MetaChat - The Counterfactual Crystal Ball.

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15 April 2008

The Counterfactual Crystal Ball. If you could know what WOULD have happened if the past had gone differently, what three things would you ask?

post by: TheophileEscargot at: 06:43 | 10 comments

For me:

1. What if I'd worked really hard at my A-levels and got into Cambridge?

2. What if my parents had not moved us away from London when I was nearly 7?

3. What if the First World War had never happened?

posted by TheophileEscargot 15 April | 06:44

1. What would have happened if the South won the Civil War?

2. What if Hitler never made it to power?

3. What if the war in Iraq had never started?

posted by redvixen 15 April | 07:04

1. What if people were more like bonobos and less like chimpanzees.

2. What if I'd worked harder at developing my talents rather than hopelessly, hopelessly chasing after women?

3. What if Al Gore had taken the presidency in 2000?

4. What if I'd had pancakes instead of eggs for breakfast?

posted by DarkForest 15 April | 07:30

Oops, guess I should have read that bonobo link more carefully...

posted by DarkForest 15 April | 07:33

1) What would the world have been like if the Romans had never invaded Britain?

2) How would things have worked out if - instead of finding hunter/gatherer societies in North America - they ran into a technologically equivalent civillisation?

3) How would the world look if the Difference Engine had been built, succeeded and became widely used?

posted by ninazer0 15 April | 07:43

You probably already know it ninazer0, but The Difference Engine by William Gibson tries to answer number 3...

posted by TheophileEscargot 15 April | 07:52

1) What would I be like now had my childhood been more normal?

2) What would have happened if I hadn't gotten sick right after getting the job of my dreams?

3) What would life be like if I'd never gotten sick in the first place?

/end self pity

posted by brina 15 April | 09:24

1. What can I do to make use of counterfactual knowledge?
2. What question should I ask you to make the greatest change in my lifetime, with a view towards the information gleaned from #1?
3. Ask the answer to #2.

posted by Eideteker 15 April | 10:54

1/ What if I'd waited until I had gotten my degree to get married?

2/ What if she was wearing a helmet?

3/ What if he had taken me seriously?

posted by rhapsodie 15 April | 11:26

1. What if I'd broken up with my wife earlier, much earlier?

2. What if I'd gone to my first choice for grad school, instead of the compromise choice?

3. What if my advisor hadn't died just before I took my PhD orals?

posted by mrmoonpie 15 April | 12:41

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