This question is common throughout the internet, but I’d like to see Lemmy’s response.

The country you end up in would be random, you don’t get to pick.

  • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Average person today

    With all the power of Rome elegabulus couldn’t purchase bottom surgery. Yet even as a middle class American I did.

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      You could’ve probably purchased bottom surgery, sort of.

      But the quality would’ve been, eh, less satisfactory, I would presume, and you’d have died of infection in like two weeks.

      My point here being you’d surely have been able to persuade some quack to take sharp implements to you with enough gold. Royalty did crazy shit back then.

      But yah I’m on your side on this. Being in power in an age we romanticise might seem. Until you remember that if you fall down and scratch your knee, you could die of that with bad luck.

      Healthcare systems and governments might be shit nowadays but the level of medical technology is so vastly superior that it’s the obvious choice.

      Congrats on what I gather was probably a lot of work, of all sorts. Enjoy.

  • EaterOfLentils@programming.dev
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    2 days ago

    Average person now, hands down. I like being able to live my life knowing I’m not surrounded by people who want to kill me.

    • pastermil@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      Lmao this is what most people don’t seem to be aware of. They thought it’s all rainbows and butterflies being a monarch with an absolute power. Of course other people would try to get that seat every chance.

      Also don’t forget about all the affairs, both national and international.

  • edric@lemm.ee
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    3 days ago

    Having a bad/infected tooth and no modern dentistry tech is already a dealbreaker for me. Then there’s all the wars, disease, and lack of sanitation. So no thanks, I’d rather live as a normal person in the modern era.

  • orgrinrt@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Now. Especially if I’d upgrade to a life of an average person! I have adhd and recurring clinical depression that cause all sorts of problems, and have done so for all my life. I assume the average would be not to have those, at least not together, I hope. (Edit: but on the other hand the average person would have significantly worse situation, forgot to check my privilege in that regard, so thought I’d explicitly state my acknowledgement here)

    But even if I continued as myself, I would 100% choose what I have over a circa 1500 monarch. That’s not even tough a choice to make.

    The only reason I can see anyone would choose the monarch life is if they enjoyed (undeserved and unwarranted) authority and power over others. I loathe the concept to begin with, so it’s really not even a choice.

    Would I be dead rather than a monarch at that time? Now that one is tougher. I’d probably rather check out the world at that point of time, maybe attempt some sort of progressive rule, but I’d be dead before I can get anything meaningful done, I bet. If not by rivals desiring the crown, then just the lack of antibiotics and whatnot. And if I retain my adhd and depression, yeah, I’m fairly likely to just off myself before soon…

    Edit: Continuing from the initial edit above; While I’d probably be mentally more stable and healthy, I’d probably have a lot of other problems that I would rather not deal with. So all in all, I would hope there would be an option for things to stay as they are. I am privileged, living in a privileged situation, healthy other than mentally, so I believe I have it better than any average at any point of history, and furthermore, better than even the richest monarchs back in the time. It is sad that this is the reality, but then again, I did not choose this life, and I suppose the appropriate response to being forced to it, is acknowledge the privileges and try and make the world just a little bit better with what little resources I have as an individual and a member of several social circles and hierarchies.

  • Dizzy Devil Ducky@lemm.ee
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    3 days ago

    Definitely now considering I wouldn’t have even made it to 10 years old before dying if it wasn’t for modern surgery. Would have probably died for unknown reasons to them and I probably would have been marked as having been possessed by some sort of evil spirit or demon if for whatever reason they cut me open and found the weird growth attached to my heart.

  • lennybird@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Can I take my chances and live like a peasant 500 years in the future?

    I figure either the world won’t exist and I dodge all the existential crap that is fretting death, or I get to fly in spaceships like one flies coach today and maybe conditions will have improved for the bottom 10%.

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    How do you define average? Cuz when you include the whole planet, that’s below most people on this website current living standards.

  • PostnataleAbtreibung@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    I‘d actally choose the monarch 500yrs ago.

    Not because it is a better life. Probably I‘d de better off as the average person I am now. But it is absolutely exiting to get to explore and get to know the world. Everything is in a flow, the world is both changing and stable at the same time.

    And i wouldn‘t see our world and climate die, i would see it blossom, awaken.

    • CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      I was just listening to Behind the Bastards on King Louie XIV and his building of Versailles and how he forced all the aristrocrats to live there 24/7. You might not be able to reach your goal of exploring and knowing the world depending on where you end up.

  • Denjin@lemmings.world
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    3 days ago

    For context in 1525:

    King of England: Henry VIII (with all the wives)

    King of France: Francis I (with all the fighting the Holy Roman Empire and Pope)

    King of Spain: Charles V (with all the being Holy Roman Emperor and inbreeding)

    Emperor of China: Jiajing (with all the torturing and murdering dissenters)

    Edit: I chose these 4 because between them they were monarchs of the 4 most powerful countries in the world at the time, especially Charles of Spain and Jiajing of China but France and England were soon poised to eclipse the others.

      • Denjin@lemmings.world
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        3 days ago

        Kongo - Afonso I Mvemba a Nzinga - first Catholic monarch of Kongo

        Songhai - Askia the Great - zenith of Songhai’s power

        Adal - Abū Bakr ibn Muhammad - founded city of Harar

  • Donebrach@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    yes—I live a crummy individualized american lifestyle and can’t afford to rent an apartment by myself, but at least I got neat toys and don’t have to manage an entire country based on vague hand waving and hoping my generals / confidants / consultants / children don’t have plans to kill me before I sell any daughters to a rival power in hopes of assuaging that looming threat.

    That being said, it would be nice if a certain orange man baby met with some renaissance justice just to drive home the point.

      • untakenusername@sh.itjust.works
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        3 days ago

        It would probably take centuries for the vast industry around chip manufacture to arise, but even without that there’s tons of stuff that would be really useful. Like the Haber process, that turns nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia, which can be used to make more food, or to blow up people.

  • Libra00@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Now for sure. I want as much life as I can get so modern medicine is a must. I’m taking 2 different medications without which I would die sooner rather than later, so that’s just a non-starter. I at least have a chance of being born in a country with good healthcare today, but that’s just not an option 500 years ago.