Imagine...

[EarthBound]

Originally Posted by BeardofPants

Like this Bear?

Yah, but there may be a loop-hole in the works for the distribution to large furry omnivore-types of large pints of honey beer.

I always liked the society/ government described in a sci-fi (the author is McK?????), anyway, everyone enjoys a stipend from the government so the there is a minimum level of substance already provided, so everyone has the oppurtunity for comfort, but anyone can increase their comfort/living-style/home/toys/etc. by working for the government, either by some service position or econmic venturing resulting in more money for the government. I can't go into too much detail without the book in front of me but I remember at the time it sounded very idealistic. No poverty, oppurtuntiy for advancement of wealth uppon one's own desires and provocations, and adventure/work/careers for anyone (free schooling, just need the grades to pursue avenues/branches of subjects).

Anyway, I like the idea you only have to work if you want to, and everyone is taken care of. This would not be a communist-type government (where everyone gets equal shares and does equal work) , but more like a blend of socialism and capitalism. It is a very liberal/conservative democrat/republican idea, LOL

Again, I STRESS . . . Free Beer........for peace throughout the Universe can only be maintained by good malt.....so say'eth the happy hobbit!

[Nurvingiel]

Is the HACBR going to make themselves known in your world, to support understanding of hobbit cultural diversity?

Is the author you're thinking of Robin McKinely?

[Lief Erikson]

Nice thread, Nurvingiel .

In a world where everyone had my values:

Religion

Many, many people would stop living in immoral lifestyles.
Many in the middle class would simply stop working and go off and live like hermits. The Order of St. Benedict would be revitalized . Though actually it would have a few changes. For example, evangelism would become a focus.
Worldwide religious debate would dramatically, dramatically increase; a marvelous opportunity for all the new monasteries .
Worldwide cults would find a massive increase in attendance and numbers. The number of real-life witches, wizards, New Ageists, witchdoctors and the like would increase dramatically. Even though they might have my values about witchcraft, plenty of people would forget 'em .

Conflicts

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict would continue unabated, the Israelis not giving an inch, and the Palestinians not stopping blowing themselves up among the Israelis.
The genocide in Sudan would very likely stop.
The terrorism against the citizens of Iraq and the soldiers of the U.S. WOULD stop!
Worldwide religious persecution would stop .

Economics

Corruption would no longer be an issue. What a relief that'd be .
Smoking would still be an issue, with plenty of people. There might be something of a decrease in smoking, but I personally think that people already locked into the addiction would have a very hard time getting out of it. Tough to say on this, really. I do think actually that a lot of people would try to get out of smoking. It's be tough to say whether or not they'd succeed.
The number of unemployed would increase dramatically in the West.
Vast numbers of people would be enjoying reading fantasy books to a much greater extent .
Business worldwide would falter, except in the third world countries. In fact, I expect that the third world countries would improve in conditions even more swiftly, to reach the western countries. The poor would become richer, and the rich would become poorer.
Hollywood would experience an all-time low in popularity. Not that Hollywood would be considered evil, but I'm sure that most people with my values and something of my personality would simply stop watching so many movies.
Computer and software stores would skyrocket in their sales.
World population wouldn't expand so rapidly, not because of abortion's having disappeared, but because fewer people would be getting married.
More of the extremely wealthy would be giving away more of their wealth to the lower class people.
Education would continue much as it always has.


To conclude:

Within a generation of this alien touchdown, a large percentage of Earth's population would be bored and poverty stricken.

[Nurvingiel]

I'm glad you wandered in here Lief! Bored and poverty stricken. I don't think relgious debates and evangelism are particularly boring though. Doesn't the re-distribution of wealth that you hinted at suggest less poverty in the world?

I'm not sure if a world of Nurvingiel's would make much headway in Israel and Palistine either. But they would try, as people are right now.

[Lief Erikson]

People would be a bit bored because they're so deeply interested in debate, yet there'd be no opinions seriously contrary to their own. So they'll be paging through historical debates, aimlessly, mindlessly . . .

Some of the people will be poor because they're simply not interested in working. Some of them will be poor because they choose to reject money. So I guess many of those poverty-stricken people will be happy poor .

Perhaps actually with the massive increase in numbers of people involved in Satanism and witchcraft, debates wouldn't be gone by the end of a generation, actually. Just noticing that, now that I think about it. The problem about those poor people is that they wouldn't be all that productive. They just wouldn't be working much to support themselves. However, they'd be happy too, many having purposely chosen poverty. There's a weird reality twist.

[EarthBound]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

Is the HACBR going to make themselves known in your world, to support understanding of hobbit cultural diversity?

Is the author you're thinking of Robin McKinely?

Might be, I'm drawing a total blank on his name. I think he was a retired military officer. Anyway . . .

In my world David D., the star of X-Files would be President and I would be his plucky side-kick as we regularly went on spacegoing adventures with carbonated soda and red licorice for substance. It could happen!!!!!!

[Nurvingiel]

Anything is possible in this thread. Once we've exhausted the topic of our values being replicated world-wide, we can propose a new 'imagine' topic. I know, I know, I'm coying RÃ*an, but she's awesome for starting the "Why you believe..." thread!

In RÃ*an-land, everybody sings lovely songs. Actually that applies to my world too - no one cares if people give them funny looks if they walk down the street singing random songs. And people don't do bad covers of great songs, like Madonna would personally hunt down and destroy all copies of her cover of "American Pie", then apologize to Don McLean's memory, and go back to producing the great music that rocketed her to stardom in the 80s. And Brittney Spears and Christina Aguilara would start wearing clothes. Actually, they would both retire and co-author a book about their experiences in the pop-industry.

[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

[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.

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

my views personally?
well, for a start, everyone would be nice to each other,
black sabbath would suddenly find that they had exceptionally increased royalties, as everyone bought their CD's, and Viggo Mortensen would find crowds of people around him

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

I think any world where all the values would be the same would be a bit boring. I noticed that your post Eärniel, is quite similar to BoPs and mine... maybe the aliens have already tried their experiment!

Heehee, great minds think alike. Or will do so in any case once that experiment is done.

Originally Posted by BeardofPants

LOL, nurv. I noticed a few points that Earniel made that shoulda been in mine (archaeological issues, etc), and I'd like to add that those bloody scavengers who go around destroying archaeological sites with their flamin' metal detectors will also be a thing of the past (no pun intended).

Those points about sea and space exploration could have fitted in mine too, but I didn't want to make it too long. I also agree wholeheartedly on the metal detectors issue. I'm not against searching with metal detectors (the Nebra skydisk might never have been found without) but they should leave the digging to the professionals! Archaeology is not only the fancy artifacts.

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

I also agree wholeheartedly on the metal detectors issue. I'm not against searching with metal detectors (the Nebra skydisk might never have been found without) but they should leave the digging to the professionals! Archaeology is not only the fancy artifacts.

I am wholly against metal detector people, they destroy context, they muck up sites, and they steal material and more importantly they steal artefacts and ecofacts.
we did a whole lecture on people who use metal detectors in archaeology the other week, so i needed to get that off my chest

[BeardofPants]

You know, technically, archaeology does that as well. You can't win. All you can do is try your very best to record the information before the site is destroyed forever.

[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...

[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*

[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?

[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?!

[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.