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1500 questions
59
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9 answers
How long will an ageless person live?
Let's imagine there are some ageless people living in big European or American cities. Ageless, forever young but not immortal. They can still die from car crash, gun or knife wound etc.
Assuming crime and accident rates will be the same in future,…
Uk rain troll
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Selling the right to kill one's convicted abuser: how could an NGO make this profitable?
A free-market solution to preventing further domestic abuse
This society has gone full-on free-market everything including the punishment of severe domestic abuse. As a check on the abuser, the abused is granted a perpetual (or very long, 20 years…
Green
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59
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What sort of punishment would replace fines in a post-scarcity society?
In the present day, petty crimes like speeding, trespassing, and jaywalking in a dangerous area are punished by fining the infractor some amount of money. This is usually a deterrent because being forced to give up your money means that you'll be…
Thunderforge
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59
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If we put humans on planets with atmospheres different from Earth's atmosphere, but still containing oxygen, would humans be able to breathe?
From Wikipedia:
By volume, dry air contains 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.039% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases.
For example, would humans be able to survive in these atmospheres? :
100% oxygen, nothing else
10%…
BuildingBetterWorlds
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59
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Santa is broke. How much does it cost for someone else to be Santa?
Well, Santa's finally done it. He's bankrupt, thanks to some rather dubious investments and some bad luck in the real estate market (a couple ice sheets he was renting out just melted away). Kris Kringle, therefore, has to appeal to us mere mortals,…
HDE 226868
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58
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24 answers
Could a society use bullets as money?
I'm making a world that is 1/3 medieval fantasy, 1/3 pre-civil war American west, and 1/3 Mad Max.
The world underwent an apocalyptic scenario that destroyed the governing bodies at the time, but it has been a few generations since then, so city…
highpriestofpie
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58
votes
18 answers
Plausible explanation for lack of reflection in a mirror
Thanks to the commenters in the question sandbox for helping refine this question before posting.
In many vampire stories the vampires do not have a reflection in a mirror. This is generally not explained beyond simply being a supernatural…
trichoplax is on Codidact now
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58
votes
15 answers
I want to become a living god!
So here's what happened. One day, I was struck by a bolt of handwavium, and it caused me to become immortal (unkillable by any means). Shortly after that, a majority of civilization was wiped out by global nuclear war, and I got buried under tons of…
Xenocacia
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58
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11 answers
Why do people in Cryogenic sleep not wear clothes?
In a lot of science-fiction stories, there are people who hibernate of sorts in cryosleep. Basically something like the person's body is stored in a container which is then chilled at really really low temperatures so that they can wake up at a much…
Skye
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58
votes
21 answers
Are gunswords feasible?
A common trope weapon in science fantasy (such as RWBY or the appropriately named Gun Sword) is the gunsword. As the name implies, a gunsword is a sword that's also a gun, or vice versa. This has always interested me as a concept, kind of an…
TrEs-2b
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58
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10 answers
What is valid evidence in a world with perfect CGI technology?
There are already real-world problems with analyzing whether particular graphic evidence is "photo-shopped" or genuine. In sci-fi technologically advanced future, realistic and perfect computer generated images are pretty much standard. Same applies…
Tomáš Zato
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58
votes
6 answers
Could two planets be tidally locked to each other so close they share their atmosphere?
Could two planets be tidally locked to each other at such a small distance from one another that they share their atmosphere, and material is floating around between the two?
Sheraff
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58
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23 answers
How do I defend an island nation from attackers with 15th century technology?
Apologies in advance that my bullet points got away from me and turned out a bit long, but I'm trying to give as much information as I can to ward off initial questions.
Imagine the following constraints:
An island nation laid out similarly to…
C. VanHorn
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58
votes
12 answers
How far is too far when worldbuilding?
I am a fiction writer, and I'm designing several worlds for my various novels. As it so happens, I really like designing worlds. I seem to like it so much, that I'm beginning to wonder if I'm carrying the worldbuilding too far.
Since I'm designing…
Thomas Reinstate Monica Myron
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58
votes
12 answers
If every star in the universe except the Sun were destroyed, would we die?
If every star and planetary system and blackhole—all mass (not sure whether to include dark matter or not) except what directly makes up our solar system—in the Universe except the Sun were wiped from existence (not explosively destroyed) would the…
minseong
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