Once in a while, I have these recurring daydreams in which some well-known person from human history, like Aristotle, Beethoven, or van Gogh, is suddenly transported from their time to ours and lands at my place. Neither of us knows why it happened; it just did. And we're usually very calm about it, as if it's just another Tuesday.
The interesting part is – at least to me it is – that it's not like a story I play out in my mind; it's always more like a thought experiment. What would be the next logical step to introduce said person to our time and our technology without overwhelming them too much? Do I show them the TV? Do I let them take a peek out the window to show them what modern transportation without horses looks like? Do I try to explain to them what The Allmighty Internet is? How about giving them the combined human knowledge by showing them Wikipedia?
Of course, both of us speak perfect English in these dreams, whether or not that makes sense. They're still dreams with dream logic.
It's like I'm doing trial and error in my head. "If I do this, what would their reaction be?" I'm constantly trying to find new ways to soften the blow. And it's not only that. It's also a test of my knowledge. Am I able to explain to them what things are and how they work? Like, what is electricity? How does a computer actually work? How is there water coming from the tap without a visible pump or a stream outside? This usually adds a whole new level to the dream because I might start a full-length explanation about the big bang and how stars are born, just to move on to what supernovae are and how we all are made of stardust.
Remember, this all happens only in my mind. Most of the time, this is where the dreams fade out and I come back to reality, but sometimes we arrive at a point where I take it a bit further and decide to take them outside. Which opens up a whole new way of problems. I mean, the car alone has a few inventions I might have to explain. Do you know how seatbelts work? How about a combustion engine? And then, of course, the outside world. I could start by showing them our city centre, with those high buildings, underground transportation, escalators and lifts, lights everywhere, or begin naming all the countries and regions in the world and explain where they are, or how about a lesson in history… but maybe not recent history; I don't want to traumatise them.
This is the furthest I have ever gone in any of these dreams and only happens very rarely. Most of the time, the dreams are very short, lasting only a few minutes while I'm waiting for something or right before falling asleep in bed. There's also a second kind of daydreams I sometimes have, but those are usually a lot darker. Maybe someday I write about those too.