@Dukedog said in #1:
> If you could convey one piece of information to our ancestors what would it be ? The atomic theory of matter?The Germ theory of disease?
> The nature of time and space as we understand it?What would be most important and how would it affect our present society?
all of those are irrelevant to people in the past, knowing germ theory would probably cause more harm than good, as it did when it was initially hypothesized. i forget the specific name, but in the early 1800s when Pasteur published his works there was a mass panic event. and more than that, you should not fear germs, you can never be rid of them, and being more exposed to germs makes you more healthy not less. knowing about atoms is beyond useless, just think to yourself how much use you have personally had out of knowing that, people in the past wouldn't have any more use of it than you. and the space and time stuff is all nonsense, einstien was wrong and our entire understanding is wrong, so believing incorrect information would not do anybody and good.
but to answer your question. the single piece of information that i would convey to people in the past is this: "Jesus Christ is your god, and you should be a part of his church".
this is the most valuable information anyone can receive. and even in material terms, i.e. if you ignore the spiritual ramifications of this. christian civilization has produced the most material prosperity out of any civilization in the world, they had the most inventions and the most advances to science, they created electricity and phones and the internet and cars and planes, and they discovered the whole world.
sharing one piece of information and technology with the past, if it were possible, would be meaningless, after all what good use is technology if you don't even have a written language? it would be forgotten in less than a generation, people don't know this but a lot of advancements in science and technology were lost before the 1700s just because nobody bothered to write them down.
what is beneficial however (again in terms of advancements in knowledge) is to create long lasting structures with a goal of reaching the truth or discovering new information.
