More Time Travel, Less Silliness Part 2

Time travel is one of those things we all play with at one point or another but few of us really think the implications through when we sit down to write. Worse, some tropes have inherent issues when you think about them too much. Here are some thoughts on some popular tropes and how to have fun with them.

The Risk to Personal Health

Here's where it starts getting weird. When it comes to going back into the past you're going to be dealing with two health issues: lack of modern advantages and inherited immunities. The first is the obvious: If you're going back in time, you had better know first aid and knowing what helpful herbs are available in the time/place you're going to. You should also get used to boiling water or the local brew, mostly to deal with parasites. You're also going to want to avoid any chance of breaking bones or infections given the lack of antibiotics.

In short, you need to learn how to use the local herbs to effect as you're not likely to have access to modern medical supplies due to space limitations, especially if you're going back with just the clothes on your back or even nude.

However, there are some pluses. Your ancestors had to deal with some serious issues and your body has kept a lot of the adaptations necessary to survive. Throw in vaccines for diseases similar to the ones running around back then, and you should be sitting pretty, at least compared to the natives. There are also fewer allergens due to the limits of trade: You shouldn't be worried about peanuts if you're outside South America prior to 1500 AD. Celiacs are still pretty screwed, depending on where they touch down, as entire civilizations are based on wheat and related grains.

So…don't get cut or break any bones and don't drink untreated water, and you should be able to survive short trips. Longer trips…? Have fun.

The "Ignorance" of Older Times

Far too many people forget that the older civilizations were a lot more sophisticated in some ways while they're ignorant compared to modern society; this creates some interesting problems. Far more people, for example, were literate than modern people believe, but it's because literacy was judged based on just a couple of languages. While this is not to imply that everyone could read, literacy was more widespread than most believe and thus why you see wanted posters and bills of sale earlier than some think.

This also makes discussions like the shape of the Earth. While there's no question that people knew the Earth was round, there is the question of whether or not this was common knowledge, especially given how few books there were prior to the printing press and that people tended to hoard information rather than disperse it. This is also going to create problems if you're researching something: The information you're looking for could be in a hidden library or in a form you wouldn't recognize as a book or part of an encoded journal, making the search that much harder.

While this does mean that you're not likely to find replacements for your electronics, it does mean that you could find important astronomical information or a weapon treatise that could solve some interesting problems. While maps are hardly complete, they were pretty thorough. The existence of oral histories could mean that you need to find the right skald just to get an idea of what's going on. We won't even get into forms of information like quipu, or bracelets of knotted information. So while previous civilizations may not have had computers, cars, and coffee, it doesn't mean they were necessarily primitive.

Remember: These "savages" erected huge structures using impressive engineering techniques and even set up small farming villages where each exit was put where it could view an astrological event to let them know when to plant, harvest, and other events. They may have been ignorant, but they weren't stupid.

When Languages Drift

Something that a lot of time travel stories ignore is that languages tend to drift over time. That is, they tend to change over time as people add words from other languages while dropping other words due to lack of usage, add in slang and jargon, and generally adapt to their current needs. While this has slowed down due to the printing press, it still happens; two English speakers from the same location but separated by a hundred years would have problems understanding each other.

This is a problem writers need to figure out how they're going to handle as part of the world-building. The simplest solution is a cybernetic chip that translates what they hear and then tells them what to say; this can be either a true universal translator or set up for specific languages. It can, of course, break down or not work for some languages (they haven't been translated yet or they were virtually unknown). Otherwise, they would need to learn the language before visiting the time/place, but the languages would be limited to those with some sort of dictionary; languages that had never been written down would be unavailable and could be the subject of their own mission.

The travelers could also be telepathic, allowing them to appear to communicate in the language of the person they are talking to, but that can get difficult if the person they are talking to is resistant to telepathy. Imagine the problems they would have if the entire population is resistant to telepathy! This would also not apply to written languages unless they have some sort of psychometric ability.

The travelers could also learn any language instantly, like the Marvel mutant Douglas "Cypher" Ramsey, but it may take some time to learn even the basics of the language. This would apply to both spoken and written languages.

You could always hand-wave the problem, allowing the travelers to know the most prominent language of the area they pop up in. This still allows for language issues if they go to an area where a different language holds sway or if there are multiple languages in the target area. This could also be fun if there were multiple languages present in the area, as different travelers would learn different languages. Whether or not this applies to written languages is up to you.

It's something simple, but you would be surprised how much weirdness it can cause.

Would a Lighter Really Amaze the Masses?

One of the most common tropes is that of the time travelers using their basic tech to awe the locals. The most commonly used tech is the humble lighter; the ability to produce fire from nowhere is seen as a great trick. The catch is that this would work for cavemen, but that's about it; the more sophisticated the civilization, the more likely they would see it as just a distraction. That is, the more sophisticated the civilization you are dealing with, the more likely they are to be aware that magic tricks are just illusions; they may appreciate them more but are more likely to applaud than to bow before you.

The irony is that the more powerful technology you use, the less likely they are to be impressed and the more likely you are to be seen as a threat. Sure, some of the locals are going to try to court you but most are looking for a way to kill you to eliminate the threat. This means that if you want to impress the locals put away the disintegrator cannons and pull out the first aid skills or crafting technology; if you can demonstrate practical skills that are beyond what they can do, you pique their curiosity and nothing is more interesting to other humans than someone who can do something better than they can.

So if you're loading something to impress the locals load up on scanners, cure-alls, and replicators before you put that lighter in your pocket.

Time travel isn't really that hard to mess around with when you start having some fun with it. Just remember to think through the implications of what you are writing about and you'll do fine.