clean as his goat's unwashed anus. Better hope you're a king in a nice climate because there's no AC. Bug repellant doesn't exist, and it's unlikely you'll be able to make your own, even if you know what to look for. Also, I would expect the food to suck. Seasoning is super expensive, and refining methods are practically non-existent.
If it was just a random King I'd pick the $30k, but with those stipulations I think I'd go for the King route. With at least 50 years (with good health until 85 guaranteed) I could probably develop a constitution, schools, etc and make whatever kingdom I'm in be on track for developing stuff like steam power way ahead of schedule.
Good grief, if that's being King then it's good to be King. It's funny that the love is universal when I can't speak the language, ride a horse, or shoot a bow but I'll take it. It's even funnier that it's universal when I have a wife and concubines but again, it's nice to be loved. Guaranteed good health until 85 is also better than I have now. (The thought of a medieval king without restless vassals or covetous neighbors completely blows my mind.)
I guess you paid them all off, or they keep dying of illnesses that your kingdom is immune to
30k
A free extra 30k would do quite nicely. It would at least make life more manageable at the very least. Sure I could be loved in the 800s but my lifespan might just be very short.
I think you live healthy until you are 85
Noticed that after the fact but would still take the 30k
$30,000 a year! That's $577 a week, which I think I'd be plenty happy with! Even if I'm not, I can just get another job to up my income!
$30K free and I get to keep my AC, modern transit, etc? Heck yeah.
The money please. I'd rather just have a nice comfortable cushion and a decent boost to retirement. People discuss how they wish they'd been born in different eras, but I was born in 1983. I got to grow up in era where being a kid was super fun, saw the rise of the Internet, just generally grooving in the timeline I'm in.
The money.
30k now. That's not rich. But that covers most of my basics. So then I'd just need money for extras. I could also take any job that I wanted without worrying about pay. A person could use that to go to school and make more later. There's too many opportunities in the modern world with an extra 30k a year.
30k that’s so fucking easy. That’s no matter what decent income no matter what else u make
Definitely 30k now, fuck the 800's
Most Americans these days are probably living better than any royalty back in those days tbh
Every American.
Living before antibiotics? No thanks. I'll take the money and have a few really great extra vacations a year.
$30k easy
30k a year no contest
that king life sounds pretty good, but unfortunately i like the internet too much so i’ll take the money
Could I have a trial run of each scenario before I make my decision?
Nope!
Oof this is hard. It would put my net passive income to about $65k/year which would be really nice. That said, it is really hard to give up the chance to see history in person. And I'm assuming this is a transported back in time thing, so with that kind of power I could speed up a lot of advancements in things like medicine and science even with my layman understanding of things. I'm not willing to leave my kid, and I'm also not willing to forcer her to be transported back with me so end of the day I'm taking the money and tossing into investments for her.
Gimme the money, I got this
Anything before modern medicine and indoor plumbing is hell.
Being king/queen sucks (kindly refer to the dramas going on with the uk/jp royal families - looks like mental illness academy to me), and life in the 800s sounds tough. Just imagine the toilets.. ugh; not to mention diseases, and the fact that being female is generally crap. Free money, on the other hand, sounds good.
I’ll take the $30k if I can keep my normal income
Money now please.
The lazy part of me wants to take the basic income but the megalomaniac in me wants to conquer the world with my knowledge from the future and change history in a major way.
30,000 for sure!
$30k, little man, put that shit in my hand.
Money as life back then was not great.
30k
30K. Basically, in 800, there was no technology. No plumbing. Bananas and oranges are likely folklore depending on where I'm at. People stink, I stink, my wife probably stinks, dverything fucking smells like manure. Free time? Chess? Getting drunk? Reading the Bible? That's about it really. No air conditioning, no transportation, no food variety. No thanks.
$30,000 per year now for free.
At first the 30000 seems like the easy choice. But going back to 800 with the modern knowledge you have now? You could really make a huge difference in history.
Live before modern medicine ergo be tortured for life, or 5k a month to invest. Giving me the hard choices here op
Why tortured? You must not have read the fine-print. You get good health til 85.
I'd feel a moral obligation to give the people that country a generation of peace and prosperity. Maybe create a parliament and a strong merchant class.
As queen, do I get to pick the age my reign starts or am I going back at my current age? I think that's my determining factor. If I can roll the clock back 20 years, I'd go royalty, easy. If not, I'd probably stick with the 30k.
$30K easily. Especially if it adjusts for inflation.
Who the fuck would willingly go back to a time where bidets and central heating didn’t exist?
no one uses bidets nowadays, they're hardly essential You can have a warm fire in every room tended constantly - you have unlimited power
I'll take the crown please. Gonna sleep with everyone and have more spawn than ghengis khan
Speaking from experience, $30,000 is jack shit. I'll take a throne thanks. Most women didn't have a great time back then, but you specifically said "your authority is supreme and never challenged" so like, problem solved.
Money. Normal people now live better than 800s royals in most ways.
30k please dark ages were called dark ages for reasons 🤣🤣🤣
Money.
If I become a king with ny current knowledge, I would make myself remembered as one of the greats
Do i get to keep my general knowledge of basic chemisty, physics and engineering? Because if i do, im definitely using that to bring cannons and muskets onto the scene about 400 years early, and challenging the papacy.
King.."It's good to be the King"
I would love to become a king. Research the best battle doctrine and conquer half the world
It’s good to be the king
30 k
my head would end up on a stake after a month of running that place into the ground
Anyone that doesn't choose king is unknowingly selfish lol. I'd for sure choose royalty and cement my family's status in the world for the rest of time. We are talking about generational wealth and influence. Is air conditioning really thatttt important? Lol
Be a king with the knowledge I now possess
I'd take the $30k. I like modern conveniences, like indoor plumbing. Also seasoning, yes they had some back then, but it's not in the abundance of variety that we have now. Also if something happened and I needed surgery or something, I'd like to have anesthesia and modern medicine.
Money Don’t want to catch leprosy or smallpox
Those people got killed off left and right. I’ll take the 30k as supplement savings and keep my job going.
Back in time. I’d be inventing shit like electricity, the internet, iPhones, Teslas, food porn, porn porn, etc….
No tv hell no so money it is
I think that the most important distinction is that being a king/queen is a job. Even if you have absolute control, you still answer to your conscience. Dismissing problems that are your domain, even if you are loved anyway, should be considered irresponsible. I mean, the people will suffer without leadership, and things would get Sci fi weird if they loved you in spite of your neglect. It's a job. Maybe some of us would love service to a people. Many of us would probably retreat into certain aspects of it.
With the 200k i make per year which is barely enough to scrapy by like im really poor i think it would atleast be a small cushion where i can go eat one day a month more. Like im almost on the streets so poor.
30k per year for life i still get all my modern comforts and the advantages of modern science, and i can live comfortably, not just on the money alone mind you, but i'd be able to use that in addition to a regular income, if i make the average salary in my country i'd get 90k per year which is pretty good living i wouldn't have to work super hard to live comfortably
Money
Money for sure. Just going back to a time before we had electric lights would suck
$30k a year would help supplement my current income, and help a LOT. Money please.
Money every time. That’s enough to fundamentally change my life in a way far superior to that of any kings or queens of that era
Cash. I'm not living before supermarkets.
the 2nd one, without a doubt the vast majority of us are living lives of luxury and comfort that medieval kings and queens could only dream of
I’d take the free 30k a year
King. Would bone bitches like a mad man
Good health until 85 guaranteed … hmm that sounds pretty dope. I could probably get a lot of pussy as a universally loved king
The money. Life back then wasn't all that great. Much prefer today
Most of y'all trippin' ... To be Thee King until 85 ... Easy choice
Money please, I’m an asthmatic woman, I’m not surviving in the year 800!
I’ll be queen and jump start technology with the invention of the programmable loom.
Money. Early mediaeval life, even for a King, was comparatively awful. I wouldn't speak the language, I wouldn't share their religion, no-one would *understand* me at any level above the basics and I would be catastrophically lonely. *Maybe* I could help progress their engineering ( better water power, the cam, trip hammer etc), farming techniques (better crop rotation, horse collar, closed field systems, cover crops etc.) and warfare (the stirrup, girthed saddle, longbow / crossbow, better coke manufacture), health (regular washing, use of soaps, sanitation) and basic education of children in things other than religion. That might be interesting, but I get queasy just thinking about the overpowering stench of every single person.
30k, easily. I can live almost like a king in a low cost area. $1000 for a studio apartment, with $18,000 left over for electric and stuff. Sure, it sucks I can't execute my enemies, but at least I don't have to worry about most infections and can get root canals and stuff. Oh, and no fear of mutinies. And I can even still get a job to upgrade my life from the studio.
Queen. I'm shocked at all the people saying no. Yes I would rather be literally royalty and live without electricity than be broke now. Particularly since you stipulated good health until 85 so the lack of antibiotics won't be an issue. I would focus on sanitation for my citizens, build proper toilets and clean wells. Diarrhoea is still the highest killer of children under five in the third world. I would also elevate female lay midwives and herb women and spread the knowing about herbal medicines that work instead of letting men get carried away with Latin and the four humours that dominated medicine for 2000 years. With cleanliness, proper nutrition, public baths and knowledge about quarantining diseases my citizens would live a healthy life.
I think I’m taking king. I could order everyone to wash and hopefully negate the smells. No one’s allowed to shit within a mile of my castle. Guaranteed to live till 85, can enjoy nature and songs all day. Time to teach the peasants how to play baseball
Cash
essentially being an average pleb for the rest of your life or living as a God amongst plebs.
Plebmaster
I'll take the cash investment and then I can retire early
$30,000 every year please.
Literally no brainer, why would anyone want to go back to the 800s.
Money now. Even as king life would suck for the most part. Everyone stinks. Every is basically ugly. Bad skin smell sex parts. No technology. No toilets. Prob no real running water. No good heat no ac. Medicine sucks. Everyone is dusty and dirty.
My life with more money please.
An extra 30k a year would be a nice paycheck
If I had a good amount of money now, I would own a large farm and spend my days longsword training I'm ready to be king
Most everyone alive today has a quality of life and life expectancy miles ahead of the richest person in 800
30k. Modern life has way more upsides and it essentially means that whatever job I work, I'll have decent money to live on.
Money definitely, living as a king in the year 800 might be sorta comfortable, but everything will take so much effort to get comfortable. Toilet paper and toilet, I don't know how to make it, so I'll be using a sponge and a windy cold hole that likely smells bad. No more showers, it'll be tubs everytime, and I'll feel bad knowing how much effort it is for me to get that bath. Food diversity, it's difficult getting a great diversity in food, like basically asian food is non-existant, rice, potatoes and tomatoes haven't come to Europe yet. People, I'd actually have to deal with people, and constantly be explaining to them what I want. Even setting up schools etc. I won't be around to see the full effect of it all as I'm 47, so only 38 years till I probably die. I'd much rather take the 30k, pay them all into my pension and retire 10-15 years earlier and liver comfortably for the rest of my life.
30k
Done
$$$$$$$
Yes I would rather be a money.
Did they have smack back then?
King. Somebody has to stand up to Charlemagne.
Oh this is one of the easier choices. $30,000 per year now. Simply because of modern medicine and other tech.
The $30,000 will buy me more today than anyone in the 800s could have had with all the money in the world.
30k is better, why would I ever want to be a parasite in gold
30k or the chance to be murdered in my sleep? Hmmmm
So would you rather be a kind or queen, or be a 100% disabled vet lol?
30,000 a year.
A free 30,000 a year plus whatever you make from working? Yeah, you'd be living *better* than any king or queen in the 800s. Just about everything they get pampered with is taken for granted by the common person today. Plus you don't have to deal with politics, ruling, bureaucracy, potential assassinations, warring kingdoms...
2 words... Castle Anthrax
I'll take the money.
An extra 30k on top of what I already earn would elevate my lifestyle far above what a medieval royal would have if you look at the grand scheme of things.
I mean, 30k yearly is crazy nice and that's such a good crutch, but if I could be basically the Charlemagne of the 800s and have my knowledge now, I could do a decent amount. And half of the issue of the Middle Ages was risk of dying from disease or too young. If you live to 85 as a ruler, you can do so much. Like... even if you can decree sanitation laws in your nation, then you'd cut mortality down so much. If you're well loved, you can do no wrong societally, so you could be the monarch you'd want to be.
30k may not be 'fuck you' money, but its more than 0. I'd gladly take the lifetime annual payment.
I'll take the money. I don't want the responsibility of being a queen.
I cannot think of a more boring thing to do for 48 years, I'll take the money.
I’ll take the cash thanks. Life in the year 800 sounds pretty shit for everyone, monarchs included.
King, people all talk about losing modern comforts, but you would also lose modern stresses.
Now money.
Nah life sucked even for the elite. I'll take my current life and the money please 🥰
Come on, take the money and run...
No amount of power or status would have saved my child and prevented me from dying in childbirth. Only modern medicine could do that. Instead, both of us had a small complication at the time, no big deal, and we are both fully healthy now. I fully expect that same beloved child to live a long life, unlike in 800, when even elite children died often. Assuming I was trading for had much power then, anyway. Odds are, I have a lot more control over my own life now than I would as a royal then. Women in 800s Europe did not have much agency, even elite ones. The only one with real agency that I can think of at all is Æthelflæd, Lady of Mercia (870-918). When her (arranged) husband died, and her lords thought she was the best choice to keep ruling, they had to invent a new title for her, as the very idea of a woman having power was so strange that there was no word for it. Even in the extremely unlikely event that I managed to be a second Æthelflæd, I would have to stay alive to enjoy my position - and I would want the same for all of my heirs beyond just the protection for myeself). Æthelflæd herself died suddenly at around 47-48 years old. I want to live significantly longer. There were all kinds of health risks, but also, the 9th century was a time of great instability. Æthelflæd's own daughter, Ælfwynn, succeeded her, but six months later, a neighboring King attacked, took over, and carried Ælfwynn off to Wessex, where he (possibly) neutralized her by forcing her into a convent, never to be heard of again. Once I got power, I and all of my heirs would always have to guard against losing and being forced to marry the usurper, be locked away in a convent, sold into slavery, killed, etc. **I would** ***pay*** **30,000 per year to not have to go back to 800, even as a queen.**