Questions tagged [humans]
For questions about humans as we know them or slightly changed, their physiology, psychology, politics, society and goals.
5
votes
1answer
114 views
How do humans with electric organs prevent self-electrocution?
In my world, a small population on an isolated island were bitten by radioactive electric eels while fishing. I read that the eels can send out carefully timed signals through their nervous systems ...
8
votes
8answers
7k views
Why bother programming facial expressions for artificial intelligence if humans are bad at recognising them?
Set in the near future, robots and mankind coexist amicably due to the great technological advancement in robotics and artificial intelligence. They are everywhere and some took a human form. All of ...
6
votes
3answers
191 views
Effects of Explosive Decompression on the Human Body?
Many science fiction stories, movies, and shows involve characters undergoing explosive decompression, the technical term for a rapid drop in pressure, usually all the way to a vacuum. Frequently, ...
13
votes
13answers
4k views
What would be the difference in the reaction between trained and untrained people during an emergency situation?
For those who've read my previous questions, you might begin to see a "subtle" recurring theme.
Context
You can skip this part if you're just interested in the problem.
Question
Let's set the ...
6
votes
4answers
735 views
Literal light infantry, are these advantages and disadvantages feasible? [closed]
I'm trying to determine the feasibility of some advantages and disadvantages of literal light infantry. This type of infantry is basically the same as the rest but weighs much less.
To truly ...
7
votes
3answers
460 views
Aliens selectively breed humans to be bigger. How big could they get and still look human?
Can we go from this:
to this:
Suppose over millennia (or as long as it takes) humans on Earth are artificially selected by aliens to be big and healthy.
Is there any theoretical reason that they ...
2
votes
4answers
155 views
Optimal placement of a pocket dimension? [closed]
The main character of one of my stories just met a person specialized in magical tattoos, my character has chosen a tattoo which is linked to a pocket dimension.
But where should the protagonist ...
19
votes
1answer
2k views
What is the minimum number of staff members of each role to keep a Medieval estate running?
Before we begin, I know full-well that the answer changes based on the time-period, size of the estate, number of people being taken care of, amount of money available, and so forth. A correct answer ...
44
votes
8answers
10k views
Is it harder for an intelligent octopus to live on land, or a human to live in space?
I have a race of octopodes with the same intelligence distribution as humans. I want them to “colonise” land to a similar extent as we have “colonised” space; have regular transport between the ocean ...
1
vote
4answers
482 views
A society wrapped in cotton wool [closed]
In the future, rich people live in gated communities with armed guards. They are so concerned that anything bad will happen to their children that they literally wrap them up in cotton wool.
As ...
4
votes
1answer
194 views
Is sleep exercise possible? [closed]
Is is possible to put someone to sleep and, while they are sleeping, attach muscle stimulating pads, causing the muscles to do work and causing exercise to be done without consciousness?
1
vote
3answers
87 views
War between human/animal shapeshifters and humans
In my story, set in medieval times, shapeshifters exist who have a human form and an animal form (only one, which they are born with). The majority of the population is human, many of whom hate the ...
0
votes
2answers
145 views
Is running away from 'the humans' a good way to go in terms of survival or just delaying the inevitable of being found? [closed]
In this context related in terms of my last question.
I've seen this lots of times in fiction and TV shows where sub-species, such as Marvel's Mutants and Inhumans or anything considered 'super' or ...
8
votes
2answers
133 views
Tolerable range of surface gravities for interplanetary colonists?
Human physiology is adapted for life at 1G, but planets colonised by future humans will likely have different surface gravities.
What is the range of values for surface gravity that humans can ...
2
votes
3answers
255 views
Explosive joints that allow people to jump really long lengths
How does a joint need to operate and be structured in order to allow a person to do leaps of 10 meters in length with ease and without taking a long run first? Here's an example of what I'm talking ...
8
votes
6answers
312 views
Biological healer, how does it work?
How can a species force an external body to heal itself and speed up the process without the use of magic and technology but by biological means?
Sanators are creatures who can force the body of a ...
1
vote
2answers
109 views
How Do You Start a War? [closed]
TLDR: How would you start a war between allied nations?
A little bit of background. My story takes place in world where people have the ability to use life force much like electricity. Three main ...
4
votes
9answers
316 views
Could this planet exist?
I've been thinking of a planet where the day/night cycle is way off to where there 30-35 hour long night period, while there are only near 8-4 hours of daylight. The local biological environment is ...
1
vote
0answers
63 views
Is it possible for the Ancient Chinese to have used itching powder as a means of torture? [closed]
I was thinking about Chinese water drop torture, and other forms of torture that do not cause direct physical damage. I was wondering if a form of torture where the victim is made to feeling itchy was ...
-2
votes
3answers
92 views
The Stone-age Limbo People - How do they hunt wild boar?
The Limbo People (who are hominids with intelligence somewhere between chimpanzees and humans) have long survived by hunting wild boar. They use spears with wooden hafts and flint tips. They are a ...
2
votes
2answers
101 views
Fighting by human cannonball - medieval kamikaze (part 1 - steering)
Kamikaze pilots were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of
military aviators who initiated suicide attacks for the Empire of
Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of ...
3
votes
4answers
159 views
Designing the Scipmylo - The Low-jump
This is a follow-up to The running-backwards Olympics
The designer of the backwards Olympics (aka The Scipmylo) is making good progress but there are some difficulties with the Low-jump.
To be a ...
24
votes
8answers
8k views
What would happen to a human body subjected to extreme water pressure?
First of all, I tried to look if this wasn't answered before. Found this and this but neither is exactly what I need.
Some Context
There's this race of humanoid fish people. They live in cities ...
9
votes
2answers
609 views
The running-backwards Olympics
In a future world that is obsessed by not repeating the so-called errors of their fathers, there is a backwards Olympics, or Scipmylo.
All the usual disciplines are featured in reverse where it is ...
9
votes
2answers
240 views
Anatomically Correct Nekos
I am new at this site, but I've been creating a fantasy story for a while.
Now, I'm stuck. I would really like cat people (neko) in my story, but there is a problem! you can't just stick cat ears on ...
41
votes
5answers
6k views
Could you do acrobatics and long-distance running in an ankle-length dress?
So this should probably belong on clothes.stackexchange.com, if there were such a thing, but here I am with a question that I hope is not too complicated or specific for this site.
My situation: I've ...
2
votes
3answers
235 views
A Wider Range of Human Skin Color — But Would The Transition Between Shades Be Natural? [closed]
Long ago, it was thought that the peoples of Europe developed white skin as a means of adapting to the low-level lighting of ice age Europe (an assumption that disregarded why the people of Asia don't ...
27
votes
6answers
7k views
Would one atom of antimatter be lethal if annihilated inside the brain?
I am dealing with a dystopian story that tries to come up with some kind of total surveillence or control from higher authorities.
The authorities threaten to kill those who disobey them by simply ...
0
votes
2answers
77 views
How would people interact in a world with cybernetically “shapeshifting” humans? [closed]
I'm curious what a world similar to this question would be like if instead of genetic modifications, shapeshifting was done via cybernetic implants. This would not work by simply injecting some ...
0
votes
5answers
135 views
What can go wrong if everyone's pleasure and suffering was intertwined? [closed]
Context
We're approaching the technological capability to build digital interfaces to the brain. A future government body introducing a new mandate that leverages these devices to somehow guarantees ...
1
vote
4answers
299 views
Could cord-cut be a real martial arts technique?
This is a technique from the anime Baki the grappler, which can be checked here.
The "Cord-Cut" name refers to the countless "cords" that makes human body. The cords includes blood vessels, lymph ...
18
votes
16answers
6k views
How to accurately detect children with super strength?
We are in a world very similar to ours. But, one day, 1% of the children that are turning 10 are gaining super strength (this is an ongoing process : from that date, all the children under 10 may ...
2
votes
9answers
275 views
How Could a Government Move a Large Number of People From One Point To Another With Minimal Force? [closed]
Inspired By: Logistics: How to move humanity onto a spaceship that is being built from planet Earth?
Exactly as the title says. In the linked question, the OP is wanting to know how to move all of ...
-2
votes
1answer
90 views
Prerogative of future world [closed]
It is a thousand years in the future. Humans brains are obsolete for thinking and are used only as a central control center for organ commands and heuristic processing (reactionary or first impulse ...
4
votes
2answers
223 views
Could a person safely walk around with exposed skin under the sunlight of a red dwarf when it's not flaring?
I've been thinking about a fantasy setting built around the idea of a habitable, tidally-locked world orbiting a red dwarf. Since it is fantasy I do have some leeway in terms of the real world ...
6
votes
9answers
279 views
The reason a cyclical world's lifespan diminishes over eons
I'm brainstorming ideas for a fantasy videogame and have been trying to list possible reasons why a fantasy world would have a lifespan diminish exponentially through countless cycles of death and ...
3
votes
1answer
160 views
Does the body keep growing or maturing in any way past adulthood?
(Edited for clarification)
The general popular conception of how aging works is that your body grows and develops, reaching completion at some point in your late twenties or early thirties, and then ...
14
votes
14answers
7k views
How would aliens test humans for empathy?
500,000 people have been kidnapped from all over the world by aliens.
The aliens want to see if humans have empathy, and they can't understand our languages, as we speak they hear just random noises ...
1
vote
0answers
60 views
Is it possible to dodge/block a bullet with perfect reaction time? [duplicate]
As the title states, would it be possible to dodge or block a bullet with perfect reaction time? By perfect, I mean that the person views the world like a slow motion video at 100,000 fps, but can ...
6
votes
2answers
212 views
How would humans look after living many generations on a terraformed Mars?
Let's say humans moved to Mars and have lived there for millions of years. Mars is of now uninhabitable, though in this case some terraforming has happened. The poles have been nuked to release ...
15
votes
6answers
2k views
Hypothetical maximum number of embryos from one woman?
I am working on a setting in which there are a very limited number of human females remaining, and the intent is to repopulate as quickly as possible. Given a modern level of medical technology, what ...
37
votes
13answers
8k views
Scientific/biological basis of someone with unlimited willpower?
Meet Greg. Greg was born with pretty average genetics. It seems like he was destined to have average intelligence, average strength, and be average at everything. There was one particularly though: he ...
2
votes
5answers
216 views
What adaptations would make humans better climbers?
In this new fantasy setting I'm building, then after getting the tectonic plates and their movements covered, I've found that the land would be very mountainous, plus numerous valleys, and the islands ...
6
votes
2answers
240 views
Giant shoulders
Many fictional characters,specially in the anime art have shoulders bigger than any other upper body muscle. Normally the obliques,chest and latissimus dorsi are the biggest muscles in the upper body ...
1
vote
4answers
85 views
Would it be weird or impractical for a princess who has a High Priestess title to have a family? [closed]
My character is the King's only daughter in a patriarchal succession system. She's raised to become a High Priestess (the most important woman in the whole land), because only women of a male ruler's ...
8
votes
2answers
1k views
Climbing up on running water
I remember playing this game back in 2010-2011, and In minecraft if you found a waterfall you could actually swim it up vertically, it was difficult but possible.
Does this apply to real life to, ...
9
votes
13answers
6k views
How to prevent regenerators from becoming slaves?
When some humans, humanoids and mythical creatures have an incredibly powerful magical regeneration it seems quite obvious that in times of need and growth some countries would try to capture them and ...
3
votes
1answer
150 views
History without resource driven wars
Usually when a population overgrows it expands in search of new land and if the fields are virgin and empty they become farmland and cities, but if the fields are already occupied and the resources ...
2
votes
2answers
197 views
Feeding a population on sugar
Population: 50000 humans
Average age: 46 years
Forced caloric intake: 2400-2900 kilocalories for males and 1600-2000 kilocalories for females of which 80% coming from carbohydrates 5% from fat and ...
20
votes
9answers
5k views
How can I test to find the continent's “best” young mages?
Some background
The gods who have watched over us for so long are clearly angry. They've sent us this terrible trial in the form of a giant dungeon and told us if we can't complete it they'll wipe ...
