Hot take, but the propagandized version would likely be better, since your goal is to find out the present day conditions rather than actual history. What a government wants its citizens to think (and more importantly, how it expects them to behave) is probably more important than finding out actual details of history that early in your stay.
The idea traveling to a other demension and reading something that is dramatically different there your dimensions history only to later find out, no, that guy was just a moron, and now you look like one too, is very funny to me.
I'm imagining our intrepid hero coming off a bender and to the conclusion that they're in a different dimension. In their efforts to educate themselves about their new world they unwittingly fall fully for conspiracy YouTube videos; what a magical and strange world they've found themselves in.
Then you've won the dimensional jackpot and you should immediately start trying to thwart any misguided attempts from folks in your original dimension to "rescue" you.
I always thought the library near where I grew up would be a near ideal environment during a zombie apocalypse. It was a repository of knowledge and entertainment, of course; it was in a fairly small city, meaning that while there might be more zombies than in the countryside, there wouldn't be as many as in a large city - but there would be resources nearby; there was an armory nearby; there was only one relatively-easily-fortified entrance (to my knowledge); and it had a fully enclosed courtyard which, while it ended up being kind of depressing in real life, could give you a garden in a theoretical apocalypse.
The first and last were most of what I considered when I was a kid.
Most people wouldn't even know they are in a different dimension. If you aren't well versed in the history of your home, then you're just learning new historical facts.
"Huh, I didn't know Hitler and Einstein were married. Weird."
See, this is why the history book is important. Yeah in your dimension they have sex with the food and have to physically scrub the water clean, but here in our dimension for the most part people eat the food and just make sure the water is clean by boiling.
Uh, curious where you got that from, especially since I don't see how you can be both a Nazi and a libertarian. Did you misinterpret Starship Troopers to be straight endorsement of militant fascism?
Did you misinterpret Starship Troopers to be straight endorsement of militant fascism?
yes!
There's your problem. Just because an author writes a book with a world building premise does not mean they fully endorse the world created. In Stranger in a Strange Land, which came out less than two years later, the main character creates a free love hippie movement. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, a few years later, is about a revolution against authoritarian oppression.
If a person names as his three favorites of my books Stranger, Harsh Mistress, and Starship Troopers … then I believe that he has grokked what I meant. But if he likes one—but not the other two—I am certain that he has misunderstood me, he has picked out points—and misunderstood what he picked. If he picks 2 of 3, then there is hope, 1 of 3—no hope. All three books are on one subject: Freedom and Self-Responsibility.
Heinlein wrote thought experiments. He wrote about the relationship between people and the society they live in. To that end, he wrote about a number of different kinds of society, and how people related to them. Insofar as you could ascribe any particular political ideology to him based on his writings, he was broadly anti-authoritarian. Nothing remotely close to a Nazi.
That said, though, I'd caution that Heinlein was a complicated dude like the rest of us. He had problematic views. Virginia Heinlein was alsp pretty right wing even for the time, his friends complained about it.
Sorry the dimension you've been transported to has laws of physics that don't allow water to exist.
Which means you've got a few precious seconds to get yourself home before you violently erupt as your water molecules each individually break apart in to hydrazine.
Oh no, it would be way worse than that. If water can't exist, then it's very likely that the concept of molecules as we know them don't exist either, or at the minimum, either hydrogen or oxygen doesn't exist.
The printing press is a very new invention in our universe. Before then books were for the rich. Often too history is written by the victors and so it missing a lot of important details that might or might not matter.
Come to think of it intelligent life such as could write books seems to be new. (but we have no ability to detect life elsewhere if it exists so who knows)
Depends on how exotic the alternate dimension is, I suppose -- maybe a physics or chemistry book, or a local language to a language you speak dictionary, might be preferable in some cases.
61 Comments
TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works · 41 pts · 144d
you'd probably have to find several by different tyoes of people, to make sure you aren't reading a biased account :p
batdad90@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 144d
Exactly, depending on the world/kingdom/government you’d find yourself in, the local history books may be propaganda.
Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 144d
Even so, you may not have the real truth, but you'll know what you need to navigate the society you are currently in.
Jolteon@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 144d
Hot take, but the propagandized version would likely be better, since your goal is to find out the present day conditions rather than actual history. What a government wants its citizens to think (and more importantly, how it expects them to behave) is probably more important than finding out actual details of history that early in your stay.
kambusha@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 144d
Perhaps even written by Victoria.
fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 143d
The idea traveling to a other demension and reading something that is dramatically different there your dimensions history only to later find out, no, that guy was just a moron, and now you look like one too, is very funny to me.
ItsMeSpez@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 143d
I'm imagining our intrepid hero coming off a bender and to the conclusion that they're in a different dimension. In their efforts to educate themselves about their new world they unwittingly fall fully for conspiracy YouTube videos; what a magical and strange world they've found themselves in.
Jolteon@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 144d
If your only goal is to find out the current culture of the place you're currently in, the biased one would likely be better.
GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world · 34 pts · 144d
First thing you do is find a public library. If the concept of a public library exists in this reality, you're likely not completely fucked.
If there is no public library, and no one has ever heard of one, you are DEFINITELY fucked.
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 144d
what if all they have are libraries, the concept of one not being public is alien to them
grue@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 144d
Then you've won the dimensional jackpot and you should immediately start trying to thwart any misguided attempts from folks in your original dimension to "rescue" you.
fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 143d
Librarism is such a fun utopian ideal. Need a computer? Go check on out. Need a shovel, go check one out. Etc etc
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 143d
but instead of selling a couple of shovels for a whole community, what if we discourage sharing so everyone who ever needs one has to buy one.
So inefficient but profitable
Whelks_chance@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 140d
I've always thought each town needs perhaps a few dozen lawnmowers. I bet someone would forget to return it though.
toynbee@piefed.social · 5 pts · 144d
I always thought the library near where I grew up would be a near ideal environment during a zombie apocalypse. It was a repository of knowledge and entertainment, of course; it was in a fairly small city, meaning that while there might be more zombies than in the countryside, there wouldn't be as many as in a large city - but there would be resources nearby; there was an armory nearby; there was only one relatively-easily-fortified entrance (to my knowledge); and it had a fully enclosed courtyard which, while it ended up being kind of depressing in real life, could give you a garden in a theoretical apocalypse.
The first and last were most of what I considered when I was a kid.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 143d
Whelks_chance@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 144d
Not sure how many people in this dimension have read one.
(Obvious comment is obvious)
Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 144d
I can think of 77 Million who haven't.
SippyCup@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 144d
I'm sure they've read the Bill Cooper collected works.
inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 144d
Most people wouldn't even know they are in a different dimension. If you aren't well versed in the history of your home, then you're just learning new historical facts.
bless@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 143d
"Weird, I could have sworn the Nazis lost WWII"
emeralddawn45@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 11 pts · 144d
Yeah fuck food or clean water, let's read
Lumisal@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 144d
See, this is why the history book is important. Yeah in your dimension they have sex with the food and have to physically scrub the water clean, but here in our dimension for the most part people eat the food and just make sure the water is clean by boiling.
Clairvoidance@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 144d
I think their Wikipedia might be better than a history book at this point
mojofrododojo@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 143d
assuming they have an internet....
Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 144d
An history book and common sense can help you get a place to stay.
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 9 pts · 144d
Checks to see if it's titled Bearinstein Bears or Barenstain Bears
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 143d
Or Berenstain, like in this dimension.
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 2 pts · 143d
"Al, I need to leap again."
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 143d
Can I come, too? There has to be one where Trump isn't president.
DarkMetatron@feddit.org · 7 pts · 144d
Reading history books is the right thing to do, in every dimension you are
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 143d
Don't forget to bring a towel.
sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz · 7 pts · 144d
how you gon read alternate dimension language?
Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 144d
That it's an alternate dimension doesn't mean that the language isn't semiinteligible
TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 144d
How do you read anything in a dimension where oral tradition rules and writing isn’t even a thing.
ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace@piefed.ca · 7 pts · 144d
Like looking at a git log when you clone a new repo.
baggachipz@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 144d
Gray’s Sports Almanac
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 143d
Go to an alternate dimension
Immediately look for a history book
Find one
It's in French
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 144d
You should read Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert Heinlein. This is basically the main theme
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 144d
funny that Heinlein is mentioned. dude was a libertarian Nazi propagandist.
take all his works with a pound of salt.
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 144d
Uh, curious where you got that from, especially since I don't see how you can be both a Nazi and a libertarian. Did you misinterpret Starship Troopers to be straight endorsement of militant fascism?
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 144d
there's a whole bunch of Ron Paul supporters that certainly turned out that way...
yes!
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 144d
There's your problem. Just because an author writes a book with a world building premise does not mean they fully endorse the world created. In Stranger in a Strange Land, which came out less than two years later, the main character creates a free love hippie movement. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, a few years later, is about a revolution against authoritarian oppression.
Heinlein wrote thought experiments. He wrote about the relationship between people and the society they live in. To that end, he wrote about a number of different kinds of society, and how people related to them. Insofar as you could ascribe any particular political ideology to him based on his writings, he was broadly anti-authoritarian. Nothing remotely close to a Nazi.
rbos@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 144d
That said, though, I'd caution that Heinlein was a complicated dude like the rest of us. He had problematic views. Virginia Heinlein was alsp pretty right wing even for the time, his friends complained about it.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 143d
mr_anny@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 144d
First you have to realise you infact are in alternate dimension.
defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 144d
Easy. Just look for how to spell "Berenstain Bears".
mr_anny@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 144d
That's not how it's spe..
..wait a minute!!
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 143d
Omodi@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 144d
I'd go with water.
SippyCup@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 144d
Sorry the dimension you've been transported to has laws of physics that don't allow water to exist.
Which means you've got a few precious seconds to get yourself home before you violently erupt as your water molecules each individually break apart in to hydrazine.
Jolteon@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 144d
Oh no, it would be way worse than that. If water can't exist, then it's very likely that the concept of molecules as we know them don't exist either, or at the minimum, either hydrogen or oxygen doesn't exist.
bluGill@fedia.io · 2 pts · 144d
The printing press is a very new invention in our universe. Before then books were for the rich. Often too history is written by the victors and so it missing a lot of important details that might or might not matter.
Come to think of it intelligent life such as could write books seems to be new. (but we have no ability to detect life elsewhere if it exists so who knows)
IndustryStandard@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 143d
If you end up in an actual alternate dimension: read the future book.
theuniqueone@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 144d
Make sure to assume it's all propaganda as well
boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 144d
Or a newspaper from a seemingly trustworthy source
Then you find out that it is a pseudo-rational populist newspaper (like WELT or anything in the US I guess) and you are fooled.
JoShmoe@ani.social · 1 pts · 144d
I’d recommend holding your breath for as long as possible first.
CombatWombat@feddit.online · 1 pts · 144d
Depends on how exotic the alternate dimension is, I suppose -- maybe a physics or chemistry book, or a local language to a language you speak dictionary, might be preferable in some cases.
MehBlah@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 144d
Good idea. You should also figure out if the new universe is in the past. Could give you some nice foreknowledge.
webghost0101@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 144d
The gambler!
ivanafterall@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 143d
First things first: sex robot.