Restarting a civ...

and tear down, and rebuild according to slightly different data...and tear down again, and rebuild

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

All I could really do is introduce the absolute importance of cleanliness - make sure the people around me boiled their drinking water, used outhouses instead of just dumping household waste out the window, etc. The rest of my skillset - accounting and technical support - wouldn't do a lot of good. My infantry training would be ok for not running around in despair and then dying because I didn't know how to hunt, clean game, forage, or make a shelter - that just puts me on more of an even footing with ancient (read: last century) man than above him.

But depending on how far back things had slipped/I time travelled introducing 'duh' things, like the cleanliness, basic first aid, and the importance of education, could increase the quality of life significantly.

Okay, so I've put a little thought into this one and come up with a problem.

The problem being: expected lifespan.

Even if I had more actual, usable technological knowledge than I do now I would still only have a short period of time to give it over to my laborers. At the age of 42, with no modern medical facilities or care, with less-than-modern housing and food production, I could feasibly see living to my mid 60's. So I have roughly 20 years to teach and direct my minions so they can continue along after my death.

Now, if I were immortal there would be no problem. I'd take it slow and guide my people along gently generation by generation.

But I'm not immortal... so I am left with a decision to make. I think that, ultimately, my decision would be not to teach them ANY technology whatsoever.

Here's my rationale: I have studied martial arts (tae kwon do, shotokan karate, aiki jui'jutsu, judo and Marine Corps self defense) for 20 years now. I am quite capable of killing a man with my bare hands, but it took me a LONG time to learn those skills. During that learning process my instructors also trained me on WHEN to use my training. The morality of martial arts was drilled into me right along with the combat training. I know how to kick someone but at the same time I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of a kick.

Now, let's say someone found a loaded gun laying on the street. They have no training. They have no discipline with regards to finding peaceful solutions other than shooting someone. With my martial arts training I can restrain someone as easily as I can take them out. With a gun there is no such middle ground; the best option is "Shoot to wound" rather than to kill. The person picking up the gun has instant power. No cost to get it. No learning curve to earn it.

My minions would be in the exact same boat. If I just taught them how to make black powder and use it... If I instructed them on assembly lines and mass production princibles.. Then I am giving them power without any guidelines. When I am gone they would take my black powder and create bullets and bombs with it. When I am no longer there they build factories without thought to environmental impact because they had not learned those lessons.

So, what do I do?

Instead of giving them technology I give them basic survival skills like hunting, farming, irrigation, home building and community. I will give them culture to hold their communities together so they celebrate their neighbor rather than envy them. I will teach them a deep respect for the environment and the world around them. I will do my best to make them think "community and planet first... personal wealth and advantage second..."

That way, when they eventually discover these technological advantages themselves, they might be better prepared to share that knowledge rather than horde it and become devisive from the withholding. Perhaps they will think of the environmental impact of progress and adjust accordingly before they rush into "advancement" without proper forethought.

So, I guess I automatically fail the "restarting a civilization" test. Since, at least on a technological basis, I wouldn't give them a blessed thing.

Start the world over you say?

Hoo hoo... your looking at the number one despot on the planet! I'd make Alexander the Great, Ghengis Khan, Ceaser and all the rest footnotes in history.

Most of us are so used to modern urban life that any attempt to introduce new ideas into a primitive people would be so abstract that they probably would not remain. What do we know about survival? Pre-historical people would care about discovering efficient tools and materials for general use, and more importantly, the introduction of farming techniques. Can you do that? Farming is what made people first settle down. No one will care about your civilizing plight if you can't keep their stomachs full with little effort and risk. The discovery of bronze changed the world for good and iron changed it once more. Do you know how to use and obtain such metals? It really seems almost irrelevant when we are surrounded by everything that we need to live comfortably.

Anyways, Gandhi is not the problem, Montezuma is.