You've been given an opportunity to delete one thing from life.

Using magical technology – probably something God or Stephen Hawking created – you’ve been given control over some aspects of life, the universe and everything in it.

You are given the chance to “delete” one thing from existence. There is a caveat, though. Whatever you remove will also mean everything that item/person/concept has caused, will be undone from history.

For example: Terrible dictator dies of AIDS. Your choice is to remove AIDS (thereby undoing all death and other effects), meaning the dictator would still be alive.

Yes it’s all hypothetical, but I guess the point is to try and find some things that are, within reason, completely useless. For bonus points, it might be fun to speculate on the way things might have been, whether it’s for better or worse.

My choice? It would be Capitalism.

Stupidity.

Umm… Evil itself?

Imperialism or racism/fascism

Aging (as separate from maturing)

Careful not to simply say death, remembering “who wants to live forever”. Between the overpopulation concern, problems of immortality is boring, and suffering aging but not dying, death certainly has its purposes. Aging however, as long as one were able to reach adulthood, would mean that one could still die eventually, overpopulation would not be a guaranteed problem, and of course, one would never have to suffer the pains of old age.

Eliminating aging, people would still unfortunately die of disease, starvation, accidents, etc, though all would be less likely as most tend to be more of a threat to those who have become old and weak. Population might still be a concern, however, people would prioritize procreation much less, and there could always be regulations.

Speaking of which, a much simpler problem to eliminate would be the root cause of many more problems, overpopulation itself. Reducing the human population to much more manageable levels, something in the 100 millions worldwide, and keeping it there would result in a tremendous reduction in disease, starvation, poverty, pollution, crime, and much more.

Retroactive removal has other implications however. Most of which are impossible to explore. This is effectively one of the major subplots in most time travel fiction. I was only considering the present and future implications for both choices. The first elimination would change much of history, modern times would be nothing like they are now, however, I can say that throught history this has been a desired effect. Whether or not things would work out well, I cannot say, but I can say no one would miss it. The second elimination would only begin to affect the last few centuries. The problems associated might be slower technological advancement, and a general dissatisfaction with the system that enforced it, as well as society being comprised of different individuals who simply do different things. It is something of a grass is greener situation, but only barely.

4chan

this topic.

no i second carados

Originally posted by iMachine:

Imperialism

Agreed, if only to see how Eastern nations would have developed without Western interference.

If I had to choose my own though, it’d be religion, for the reason listed above. The world would be so drastically different, and it would be amazing to see the differences, for better or worse. To anyone that questions my motives, ask yourself, what has been one of the most influential aspects of every society, past and present? Religion.

Pokemon

Absolutely nothing. Some things have caused humanity tremendous problems in the past, but removing those things would likely have drastic and potentially negative consequences. I will freely admit I am nowhere near intelligent enough to make a decision of that magnitude, so I would do nothing.

anti-capitalism

Murder

Communism/Socialism/Marxism

Originally posted by Pink_Fuzzy_Bunny:

Communism/Socialism/Marxism

So Russia stays a monarchy?

Originally posted by Measle:

Originally posted by Pink_Fuzzy_Bunny:

Communism/Socialism/Marxism

So Russia stays a monarchy?

“I think this is a good idea.”

He looks cooler than Putin

It’s the beard.

terrorists

If anyone says “problems need to be deleted” I will wish that they are deleted from life.

If no one does that, though, I would say… Unnecessary pain.

Iggyshark

pacaholic :D

Mullets.

Michael Jackson

Not drag0nsplay. without drag0nsplay there would not be Mac N Cheese.

i would remove this technology, basically im gonna get philosophical and all, but if you remove one thing from you, you are no longer you. and if you remove one thing from this world then this world is no longer this world.

in response to religion as some people said, Christianity is said to have unified Europe during the dark ages and brought about nations in Europe, hence no religion most likely would likely mean no US which would likely mean no Kong, hence Kong owes it existence to religion.