(RAR) Which nation do you help?

[Lord_Of_Change 9]

Assume you are an agent of a large top-secret organisation in the year 2150. You are led into a top-secret facility, and it is revealed that your organisation has developed a time viewer allowing them to see the past and most likely futures, and that all the most plausible futures show the end of human life before the end of the century. They also have a time machine, and are going to send you back in time to unite the world before things get too drastic, with technology and knowledge that can ensure the effortless dominance of whatever country you pick to help. The only problem - the machine can only transport people to a period between 1750 and 1945, so your choices are limited.

Which country do you go to in which time period, and what do you do to help?

[open_sketchbook]

Knee jerk response is the British Empire, as early as possible, simply because they were already a third of the way there without help at their peak.

The United States post-Civil War might be a pretty good bet too. Get some of that democracy out there, minus the whole slavery thing. However, I suppose I could also prevent slavery from ever being legal in the first place; working with enlightenment freethinkers like the Founding Father-y types would be optimal.

[Serafina]

If i could i would just jump to about 1990 and make sure that the European Union get's accelerated.
Since i can't do that, i will just have to create one on my own as early as possible.

In order to do that, i will help Napoleon Bonaparte. He already had some pretty good ideas for an european state, i just have to make sure that he doesn't screw it up. Hence, no loosing battles later in his reign. I will also be able to accelerate the early scientific movement and make sure that they get lot's of funding. Likewise, true public education will be one of my foremost goals - probably in french since i will use France to ensure it.
However, it is of utmost importance that (at least as a mid-term goal) this is not a france-governed europe but rather europe as a single nation.

If i manage to create a stable reign that doesn't turn into another dicatorship, that headstart should make sure that europe will have a good, solid age of enlightenment with less violent nationalistic movmenents.

There are already some people with pretty modern ideas around. I just have to make sure that they get the necessary influence and recognition, which should be easy with my resources. I can also hand them the ideas that actually worked out instead of risking all those failed social experiments that happened in that era.
That's also the reason i would pick france and europe in general over Great Britain at that time.

As far as Britain goes, they can't really do much without allies on the continent, which my technological gifts should be able to take care of anyway. If i have to, i will just spread the french revolutions results to the rest of the european nobility - i have no particular quarrel with them, but if they are a risk i won't take it.


So, basically, a five-step programm:
-Help Napoleon keep Europe
-Make sure that it doesn't turn into a violent or discriminating reign and that the (already existing) idea of an united Europe is advanced
-Establish public education which enforces that idea. I don't have much to fight against, since there is no widespread nationalism at that time - i pretty much have a blank sheat for new ideas.
-Include modern ideas such as womens equality, workers rights, human rights, secularism and scientific enlightement into eductation.
-Make sure that this new european nation progresses towards modern liberties and modern science. This should ensure international supremacy of ideas and technology.

[adam_grif]

Eh, if you're taking your tech and knowledge back with you, any country with a decent population would do fine. Arguably it might be best to start something small and easy to conquer with your own personal resources so you don't have to trust somebody else to implement changes out of the goodness of their heart.

As a random pick, the Americas sometime in the 1700's. Conquer the whole continent, achieve space supremacy before other nations have invented the machine-gun, proceed to conquer world over a few decades. If possible, have your successor be an A.I. instead of a human, so as to be morally incorruptible (save for direct physical alterations obviously).

[Solauren]

What kind of Tech base are we working from?

If Cyborg tech is viable, I'd be secretly replacing / enslaving political leaders (starting with the future King George III) to my will in order to keep them under control and 'in line'.

Further, how about neural/mind transfer tech? I might need to keep moving into my own clone to keep things on track.

Really, right now, the operational parameters are way, way, open.

[Chaotic Neutral]

Go to 1930 USA, secretly lead it, building up tech and weapons, when WWII comes along, do nothing, wait for it to end, then blackmail other countries into my empire by threat of nuclear holocaust...

[PeZook]

As a random pick, the Americas sometime in the 1700's. Conquer the whole continent, achieve space supremacy before other nations have invented the machine-gun, proceed to conquer world over a few decades. If possible, have your successor be an A.I. instead of a human, so as to be morally incorruptible (save for direct physical alterations obviously).

Good luck getting into space with a 1700s industrial base. People seem to forget that merely having technology and knowledge means nothing without an infrastructure capable of supporting it. Whoa, no semiconductor industry? Whatever do you mean they won't be able to make machine guns that won't explode? You want us to achieve what tolerances?!

Going back to anything before the 1930s is utterly pointless. It would be best to go to 1945, either to the US, the USSR or Germany: they'd have some of the basic industry necessary to at least start on the way towards grand projects like space colonization. And, of course, there's the slight problem that having awesome tech doesn't mean you have the political will to implement the project: space colonization didn't die from a lack of capability...

[mr friendly guy]

Why does human life end at the end of the century? Because if its due to say alien invasion, it makes more sense to go back as far as possible even without the infrastructure, provided you can educate the population to develop that tech / infrastructure before an earlier time. So while the 1940s may be better able to start understanding your awesome technology, if you go back to the 1750s and manage to get them to 1940s technology before 1940, thats a plus. So you have more time to develop technology to deal with the catastrophe at the end of the 22nd century.

[Serafina]

Furthermore, if you start earlier you might be able to create much more political will for all the necessary large projects, which can be quite a problem on it's own. It's massive, difficult social engineering, but at least you've got the time to pull it off.

[Zaune]

Germany, post WWI. Anywhere you try this you're going to take some big gambles with the butterfly effect, but any alternate history with no Holocaust has to be an improvement.

Though if I could contrive to prevent Kaiser Wilheim from firing Bismarck, better still.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Question for the OP:

What do I get to bring back with me?
What means of transportation do I have?
Do I have cash of the time I go back to?
And most importantly, How long will I live?

By virtue of being from the future, do I have an extended lifespan? Health? Because If so, I am going back to 1848 and putting in place a series of changes which SHOULD result in everything from preventing the assasination of Lincoln, keeping Hitler from becoming a Nazi, preventing WWI, and preventing the rise of the Religious right in America and the Jim Crow South.

[Chaotic Neutral]

Germany, post WWI. Anywhere you try this you're going to take some big gambles with the butterfly effect, but any alternate history with no Holocaust has to be an improvement.

sarcasm\Ever played C&C?/sarcasm

[Iosef Cross]

Assume you are an agent of a large top-secret organisation in the year 2150. You are led into a top-secret facility, and it is revealed that your organisation has developed a time viewer allowing them to see the past and most likely futures, and that all the most plausible futures show the end of human life before the end of the century. They also have a time machine, and are going to send you back in time to unite the world before things get too drastic, with technology and knowledge that can ensure the effortless dominance of whatever country you pick to help. The only problem - the machine can only transport people to a period between 1750 and 1945, so your choices are limited.

Which country do you go to in which time period, and what do you do to help?

Human life would have ended because of nuclear war or something like that?

Well, the best way to same humanity would be to stop tecnological advance in this case. If humans with nukes tend to reach self destruction, preventing the development of technology would actually improve mankind's chances in the long run. How would you stop technological advance? I would go to UK in mid 18th century. I would need to change the institutions that produce the incentives for technological advance, like patents, intelectual property laws, etc. These institutions should be abolished. Also, banks and modern finantial institutions, that permited the accumulation of large stocks of capital for the development of the first factories should be also abolished. That way we can prevent the industrial revolution and the evils of technology that caused this problem.

The other less drastic way would be to stop the spread of nuclear weapons by arriving at the world in 1945 and announcing to the world leaders that you came from a future where nuclear weapons destroyed manking. So that they would really shit in their pants this time and maybe will reach serious aggrements for the prevention of nuclear proliferation.

[adam_grif]

Good luck getting into space with a 1700s industrial base. People seem to forget that merely having technology and knowledge means nothing without an infrastructure capable of supporting it. Whoa, no semiconductor industry? Whatever do you mean they won't be able to make machine guns that won't explode? You want us to achieve what tolerances?!

The Machinegun was historically invented in the latter half of the 19th century. No shit you can't launch into space straight away, but you can get the ball rolling by having advanced knowledge (you're taking your tech base back with you) of what will and will not work, and you don't have to wait around until things get invented, so you can shortcut your way there and not bother mucking about with designs that don't work. Everything is already invented, you just have to go through the motions of crafting primitive tools to craft more advanced tools so you can craft more advanced tools... so you can get to where you need to be.

If you're Sufficiently Advanced (tm), then you will be able to ignore all this messing about with industrializing and have your self replicating robot armies build the infrastructure from what you've taken back with you.

[Purple]

Go back to Germany before the first world war, maybe even 20-30 years before it. Put my self in a position to be the de facto head of state like Bismark was. Make sure that Germany and Austro-Hungary are much, much better prepared for the conflict. And through politics and if necessary assassinations make sure that America newer enters it.

WW1 technology is just a few decades behind WW2 one. And as evidenced by some of the designs put forward but newer completed the way of thinking was certainly there. Even so, the introduction of WW2 era weaponry would massively tip the scales of the war in German favor. Especially in industries like aircraft where I could skip the trial by error and experimentation period and just hand out WW2 aircraft, or at least late WW1 vintage airplanes. And even WW2 vintage weapons like the MP-40 could be a great aid in trench warfare.

Craft a unified German Empire that covers the entire European continent.
Use the now unified Europe as a stage for my own social experiments until I find a system that is better than what we have today.
Also, just for lolz, give a certain Austrian soldier with an eye for paintings a place in my cabinet, under the department of art. Just so that I can keep an eye on him.


Under these conditions, I could use the now existing superpower to shape the world in such a way to avoid the rampant consumerism we have today, end the threat of nuclear war, help ease hunger and exterminate illness, weed out all the ones with genetic deceases and generally create a better future (or is that present?) for mankind.

[Metahive]

Didn't STV: Year of Hell have the same premise? What guarantees that I don't end up like that bloke? Timelines are after all incredibly complex.

[Solauren]

I'd still like to know what our tech base is.

I mean, if we have access to mind control tech, then 'saving' the world would be very easy. Just take over the various leaders and politiions of your target country, then start sending out 'ambassadors' or issuing 'invitations for State visits'.

Even in the 1750's and onward, you should be able to take over the major powers (stopping most wars) very easy. At that point, a series of 'friendship' payments gets everyone out of debt, and you can start 'gearing up' tech and infrastructure.

And if you're pre 1900s, you could probably use some well placed marriages to bring alot of those powers together into one country, in a way the 'peasants' will not dispute.

[Crossroads Inc.]

You know I feel kinda bad for this RAR, a change to go back and change History is something I'd leap it, but its a shame there has been no more clarification from the OP.