No Currency

What if there was not one country in the world that used a currency? What if everyone traded goods for goods instead of buying them with money? If this was the case I think it would be much harder to get into debt because no one would take the risk. The world would be less civilized but I think it would be a more individual place. We would be responsible for everything we own and obtaining it would not be as easy either. It would be more of an ancient world where things would have to be obtained by battle. The strongest would have the most goods because they could beat the weakest and take their items. Video games that are set in ancient times are like this, and they are pretty fun to play so why should life be any different? However, in video games when a character dies he just respawns later on without his goods. In real life when a person dies, they do not come back to life. They get put in the ground and lose their goods, so I would rather be like a merchant or something docile than a warrior. Merchants just get goods and sell them for more than they buy them, kind of like a drug lord in our modern times, except merchanting can be done with any necessity. I think life in ancient times would be amazing.

No Alcohol

What if the invention of alcohol had never been discovered. The world would be an entirely different place! The beer industry is one of the largest industries in America, and probably one of the largest in the rest of the world as well. Without that, the economy would be severely damaged. Millions of people would lose jobs and our economy would be in worse condition than it already is. However, the positives to an alcohol free world would be countless. First off, there would be no people killed in alcohol related car crashes, which are the number one killer in motor vehicle wrecks today. No one would be abused due to an alcoholic dad or loved one. Numerous families would be so much closer. There would be less date rape as well. Alcohol would not be the result of deaths due to too much drinking, because it would not exist. Many people would choose an alternative though. A lot more people would fall to marijuana and other more hardcore drugs. These are worse than alcohol. I think the positives would definitely outweigh the negatives, but alcohol is not bad for good mingling purposes at parties and things like that. I am pretty indifferent toward the subject just thought I would explore it.

Avatar

This kind of stems off of my last post about aliens. What if an avatar of a person could really be created and they had a whole community of real avatars existed? If they did and they had another planet like the one in the movie I would definitely try to get on board and go to their planet. I think that would be absolutely awesome. Especially if we all road dragons and shot bows and arrows and did everything like the ancient stories used to do. How incredible. Unfortunately, as humanity often does, we thought we had full rights to the planet. I hope that would not happen but I'm sure it would. I realized that the movie was very similar to what we did to the Native Americans and it kind of made me feel bad. We walked into their home and killed everyone and stole all their land. It would be nice if we could go there and possibly negotiate peaceful terms in order to coincide. However the human race does not often function this way, so the chances of a peaceful negotiation are extremely unlikely. I watched the movie last night for the first time and I thought I would do a blog on it, especially after writing one on aliens.

Aliens

I think it is kind of naive to believe that Earth is the only planet to possess lifeforms. We are in one galaxy or universe in an infinite space of stars and planets. In the infinite amount of planets in outer space is it not kind of stupid to believe that not one other planet is capable of hosting living organisms? Obviously Earth is very unique in the ways it houses specific gases, plants, and water that provide life, but is it not possible that another planet may have these qualities? It is also possible that organisms on other planets have adapted to waterless environments in order to be able to survive. For example, it may be possible that on a planet in another galaxy the organisms use the minerals in rocks to get nutrients and they breathe in nitrogen. Other elements could exist on these other planets that we have not yet discovered. These other elements could provide the necessities for life that we have not yet discovered, and therefore life could possible. I am not insinuating that the lifeforms are any more or less intelligent than we are, or are even anything more than single or small multicellular organisms I am just saying that most likely there are other living beings in outer space and sooner or later, perhaps we will come to meet them!

No Schoolwork

What if college just required me to come here, play my sport, and hangout without the burden of class? What if everyone just had four years to come and hang out and make connections with people before their careers? School would actually be fun and class would be nonexistent! I would also have so much more time to practice my sport. Maybe with all the time spent playing soccer I could possibly go professional. It would be very possible with all the extra practice. Obviously every other college athlete would have more time too, but that is not entirely a bad thing. The level in America would be so much higher if we had this opportunity. It is unlikely that this will ever happen, but if it did my life would be so much easier. The unfortunate downside to this is that the American economy would be shot to hell because no one would be educated anymore. There is a solution. People could go to school if they wanted to practice their profession and learn it. Like an engineer could go to school for engineering or a dentist could study biology. For those that wanted to go to college just to play a sport or hangout could too. It would be a big social event.

Musicless

A world without music would be like a world without emotion. I think music is a great expression of emotion and it also helps to stimulate various feelings. For example, some people use music before an athletic event to get pumped up, while others use it to relax on a nice peaceful day. Music has been around for thousands of years and it is incorporated in almost every part of life. Have you ever watched an entire TV show that did not have some sort of background music or beat? Imagine church without music. It would be an odd experience would it not? Let's not forget the multi-billion dollar industry that would not exist if music was not around. There would be no famous rap artists or rock artists for people to love. There would also be no such thing as an iPod or other various MP3 players. MTV would not be around, where would reality TV be today without MTV? I know that my life would only be a little more boring without music, but some peoples' lives would be drastically affected without the inspiration or comfort music can provide people. Music is a great part of daily life and the world would not be the same without it.

Sports

What if the world's population took no interest in sports? This would be a catastrophe! There would be no great idols like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, and there would also be no ESPN or Fox Sports Channel. Actually, life as we know it would be incredibly different. First of all, I, like many other college students, would not attend the university the currently go to. I go to Memphis to play a sport, and if sports were uninteresting, I probably wouldn't play them. This would in turn lead me to a different college. This would be the case with many collegiate athletes. They would not be on a college team because if the world didn't like sports, then colleges probably wouldn't have designated sports teams.
Another negative of having no sports would be the huge market that would be erased. Millions of people in America alone spend thousands a year on various athletic events. For example, It used to cost my parents around 3,000 dollars a year just to let me play for my competitive soccer team. There are loads of competitive teams across the U.S. that charge similar amounts. Also, people would not be caught wearing baseball caps that support a team or basketball jerseys that represented favorite players. People could not attend the great athletic events like the olympics or the world cup either. The world as we know it would be simply boring!

No Homework?

What if homework had never been invented? What if tests were the only thing that tested a students intelligence? Life would be phenomenal. The average student would have a lot more time to do better, more exciting things. Tests would be the only way to test intelligence and the student's grade would be up to him or her rather than up to nit picky homework assignments that can hurt a student drastically if they don't do them, but don't help much if they are completed. Getting a zero on homework a few homeworks can drop a student a few letter grades, but getting one hundreds on every homework may only raise a grade ten points maximum. In all reality homework is a nag. It is there to keep students social lives less interesting than they should be and I don't think anyone really appreciates homework. Examinations make sense because they test a student's knowledge of the material, but homework just tries to help the student learn the material, and each student should make that their own responsibility without the fear of punishment. Basically, homework should not exist and tests should be the ultimate way to tests a student's knowledge of material, without having to worry about dumb nuissances along the way.

Cancer?

What if cancer never hit humanity? The world would be crazy! First of all, the population would probably be around 8 billion versus 6.5 billion. The available space on our planet would most likely be slim to none. We would practically take up every inch of the surface space. I am not going to call this a negative because I don't think having 1.5 billion more people alive, and a similar number of families happier would be a negative at all. We would obviously need to find many more resources and houses, but other than that it would be great. With more people, more inventions could be found, and the world could be a much more advanced place. Out of the approximate 1.5 billion that died, there had to be several geniuses that could possibly have contributed to the science of the world. A possible Albert Einstein or Thomas Edison could be around. I suppose that a Sadam Houssein or an Osama Bin Laden could have died also, so the people probably even out. The effects of a cancer free species would be tremendously impactful. With no cancer the world would be a much happier, more populated place. A lot of money would be saved in research also. Families would be overjoyed at having lost loved ones back and life would be much less worrisome. No cancer would be great!

No TV?

What if the television had never been invented? The world as we know it would be entirely different! First off, acting would be a much less popular profession due to the inability to be on screen in front of millions, so much less people would do that, and many other professions would be unavailable. Daily news and weather would be alittle harder to come by, or atleast without a newspaper. Sports would not be televised either so all related professions would be a lot less accessible. The Super Bowl's funny commercials would be things of legend.
On a different note, if TV was not yet available technology would probably be much less adavnced in general. The internet would most likely not exist along with the satellites in outerspace so communication in general would be much more primative. Life as we know it would not exist. Lines like "the British are coming," would be much less famous or historical because that is how all communication would be. One very beneficial thing about no TV would be the mass reduction of obesity in the world. Without TV it would be a lot harder for people to simply sit on their ass all day and do nothing. They would not be able to because there would just be nothing for them to do! All in all, it is definitely a positive that TV came about.

Black Plague and N1H1

What if the recent outbreak of the N1H1 virus had been as serious as the Black Plague that tore apart Europe in the 15th century? The Black Plague wiped out two-thirds of Europe's population at that time. If that happened today in the areas affected by N1H1, that would cover half of the world! Half of the world's population is around three billion people. Two-thirds of three billion people is two billions people. With two billion less people gone in the world, entire countries would be seemingly empty, with a few stragglers here and there.
This would obviously be a terrible catastrophe, but it would also open up a world of possibilities when the disease got cured. First, people could move to the empty countries and start life anew. A lot of workplace positions would open up, due to all of the people that died. A lot of resources would become more readily available also because a lot less gas would be consumed daily along with much less water and natural gas. However there is also a very negative side to all of the deaths. For example families would be devastated, lives would be ruined, and many businesses and shops woul have to be reestablished. All in all I would say this would be a very devastating catastrophe.

Bye Bye Himalayas

What if the Himalayan ice glaciers melted? Currently the glaciers form rivers that run through all of Europe and Asia. These rivers are responsible for roughly half of the humanity's water supply. They also house several villages and many people. If they melted, the world as we know it would come to an end. Millions if not billions would permanantly lose water. Obviously a complete loss of water would cause dehydration and death. It would not wipe out half the world, but it would cause overpopulation to the extreme. China would lose a sever portion of its water supply and the already vastly overpopulated county would have to relocate many of its citizens. The one billion there may dwindle to as little as five hundred million or less. Where would the rest go?
If the glaciers melted and got rid of half of humanity's water supply, wouldn't a vast abundance of food disappear too? It's almost safe to say the half of the food supply could disappear. Farmers in areas by the Himalayas or even those that use the rivers the Himalayas create would be completely ruined. The farms would dry up and the crops would die, and they would have no way of feeding farm animals anymore either. (213) There would be no way to feed these starving individuals. They would have to move or die. If all of them moved, then other countries would begin to overpopulate, and possibly close their borders to immigrants. The United States is already struggling to raise corn and other farm grown products, imagine if three hundred million more people moved here? It is very possible that if the glaciers melted, the Earth's population could decrease by about two billion people. That would be very tragic. A solution would be to go green. This can be done several ways. People could use less gas, litter less, and prevent polution. If people can be a little more conscious about little things like litter and gas, things like melting glaciers wouldn't even be a topic of discussion.