In 2013, the influential academic journal Science ran a survey that was along similar lines to the idea behind The Knowledge. They asked young scientists the following question:
You can travel back in time to share one piece of scientific knowledge from today. Where do you go? Describe the date and place you choose, the information you share, and how it might change the course of history. (Assume that the people you visit will understand and believe you!)
They received nearly 200 responses and published excerpts from some of the best answers in their 5th July issue. Although I suspect that some of the proposals for changing history would be unsuccessful – teaching Julius Caesar Baye’s Theorem in an effort to escape his assaination on the Ides of March, for example – there are some great ideas about the timely introduction of key knowledge in here. I particularly like the idea of showing Archimedes the basic mathematics of calculus or teaching eleventh-century China the principles of microbiology and communicable diseases.
The full selection of responses is available here.
Want to read more about the behind-the-scenes fundamentals of how our modern world works, and how you could reboot civilisation if you ever needed to...? Check out The Knowledge - available now in paperback, Kindle and audiobook.