Imagine...

[Nurvingiel]

One night, unbenownst to you, the craft of an advanced alien race hovered outside your window. As you slept peacefully, the aliens conducted an experiment that went horribly wrong. They intended to copy your brain onto their database for further study. But due to a malfunction in the scanner and an anomaly in the hyperdrive, your brainwaves were copied into every human being in the world.
Ashamed at their failure, the aliens left discreetly. No human had any idea what happened. After the experiment, everyone on Earth (except you), felt a little different. Their memories are the same, but they now hold the exact same values you do.
The only differing factor between one person and the next is their past experiences. Imagine... that everyone on Earth thinks like you!

What are the benefits? The reprecussions? What are the immediate and long-term effects of the change? How are governments and cultures changed? What aspects remain the same? It all depends on what you value.

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

Well for a start there would be world peace as anything people were arguing about they would agree on everything. World religon would change so devoted Buddhas or Hindu's would become whatever religoun you followed.

[Nurvingiel]

Actually, I wasn't entirely clear about some points in the first post. I'm glad you replied - before we really get into this, maybe we should work out the logistics first.

1. It was night for you, but half way around the world, people were going about their daily business and found their values suddenly changed.

2. This change in values is one-time, and instantaneous. People are still individuals, so if they learn something that causes their values to change, they do. Where I'm going here, is suddenly everyone has the same values, but life still goes on as normal. People still learn and grow and change.

For example, in my case, world religions wouldn't change, because I think if I was raised as a Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim I would follow those religions. But, fundamentalists (of all sorts) and agnostics suddenly deeply question their beliefs.

How would it be for you?

EDIT: Cross post with Draken. That's the sort of thing I'm looking for, LOL!

For me... the works of Tolkien become more widely read than the Bible within a week.

[Draken]

Every website with Liv Tyler pics will run out of bandwidth for a start.

[inked]

It would remain confusing and chaotic for I have not reached perfection!

Not that it wouldn't be better in some ways.......... !

[Nurvingiel]

Very interesting... go on inked. Any drastic changes in world governments? Medical shcool applications skyrocket perhaps?

[Hasty Ent]

interesting scenario.... my world might look something like this:

houses of worship would find themselves empty, except for tourists admiring their art and architecture

professional athletes would find themselves ignored, since there would be no audience for any professional sporting events

artists, poets and musicians would be revered but only if they consistently produced work that was intellectually rigorous and challenging... those who continued to work within existing styles and genres would be disdained

large national chains like Wal-Mart would find their customer base shrink to zero, and small independently owned shops would be overwhelmed with new business

automobile manufacturers wouldn't be able to give away their SUVs, and all new purchases would be subcompacts and hybrid cars

people would walk more than drive

no one would litter, and everyone would recycle

television programming would change, that is, reality shows and trash TV would disappear

there would be no advertising of any kind whatsoever in any media




I could go on and on and on.... but those are the main points, I think

[osszie]

The whole world would be sober and tea total!

That's something I definitly don't think the world is ready for

[Ñólendil]

This is a thread I have made to get across some interesting ideas and realizations we come to. The topic was inspired by (my own) posts in the "why you believe what you believe" thread, and also in The Joke Thread. ... So, anyone who would like to post their realizations and philosophies after the fashion that I have, please do. May these warm words of truth bring a smiles to your faces.

Now, let us begin--this is what I have realized this morning.

~

Wayfarer is a doughnut. I am convinced of this truth. I know what you're thinking: "He's too tall to be a doughnut." True, he is very tall ... I have never seen him in person, but it must be assumed he is taller than most doughnuts. But let's open our minds a bit here, get out of the usual, sleepy mindsets we put them in.

As I have said in the "why we believe what we believe" thread, I think we take words too seriously. I want you all to undergo an exercise with me, as you read this, to take the sets off our minds (remember, no mindsets). This is so we can understand the truth: "Wayfarer is a doughnut". So, let's transcend some words here. I want you strip your clothes off, stand on your head, and yell "bloogy bloogy bloogy" three times fast.

No, seriously ...

Strip your clothes off, stand on your head, and yell "bloogy bloogy bloogy" three times fast.

Good.

Now you know that names don't matter. Also, you should feel like an idiot. This is supposed to happen.

So we have this truth: "Wayfarer is a doughnut", but Wayfarer's pretty tall. It doesn't matter! It's about interdependence. Wayfarer, and the doughnut, are not dependent on one another. Wayfarer does not need the doughnut to sustain himself. He can eat a sandwich. The doughnut is not dependent on Wayfarer. Well because it's a doughnut. Also, Wayfarer, and the doughnut, are not independent. You may think they are, but they are not. They are interdependent. Here's how.

I have no idea how people make doughnuts. I wish I did. But I do know that they have to come from somewhere. Doughnuts don't grow on trees, people. It's 2:33 in the morning, but I'm willing to bet everybody else and their mom that doughnuts come from grains, partly. There's chocolate too, and sprinkles, and cream, and jelly to deal with. They're all connected to Wayfarer, but let's just focus on the jelly.

The primary ingredient in jelly is gelatin, which is a glutonous material made from boiled animal bone and fat. My and Wayfarer were having a conversation a few months back, and he eventually invited me over to his farm. I thought it was a great idea, so, with time, and money, I made the trip. When I got there, Wayfarer had an interesting tale to tell. He seemed very quiet, and very thoughtful. He told me he had a very strange feeling, after he himself had sold some goats to a Gelatin Factory. Yes, there are Gelatin Factories. I wouldn't bother looking it up though, if I were you. ... Well cause, if you enter it into the search engine your computer will be hexed, and your family will be cursed with ingrown toenails unless you travel to the Land of Moaning Turtles, and attempt to reverse it through the services of the Greedy White Witch, who will demand a million dollars after services are rendered, and will immediately give your family another curse more dreadful if you don't immediately pay up before she almost blinks. You wouldn't want to go through that much trouble, would you?

Anyway, Wayfarer sold his goats to the Gelatin Factory. Being my interesting, philosophical, curious self, I decided it was my fate to leave and track down those goats after my stay in Wayfarer's home was cut short by my other realization ("I am a vegetarian"), and figure out why Wayfarer had his strange feeling. So off I went, to the Gelatin Factory where a large, overly stupid man muttered that the hooves and horns of the goats would be squashed and sizzled into gelatin in short order. I asked him, "Where will the gelatin go?". He responded by chewing blankly on a heap of cud, but after a while he jabbered jowlfully about there being a sudden, startling need for jelly-filled doughnuts in the city.

I hung around in that area for a while, intent on finishing my task. I waited till the goats were turned into gelatin, and the gelatin into jelly, and the jelly stuffed into doughnuts, and the doughnuts shipped to the doughnut shop. I marched into that shop, and I bought myself some jelly filled doughnuts. It was then that it hit me like a ray of light.

You are probably nodding your head by now, cause you figured it out. Wayfarer is NOT too tall to be a doughnut. You've said "bloogy bloogy bloogy", so you're passed that. That's right folks. It's all about interdependence. Interdependence states that one thing cannot exist without everything else, because everything is connected, and the one relies on everything, and the everything on the one. Wayfarer exists within those goats, because he allowed them to live. And the goats exist within Wayfarer. Wayfarer was a goat. We can make these statement all down the line, repeating my story until everyone's nautious. Suffice it to say that the goats became doughnuts. The doughnuts could not have come to be without Wayfarer. Wayfarer is in the doughnuts. And the doughnuts exist within Wayfarer. Wayfarer is a doughnut. That's why he had the strange feeling, when he sold those goats, it was the truth, calling to him. "You are a doughnut", it said.

And Rian is a pogo-stick, but that's another story entirely.

~

[BeardofPants]

No, no, seriously, is he a glazed doughnut, or a filled donut? These kinds of considerations are important you know!

*BoP, who is trying to give up bloogy bloogying naked*

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

he's one of those ring doughnuts, with chocolate sauce on the top, and a liberal sprinkling of chocolate chips

[BeardofPants]

Originally Posted by Last Child of Ungoliant

he's one of those ring doughnuts, with chocolate sauce on the top, and a liberal sprinkling of chocolate chips

No, that's not NEARLY acerbic enough...

[Wayfarer]

I have to go with LCoU. I'd be the kind with chocolate frosting.

Actually, do we have any mathamatical topologists around here? I've heard that the discipline of topology supposedly says that humans are essentially the same as donuts - a solid object with a hole that goes all the way through.

Oooh, boy.

I actually have a goat. On my face. I'm considering a shave.

Oh... and is there some reason why I don't remember any of this?

[Nurvingiel]

Ñólendil..... that is probably the greatest post I have ever read. Seriously! Tell us how Rian is a pogo stick...

I realized something this morning, but then I forgot what it was. Oh yeah! I actually realized two things. One, I am extremely forgetful. If I don't write everything down, I forget it. That's why I think my name is Nurvingiel - I didn't write down my true name... only the High King knows.
Another thing I realized is that I sometimes speak in a stream of consciousness sort of way, which must be annoying to my friends. I do this especially when I'm excited, which usually involves food somehow. So feeding me is annoying. I must fend for myself.
That last thing I realized (okay, I realized three things... I will come in again) is boring classes inspire me to be creative. In GIS (Geographical Information Systems) we had a lecture that was only slightly boring, but very theoretical. I thought..... what if the maps we manipulate are actually worlds connected to our own, and every time we change an attribute or elevation, we are irriversibly changing this other world. That would explain why networks are always going down - hundreds of worlds is a lot of data to support. Then I planned out the plot, backstory, timeline, and first episode for a comic I'm going to draw. I don't really like theoretical classes.

[EarthBound]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

In GIS (Geographical Information Systems) we had a lecture that was only slightly boring, but very theoretical. I thought..... what if the maps we manipulate are actually worlds connected to our own, and every time we change an attribute or elevation, we are irriversibly changing this other world.

I read this while I had an ArcView project up here at work. Acutally, the argument could be made that things are changed because I happend to know that the "stuff" I place upon my maps becomes a reality for all involved, even the creation of dams, canals, fields, ponds. I even move borders!!!! OH, I feel the power!!!!!! pant pant pant

I'm exactly like a donut, except for the part that surrounds the hole.

[Nurvingiel]

I hold the destiny of millions in the palm of my hand... except the @#$%# network doesn't work properly. Two days in a row. I guess I'm not the supreme godess of that world. Just a minor diety. But then... who is supreme?

I almost took off my clothes, stood on my head, and said bloogy bloogy bloogy, but that's a lot of effort..... hm.....

What's this thread about again?

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Ñólendil

And Rian is a pogo-stick, but that's another story entirely.
~

That's because I jump all over the place in discussions!
*has fond memories of the pogo stick she had as a kid*
*wonders if it was perhaps her twin sister?* O.o
*or since I'm the pogo stick, the one that was jumping on me was my twin sister?* o.O
*realizes that last sentence is an open invitation to Anduril to make a rude comment*

[BeardofPants]

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

*realizes that last sentence is an open invitation to Anduril to make a rude comment*

OH MY GAWWWWD! Rian's been corrupted... is nothing sacred around here?!

[Rían]

Originally Posted by BeardofPants

OH MY GAWWWWD! Rian's been corrupted... is nothing sacred around here?!

Naw, not corrupted - just making a pre-emptive strike. Most of Anduril's fun, I think, comes in thinking he surprises people. I'm ruining his fun

[EarthBound]

I've just created a capture system and low-flow containment unit for some bunkers on the computer, the engineer just flew thru here and swiped up the plans and I expect to the realization of my work by Friday...... Now, someone please tell me how to design and implement my personal, social, and career aspects so effortlessly......PPPPLLLLEEEEAAASSSSEEEEEEE!!! I'll give ya a my super-secret decoder ring and an apple-fritter if you do.....at least I think it's apple inside......hmmmmm

Off work, now, it's off to the Green Dragon!!!!!!