What if….. our hair stopped growing?


What if it all fell out? Would there be a bigger market for bald head lotions and potions, and would skull tattoos become the norm? Hairdressers might go out of business, but the bald head market might take its place! ‘Won’t be long darling, just going to the scalp-dressers’….Would scalp dyeing become all the rage? It could perhaps become an art, people queueing up to get Monet’s classic ‘Lily Pond’ on the top of their heads, or a Jackson Pollock abstract, and would coffee morning discussions turn to scalp fashion trends?


What if…. there was no more money?


Very topical question really, in the light of the bitcoin thing going on. Money has always been a medium of exchange; and allowed people and businesses to obtain what they need to live and thrive. It started with bartering, where people exchanged goods for other goods before money was created. Would we have to go back to it? Bitcoin (BTC) is a cryptocurrency (a virtual currency) designed to act as money and a form of payment outside the control of any one person, group, or entity. This removes the need for trusted third-party involvement (e.g., a bank) in financial transactions. So, no more looking for loose change in your wallet then.


What if…. people never died?


Just lived for eternity? This opens up a real can of worms. Doctors and nurses have a job to preserve life, but if death wasn’t an option, would this mean they had no jobs anymore, or would they be busier than ever, putting in replacement parts? Can you imagine waking up each morning at age 150 (or whatever) and be bored at the prospect of doing the same thing forever?

Over time, our population might increase exponentially, as new life continues to be born without any natural decline. Earth would become a lot more crowded, to say the least. And if mankind lived forever – would they still look old? Plastic surgeons might do a roaring trade. When would these old, but still living, people retire? Or would they have to return to work at some point to have enough money to keep on living? Or never stop? Would you only be able to claim a pension for a certain time? Where would we all live - this planet has limited resources already - water, land, room for all our rubbish, etc. With so many immortals roaming around, there would be a severe drain on those resources. This would mean sky-high house prices, traffic jams, water and food rationing. Would it mean we would need to find somewhere in the vast reaches of space to repopulate? Would there be a lottery to see who went and who stayed?


What if….robots became more intelligent than people?


This is another topical area isn’t it, with AI starting to take over how we live. Even the late Stephen Hawking had been concerned that AI would mean the extermination of the human race. Can computers or robots ever be taught ‘imagination’, which is where humans are streets ahead of AI? Intelligence can also be defined in other ways, such as the possession of a group of traits, including the ability to reason, represent knowledge, plan, learn, and communicate. Many AI systems possess some of these traits, but no system has yet acquired them all. Yet.


What if….. you had to choose between telekinesis (the ability to move things with your mind) or telepathy (the ability to read minds)?


I think I would choose telekinesis, so I could tidy up from my armchair, and perhaps fold laundry at the same time! But if we could know what people are thinking, would we ever need to converse again, and would talking out loud be a thing of the past? If we could read minds, we could easily know what was coming - an argument, an assault, getting fired, bad news as well as good. We would need to learn how to keep a check on what we really thought sometimes, and ‘say what you mean, and mean what you say’ would be more important than ever.

Author

Marilyn writes regularly for The Portugal News, and has lived in the Algarve for some years. A dog-lover, she has lived in Ireland, UK, Bermuda and the Isle of Man. 

Marilyn Sheridan