Thursday, August 09, 2007

Going back in time... would you be "technologically useful"?

Stumbled across this quiz at a site called The Universe As. Here's the set-up:
If you were to travel 2000 years into the past, how useful would you be in jumpstarting technological advancements? This 10 question quiz will help you figure out your technological usefulness. If you do poorly on the quiz, as most people likely will, then just let that inspire you to study up more on how things work and where raw materials come from.
Follow the link and take the quiz. I surprised myself by getting seven out of 10 right -- and to prove it, here are my results:


I was at least technologically useful enough to black out the correct answers before posting this. (No cheating!) And, as comforting as these results might be... I somehow doubt that a capricious fate would supply a multiple choice guess quiz when depositing someone in the days of Swords and Sandals. I'm afraid that -- even for someone who was genuinely technologically useful -- things would go more like they did for Mark Twain's Hank Morgan, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. (Believe it or not, that's a link to the contents of the book. Public domain is a wonderful thing. And if you've only seen the Bing Crosby movie version, you really don't know the story.)

And besides, I really wouldn't want to go back that far in time, even if I could -- I'd much rather just take $1,000 back to the early 1960's so I could invest with Warren Buffett at the birth of Berkshire Hathaway....

As long as I could beam right back.

And start spending....

14 comments:

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

yeah curmy, wouldn't THAT be a hoot? i bought a few shares of his class b and lost a bundle, sold it, and it went up again. enough about that!

smiles, bee

tyvc

Jean-Luc Picard said...

I was described as mediocre, advancing only up to the 15th century.

Barb said...

I got a 5 on the quiz. I guessed at all of them. :)

I have surprise news on my blog!

Linda said...

Jean-Luc and I are in the same category of mediocre. Then again, I am a female and I bleed a broken nail or something!

Anonymous said...

Umm. The answer is NO!
LOL
Shel

landgirl said...

I was also technologically useful, so if you happen to be sent back in time, you might want to take me with you. All my years as a tech writer and hanging out with techies has apparently rubbed off on me. But there was as so often happens a kind of gender bias--where was all the domestic technology? Making flax, spinning, weaving, etc.

Liquid said...

Could I take my lip gloss with me?

Linda said...

Good afternoon, Counselor Curmudgeon, I have once again tagged you for a meme over at my blog on my Friday post. I think you might enjoy it and I would love to see what tack you take on it!

Patti said...

I would be technologically un-useful, having scored 4 out of 10.

I shall have my techie son try this one!

Shelby said...

I am so un useful I can't even comment.

sad, but yet true.

Lahdeedah said...

Sadly, I'd only get us to the 15th century.

Realistically, seeing as I guessed on about a third of the answers, it'd be the ninth century.

I'd be an alchemist!

Ralph said...

I was only 4 out of 10...The only thing I knew for sure was the correct wing shape that produced lift...Of course, the 1100's were a simpler time to live, without technology. Provided you actually made it to age of 30, that is...

SQT said...

I am not the least bit surprized I only got 5 right. Heck, I'm surprized I got that many.

susan said...

So I guess my 5 right answers (or 5 wrong answers, if you want to look at it that way) puts me in good company with a number of my fellow readers. And probably means I'd only have had a 50/50 shot of making it without all the technological advances that are already in place. Kinda demoralizing to realize that I really COULD die without my cell phone...