Would a Race of -Whatever- Take Over the World?

[Mik_Hael]

The thought of hercules being stupid is a pop culture history phenomenon similar to the hype stating that Jesus was stolen from an Indian God.

Chinese Yes, but the Mongolians were a race of several Nomadic tribes who had previously hated each other, that were brought together under one rule, and as such were more likely to spread information from outside of their culture, and even so in this scenario an army of the past is already working as one force, which means that for whatever reason the various cultures are unified in the sole purpose of taking over the world.

 The same can be said of today's dictators, presidents, and kings being corrupt usurpers, yet somehow we still have society. and as with the previous paragraph, they would be unified for this purpose, I have no doubt that after the conquering several heads may role.

That goes without saying, a hero to one person is a villain to another.

Several people would be synacle but more people would believe them. Even then this is not a case of reincarnation, but a case of the physical bodies, minds and spirits appearing in the present.

Ah yes illiteracy was rampant back then as it still is, but only a small amount of them would even need to read, the rest would just need simple lessons to learn how to use the material.

I doubt that the language has changed much from say the time of Nikola Tesla, even then most books used for education are written in such dry language that they could most likely be understood by anyone who could recognize the words.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

For a quick, short-term attack, yeah, they'd be in trouble.

Given the time allotment of a Trojan-War-length battle, however...I don't think things are so certain, then.

[Zaleramancer]

I don't think Benjamin Franklin would be much help during the Trojan war.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

 No, read the old myths...Herc did make some pretty derpy decisions.

And, pardon my confusion but what is that second paragraph in reference to? The one about Chinese and Mongolian and whatnot?

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

I've never heard of Jesus being stolen from an Indian God.

As for the Mongolian tribes part, I've been reading up on them and while Temujin did advocate a meritocracy, there are records (from the lack of them) that Temujin had his troops destroy large amounts of literature from the Jin dynasty. That doesn't sound like spreading information to me, does it?

And if people are going to ignore reincarnations, how much more likely are they to ignore someone who says that they are that person brought back from the times in which they were actually alive? Do you know how good plastic surgery has gotten?

Simple lessons are not even quite enough to do hacking, much less taking over the world. It takes years to train people to do what's needed and even then most people don't understand what they're being taught. What makes you think that enough people would be able to learn from the list that you're thinking of.

Nikola Tesla was certifiably insane, and my grandparents can tell you that language changes a lot since they have problems figuring out what teens are talking about. Oh and do note that for the simple lessons part, my grandparents who have had technology advancing quickly throughout their lives have had problems with learning how to use it and they're not even from the times you're talking about.

[Mik_Hael]

Thinking that they wouldn't be able to adapt is simply not true given that in the real world tribes that have been cut off from modernization in places such as deep Africa, or the Australian outback appear to very quickly acclimate themselves to technology.

As for not listening to them "Tide goes in, Tide Goes out, never a miscommunication, you can't explain that." "Of course I know about Russia, I can see it from my backyard" Quoutes from to well off politicians.

As for the witchcraft, I sincerely doubt it, even if they were arrested, Riots would soon form.

[Mik_Hael]

He made the stove and the fire department from scratch and made the connection that sky fire was a form of electricity. He'd probably be able to do something with a tank, or devise a way to make a moving battle factory.

[Philote]

This is getting silly

No amount of historical figures is going to be enough to take over the world. Popping in out of nowhere and trying to take over? They will just get blown out of the water by the defenses we already have. Trying to gain support and start a war? Best case scenario, they begin to get a following and we deal with them as we would with any war, most likely winning by being prepared in advance. Worse case, nobody believes that they are historical figures and they're on their own.

The only way they would have any chance of winning would be through sheer numbers, and then it wouldn't just be historical figures but just a mass of bodies of everyone from the past and we would basically have a smart zombie scenario. Even then, we start with guns/tech/societal foundations and they have to start from scratch and fight for anything they would use against us.

[Mik_Hael]

Yeah it was a big stink about him being stolen from depictions of a sung god.

Burning the books of your enemies in order to destroy their culture, sounds reasonable.

Embarrassingly enough often they don't, even less would be skeptical given their method of arrival, be it flash of light or giant hole opening up in the earth, or simply arriving years after they first landed with proven DNA testing from their corpses.

At most it would take 5 years to learn everything on the list. for the foot soldiers though it would only take a few months.

Most geniuses are a bit eccentric, hell ever seen a picture of einstein, it just comes with the job. As for your grandparents, Teens use slang, slang changes pretty fast, common language does not, and your grandparents are at least in their fifties, at that point it's proven that the human brain simply has a harder time adapting to change, it's just genetics. the army would most likely be in or close to their prime.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

 *sigh* Folks say that since some other religious icons have been attributed similar qualities--none of which I can name specifically off the top of my head--that somehow, Jesus is just a knock-off of those. Somehow. For some reason.

I don't buy into it, but I honestly don't even find the argument worth having, if somebody decides to take that as fact.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Right, just remembered that Heracles killed his music teacher with a lute...

To date, Genghis Khan (Temujin) has had the largest empire on Earth in mankind's history. I believe that Mik is trying to say that he'd be able to unite enough people to be able to actually take over the entirety of the world using today's technology and that he'd be willing to learn about the new technology. Based on research that actually seems highly unlikely since he had his armies destroy hospitals and libraries as well as other important infrastructure.

[Mik_Hael]

In addition all of you are instantaneously going to the all out war scenario which I find interesting. In all honesty what's stopping them from running for senate or parliament in order to take over the major countries first. If Buddha, or Gandi came back most religions would gladly take them in as well.

If they were to become rulers of the Most powerful religions and Nations simply by the clout they carry just by existing, they could simply wipe through the rest of the world.

But first I'm going to conquer a war scenario, and I have a lot of replies to right and a horrible internet connection.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

 What happened to suspending disbelief for a thought exercise?

Folks jumped all over me, back in the 'What if the Roman Empire Never Fell' thread, because I was being too serious.

I think this amounts to about the same. In actuality, of course, the old guys would be toast. For all our huge (and growing) quotient of idiots in the modern world, the good physical, social, intellectual and spiritual stock more than pick up the slack, to still make us quite formidable opponents against the people of old.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Hehe, I love the big guy, but yeah, he was something of a dope.

[Mik_Hael]

One, that sounds Hilarious, have to read up on that one.

That is called the practice of total warfare. It's used in order to destroy all resources that the enemy has available, in America it was the tactic that a northern general used to eradicate the south, He literally burnt entire towns to the ground, it's just good business.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Reasonable, and tells you that he doesn't accept other cultures.

The army would, the great minds would not. Genghis Khan died in what people estimated to be his mid 60's, Nikola Tesla? Late 80's.

As for 5 years, I think you're being too optimistic. You should remember that most of the people coming back would be from times when surviving to the mid 20's was a struggle and they'd seriously be unable to get past what they grew up with. They'd more likely be taken in as children and not want to take over the world.

Do note that Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings say that change is inevitable, I should know. I've studied Buddhism for my entire life and I learn from people who have gone and read the oldest written texts.

As for total warfare being a good idea? It's not. History has shown us that destroying infrastructure is just as likely to kill the invaders as it is to kill the defenders.

[Mik_Hael]

Eh, I was working under the assumption that since they were already dead at this point they might as well be brought back with full memories and a body in good health, otherwise I would have said a zombie armie of the past, which would admittedly be instantly wiped out.

Several of those children would have been more mature than most adults, had held down a job for several years, and had kids of their own, they wouldn't want to be taken in as kids. And even if they were they'd just be sleeper cells.

Going to have to explain you're thoughts on how Buddha's teaching's would relate to this scenario in more than a sentence.  

I am not saying that total Warfare is moral, but yes it is effective, it stops you're enemies from ever regrouping and saves more time and effort than allowing their resources to stand, it would only cause the death of your own if you were careless.

[Zaleramancer]

While I am unaware of any laws that explicitly forbid a person considered to have been legally dead for more than a century from running for office, I find it hard to believe it is.

Besides, basically everyone who could win would have no idea how to manage a modern nation. They'd have to unlearn everything they know about politics and history, and start anew.  

[Mik_Hael]

The people who run modern nations have no idea how to run modern nations.

[Zaleramancer]

They know more than someone who's just popped in from the times when it took months to get a message across the ocean and boat were still made mostly of wood.