The past is a foreign country.

The people resurrected from the past are much like people immigrating from undeveloped countries into developed ones. Especially the way these immigrants were in past years, when communication technology was less advanced and cultural differences were larger. An extreme example is the case of Europeans in 16-19th centuries bringing native people from the Americas and Southeast Asia to European capitals where they no doubt suffered much culture shock.

Resurrected people would be administered similarly to immigrants. The immigration authority of each country would form a special division and handle them much like refugees. They would be guided through receiving necessary paperwork, informed of their basic rights and obligations (such as current taxes) and initially put on some form of government assistance. The government would provide language and cultural classes at various levels if necessary and help them find suitable jobs to get started in society.

Much like immigration today, there would be a tiered system where certain people would be prioritized. For example, those with skills, education and cultural familiarity (and thus able to contribute better to the economy) might get a fast track process. Famous people might have greatly accelerated screening or even be exempt from it. People from periods with political climates opposed to the current one would be subjected to rigorous security screening to ensure they won't rebel, commit crimes or engage in terrorism against the country they were resurrected to. People from "unpopular" periods might have a much harder time going through the process due to public perceptions. Those with family (descendants) willing to support them would have a much easier time.

This scenario is effectively a massively amplified migration crisis. Compared to today's immigrants, even from very extreme places, the resurrected people are even more unbalanced: They have more unique skills and talents but they require more adjustment, since they didn't grow up with TV and the internet. There would doubtless be many ordinary people stuck in the immigration system. Some would try to work and live illegally, some would try to escape to other countries and claim refugee or stateless status.

One assumes there would be various private organization that prey on the resurrected in various ways, such as overcharging them for dubious legal assistance, selling services (horse carriage insurance?) that they don't yet realize are worthless, hiring them to work in unfair conditions and abusing government grants or subsidies. Probably criminal ones as well, that do the same thing, but without even the veneer of following the law.

Much like today, some resurrected will form their own enclaves where they live in a state closer to their native culture. For example, in big cities you might have Victorian towns, Medieval towns, Roman towns that where people prefer to speak their own language, have many grocery stores and restaurants of their own culture. Contemporary people who are interested in these time periods would frequent these for the exotic experience. If the community is large enough, brands might develop that specifically provide products for these subcultures, such as Victorian-style snuff and snuffbox vendors. In some ways, inevitably they would take on modernisms, so you would have the "peasants" in the medieval town carry around phones so they can call their business associates much like some Amish do. Particularly in places like North America, there would probably be some massive socioeconomic consequences as huge numbers of natives arrive in reservations (they would certainly be fast tracked in today's political climate), and demand new ones to be formed.

Some innocent expressions or habits of today would become taboo. For example, to say someone is "backwards" or "from the stone age" might become unacceptable because it harms certain groups of resurrected people. There would probably be a new set of politically correct euphemisms to talk about people's temporal origins without giving the appearance of offending anyone.

Luminaries of past times (statesmen, writers, scientists, artists) would be offered honorary professorship or similar positions at institutions, where their day to day is participating on committees, writing commentary on current events, sitting as advisors on various boards, teaching broad freshman classes and attending ceremonies. People who were once geniuses that changed the world, would now be trapped in futile positions where they have no real power, are showered with empty praise, and used by the parent organization as a mascot and marketing gimmick. Tesla would be hired by MIT, but never actually do any invention, and instead would be stuck making Youtube videos that advertise electric car subsidies, where he is forced to wear period attire and affect an old timey accent event though in his personal life he is well integrated into his new time period. Perhaps he would attempt to invent again, be blocked by the institution, sue for discrimination, and end up precipitating a constitutional amendment which adds "time period of origin" as a protected class - something which will become largely irrelevant in a decade or two (since the resurrection is a one-time event), but every office worker will still have to sit through trainings about it forever. And then perhaps you will have ordinary people, who simply enjoy historic cosplay, claiming the time period protections and demanding to show up to work at the bank in a loincloth.

posted about 1 month ago

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1mo ago

matthewsnyder‭

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