Questions tagged [social-norms]

For questions asking about current or future normal behavior in a given society.

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2 votes
1 answer
195 views

At what point in time would it have been possible for anyone other than the nobility to attend a university? [closed]

I’ve got this idea for a sort of late medieval/early modern fantasy with a protagonist who’s the first in his family of peasant farmers and rural craftsmen to study hard enough and save up enough ...
4 votes
2 answers
285 views

What kind of a following could a religion/cult get in a year if its prophet had actual demonstrable magic powers? [closed]

So the first phase of the story I'm writing is the year-long leadup to the utter collapse of society and infrastructure brought about by humanity's sudden ability to use supernatural powers. And one ...
-4 votes
3 answers
153 views

What to do with the genetic ramifications of the war? [closed]

After a global nuclear war, most modern civilizations and technology were destroyed. And for reasons unknown, portions of humanity became mutant freaks, either from radiation or some sort of...genetic ...
4 votes
1 answer
216 views

Viable Social Groups for species with three sexes

Stable Social Structures for Species with Three sexes As a continuation of this question, I'm curious about the viability of long-term social groups with the following characteristics: There are ...
9 votes
4 answers
2k views

How to Design Clothes for quadrupeds? (Otherwise: Quadruped propriety in an intelligent, clothed society?)

In an alien society, humans, humanoids, bipeds, and quadrupeds mingle on a daily basis. Assuming all the humans and humanoids wear clothes as we are accustomed to them, what would be the quadruped ...
4 votes
5 answers
990 views

What are the most realistic impacts killer infants with elemental powers would have on various societies? [closed]

If you're upvoting this question and are capable of also voting to reopen it, please consider doing so. It has received four votes to reopen before edits, as well as multiple upvotes since it was put ...
12 votes
3 answers
1k views

Reality Check - Cultural issues of a slave race being partially color blind

For a world I am working on humans managed to create a race of demi-human cat people. These people where tradionality treated as slaves/property but have in recent times been gaining some degree of ...
2 votes
3 answers
747 views

Factors that Promote Female Warriors? [duplicate]

Assuming that magic use and similar things are not present in the setting, what scenario(s) would lead to female warriors being considered fairly acceptable? The only example that I can think of from ...
2 votes
1 answer
706 views

How do I make a matriarchal society in a Medieval Fantasy setting? [closed]

Quite a strange question, I know. The title sums it all up pretty much, as for potentially affecting factors: Magic is present, it's not extremely wide-spread though. Resources aren't that much of a ...
22 votes
11 answers
5k views

What if parents didn't "own" their children?

Passage of the Childhood Ownership Act of 20X8 Bob has finally made it to a position of power as a rich white male in the First World after hundreds of lives as a powerless child. He has used his ...
2 votes
3 answers
348 views

Opinions that could be totally mundane to us, but a future society might spend great resources to get rid of? [closed]

I'm looking for an opinion that to us would be as low impact as preferring cake to pie, but in the future would be consequential enough to be considered "wrong think" to a dystopian government. ...
7 votes
10 answers
461 views

Clothing in a society of beings with multiple personalities?

In a land where the majority of people have multiple personalities, how do the personalities distinguish themselves? Whenever they change personalities, they have an immediate need to disassociate ...
12 votes
10 answers
2k views

A realistic human civilization where there are no religions at all at any time? [closed]

Let's try to imagine a human civilization where no religions were "invented" at any point in time. How could it be possible? My thoughts are about some specific type of thinking in such a ...
-1 votes
1 answer
127 views

How would people speak with rulers? [closed]

There is a question about the title for a ruler (What royal title can an absolutistic ruler have?). That is a question about the title for the ruler and it was very well answered. But: How to speak ...
9 votes
3 answers
594 views

Might a ritually cannibalistic society gain a head start or have an advantage in the study and development of the sciences?

This is largely inspired by two questions that @dsollen has asked over the past year or two. The first: Would ritual cannibalism of the dead lead to issues with disease? The second: Cultural beliefs, ...
5 votes
9 answers
1k views

How long could a race, making recourse of eugenics, survive while trying to keep "pure"

They not only traditionally dispose of most females for believing males are more valuable workers/warriors, but also of any offspring which doesn't look the right way after the first couple of months (...
17 votes
16 answers
6k views

Why would people be fearful of the dead?

Zombies do not exist in my universe, at least as far as my planet's reality, maybe in some other place, but not on BlinketyBlink. My world is very much like Earth, in that different people are at ...
15 votes
27 answers
4k views

Why would a psychic subspecies of humanity choose not to communicate telepathically? [duplicate]

Human beings have the ability to communicate with their minds. This form of telepathy is quick and efficient, relying on concepts and ideas rather than words. A person can mindlink with others in ...
1 vote
3 answers
488 views

What would cause an alien species on an alien world to behave in a (specifically) repugnant way?

One of my projects has been developed around the idea that humans in the future visit an earthlike planet in Andromeda. The planet is populated with humanoid creatures that are “well endowed.” Ex: the ...
9 votes
8 answers
4k views

If an inventor discovered how to build a teleportation device and used it, what laws would he have broken and could he be successfully prosecuted? [closed]

Imagine a world like ours but where a temporary portal could be constructed between two different locations allowing people to simply walk between these two places with a single step. Now imagine ...
8 votes
3 answers
1k views

What if hell is real... by necromancy?

This story set in a medieval world, where necromancy is forbidden by law, but openly deployed by the church to simulate hell. There is a dedicated pool of fire just below the church of this kingdom, ...
6 votes
3 answers
268 views

Everybody has dual personalities, how do you keep your interactions in order?

In a world I am building, the days last 9 years. One of the results of this is that many species have evolved to sleep like dolphins, one half of their brain at a time. The two sides and thus two ...
-4 votes
1 answer
162 views

How to structure society after my inevitable evil takeover? [closed]

Okay, imagine I'm your average megalomaniacal evil overlord. After a brief but spirited scuffle with local heroes, I've managed to employ an army of coal-fed death robots to seize control of the ...
2 votes
5 answers
772 views

What if kings had to change diapers to go to war? [closed]

Kings don't change diapers. They just don't. The queen does it or the maids do it... Someone does it because it has to get done but definitely it's not the king's job to do it. But what if in order ...
5 votes
4 answers
795 views

What happens when genetics and popular politics collide? [closed]

Disclaimer: I understand that the question I'm about to pose has the potential, even the probability, of creating a firestorm response. I'm hoping it won't happen and thank everyone in advance for ...
6 votes
5 answers
802 views

In a post-modern world, can meeting new people mean preference over local communities and/or families?

Gonna be hard to put it to words, especially because of the rather broad scope of my question, but I think it can be a proper submission here. Here on Earth, regardless of the period and location, in ...
1 vote
5 answers
5k views

What would prostitutes wear in a setting where skimpy clothing is a sign of rank [closed]

I'm in the early stages of a fantasy late medieval world where only women can perform magic. The society is run by witches (all witches are part of the nobility and all of the nobility are witches). ...
0 votes
7 answers
1k views

What would make the gatekeepers of life and death of humans wipe out the species? [closed]

Keep in mind, these 'gatekeepers' are usually morally strong. They kill those who need to go, whether to end suffering or in justice of a major wrong doing. They walk among the streets as humans, ...
-3 votes
4 answers
232 views

Student hating each student without hating too much?

So in my world, I have a university called The Institution. It is one of the best university in its era and graduation from it is considered as a guaranteed success in their future. The university ...
11 votes
5 answers
849 views

Acceptable time count

Supposedly we human are able to terraformed Mars decades from now, then in few hundred years able to enhance our genes to be more adaptable to live on harsh conditions, creating space colonies and ...
7 votes
7 answers
556 views

Fiction Accuracy: American Nightmare

I checked yesterday the movie The Purge: Election Year (American Nightmare in French, which does not make sense because the title is already in English but nevermind), and I found it to be a correct ...
-3 votes
2 answers
194 views

How would human society change if everyone had superpowered flatulence? [closed]

I would appreciate serious answers for this. The emissions in question are strong enough to let someone hover for a few seconds, and minor property damage has been recorded. They are extremely ...
1 vote
0 answers
203 views

How would a huge sexual dimorphism and a short male lifetime of sapient celaphopods affect their society? [closed]

Related to the question: How could a climate-protection organization breed sapient, tool-developing cooperating Cephalopoda? After breeding several lines of the Larger Pacific Striped Octopus (...
0 votes
1 answer
282 views

How feasible is this human subspecies: Slimes [closed]

Well here comes the next species after the sky dancers. Context: A magical event has led to people with similar gene structures to humans coming around, though they can be drastically different in ...
-2 votes
1 answer
363 views

How feasible is this human subspecies: Skydancers [closed]

I aim to create more of these posts in the future to experiment with the feasibility of my other species but right now I am testing out these boys. Context: A magical event has led to people with ...
3 votes
3 answers
312 views

Economic and social roles of those without magic?

In a world where magic is inheritable and most people possess it, what would some of the expected economic and social roles of those without magic to be? ---Background Info Below--- The inheritance ...
10 votes
3 answers
1k views

What prosthetics would be suitable for a rural aristocrat in history?

What kind of prosthetic technology would be available to a wealthy but rural aristocratic person without a leg and how would it affect their social standing? The time era is sort of pre-Elizabethan, ...
-1 votes
1 answer
278 views

This could be the nickname for a nuclear family of females? [closed]

In omegaverse we can have a nuclear family formed by an Alfa Female and a Beta or Omega Female whose kids will be all females. I get the inspiration to call this kind of family "Doll house", but ...
4 votes
5 answers
261 views

Consequences of Personal AIs [closed]

In my world, a new technology known as Personal AIs (which I will denote as PAIs from this point forward) have become about as commonplace as today's iPhone. The PAI can act as a personal assistant, ...
21 votes
5 answers
4k views

Marriage and divorce in the future [closed]

In the future, if medical technology is significantly advanced and humans live indefinitely, or at least for human lifespans have increased by tens or hundreds of years, how will marriage/divorce/...
-2 votes
3 answers
5k views

Sex with centaurs can be considered bestiality? [closed]

Lets say centaurs were created by proto-humans that had sex with zebras in ancient Africa. They lived in migrating herds but now they are integrated in human kingdoms. However some humans wanted to ...
1 vote
0 answers
220 views

What would you send in 10 m³ to the medieval age, and how would you obtain it? [closed]

So my protagonist has received "future data" because of this he is sure that a space that is 10 meters cubed will be transported back in time to a medieval time and place outlined in the data. "future ...
0 votes
2 answers
612 views

What would the perfect human race be like? [closed]

In considering issues such as scientology for human cloning, disease-free DNA, agelessness and physical attributes such as personality, build and complexion; the question is, "what would the perfect ...
10 votes
4 answers
527 views

How should schemers educate their children?

I'm trying to create a nation that is greedy, opportunistic & obsessed with profits and trade. They are cunning, treacherous schemers that will swindle you despite all the pleasantries and ...
3 votes
1 answer
240 views

If wrong deeds were visible on a person's skin, how would the world change? [closed]

In this world (otherwise the same as Earth), people would have an appearance based on their characters. If someone does something bad, his skin gets a red stain and if he does something good then his ...
-4 votes
1 answer
610 views

To what extent would the world change if penis sizes of every single male became publicly known to everyone? [closed]

Extracted from here To what extent would the world change if penis sizes of every single male on earth became publicly known to everyone? Penis sizes of world leaders, celebrities, sports stars, ...
2 votes
3 answers
141 views

Supporting apocalypse [closed]

Let's define some basic principles of my world: It takes place within a very small galaxy. Very limited FTL - escaping from the galaxy is practically impossible, and planets are connected by ancient ...
5 votes
6 answers
258 views

Could anonymity fuel desperation in robot?

A detective is working on a case of unnatural death of a prostitute, and it appears that a domestic robot is tied to the case. According to the statement from the hotel staff and manager, they have ...
2 votes
4 answers
490 views

Inbreeding in a society where there are no genetic downsides

I have a sentient race that is similar to humans in appearance as well as culture. The culture they embrace currently is the 'arranged marriage period' where such a union may happen for wealth, ...
16 votes
3 answers
2k views

Mating Habits and Social Structures of a Three Gender Species

The species here has three possible genders, "A", "B" and "C" (for simplicity's sake). Each of the three genders can mate with another gender, producing the third gender. In other words, A and B ...