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1500 questions
69
votes
21 answers

Is it possible to kill all life on Earth?

Edit: It has been suggested that my question is a duplicate of What could humans do to render the earth uninhabitable?. That question only asks what would be necessary to make human life impossible. That is much simpler than what I'm asking and…
JBH
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69
votes
11 answers

The first McDonald's restaurant on Mars

The McDonald's fast food company is the world's largest restaurant chain which prides itself with offering (almost) the same standardized menu all around the globe... ...this globe. When humanity colonizes Mars, how large would the population of…
Philipp
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69
votes
15 answers

Charging phone in medieval times

Let's say I somehow got transported to medieval times. I have my phone, laptop or other devices with rechargeable batteries, but I forgot to take my solar chargers. Luckily, my every device is powered by standard micro USB cable, which I happen to…
crueltear
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68
votes
16 answers

On a world with differently sized humans, how do I keep wages fair?

Imagine that due to an excess amount of handwavium, my world has humans ranging from only a couple of inches, to around 20 feet. Society has evolved to include people of all sizes into the workforce and cities (a la Monster's Inc or Zootopia) but…
TrEs-2b
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68
votes
14 answers

How would people living in eternal day learn that stars exist?

In a world I am building, the day lasts longer than the year, 9 times longer in fact. The native people of this world have been forced to migrate around the world, both avoiding the scorching desert of noon and the freezing winter of night. This…
TrEs-2b
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68
votes
18 answers

How could a language that uses a single word extremely often sustain itself?

The most commonly used word in english is "the" accounting for about 6% of all the words being used. The second most common word is "be" account for less than 1% of all the words used (see ngram viewer and wikpieda > Most common words in…
Remi.b
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68
votes
12 answers

How can the NSA capture Santa Claus?

He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows you when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good, so the NSA wants him to take. Santa Claus' intelligence collection systems are state of the art. The NSA has approached Santa Claus about…
Christopher King
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68
votes
6 answers

Other blood colors

Many people know that our blood is red because it is iron based. Many people also know that blood is blue or green if it is copper based. I'm wondering what color blood would be if it was let's say aluminum or tin based? How could I achieve white or…
TrEs-2b
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68
votes
31 answers

My perfect evil overlord plan... or is it?

Me You might call me evil but the facts are I deserve to rule all of the world, everyone & everything in it. What I already have done For years I have worked in the shadows (as much as you can call owning one of the largest corporations in the world…
cypher
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68
votes
31 answers

How can I imprison a wizard who can walk through walls?

There are reasons why we can't walk through walls. Using magic, though, those difficulties fall away. In fact, for a wizard in an otherwise-almost-magic-free world, walking through walls or falling through floors is an ability he can harness on…
HDE 226868
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67
votes
25 answers

Ensuring an endless war, and an endless stalemate

My 7 year old son and I have pitted the Elves against the Dwarfs - The Elves control the sky - they have airships, gliders in their cloths that enable gliding from airship to airship, and bridges between the airships. The Dwarfs control the…
Nahshon paz
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67
votes
29 answers

What realistic way could limit an FTL drive to only travelling between stars?

How could a Faster than light drive be limited to only travelling between different solar systems, and not within a solar system? I don't really want to allow travel between planets in the same solar system using FTL or allow things like Kinetic…
VenusUberAlles
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67
votes
36 answers

How could I have modern computers without GUIs?

Even though text-based terminals still see specialty use cases, modern general-purpose computers generally run graphical software and have a graphical user interface (GUI). This includes everything from low-end cell phones and some computer…
user
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67
votes
26 answers

Would a full body diamond armor and sword guarantee survival and victory against a medieval battalion?

As usual I write stuff like any professional fictional writers do, my protagonist worships a deity calling herself "The Expensive One" and she bestowed a flawless full body diamond armor which comes with a sword also made entirely of diamond. In…
user6760
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67
votes
22 answers

I don't want to live on this planet anymore

I don't like the direction where mankind is going. We spend more resources to build tools which allow us to watch cat videos than on curing cancer. One day I decided to say enough, and leave this grim place. The plan is to gather around 500 people…
user902383
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