Exactly what it sounds like. Top voted answer gets to see this happen when time travel is invented.

#1

The pill or vasectomies to save so many women dying in childbirth.

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    #2

    The means to purify their water for drinking and cleaning.

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    AxleMunshine001
    Community Member
    12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    In those tomes people drink beer and mead a lot, even children. The alcohol kills the bugs

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    #3

    Nothing. Being burned at the stake doesn't sound pleasant at all.

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    #4

    Reading and writing

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    Kat
    Community Member
    12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They had that. Not everybody , but more than you think ... (Depending also on what exact time and place in the enormous span of time we can medieval ... )

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    #5

    Antibiotics. Vaccines especially for childhood diseases, rabies vacation, tetanus shots, and tell them bathe on a regular basis, boil water and filter before using it.

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    #6

    I think I'd show them a shark tunnel, the kind in aquariums with the moving pathway. I feel like it could inspire all sorts of myths and monsters.

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    The Original Bruno
    Community Member
    12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    On the one hand, this is SO much less practical than most of the entries, but on the other hand, this is so much less practical than most of the entries. +1

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    #7

    🚽

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    Xenon
    Community Member
    12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Proper waste disposal would have saved a great deal of lives from dysentery and such.

    #8

    "See this? This is my BOOM STICK! The 12-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about $109.95. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. You got that!?"

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    #9

    Probably simple circuits. Or something like flashlights. Some of them would be amazed by hot water coming out of a tub

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    #11

    Let's be practical. How about a steel plow (with a few spare plow points) and a couple good horse collars? Maybe a few useful improved tools? (Wrenches for the plow, to replace worn points, hammers, saws, brace and bit - need to check and see when these things were originally introduced). And some useful seeds - corn, tomatoes, potatoes, etc.

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    #12

    Probably sewerage systems and heating water to kill germs. Maybe basic electricity generation. They had magnets, they had iron, they just never noticed that moving the magnet near the iron does something interesting.

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    Cerridwn d'Wyse
    Community Member
    12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This yes basic water that's clean and not contaminated with fecal matter and other germs would have made the biggest difference in life prior to like the 19th century

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    #13

    Boring but waterproof clothes, seen enough survivor type programs to know this would be my choice. So I could be dry and hungry rather than just hungry.

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    Kat
    Community Member
    12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They had stuff like oilcloth and Flemish broadcloth. Both very much water repellent

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    #14

    The cursed box of the cursed Troubadours. Aka as a Television.

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    #15

    Spices. A rarity back then. One could be very wealthy. What do you spend it on in the middle ages?

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    WindySwede
    Community Member
    12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Goes to Aldi and buys 1 pound of them all and then sell them for a country!

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    #16

    Semolina wheat. The medieval society actually had a pretty good life expectancy (only 50 years, but that's double the global average of 500 years later). They had cultural checks and balances to prevent a population explosion. Even the black death was largely caused by a weather-induced famine. And that black death is what destroyed the cultural stasis that had been resulting in a standard of living that was far higher than the miserable standards that modern people blame on the medieval era, but which really got progressively worse throughout the "enlightenment."

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    #17

    Deodorant.

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    Mike Fitzpatrick
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If they all ran around with the funk would this necessarily be a "gift"?

    #18

    Refrigeration and safe food handling rules.

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    #19

    dental hygiene. a crazy amount of people died because they didn't have good dental hygiene, and if it was introduced sooner we would be better off.

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    #20

    Zippo lighter. They'd think it was some sort of sorcery

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    Starry starry night
    Community Member
    12 months ago

    This comment has been deleted.

    #21

    An alarm clock or a Nokia. The Nokia mostly because they would be like "witchcraft! burn this evil! stone it!" and Nokia would not be destroyed no matter what.lol

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    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Actual footage of warrior trying to chop a nokia with an axe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qQlqRwFkSU

    #22

    Naan bread.
    Something that they'd be able to make.

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    Mama Penguin
    Community Member
    12 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    In medieval times, what bread people ate signified which socioeconomic class they belonged to. Medieval peasants weren't able to afford white bread made with white flour, which required more labor and effort. Peasants would eat brown bread made with barley flour and rye, which costs more nowadays, ironically.

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    #23

    The germ theory of disease

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    #24

    ¿A medieval peasant? Crop rotation without fallow would have been quite revolutionary.

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    geezeronthehill
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They fallowed their fields as part of their crop rotation because they didn't have fertilizers.

    #25

    Potatoes. The peasants were dependant on cereal crops, which were susceptible to bad weather, trampling by livestock, etc. When the potato was finally accepted after the Columbian exchange, peasants did not starve as often.

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    #26

    Medicines including antibiotics. I can't imagine having migraines daily (or even weekly) without the pain relief we have today, especially considering they did trepanning - having a hole drilled into my head without pain killers (probably not spelled correctly and I know they had poppy syrup which I assume is like opium.) I'm sure another bored panda can confirm or deny this 'fact'!

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    and_a_touch_of_the_’tism
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Smart. It’s trepanation if that helps! Also, they actually didn’t use opium/poppy for painkilling a lot until later. Before that it was just happy brain juice.

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    #27

    A book about agriculture.

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    cerinamroth
    Community Member
    12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They probably knew more about it than we do today... We are so out of sync with nature that it's killing all of us.

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    #28

    Toilet paper

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    #29

    Modern communications would change the course of battles, troop movements and warfare. It Would enhance business and commerce, and in turn, shipping efficiency. Communications among doctors during pandemics would improve medicinal response time. In other words, the speedy spread of significant inventions and ideas would have a huge impact.

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    #30

    Nothing. We don’t need to risk accidentally changing history and creating more problems in the future than we already have. I’d bring a notebook to record all the wisdom of ancient people.

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    #31

    I'd just give them poor people a hug, clothes, and a free-for-life ticket at the nearest place to eat y'all-- but if I had to choose, air conditioning.

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    Xenon
    Community Member
    12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The meal ticket won't do much with a famine going on and no one has enough food.

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    #32

    A knight armor made out of titan. Same protection, but with a lighter material.

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    #33

    Personal hygiene.

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    #34

    Humans are so much dumber than in your timeline.

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    #35

    A washing machine.

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    #36

    Labor unions.

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    #37

    Chlorine pentafloride because its an extremely powerful incendiary agent

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    #38

    A tv and cellphone

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    #39

    albert einstin

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    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    they would need to understand newtonian physics first to remotely understand what he was on about.

    #40

    Ovens that beep when they are done heating up! I think it would be so annoying to have to stick your hand in the oven just so you could know if it was warm enough.

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    geezeronthehill
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They substituted skill for gadgets. I've used a 17th century oven. It ain't that hard

    #41

    I wanna drive a settler around in my muscle car. “Tis a horseless wagon that speeds like the wind!”

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    geezeronthehill
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Probably get stuck to the axles in mud. Good roads came before the automobile.

    #42

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