Corona Ridiculousness Part 3: Time Travel edition

Continuing to post anything that isn't the covid or covid related things....I bring you the following thought experiment: 

What if you time traveled back to 1950 with knowledge of the future, what would you "invent" until modern times?

Figure you are just of adult age, 18, in 1950 and could reasonably assume to live until present day as well.

I want to say Velcro, and have watched shows that use this exact thing as a plot device, but I think it predates 1950 by a bit. I think I'd start with super glue. It's used everywhere even today and it's reasonable to think that you could stumble upon it rather than a lot of other stuff invented in the 50s. I kinda want to go for the fender telecaster but I think super glue is better.

Thoughts?

I don't think I would have been as skeptical of the iphone as I was when they came out.

Seriously, think of all the stuff that was developed / perfected just in the 1950's; transistors, nuclear power plants / powered ships for example.   Never mind what came after that, it's kind of mind blowing.

I would license the concept of the internet.  I would then sell rights for one penny per bit of traffic.  Fast forward to 2020 I would be the sole entry in the GRM $20,000,000 car challenge.

I would just be so good at sports gambling that they would be forced to shut the industry down.

How disappointed would you be to discover that you were not the only one time traveling? for example, imagine you catch Warren Buffet catching a ride back?

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

I would just be so good at sports gambling that they would be forced to shut the industry down.

How disappointed would you be to discover that you were not the only one time traveling? for example, imagine you catch Warren Buffet catching a ride back?

 

This was my first thought. Biff, Back to the Future, II.

Pet Rock. Millions for almost zero effort.

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

I would just be so good at sports gambling that they would be forced to shut the industry down.

How disappointed would you be to discover that you were not the only one time traveling? for example, imagine you catch Warren Buffet catching a ride back?

 

True, I hadn't thought of that.

Let's say though that you are the only one that can time travel

I'd be a lazy E36 M3. 
 

It really wouldn't matter. Any tidbit of true info about the future would be worth millions. 

Best thing I can think of that I know something about (even if it's just REALLY a small amount)- the structure of software.  That didn't really come along until the Apollo program via MIT.  My problem is that I just would not have the patience of learning it and being enthusiastic about it.

Otherwise, I'd really have to learn how to use a slide rule, and then brush up on my written mathematics.  

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

I'd be a lazy E36 M3. 
 

It really wouldn't matter. Any tidbit of true info about the future would be worth millions. 

True I guess but how well would the knowledge of say....Furbys help though too?

In reply to Appleseed :

You aren't wrong

I've long used the question of "what would you invent if you were dropped off in 1790?"    Most people know what things are but have no idea how to actually create anything.

Any change you make might also alter history too, if we go by "The Butterfly Effect" rules.

Hmm... aside from some "inventions" I'd make- probably NiMH batteries to kick-start hybrids for the gas crisis, maybe zip ties?- i'd try to save AMC. I doubt as futureman(TM) you could fuse Packard into them, but if you warned them about the gas crunch, accelerated the Javelin for the Muscle car era a couple years and made their production more efficient I think they could have survived.

I would have the coolest berkeleyin missile silo in Wyoming. All id need is the right currently declassified government info. 

I could make Viagra and most statins I would be one of the wealthiest persons on the planet. 

Don't need to go back that far.  Just move to Seattle 40 years ago and hang around with Bill Gates a lot.  Don't say anything, except "Yes."

If you insist on 1950, microwave oven.  I don't think you'd even need to invent it- just promote the E36 M3 out of it.

I've thought about this a lot over the years. 
 

Fact is you wouldn't have to invent anything or bet on sports. Just know where and when to invest. If you could put $1000 (not insignificant in 1950) into a few things... then get by like a normal joe for a couple decades and watch that egg grow... You could time the market and make all the money. Cashing out only enough along the way to buy into other things, snagging a bunch of real estate in 2009 for example... 

That and buy/save some cool stuff. Some cars, some stereo stuff, guitars and amps... 

I don't know about yall, but berkeley going back to the 50's. Not trying to experience any of that nonsense even if I could end up filthy rich 

yupididit said:

I don't know about yall, but berkeley going back to the 50's. Not trying to experience any of that nonsense even if I could end up filthy rich 

Yeah, it was a grim time for a lot of reasons. About the time I was born in Arizona, my dad was a liberal union activist. It cost him his cushy job with the copper mine where his uncle was a VP. Then he sold cars for a while, but lost that job since he would sell cars  to the Mexican-Americans. 

The 50s? I'd end up dead after shooting a sheriff in Mississippi, Alabama or Tennessee. 

KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) said:

I've long used the question of "what would you invent if you were dropped off in 1790?"    Most people know what things are but have no idea how to actually create anything.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

You’d have to have a complete understanding of the fundamental working principles, be able to apply those principles while limited to 1950 technology, produce a working prototype for the patent, receive piles of venture capital, and fend off the legions of people that would do everything in their power to stop you at every step of the way.

Said differently, if I could go back to 1940, I’d gently place a pristine, fully loaded and fueled F16 at a major German airbase. They’d waste such vast resources trying to reverse engineer it with a 100% chance of failure (since they lacked the metallurgical knowledge, tolerance precision capability, etc., etc., etc.) that they’d quickly and easily be defeated.

Streetwiseguy said:

Don't need to go back that far.  Just move to Seattle 40 years ago and hang around with Bill Gates a lot.  Don't say anything, except "Yes."

If you insist on 1950, microwave oven.  I don't think you'd even need to invent it- just promote the E36 M3 out of it.

True but the idea is to build a multi decade empire, or at least that's what I thought up in the middle of the night lol

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

yupididit said:

I don't know about yall, but berkeley going back to the 50's. Not trying to experience any of that nonsense even if I could end up filthy rich 

Yeah, it was a grim time for a lot of reasons. About the time I was born in Arizona, my dad was a liberal union activist. It cost him his cushy job with the copper mine where his uncle was a VP. Then he sold cars for a while, but lost that job since he would sell cars  to the Mexican-Americans. 

Definitely a grim time but I admit this idea was sort of connected to the Steven king novel, although that was the late 50s

yupididit said:

I don't know about yall, but berkeley going back to the 50's. Not trying to experience any of that nonsense even if I could end up filthy rich 

But-but the 50s were cool! Yeah, if you like lead paint, open air nuclear testing, and lard. And be a white man. God help you if you're black, female or gay. I can't even imagine.

I'd try to get a job at Ford and then fix things so that the Edsel wasn't a failure. Just for E36 M3s and giggles really, not for profit.