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42submissions
Finished
Hey Pandas, If You Were To Introduce One Modern-Day Item To A Medieval Peasant, What Would It Be?
Exactly what it sounds like. Top voted answer gets to see this happen when time travel is invented.
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#1
The pill or vasectomies to save so many women dying in childbirth.
Final score:
23points
Yudita 2 years ago
No, it definitely wouldn't give the same result, and you know it. You just chose to ignore the obvious. But we're able to see you. Bob Marley once said, "You can lie some people some times (and yourself), but you can't lie all the people all the times."
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RELATED:
#2
The means to purify their water for drinking and cleaning.
Final score:
19points
AxleMunshine001 2 years ago
In those tomes people drink beer and mead a lot, even children. The alcohol kills the bugs
Jayjay (Submission author) 2 years ago
There are more means of purifying water without fire. Filtrating for instance. If they would have know how, they would have had loads more of safe water on a grand scale.
Load More Replies... #3
Nothing. Being burned at the stake doesn't sound pleasant at all.
Final score:
14points
The wee giant 2 years ago
John Dee was convicted of calculating but later became advisor to queen Elizabeth the first.
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 2 years ago
Seriously though. I’m gender-non-conforming, neurodivergent, and an atheist. I would 1000% be killed as a witch.
#4
Reading and writing
Final score:
11points
Kat 2 years ago
They had that. Not everybody , but more than you think ... (Depending also on what exact time and place in the enormous span of time we can medieval ... )
cerinamroth (Submission author) 2 years ago
It tended to be concentrated around the church though, allowing peasants to be exploited by landowners (often the church) in many places (in the UK, at least). To say nothing of church services being held exclusively in Latin at the time, which no one outside the church learned or understood...
Load More Replies... The Original Bruno 2 years ago
Not to be too critical, but this would be fairly useless without books. That's the only reason more people didn't learn.
#5
Antibiotics. Vaccines especially for childhood diseases, rabies vacation, tetanus shots, and tell them bathe on a regular basis, boil water and filter before using it.
Final score:
8points
Kat 2 years ago
They did bathe... Medieval cities even had bathing houses where washing was a social activity.
Bear Hall 2 years ago
They were not very keen on preparing a fresh bath for a new costumer. One guy climbs out, other guy climbs in. And the water probably wasn't exactly purified to start with.
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Javelina Poppers 2 years ago
The plague vaccine..........no matter how weak, something is better than nothing.
#6
I think I'd show them a shark tunnel, the kind in aquariums with the moving pathway. I feel like it could inspire all sorts of myths and monsters.
Final score:
7points
The Original Bruno 2 years ago
On the one hand, this is SO much less practical than most of the entries, but on the other hand, this is so much less practical than most of the entries. +1
#7
🚽
Final score:
6points
#8
"See this? This is my BOOM STICK! The 12-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about $109.95. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. You got that!?"
Final score:
6points
#9
Probably simple circuits. Or something like flashlights. Some of them would be amazed by hot water coming out of a tub
Final score:
4points
BlueBlazer999 2 years ago
Solar charger? Although that would be a second thing to show them, wouldn’t it 🤔.
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#10
Bored Panda.
Final score:
4points
#11
Let's be practical. How about a steel plow (with a few spare plow points) and a couple good horse collars? Maybe a few useful improved tools? (Wrenches for the plow, to replace worn points, hammers, saws, brace and bit - need to check and see when these things were originally introduced). And some useful seeds - corn, tomatoes, potatoes, etc.
Final score:
4points
geezeronthehill 2 years ago
They did not have corn (maize) or tomatoes or potatoes. Those arrived from the americas well after the middle ages.
Load More Replies... #12
Probably sewerage systems and heating water to kill germs. Maybe basic electricity generation. They had magnets, they had iron, they just never noticed that moving the magnet near the iron does something interesting.
Final score:
4points
Cerridwn d'Wyse 2 years ago
This yes basic water that's clean and not contaminated with fecal matter and other germs would have made the biggest difference in life prior to like the 19th century
geezeronthehill 2 years ago
Sewers were uncommon in Europe after the collapse of the Roman empire. They forgot.
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Kevin the Manager 2 years ago
Oh, they noticed! However, when it happened, they would scream, "BURN THE WITCH" towards whomever was closest to the moving metal, and that would be the end of that.
#13
Boring but waterproof clothes, seen enough survivor type programs to know this would be my choice. So I could be dry and hungry rather than just hungry.
Final score:
3points
Kat 2 years ago
They had stuff like oilcloth and Flemish broadcloth. Both very much water repellent
#14
The cursed box of the cursed Troubadours. Aka as a Television.
Final score:
3points
#15
Spices. A rarity back then. One could be very wealthy. What do you spend it on in the middle ages?
Final score:
3points
WindySwede 2 years ago
Goes to Aldi and buys 1 pound of them all and then sell them for a country!
censorshipsucks 2 years ago (edited)
a harem obviously. because everything else was c**p and sucked.
Nichole Harris 2 years ago
Well.... In theory a harem would suck too *wink wink
Load More Replies... #16
Semolina wheat. The medieval society actually had a pretty good life expectancy (only 50 years, but that's double the global average of 500 years later). They had cultural checks and balances to prevent a population explosion. Even the black death was largely caused by a weather-induced famine. And that black death is what destroyed the cultural stasis that had been resulting in a standard of living that was far higher than the miserable standards that modern people blame on the medieval era, but which really got progressively worse throughout the "enlightenment."
Final score:
3points
#17
Deodorant.
Final score:
3points
Mike Fitzpatrick 2 years ago
If they all ran around with the funk would this necessarily be a "gift"?
#18
Refrigeration and safe food handling rules.
Final score:
3points
#19
dental hygiene. a crazy amount of people died because they didn't have good dental hygiene, and if it was introduced sooner we would be better off.
Final score:
3points
#20
Zippo lighter. They'd think it was some sort of sorcery
Final score:
2points
#21
An alarm clock or a Nokia. The Nokia mostly because they would be like "witchcraft! burn this evil! stone it!" and Nokia would not be destroyed no matter what.lol
Final score:
2points
censorshipsucks 2 years ago
Actual footage of warrior trying to chop a nokia with an axe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qQlqRwFkSU
#22
Naan bread. Something that they'd be able to make.
Final score:
2points
Mama Penguin 2 years ago (edited)
In medieval times, what bread people ate signified which socioeconomic class they belonged to. Medieval peasants weren't able to afford white bread made with white flour, which required more labor and effort. Peasants would eat brown bread made with barley flour and rye, which costs more nowadays, ironically.
#23
The germ theory of disease
Final score:
2points
#24
¿A medieval peasant? Crop rotation without fallow would have been quite revolutionary.
Final score:
2points
geezeronthehill 2 years ago
They fallowed their fields as part of their crop rotation because they didn't have fertilizers.
#25
Potatoes. The peasants were dependant on cereal crops, which were susceptible to bad weather, trampling by livestock, etc. When the potato was finally accepted after the Columbian exchange, peasants did not starve as often.
Final score:
2points
#26
Medicines including antibiotics. I can't imagine having migraines daily (or even weekly) without the pain relief we have today, especially considering they did trepanning - having a hole drilled into my head without pain killers (probably not spelled correctly and I know they had poppy syrup which I assume is like opium.) I'm sure another bored panda can confirm or deny this 'fact'!
Final score:
1point
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 2 years ago
Smart. It’s trepanation if that helps! Also, they actually didn’t use opium/poppy for painkilling a lot until later. Before that it was just happy brain juice.
#27
A book about agriculture.
Final score:
1point
cerinamroth 2 years ago
They probably knew more about it than we do today... We are so out of sync with nature that it's killing all of us.
Danish Susanne 2 years ago
Also a modern book would probably assume that fertilizer and pesticides is available
Load More Replies... #28
Toilet paper
Final score:
1point
#29
Modern communications would change the course of battles, troop movements and warfare. It Would enhance business and commerce, and in turn, shipping efficiency. Communications among doctors during pandemics would improve medicinal response time. In other words, the speedy spread of significant inventions and ideas would have a huge impact.
Final score:
1point
#30
Nothing. We don’t need to risk accidentally changing history and creating more problems in the future than we already have. I’d bring a notebook to record all the wisdom of ancient people.
Final score:
1point
#31
I'd just give them poor people a hug, clothes, and a free-for-life ticket at the nearest place to eat y'all-- but if I had to choose, air conditioning.
Final score:
0points
#32
A knight armor made out of titan. Same protection, but with a lighter material.
Final score:
0points
#34
Humans are so much dumber than in your timeline.
Final score:
0points
#36
Labor unions.
Final score:
0points
#37
Chlorine pentafloride because its an extremely powerful incendiary agent
Final score:
0points
#39
albert einstin
Final score:
-1point
censorshipsucks 2 years ago
they would need to understand newtonian physics first to remotely understand what he was on about.
#40
Ovens that beep when they are done heating up! I think it would be so annoying to have to stick your hand in the oven just so you could know if it was warm enough.
Final score:
-1point
geezeronthehill 2 years ago
They substituted skill for gadgets. I've used a 17th century oven. It ain't that hard
#41
I wanna drive a settler around in my muscle car. “Tis a horseless wagon that speeds like the wind!”
Final score:
-2points
geezeronthehill 2 years ago
Probably get stuck to the axles in mud. Good roads came before the automobile.
What do you think ?
Jods 2 years ago
They were probably rather content with what they had. Remember the Luddites and the industrial revolution? The majority of the houses where I come from are old weavers cottages. Weaving was the main occupation of most families and the mechanisation of looms, although such a technologically successful leap forward came at the expense of the people who relied on home weaving. Some hamlets disappeared because of families having to move to towns and cities for alternative ways of earning a living. If my ancestors hadn’t diversified I wouldn’t be here! They went on to create a joinery and funeral business instead. Similarly in France their Luddites were called saboteurs as they took to chucking their clogs (sabot) into the mechanisms.
Danish Susanne 2 years ago
Some of these ideas are downright silly. A metal plough yes, but things that call for electricity not, the pill would be appreciated perhaps, but ONE pill?
Jods 2 years ago
They were probably rather content with what they had. Remember the Luddites and the industrial revolution? The majority of the houses where I come from are old weavers cottages. Weaving was the main occupation of most families and the mechanisation of looms, although such a technologically successful leap forward came at the expense of the people who relied on home weaving. Some hamlets disappeared because of families having to move to towns and cities for alternative ways of earning a living. If my ancestors hadn’t diversified I wouldn’t be here! They went on to create a joinery and funeral business instead. Similarly in France their Luddites were called saboteurs as they took to chucking their clogs (sabot) into the mechanisms.
Danish Susanne 2 years ago
Some of these ideas are downright silly. A metal plough yes, but things that call for electricity not, the pill would be appreciated perhaps, but ONE pill?
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