4 ms·
Ask HN: What is an unthinkable idea worth considering?
This is a scenario planning exercise. The question is about the black swans, the "unknown unknowns". A nuclear bomb going off in a crowded stadium is an unthinkable event worth considering. A worldwide pandemic. Etc.
What unthinkable idea do you think is worth considering?
Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9i_16eKvdc&list=PLUX-sja_eqhTwFEdyu9bBTeWgo3FTxFDz&index=1
- stevenalowe 6y agoThree generations of arranged marriages designed to eliminate the notion of “race”
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- api 6y agoThis is happening more slowly due to unprecedented amounts of migration. If we'd had this much mixing for the past thousand years or so, there would be no "races."
- h2odragon 6y agoMinding our own business, letting others go to hell their own way? Worth consideration at least. At any level you care to, from individual to nations to humans as a species.
- api 6y agoVisitation by extraterrestrials, or alternately the revelation that we have been or are actively being visited. Keep in mind that the existence of extraterrestrial life, and by implication some amount of ET intelligence, is an explicit scientific prediction. This prediction is even more solid now that we've identified hundreds of extrasolar planets in habitable zones, many of which orbit stars older than ours. We have no good explanation for why we don't see aliens already even though we probably should, an observation known as the Fermi paradox. It's worth thinking about what effect this might have on culture, philosophy, religion, economy, etc. To give just one example of a huge implication: all of biological and human history would have to be re-evaluated from the perspective that the Earth is not a closed system. Contact by radio should also be considered and is probably more likely, but physical contact either today or in the past would have wider consequences.
- Felony_Fred 6y agoYou must be aware of this but here's who I consider ( to my knowledge ) to be at the forefront of those questions and the best documented / systematic and comprehensive resource ; https://nickbostrom.com/existential/risks.html https://nickbostrom.com/existential/risks.html As a side note, and from someone with negative karma, you may wish to peruse my recent comments about Covid, some seem to think they are unthinkable ideas while I persist in saying they are worth considering, although it is about an ongoing black swan and therefore probably not within the scope of your survey, they fit your description in that way.