If you had a one-way ticket to Jan 1, 1999 that departs on Jan 1, 2024, and you are allowed to bring whatever fits into a backpack with you, what would you bring to use to take over the world, and how would you use it?

Assume that the future can change based on your actions, so any historical information that you bring along with you from the intervening 25 years may quickly drift out of the new realities history.

Edit: also assume that you can be given a healthy 21-year-old body if you want or take your previous self's place.

Further, identification will be provided for you if you were not born at that time.

cyborganism,

An entire offline copy of Wikipedia up to Jan 1 2024 on a tablet. Having all the world events up to that date available to consult at my fingertips, I could use it in so many ways.

DeepFriedDresden,

Don't forget a charger, otherwise you'll be screwed for awhile

akatsukilevi,
akatsukilevi avatar

USB 1.1 was already around in 1999, USB 2.0 being released in 2001 with Mini-A/AB/B being available in 2001, and the standard Type-A as early as 1996.
Take one of those USB Type-A to USB-C and you're good enough until circa-2008 when USB-C starts to get around

DeepFriedDresden,

USB-C wasn't designed until 2014. So yeah you'll need a charging cable regardless

akatsukilevi,
akatsukilevi avatar

Even nowadays USB-C devices aren't the de-facto yet(specially true in 3rd world countries like mine), Mini-B and Micro-C are still fairly common(tho really limited compared to USB-C), so depending on the devices being taken, it might not be that much of a trouble

brianorca,

But the old USB chargers didn’t have high speed charging (2+amps) until much later. Most cell phones can’t charge effectively from the original 0.5A standard USB.

CIA_chatbot,

Lottery numbers and a historical record of the stock market: first, win lottery then invest based on performance

Become a billionaire, then join the oligarchy and use my stock knowledge to bankrupt the rest of the oligarchy

DharmaCurious,
@DharmaCurious@startrek.website avatar

… It freaks me out that is exactly my plan that I’ve spitballed in the shower several times.

Tolookah,

Cia_chatbot knows.

squiblet,
squiblet avatar

Yeah, just buy Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook when it comes out and you’re all set.

Bonehead,

Also, start generating Bitcoin in late 2009 and sell it all on Nov 10, 2021.

Bizarroland,
Bizarroland avatar

Sell it when it's in the 10,000 range the first time, circa 2015, then buy back when it drops to 400 in late 2016 and then hold

squiblet,
squiblet avatar

It spiked to 17,000 in 2017 too, if I recall.

Zellith,

Bear in mind that logically, the longer time goes on and the more you interfere, things will diverge. You might only be able to win the lottery a handful of times before the butterfly effect starts giving you numbers which don't match your predictions from the future. I figure the same thing happens with investments. If someone buys a tonne of shares using billions, the history of the stockmarket will change and over time be unreliable outside of certain events. Might be wise to buy up aquire certain talent though.

timicin,

make your billions by buying lots of small, but super profitable investments.

CarbonIceDragon,
@CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social avatar

At some point, wouldn’t having future knowledge of the stock market either lead to you changing the stock market with the presence of your money until your predictions lose their accuracy, or else get you investigated for insider trading due to it being statistically insanely unlikely to be that lucky?

Transporter_Room_3,
@Transporter_Room_3@startrek.website avatar

Don’t go all in to try and be the majority in a ton of things, and good luck PROVING insider information.

Besides if you make enough money, you can just make investigations go away as long as you aren’t too flashy about it. Or have a convenient distraction story waiting elsewhere to divert attention away from yourself.

grabyourmotherskeys,

You could just spread it across a bunch of GICs and then ETFs that were solid performers. You have your lottery money, you just need to earn enough to live the way you want. With enough invested but diversified you could make a fortune without influencing anything as a result of personal choices.

If anythjng, the initial lottery win will have the biggest impact on the timeline, assuming you lay low afterward.

Now, here’s the thing. I’d say you would be sharing those winnings with the original winner unless you prevented them from getting the ticket so find a jackpot twice as big as you need and hope a bunch of yous from alternate timeline don’t get the same idea.

That’s what would happen to me and I’d end up winning about $3.50.

CarbonIceDragon,
@CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social avatar

If a bunch of you’s from another timeline can come too, that opens the door to more interesting shenanigans anyway, like if they all get unique valid IDs, one of you could run for political office and get enough alternative selves to come back and vote for them to win. Or get different versions of yourself to run for all the political offices in a given area while bringing enough copies to win all their elections, and completely dominate the politics of the area by having everyone in office have the same or very similar views.

grabyourmotherskeys,

The downside here is I’d have to spend all my time with other me’s. I’m pretty sure I’d get on my nerves very quickly.

Bizarroland,
Bizarroland avatar

If you have never seen it, you should watch the British television show Red Dwarf.

There is a character named rimmer who is dead and has been brought back as a hologram.

Relatively early on in the series, through some Star Trek fuckery he manages to bring another version of himself back and begins to cohabitate with himself.

Aside from that, if you even reasonably like science fiction or comedy then it's a damn good show to watch. It's been running for 12 or 13 seasons, it started back in the '80s, and as far as I'm aware there is another season scheduled to be released.

grabyourmotherskeys,

“Smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast!”

lightnsfw,

We’d be too distracted by all the sex to do any of that stuff.

Bizarroland, (edited )
Bizarroland avatar

You could also find some of the lottery winners that absolutely hated what happened to their lives after they won and win the draw right before their ticket would have won.

That way you spare them the misery that the money brought them and you get a nice chunk of change for yourself in the process.

unoriginalsin,

Now, here’s the thing. I’d say you would be sharing those winnings with the original winner unless you prevented them from getting the ticket

The January 2nd Powerball draw was not won by anyone and paid $39M.

That’s plenty of seed money to invest in Google, Bitcoin, et al with perfect knowledge of stock trends. Even if it’s only short term knowledge due to breaking from the original timeline, you could easily grow your investment into the billions overnight.

Perhaps the most amazing stock of the year was Xcelera.com, formerly known as Scandinavia. Once a closed-end fund specializing in Scandinavian stocks, and then an operating company that owned a hotel in the Canary Islands, it made a small investment in an Internet company last year. Before it disclosed that investment, the family of Alexander Vik, the company’s chief executive, was given options to buy a million shares of stock, at a price of $3.25 each. The shares ended 1998 at $3.75, or $1.25 adjusted for two subsequent splits. They ended 1999 at $139.50, an increase of 11,060 percent. The Viks’ option position is now valued at $415 million.

PeepinGoodArgs,

Just buy Apple and Microsoft. You’ll be fine.

Clbull,

I would bring Wednesday 6th January 1999’s winning lottery numbers, five books chronicling the last 25 years of British history, history of businesses, history of the tech industry between 1998 and 2023, modern military history, and the history of Blackrock. Also I would choose a healthy 21-year-old body.

The plan is… win the lottery for some immediate starting capital, make well-informed investments, effectively become the Warren Buffet of Britain and weasel my way into the world elite, befriending figures like David Cameron, Tony Blair, Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Clinton, etc. I would make timely investments into new startups like Facebook, Twitter, etc, jump on the Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum bandwagons early and make it my aim to become the richest man in the world. With that wealth I’d then buy more shares in Blackrock, Blackwater and Lockheed Martin, seemingly be at the top of my game as head of a PMC. I would assist in conflicts that maintain the status quo as best as I could.

I would also do a tonne of work with African military forces, make loads of private investments in African firms and , and beat China to the punch.

With the exception of Blackwater, I would not aim to be a majority shareholder in any of these companies. I’d keep maybe… 5 to 10 percent of shares in the really successful companies, lose a bit of money in falls to not arouse too much suspicion, but I would otherwise climb to the top of the PMC ladder and put my fingers in as many NATO pies as possible.

That’s what I’d do if my aim as a time traveller was to take over the world. In actuality, I’d rather just win the lottery, diversify my investments and retire comfortably. I don’t desire world domination.

peter,
@peter@feddit.uk avatar

Invent Apple Google and Amazon all at once. Yes, I know they all existed at that time but I would just do their best ideas before them.

veroxii,

New Pied Piper

Nath,
@Nath@aussie.zone avatar

Why not go with original ideas like Facebook, Uber, Bitcoin, YouTube and Reddit Lemmy?

CanadaPlus, (edited )

I assume I get ID for a person born in '78 if I choose the adult body? I was born, but very young.

Hard drives of data compatible with old computers, and a few modern laptops for good measure. Maybe some electronics equipment too in case I really need to interface with something obsolete or proprietary. Some period-appropriate cash to live on before my first “job”. The 2000’s won’t know what hit them.

I’m not going to be able to take over the world (shit, even taking over Afghanistan proved to be too hard), but I sure as hell can be a shadowy hacker figure that steers the course of history. I’ll probably avert 9/11 assuming I can get up and running fast enough, and try to steer China towards reform and detente with the West. Russia’s probably intractable. I wonder if I could tip the Florida election towards Gore, in order to get global warming taken care of faster. Giving a bump to renewables research could also help things along.

Edit: So, there would be a lot of phases to this, as I gradually shift from being anonymous to a hot item. Once I reach some point at or after present day, I’ll publish my archives so the world can decide for itself, and I’ll leave proof early on that it’s genuine, for example as hashes of data in things like newspapers that are well archived. Then I’ll dismantle my cabal and retire.

captnanonymous,

The bag is full of post-1999 MTG cards that I will trade for pre-1999 MTG cards.

Thavron,
@Thavron@lemmy.ca avatar

A person of culture, I see.

pewgar_seemsimandroid,

4 copies of windows nt 3.1 and tell as many people as possible that in the future electronic pulses will block heated seats in cars and olny unlockable if you pay an extra 4000

Asudox,
@Asudox@lemmy.world avatar

A few useful books about electronics, devices and new inventions and all of the electronics I can fit into my backpack.

HobbitFoot,

On a more ethical side, bring designs for a solar panels with today’s efficiency and ways to build in a home smart grid. Also bring methods to raise capital so you can start with owning most of the company. I can try to bring better battery technology as well, but I might have to settle for lead acid batteries at first.

By 2001, California’s electricity prices are going to spike. Being able to take people’s homes off grid at this time is going to bring a ton of money and demand for your solar panel solutions. By the total recall of Governor Davis in 2003, I should be flush with cash and expanding significantly. California pays for the development of the technology as it becomes cheap enough to deploy to the rest of the country.

By 2007, most new homes will be built with solar power because it is cheaper in the long run. You even see air conditioners being designed to run in reverse to handle minor heating needs. While my company makes a lot of panels, I license a lot of the technology out, both to encourage mass adoption and to keep away anti-trust issues.

Electricity costs drop along with coal and natural gas demand. This leads people to start buying electric vehicles as the second car for the family as people can’t afford the gas but they can afford the electricity. The Prius is initially sold as a plug-in version.

By now, we’ve seen peak oil and peak carbon output. The only vehicles sold today that use gas are hybrids.

sciencesebi,

Information is power. A simple smartphone loaded with major historical decisions, sports results is enough to make you a billionaire. Take some tech textbooks to stay ahead of the game, maybe some newly developed medicine.

Bizarroland,
Bizarroland avatar

Given that the AIDS epidemic was still in full swing at the time, just being able to teach medicine makers how to make pRep would make you a billionaire just from the licensing fees.

sciencesebi,

What’s that? Profilactic?

You can just take back the experimental vaccine and save some people.

Bizarroland,
Bizarroland avatar

Prep is an anti-hiv pill.

If you engage in practices likely to expose you to HIV you should use prep.

If you have pRep in your system and you are exposed to HIV there is a high likelihood that the pRep will destroy the HIV and prevent the infection from ever taking hold.

Of course, it won't do anything to protect you from the other potential negative consequences of risky behaviors that would expose you to HIV, but considering that it helps protect you from one of the worst potential outcomes it's essentially a godsend.

SteveTech,

Just thought Kiwix seems like it’ll be handy here, it lets you download Wikipedia and some other websites, and they have an Android app to view them.

(They have a web version too, which I actually selfhost for if the world ends or something /s)

HobbitFoot,

If I want to be really unethical, some samples of Covid-19 and the instructions on how to make one of better vaccines.

eluvatar,

Probably a backpack full of smart phones, go sell them and retire.

Then cry that it’ll be a long time until I can use USB C again.

Bizarroland,
Bizarroland avatar

That's a good idea but I wonder if anyone would buy them? Obviously the technology inside of it would be a quantum leap for any tech company that could get their hands on it. AT&t or ma Bell or Motorola would all easily fall over themselves to hand you several million dollars for it just so that they could have their top researchers reverse analyze the equipment.

The downside to that issue though is that it would be very difficult to get in contact with the right people to sell these devices at the right price.

eluvatar,

I mean I could always post photos on Twitter and… Oh wait.

LastYearsPumpkin,

Any current smartphone would be the best digital camera that exists by a mile, even if they didn’t have Internet access.

sxan,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

That kind of technology is hard to get any value from. Nothing in modern phones is innovative, and most of it would be an obvious evolutionary step to any specialist in their field.

Mostly, though, the phones would be useless. Cellular networks were in their infacy, and none of the standards or technology existed to charge them. Reverse engineering anything in them would be hugely expensive, for little return.

Smart phones would be interesting, but far less interesting than the existance of a person who has access to future technology. I think op would dissappear into a government facility not long after trying to pawn their goods.

sciencesebi, (edited )

How the fuck do you take your self’s place? You’re either a your current age trying to identify as a baby or you’re a baby which doesn’t have the mental capacity to remember having the historical info.

Bizarroland,
Bizarroland avatar

It's simple. Say for instance you were 30 years old in 1999. You would just slot into your 30-year-old self and have an opportunity to make new decisions loaded with information about a highly likely future.

However, if you were a baby in 1999, you probably would not want to take your own life over so you would choose the new body option, and lead a completely new life separate from your old one.

sciencesebi,

But how is there not a 24 year difference and 2 of you? Makes 0 sense

Bizarroland,
Bizarroland avatar

Have you ever seen the TV show quantum leap?

That's what I'm talking about. Your personality, the wave state of your brain that makes you "you" would take over your former selfs body.

Once again though, if that doesn't work for you, you could just have a new body.

If going back to 1999 would put you into you infant or toddler's self, then the appropriate choice would be to get a new body.

sciencesebi,

Ah so you basically reset your life. No thanks

ccdfa,

I have some crazy news for you. Not everyone is 21. Believe it or not, but there are people who are older than that (I’m one of them! Boo!)

sciencesebi,

I misread OP. I was under the impression that you reset as a 21 yo

xia,

All the FLOSS software i could put my hands on (with source code), a couple awesome smartphones, wikipedia dump, sports almanac, and a stable-diffusion rig.

theUnlikely,

I’m curious how stable diffusion plays into taking over the world.

Bizarroland,
Bizarroland avatar

I don't know about stable diffusion but I know deep fakes would be handy. Being able to release videos to the public while retaining my privacy would be invaluable.

And if the CIA or the KGB decided to assassinate my alter ego they would have a hell of a time even finding the fucker and if they did find somebody that looked just like them and executed them that wouldn't have killed me.

ilovetacos,
@ilovetacos@lemmy.world avatar

Gray’s Sports Almanac

neidu,

Just hope your school bully doesn’t find it.

ElleChaise,

Why don't you make like a tree and get outta here.

TallonMetroid,
@TallonMetroid@lemmy.world avatar

It’s leave, you idiot! Make like a tree and leave! You sound like a damn fool when you say it wrong.

ShittyBeatlesFCPres,

God forbid we end up on the 1985 timeline. Can you imagine if someone like Biff became rich and powerful?

Brickhead92,

Looks at every billionaire… Yeah imagine that.

grue, (edited )

The joke is that alternate-1985 Biff was literally based on Trump, specifically.

victron,
@victron@programming.dev avatar

Oh la la!

Pietson,

It only had information up until 2000 so better make good use of it for that one year

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