The rule could be anything, as funny or as serious as you want. The universe will progress in a similar way that it has up until this point, unless your changed rule prevented it from doing so.
Some examples might be:
- The invention of currency is not allowed.
- Iron is slightly less stable.
- The Ancient Greeks are able to cultivate Silphium, which does not go extinct now.
Life isn’t possible
gravity is now a personal choice
I mean, it’s just a theory so, it kind of already is!
no it’s not. what are you even trying to say?
Yes, gravity is a theory. In scientific terms, theories are proven, repeatable, and accepted. It’s the most robust and strongest form of scientific “fact” we have (since new discoveries can change our understanding, we can’t honestly declare it indisputably factual).
When people say “I have a theory…” they usually mean “I have a hypothesis…” which is some idea or problem statement that is unproven, untested, unverified.
OP was playing off the conflation of those two things.
I think we are in the same page, I am just so sick of people confusing theory with hypothesis. Mostly because of christomaniac creationists saying “uhm actually evolution is a theory not a law” and shit like thar. That’s the reason why I rejected OP’s statement
I’d create an actual god with morals of absolute good that rules over humans with an iron fist. Political debates? There’s an objective answer and the god knows it. Do something wrong? Get warned. Do something very wrong? It’s brainwash time.
Corporations are not people.
Carbon is no longer an element and doesn’t exist.
So no us and perhaps some really weird disruptions to the fusion chain in stars.
Fell asleep thinking of a question similar last night. No colonialism. Colonizing other lands outside of your own established borders would be forbidden.
How different the world would be.
In that scenario, how do you get established borders in the first place?
I thought on this also, and I suppose in my “rule” to adhere by I would have to choose a time in human history. I’d likely choose a time from year 0-1000 but would need to research and get input from folks smarter than I before choosing the time that rule would be implemented.
Of course, it only bans colonization. This is specifically the act of taking over lands from those who are indigenous to said lands, usually by force. If the governments of two lands what to trade or sell their lands in agreement without force, this would not be illegal.
I’m certain humans would still find a way to be horrible in some other new fun way.
A necessary requirement for higher intelligence is proper, functioning empathy. If you lack this, you’re just… Incapable of intelligent thought beyond that of a particularly stupid dog
Have to say this wouldn’t affect me, not because I don’t have any empathy but only cold, logical political solidarity, but also because I wouldn’t really class myself as particularly intelligent. I’m just walking here
I feel like we would still have many of the same billionaires if not all
Humans do generally have proper functioning empathy
Sadly, I have a hard time believing this.
The problem is that basic empathy only goes so far. But we [almost] all have it.
a moral impetus, informed directly by empathy, that is so overwhelming that the feelings of others are tantamount to one’s own
I’m guessing this is their meaning. Sounds interesting. Maybe that version of humanity would have far fewer nukes and a lot more good sex.
CEOs and similar psychopaths don’t, though.
(Though those already tend to have the intelligence of a particularly stupid dog anyway, so I don’t really see how this would change anything.)
I thought the thing about psychopaths is not that they don’t have empathy or that it’s something that’s completely bizarre and alien to them, but rather that they have a switch where they can turn it off.
Like most of us would recoil in horror at watching a video of somebody being beheaded on the internet and many of us have had that unfortunate experience, but a psychopath has the ability to not feel anything at all about it if they don’t want to.
dogs, too. such a strange take
Karma now has a maximum of one hour turnaround time.
Without currency there had be no civilization
Are you saying this is what you would change?
Because there were definitely civilizations without currency.
Native Americans are immune to European diseases.
My question is, do we get native American diseases that Europeans are immune to?
Oh shit I really like this one.
Boom! /thread right here. This is a goooood one.
No humans, just dinosaurs
Sentient dinosaurs that destroy their planet in a ecological catastrophe like in downer finale of the eponymous series?
Everything the same, but healing fantasies improve your mental health.
… Too meta?
I’d just leave the off button in place.
I’d just leave the off button in place.
NO FUCKING AGRICULTURE
It would solve a ton of our issues .
You now have a hyper-technological hunter society like the star trek Hirogen (or the predator they are a ripoff of)
I was hoping we’d go for more of a wholistic biotech thing, like domesticating animals came with hunting, not agriculture. Agriculture just let us domesticate cattle and deer and goats.
Before then we had wolves and dogs and chickens and pigs, and I imagine 5k years of selective breeding coupled with modern degrees of research but in a different direction that by then we custom grow organisms from a caul for whatever our needs.
