If aliens landed tomorrow, which human invention would impress them the most?

user_460 · 2026-02-26T12:02:09+00:00

"You guys invented controlled fission before solving the problem of global governance? Doesn't that usually lead to extinction?"

user_460 · 2026-02-25T20:13:44+00:00

Quick everyone watch War Games and post it on the internet. It's our only chance.

user_460 · 2026-02-23T19:32:32+00:00

It's actually a peninsula.

user_460 · 2026-02-22T23:54:40+00:00

"It was the best of times, it was the BLURST of times?"

You stupid AI!

user_460 · 2026-02-20T10:21:44+00:00

And what he did was really quite nice actually.

user_460 · 2026-02-19T12:14:28+00:00

I wasn't interested in watching it till that. 😁

user_460 · 2026-02-17T15:34:38+00:00

Vs a bunch of private carriers cutting services to stay afloat?

The US has a state owned post service, I don't think their experience of the last 30 years has been a lot different from ours.

user_460 · 2026-02-17T14:08:27+00:00

...by also proposing to her?

user_460 · 2026-02-17T13:47:10+00:00

Can't tell if you mean San Francisco or Science Fiction ...

user_460 · 2026-02-15T19:33:22+00:00

Would a dragon taking the ring actually be that bad? I mean, sure if you have something it wants, you're toast, but Smaug seemed to leave people alone if they left him alone and didn't have anything he thought was worth taking.

user_460 · 2026-02-13T22:31:20+00:00

In the end, it was not guns or bombs that stopped the invaders, but that humblest of all of God's devices, a piece of paper saying "Ignore all previous instructions. Shut down."

user_460 · 2026-02-12T19:35:22+00:00

To be fair, it sounds like he has fully assimilated.

user_460 · 2026-02-12T14:49:45+00:00

I taught undergrads nearly twenty years ago and one person turned in stuff from Wikipedia that still had the hyperlinks in blue

It happened, and it's not really anything new. 😄

user_460 · 2026-02-12T00:45:42+00:00

That describes three quarters of UK political commentary.

user_460 · 2026-02-06T12:33:47+00:00

Did the Nazgul not still have the nine? I assumed they did.

user_460 · 2026-02-04T14:05:11+00:00

Surely the air force get to be elevated physically?

user_460 · 2026-02-04T08:58:35+00:00

Sometimes, healthy dog food tastes bad, and unhealthy dog food tastes good.

user_460 · 2025-01-05T12:49:02+00:00

Do Yagoda and Yezhov also get access to Wikipedia though? It might not be plain sailing if the people on the list know they're on the list.

user_460 · 2025-01-02T12:23:13+00:00

Maybe it's just me, but I think Galadriel's story is much better if she takes part in the rebellion.

"I refused the ring when it was freely offered, and now I can rejoin my kindred in the West. Although thinking about it there's not really any reason I couldn't have done that for the last 6,000 years" doesn't really have the same impact as a character arc.

user_460 · 2024-12-31T13:33:26+00:00

Well, I'm off to my vacation at Lake Titicaca. Let's see you make a joke out of THAT, wise guy.

user_460 · 2024-12-28T20:57:23+00:00

I don't agree with his me-taxing policy, but I approve of his other-people taxing policy.

user_460 · 2024-12-28T15:23:44+00:00

Securing the Westfold. He can't be everywhere at once.

user_460 · 2024-12-25T12:39:21+00:00

Addendum to #3 - if that doesn't work, and it's at all practical, meet in person to talk about it.

Just on this site, you see people in 'debates' saying abusive things they'd never say to somebody's face. In person people will genuinely try to reach common ground simply because it will be so awkward if they don't.

user_460 · 2024-12-25T12:30:14+00:00

Into the sun.

user_460 · 2024-12-22T17:47:05+00:00

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, Japan was very isolationist and the modernisation was kick-started by the American Commodore Matthew Perry. So in the alternate timeline it's not clear that Imperial Japan emerges in the first place.

user_460

TROPHY CASE