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[Two Words]

Do you feel they are interesting since they push your sense of ethics? Do you feel like they are crude and turn a real issue into a game? Do you feel like they are a waste of time since it will never happen? Here is an example:

"What if all women in the world suddenly decide they do not want to have children. And by all women, I mean all women. If no action were to take place to counter this, then the human species would cease to exist within a human lifetime. In this situation, are forced pregnancies justified?"

 

[Magwik]

They're fun. Really all there is to it.

 

[Two Words]

They're fun. Really all there is to it.

Does that include things like the example I gave?

 

[dity]

I'll answer 'em unless it's framed in a way to make me look bad depending on how I answer.

 

[GrizzNKev]

They annoy me

 

[Spring-Loaded]

The more absurd, the better.

 

[MIMIC]

They're fun in that they force you to consider extreme scenarios when you never would have otherwise. Kinda like forcing the devil's advocate position onto you and seeing how far you're willing to go.

 

[John Kowalski]

What if i want to go out, but she wants to stay in?

 

[haxamin]

Do you feel they are interesting since they push your sense of ethics? Do you feel like they are crude and turn a real issue into a game? Do you feel like they are a waste of time since it will never happen? Here is an example:

"What if all women in the world suddenly decide they do not want to have children. And by all women, I mean all women. If no action were to take place to counter this, then the human species would cease to exist within a human lifetime. In this situation, are forced pregnancies justified?"

We will make babies in pods.

 

[PSqueak]

They are fun to explore.

As for the example, the bornig answer is, it would be impossible for all womans to actually enforce/commit to this, specially when the biological clock starts ticking.

The fun answer: there would be a gigantic flow of investment into the field of cloning and genetic manipulation as to seek an alternative to breeding, eventually it could cause the creation of a proccess for asexual reproduction via cloning and splicing, making pregnancy and procreational sex completely obsolete.

"In the year 3535! There won't no husband, no wife. You pick your son and your daughter too, from the bottom of a long glass tube!"

I'll answer 'em unless it's framed in a way to make me look bad depending on how I answer.

But it's the Terrorist law!

 

[xxracerxx]

Does that include things like the example I gave?

Yes? It isn't like 'what ifs' are a thing that actually happens most times, they are fiction.

 

[Puruzi]

They're neat sometimes.

I hate it when the person you ask is all "Hurrrr but that would never happen"

Duh, it's just a hypothetical.

 

[Afro Samurai]

What if the world we live in is a simulated reality and we never woke up from it?

 

[Maxey]

Humans are curious by nature. Asking hypothetical questions is a part of how our brain works and is what has made us such an advanced culture on this stupid planet.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

Pretty fun to discuss, but a lot of people tend to over do it.

 

[Elitist1945]

I like them. Gets ya thinking. I always recommend VSauce for in depth "What if..." scenarios - most scientific based, though.

 

[ElTorro]

Hypothetical thought experiments are a valuable tool to get to first principles.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

Hypotheticals are important mental exercises for applying logic. If you hold that a hypothesis is always true, being able to defend it against the unexpected should be easy enough. On the other hand, acknowledging that a hypothesis has exceptions helps you provide better caveats.

 

[Two Words]

We will make babies in pods.

I don't like this. You can't side-step the actual question.

 

[N.Domixis]

My favorite

What if we were alone in this universe?

 

[FriedConsole]

Had too many of these conversations in bars. One person always takes it too seriously and ruins it.

 

[Arkos]

If a killer put a knife to my throat and said "have sex with your mother or I'm gonna kill your father while having sex with you," I would have sex with myself.

 

[HoldenGatsby]

While not necessarily "fun" questions like this are incredibly important. Our ability to look past the current nature of the world and into the hypothetical helps prepare us for the future.

I also desperately hate how people react to them a lot of the time. It seems they often lead into either a pointless argument about how "but that's not how things are, so why does it matter?" or people get upset by the very question itself.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

They're fun. Even horrible ones that push morals. Wondering about hypotheticals is entertaining.

 

[shoreu]

Does that include things like the example I gave?

Yeah it's a what if question lol

 

[Perfect Blue]

Fuck them. Shits keep me up at night.

 

[gaiages]

I like fun questions like that, but hate it when people move the goal posts, so to say. If I give an answer to the question, you can't just say "oh wait you can't do that WHAT NOW", that's just annoying.

But yeah, it's mostly fun to think of what you'd do and think in an extreme scenario.

 

[Rabbi_Vole]

I feel they're pretty worthless. Most of us are our own protagonist and would like to think we would do the right and honorable thing regardless of the situation.

 

[Subpar Scrub]

http://youtu.be/zrHkb8U8ID8

3 mins onwards.

 

[Kas]

Love them, but I get a bit too into it sometime.

 

[Michael F. Assbender]

I had someone pose this stupid one to me a long time ago:

First, imagine you've found a soulmate (assuming you haven't already found him/her). You and this person love and trust each other deeply, on a level you had never imagined possible and you know neither of you would ever find another love like this again. You have children together (or adopt if unable, I'd assume). You're an amazingly happy family.

What if a mad bomber threatened to blow up a city bus full of people (men, women, and children), unless you agreed to have sex with a total stranger, and do so in such a way that your significant other is going to walk in on it. When they walk in, you have to continue the act, and you have to tell your significant other that the years you've spent together mean nothing to you anymore. When it's all said and done, you can never talk about the incident with your significant other, only ever saying you don't want to talk about it. Nobody else knows about the bomber, and you have no proof he's real (although he absolutely is). You're being monitored for the rest of your life, and if you ever spill the beans, a bus full of innocent people explodes. Same if you decide on suicide.

I'm sure there were other stipulations, but that's the best I can remember it. I remember saying I'd have to break my soulmate's (and my own) heart because I can't just let innocent people die.

 

[Zombine]

What if the world knew that Daredevil was blind?

 

[Air]

Depends on the context for me. Usually if it's not rooted in some kind of realistic scenario I just mentally check out.

 

[Carnby]

My friend comes up with the strangest What Ifs...

"What if you could have anything you want in the world but you have to live in a bubble under the sea? There would be a dolphin for sexual pleasure, so you wouldn't be completely alone. Would you do it?"

 

[MattKeil]

I don't like this. You can't side-step the actual question.

The question is patently ridiculous, so sidestepping it in that manner seems entirely fair.

 

[Eggbok]

I'm literally having a "what if" conversation right now. The question was "What if you went to a strip club while being in a relationship." That turned to "Is it cheating if you watch but don't touch/be touched.
Some people feel that it is, some don't. It's interesting hearing both sides and kinda funny.

 

[Gaz_RB]

I like fun questions like that, but hate it when people move the goal posts, so to say. If I give an answer to the question, you can't just say "oh wait you can't do that WHAT NOW", that's just annoying.

But yeah, it's mostly fun to think of what you'd do and think in an extreme scenario.

Like this?

I don't like this. You can't side-step the actual question.

 

[katsubento]

I don't like this. You can't side-step the actual question.

What if people like to side-step?

 

[Two Words]

What if people like to side-step?

Then they can side-step on out of this thread, brother!

 

[ThreePiMatt]

I think crazy "What if" questions are just as bad as crazy "Would you rather"' questions. They're dumb.

 

[Alandrus Sun]

I got you fam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm6GiHomqG4

 

[MattKeil]

Then they can side-step on out of this thread, brother!

What if they draw a distinction between interesting hypotheticals and a creepy rape fantasy?