I'm currently finishing the preliminary outline for a series of SF/alternate-history novels about a man and a woman in their mid-twenties who are transported, by a probe from an extraterrestrial civilization, to an alternate reality identical to our own, except the year is 1856. Andrew is a mechanical and electrical engineer who designs railroad locomotives and is a Civil War cavalry reenactor; Jenny has just finished medical school and plans to become a neurosurgeon. They are both white, and come from wealthy, though not rich, families. Unsurprisingly, they are both highly intelligent (IQs of 150-160). They have no useful reference books to speak of with them; only the knowledge in their heads (and some flashlight and mobile phone batteries).
So, the question I'd like to bounce off people here is, how much could they accelerate the advancement of technology and the rate of social change in the second half of the 19th Century, compared with the historical reality? One important factor is that they will initially travel to Nevada and strike it rich in the silver rush; by investing the proceeds in oil and railroads, within a few years Andrew will be the wealthiest man in the world many times over. So his engineers and scientists will have effectively unlimited R&D budgets, and they will have vast amounts of money to donate to worthy social causes.
As I see it, limiting factors to the improvement in technology would include a lack of qualified engineers and scientists, reduced demand for certain items (due to a smaller and poorer population base), and social resistance to some technological changes.
I'd like to keep my OP relatively short, so I'll leave it here for now. I'll go into some specifics about goals and strategies later.
So, the question I'd like to bounce off people here is, how much could they accelerate the advancement of technology and the rate of social change in the second half of the 19th Century, compared with the historical reality? One important factor is that they will initially travel to Nevada and strike it rich in the silver rush; by investing the proceeds in oil and railroads, within a few years Andrew will be the wealthiest man in the world many times over. So his engineers and scientists will have effectively unlimited R&D budgets, and they will have vast amounts of money to donate to worthy social causes.
As I see it, limiting factors to the improvement in technology would include a lack of qualified engineers and scientists, reduced demand for certain items (due to a smaller and poorer population base), and social resistance to some technological changes.
I'd like to keep my OP relatively short, so I'll leave it here for now. I'll go into some specifics about goals and strategies later.
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