Adapting to the past or future, which would be harder?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I have a panic attack if the power goes out, so I'd have to say I'd be much more at ease in the future.

As long as it's not the future of, say, Warhammer 40K. That's a step backwards, really. Although in that case I'd definitely go for the 'Greater Good' and become a Gue'vesa.

 

[EyalM]

As long as I had gotten a polio and smallpox vaccination I don't think that the past wouldn't be too difficult.

That's actually a good point.
Someone traveling backwards enough will probably start a series of plagues.

I would go to the future.
At the very least I can make a decent living giving lectures about my time period (assuming that I'm unique as a time traveler).
If traveling back the present is an option, I'll go to the future and do even menial work. My pay will look incredibly high in 2012 standards due to inflation and after I amass a small fortune, I can come back.

 

[Skellington]

I'm inclined to think the future. If nothing else, you'd probably not want for attention; and as a person acclimatised to the idea of rapid technological progress it probably wouldn't take very long to get the basic gist of the world.

 

[The Dominion]

Does the time traveller have time to prepare?

Is he Batman?

But, I think the future could be easier by virtue of it being easier to adapt to living with people who know where you're coming from due to hindsight, rather than going where you and you're home time is a great unknown. Unless of course, you manage to use knowledge of the past to exploit the hell out of the situation.

I love history, but I really don't think it would be a very fun place to live.

 

[Gotham Central]

The past. People had too many backwards ideas.

And if you are a black person, you don't want to end up any earlier than the mid 1960s.

THIS....add to that being a woman.

 

[Gotham Central]

I guess my answer would be "it depends".

If I could go back to the Paleolithic and take the contents of my house and shed, I'd go.

My half-ass backyard garden and farmstand skills would make me the world's greatest agriculture expert.

I'd know more about the world and the universe than any human being living.

I'd be the richest man alive!

Dropped in the same place with just the clothes on my back - I'd be dead within a week.

Sidebar: one interesting thing to remember about travel into the historical past is that standards of personal hygiene have varied pretty widely. You probably would not be able to sit in the same room with a bunch of 15th century Frenchmen without throwing up from the combined odor of BO, human excrement-stained clothing, and perfumes (the last only if around the upper classes). And their food quality standards would take some getting used to, also. Also, have fun with that whole "no toilet paper" thing.

It would be interesting to travel into the future to see if the same was true going forward. Imagine traveling into the future and everyone thinks your personal hygiene, dietary habits, dental health, etc. are all so bad that you're the most disgusting thing they've ever seen. You might also be considered impossibly ugly, if future people have control of the genome and can look any way they want.

The issue of personal hygiene would probably disgust most of us. In fact we know it would precisely because many westerners have a hard time traveling in the developing world today...and at least they usually have indoor plumbing.

The funny thing is that modern westerners are probably not nearly as physically robust as would be necessary to survive in the past. I remember reading that one of the reasons that allergies have become such a major problem in the west is that, on some level, our immune system has so little to do on a regular basis that it spends its time going after the small stuff. We endlessly complain about all the crap that ends up in our food and water...but the reality is that its all largely safe and devoid of serious contaminants. Imagine living in say 18th century London or Paris where sewage flowed in the streets or eating food that was never refrigerated or subject to things like health inspections. What's worse...even if you went back to a time and place where you could seek medical attention if you got sick...chances are your doctor was more likely to kill you than your illness.

 

[davejames]

I love history, but I really don't think it would be a very fun place to live.

Exactly.

The funny thing is that modern westerners are probably not nearly as physically robust as would be necessary to survive in the past. I remember reading that one of the reasons that allergies have become such a major problem in the west is that, on some level, our immune system has so little to do on a regular basis that it spends its time going after the small stuff. We endlessly complain about all the crap that ends up in our food and water...but the reality is that its all largely safe and devoid of serious contaminants. Imagine living in say 18th century London or Paris where sewage flowed in the streets or eating food that was never refrigerated or subject to things like health inspections. What's worse...even if you went back to a time and place where you could seek medical attention if you got sick...chances are your doctor was more likely to kill you than your illness.

The irony is a person of today would probably fare much better simply living in the wilderness with the Native Americans than in any of the disease and crime-ridden cities of the past. Obviously there's still the elements and the warring tribes to deal with, but it would still probably be a whole lot healthier in the end.

 

[SG-17]

I love history, but I really don't think it would be a very fun place to live.

Exactly.

The funny thing is that modern westerners are probably not nearly as physically robust as would be necessary to survive in the past. I remember reading that one of the reasons that allergies have become such a major problem in the west is that, on some level, our immune system has so little to do on a regular basis that it spends its time going after the small stuff. We endlessly complain about all the crap that ends up in our food and water...but the reality is that its all largely safe and devoid of serious contaminants. Imagine living in say 18th century London or Paris where sewage flowed in the streets or eating food that was never refrigerated or subject to things like health inspections. What's worse...even if you went back to a time and place where you could seek medical attention if you got sick...chances are your doctor was more likely to kill you than your illness.

The irony is a person of today would probably fare much better simply living in the wilderness with the Native Americans than in any of the disease and crime-ridden cities of the past. Obviously there's still the elements and the warring tribes to deal with, but it would still probably be a whole lot healthier in the end.

America throughout its history has been pretty safe and clean outside of the major cities (except during the wars of course).

 

[sojourner]

Assuming the native americans are friendly to you.

 

[SG-17]

Assuming the native americans are friendly to you.

I should have specified settled America. The frontier was just that, a frontier.