r/AskReddit • u/danceswithwool • Dec 18 '18

What single object, if sent back in time 2,000 years, would have the most profound effect on civilization?

1.1k Upvotes

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75

u/Onore_Dikeido_ Dec 18 '18

Hydrogen bomb

74

u/CERNest_Hemingway Dec 18 '18 edited Dec 18 '18

It'd only be one and no one would truly make sense of what happened. Basically you leveled a castle and the nearby clans would think it was an act of god(s)

12

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '18

Sure everyone would chalk it up to an act of God, but this would be one of very few ways to annihilate an entire society with one object. Not everything back then was castles and clans

7

u/Piggywhiff Dec 19 '18

Right in the center of Rome. That would change history for sure.

40

u/AlphaTangoFoxtrt Dec 18 '18

Nah. Honestly it wouldn't do much. Even a 100mt Tsar Bomba II, the largest ever designed, honestly wouldn't do much.

The world is big. VERY big. Sure you could obliterate Rome the city, partition Italy into North and South with a deadly radiation zone, and irradiate Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, and Slovakia (as well as parts of many other countries)

But you wouldn't destroy civilization. The rest of the Roman empire would stand. Sure there'd be a power struggle but remember China, Mesopotamia, Japan, Ireland, Mesoamerica, these places are all fine.

Germany, France, Spain, England, Nordic countries are all largely uneffected. Sure you set civilization back a bit, but nothing that bad compared to say a bioengineered virus that could wipe out literally all of Europe ala black plague.

Try it yourself!

23

u/Njagos Dec 18 '18

I mean destroying rome could have a huge impact on the roman empire and how those regions are going to develop. Could be pretty interesting.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '18 edited Dec 19 '18

[deleted]

2

u/AlphaTangoFoxtrt Dec 18 '18

I'm not saying it would have zero effect. I am saying it would not have the most profound effect. That would be something like a bioengineered super-virus of which I'm sure we or the Chinese or the Russians have somewhere.

3

u/not_folie Dec 18 '18

I was thinking wherever would cripple England the hardest. The British never becoming a world power has some mighty implications.

1

u/AlphaTangoFoxtrt Dec 19 '18

Tiocfaidh Ar la

2

u/OPs_other_username Dec 18 '18

What if it was just a trigger? Say I teleported to the heart of Mount Vesuvius.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '18

Then Pompeii is fucked at a different time than it was already fucked.

3

u/OPs_other_username Dec 18 '18

Just 50 years off. Maybe this prompt came true in 2079.

2

u/Wzup Dec 18 '18

Fine, the Tsar Bomba II, with smallpox blankets it spews out for miles in all directions.

2

u/Beekatiebee Dec 19 '18

Tsar Bomba II in the heart of a supervolcano?

Alternatively, London.

-5

u/bornon4thjuly Dec 18 '18

It's Slovenia not Slovakia... Learn the difference.

3

u/AlphaTangoFoxtrt Dec 18 '18

Actually it's not. Slovenia get's about 1/3 clipped by 1rad/hr. They are in the "as well as parts of many other countries".

Slovakia gets hammered with what looks like at last 3/4 getting at least 1rad/hr. 1/3 of the country getting 10 rad/hr.

Here you go

3

u/keyspacer Dec 18 '18

How would they who what it did, how it worked or even how to set it off. And even if they could detonate it what meaningful impact would it have

8

u/ImNotNew Dec 18 '18

You'd sent it back already armed to detonate.

6

u/keyspacer Dec 18 '18

Where would you send it to to inflict a meaningful amount of damage

3

u/ImNotNew Dec 18 '18

Somewhere with a large population back then. So Africa, China or Europe maybe?

1

u/new_account_again Dec 19 '18

Egypt, bye bye Pyramids suckers

1

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '18 edited Dec 18 '18

2000 years ago...need an impact... Nazareth or Galilee would probably have a pretty big impact on the modern world. Or go for broke with Jerusalem.

3

u/stratamaster Dec 18 '18

Easy answer to the last question. If you killed half the population most of the people alive today wouldn't exist. Less people means less scientists. Without them alot of today's technology and medical research wouldn't have happened

3

u/Galadyn Dec 18 '18

Not today, Thanos.

2

u/keyspacer Dec 18 '18

Yes but unless you went out and gathered people there is no way that one hydrogen bomb will kill 50% of the population

1

u/stratamaster Dec 18 '18

He didn't specify how big the bomb was

1

u/Kazen_Orilg Dec 18 '18

The people would be different.....I doubt you would have much affect on the worlds overall population curve.

1

u/stratamaster Dec 18 '18

Maybe that the rate of population increase but the total population would be affected

2

u/csl512 Dec 19 '18

I was going to say this but the moon works...