I read Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography several years ago, and still think about it often. If I could time travel and bring someone from the past into today’s world, he’s the one I would choose. He remains influential, more than two centuries later, but I think what would make him particularly fun to host is his limitless curiosity. Showing him today’s world would be a delight.
Consider the world he inhabited. No electricity, no indoor plumbing. Books were scarce. This was life in early America, even for the wealthy and successful. Franklin organized much of his early life around obtaining more opportunities to read. He even burned tallow candles because they were cheaper, despite the added grease and smoke. He also created a book sharing program, like a library, to expand his access to information.
Imagine showing him a modern living room, even a modest one by today’s standards. Shelves stacked with books, next to a bathroom offering water that was not only hot, but potable. An air conditioner blowing cool air through vents in the floor…. And electric lighting! We can illuminate a room all night for what is essentially a rounding error on the electric bill.
And of course, I’d want to show him what’s happened with the country he helped create, starting with a map of the US.
“Yeah, your friend Thomas Jefferson becomes president, and then buys most of this enormous section in the middle from France for about three cents an acre. Some French general named Napoleon was trying to conquer Europe and needed the cash. Jefferson did really well on that one.
“Westward expansion was really messy. Don’t ask me more about it if you don’t want to know. But, you’ll be glad to know that we finally addressed the issue of slavery, and the Union survived through it.” Then I’d take him to the Lincoln Memorial. And from there, to Mount Rushmore.
Imagine two of your peers immortalized with their heads carved into a mountain. I’d love to see his reaction. He’d probably think it was a monumental waste of resources, if not hero-worship. I can picture him saying, “One thing I can say of King George III, is that no one ever carved his face into a mountain.”
It would be fun to show him the national parks and explain that Americans deliberately preserved some of the country’s most beautiful land. I also think the idea of a motorhome would be either horrifying or fascinating to him: an entire house thundering down the road, faster than a galloping horse, complete with a kitchen, bed, electricity and indoor plumbing.
I’d hope he could enjoy the diversity of America’s scenery, but honestly I think he’d find cars and the federal highway system much more interesting.
“Yeah, Ben, this all got built in the ’50s. Fun fact: major Interstate routes were supposed to have 16 feet of clearance so we could move military equipment and evacuate cities in the event of a nuclear war…
“Nuclear. Bombs big enough to destroy an entire city….
“Yeah, pretty bad. So they put these things on missiles, which are like rocket ships we can send to other countries….
“Rocket ships, like outer space. Oh yeah! We walked on the moon, dude! How sick is that?”
I’d also like to take him to a baseball game. Less so for the game, more so that he can see a sports stadium and hear tens of thousands of people sing the national anthem. Which would be crazy enough, but imagine capping it with a flyover. He’d think we’ve all lost our minds.
“Oh yeah, the song. That would’ve been after your time. Bad news is the British tried to invade and get us back in 1812. Good news is that we won. But this Francis Scott Key guy was a negotiator for the US who got stuck out in the harbor, while they were bombing Fort McHenry. He wrote a poem about it, and it caught on with the tune of a drinking song. So that’s why you might think it sounds familiar, though the words don’t match.”
Then I’d show him how some of his inventions and ideas are still being used today, like lightning rods, lending libraries, volunteer fire departments, mutual insurance companies, bifocals, swimming fins, and trash collection services.
I think what would be most fun about all this is that he’s a pretty far-seeing individual. There are a lot of developments that he probably anticipated, like harnessing electricity to produce light. Or even the idea of a “horseless carriage.”
But I think he would have underestimated the ubiquity of these technological miracles. I think he would be amazed to learn that the vast majority of people own a car, have electricity, and take hot showers for granted. Books that once required considerable effort and money to obtain are available instantly, along with more information than Franklin could have consumed in a thousand lifetimes.
The sheer abundance of the modern world is incredible. We have come a long way.
At the same time, I doubt Franklin would be surprised that poverty and inequality still exist. They were present in his time, and long before it. What might disappoint him is that all this abundance has not necessarily made us more helpful to one another.
Franklin retired from the printing business at 42. He had become wealthy enough to spend the rest of his life doing almost anything he wanted. He wrote, “I would rather have it said, ‘He lived usefully,’ than, ‘He died rich.’”
What I admire most is that he took wealth seriously enough to become good at acquiring it. He built a successful business, saved money and gained his independence. But once he had enough, he pivoted and used his freedom to conduct experiments, establish civic institutions, serve as a diplomat, and help create a country.
Our society often treats getting rich as the ultimate victory: accumulate as much as possible, retire and enjoy yourself maximally. Franklin seems to have viewed wealth differently. Money was valuable because it gave him control over his time. And control over his time allowed him to live usefully. I think his example is worthwhile.