180
votes
Accepted
What would an immortal-run American bank have to do to secretly maintain bank accounts for immortal customers?
Maintain a Bank Account for Above-Board Immortals
American law already grants personhood to immortal, soulless entities bent on twisting the minds of innocents to their will and consuming everything ...
- 30.4k
131
votes
Accepted
My characters have been killing the same demons over and over again. How come the demons never adapt to them?
Why would they? They're just here to punch the clock. Invading planets nine to five, then check out and relax. And you know what? If you get killed, you get a vacation. Of course, it must not be ...
- 4,015
116
votes
Accepted
What skills would an early-1500s era ship captain need to learn to become a modern-day sailor (and eventually a captain again)?
My qualifications
I was a qualified Officer of the Deck in the US Navy. I have around 2000 hours watchstanding time and about 50 port and anchorage transits.
Navigation skills
A (competent) 1500s ...
- 85.1k
112
votes
Great Old Ones Limited, or Why does Cthulhu need a Company?
It IS a front because if you openly state as the firm's mission and vision to summon a destroyer of worlds your business isn't going very far.
Aside from that, there are some things that dark cults ...
- 137k
109
votes
Accepted
Reasons why healthy people would intentionally want to get infected?
Natural Vaccination.
Read about how Cowpox was used to vaccinate against Smallpox, this is our IRL first instance of vaccination against a disease.
The word “vaccination,” coined by Jenner in 1796,...
- 34.7k
92
votes
Accepted
Great Old Ones Limited, or Why does Cthulhu need a Company?
Have YOU ever tried setting up classic rituals? Everything's going well with everyone in their matching robes and masks, and just as the Grand Priest is finishing the ritual to summon a Great Old One ...
- 17.1k
90
votes
Are there any mathematics that could only be learned by very few people?
Main Answer
I have a PhD in Mathematics and came across this question. To be honest, I dislike almost every single answer, except maybe L.Dutch's answer concerning Wile's proof of Fermat's last ...
- 796
82
votes
Where on Earth is it easiest to survive in the wilderness?
As a native I'm definitely biased here, but Ireland is actually a pretty good bet.
Especially towards the West, Ireland has actually seen a decline in rural population. You can genuinely walk for ...
- 1,555
80
votes
Reasons why healthy people would intentionally want to get infected?
Because some self-proclaimed health guru claims that it's good for you to have that disease.
The miracle-virus causes your body to absorb free cosmic energies. Your constantly raising body ...
- 48.3k
79
votes
Accepted
Would gorillas with human-level intelligence make effective soldiers?
They would make great infantry, and would pose a serious threat on the battlefield.
Stronger
Gorillas are stronger than a human being, and capable of carrying far more equipment/armor.
Each of ...
- 34.7k
74
votes
Fallout from aliens destabilizing economy by counterfeiting all global currencies?
what policies would the world's various administrations put in place?
Switch to digital currencies and eliminate paper money.
Explain to the nice aliens that we were just settling on paper money. ...
- 25.3k
72
votes
Accepted
How would modern naval warfare have to have developed differently for battleships to still be relevant in the 21st century?
TLDR: All you need is better Anti-Aircraft Guns
There's a lot of good information here, but I think @Karl actually has the best and simplest answer to the question. Imagine a scenario where instead ...
- 16.9k
71
votes
Accepted
Why would people let a super tree grow?
The tree was never supposed to be a tree, it was supposed to be a natural boost to the air quality and be a feature of the building.
The architect had a great idea for a natural air circulation and ...
- 117k
66
votes
Accepted
How fast can I flood the Netherlands entirely and permanently?
Can't realistically be done.
As you pointed out, there is not enough water on the Earth. You could get away with a Grote Mandrenke, but no more (and you want "permanent").
Adding that much water ...
- 55k
66
votes
How can medieval knights protect themselves against modern guns?
This is basic asymmetric warfare. It can work. Ask the Viet Cong how they held off the most powerful superpower in the world...
What you don't do is take on the modern army on their terms, or even ...
- 3,113
64
votes
Could a natural disaster completely isolate a large city in the modern world without destroying it?
Totally possible. 2 million Australian's came very close in "20 bloody 20"
About 80% of your requirements were met in 2020. 12 days of total isolation is a little shy of your requirements. A ...
- 44.1k
64
votes
How would a society be structured so everyone can die in combat?
Gladiatorial combat
When someone approaches retirement age but is still healthy enough to carry a weapon, they go to a coliseum and fight other senior citizens to the death. And if they win, they ...
- 48.3k
63
votes
Accepted
How can my town be public knowledge while still keeping outsiders out?
The answer to this is very simple: make the entire town into a gated community. Encircle the whole place with a fence and have guards on the gates who are or can pass for human. The guards would ask ...
- 56.3k
61
votes
What would an Earth with no timezones be like?
For their day to day lives, people in different parts of the world would associate different times with different activities. While to someone in Greenwich 11:30 am might mean "lunch time", to people ...
- 14.9k
59
votes
Accepted
What do fairies wear and how can they evade detection by our cameras?
They paint their wings like giant butterflies
Rainforests house many colorful butteflies, some with wingspans of 4-5 inches. With painted wings and carefully chosen clothes and a bit of bodypaint, ...
58
votes
How much smarter would bred humans become?
Intelligence is not a singular trait
There are many facets to intelligence. Let's start with some animal examples:
Dogs.
Everybody loves dogs and dogs love everybody. They have incredible social ...
- 6,829
54
votes
My characters have been killing the same demons over and over again. How come the demons never adapt to them?
They do not know what the tactics were
Combat is a horribly confusing environment to be in. No one has the full picture of exactly what happened afterwards - recollections of individuals are ...
- 25.8k
52
votes
How to prevent criminal gangs from making/buying guns?
Real life solution - make guns scarce in your society
In a country like US, where there are plenty of guns among the citizens, it's a no-brainer for criminals to use guns too. If they choose melee ...
- 42.2k
52
votes
Famous conjecture or unsolved problem that could be plausibly proven/solved by freshman mathematician?
Since you're interested in something currently unsolved, you don't really care about how protagonist will solve it, only that he does so, let's go for something extremely simple, simple enough that ...
- 3,619
51
votes
Accepted
How to prevent criminal gangs from making/buying guns?
My home country (China) has very strict gun control laws. Basically, normal citizen will not be allowed to buy, sell guns, or make it themselves. If guns are involved in a crime case (say, robbery), ...
- 1,383
48
votes
Modern soldiers carry axes instead of combat knives. Why?
Combat knives as side arms are falling out of favor across modern militaries. Why? Getting into a situation in which your main rifle and sidearm both are no longer viable and effective yet the knife ...
- 17.5k
48
votes
Fallout from aliens destabilizing economy by counterfeiting all global currencies?
If the governments of the world are in any way intelligent (which is a stretch), they would quickly switch to using a combination of highly nutritious, pre packaged food bars, and fully charged high ...
- 6,937
48
votes
How can medieval knights protect themselves against modern guns?
Historically, knights were protected from firearms. Armour from the late 1400's on was "proofed" by firing a shot from a handheld firearm into it, allowing the purchaser to have a visible sign that ...
- 97.6k
47
votes
Accepted
How do the zombies win when they're so weak?
This is where the problem is:
You'd think that humanity would have pretty quickly organized an army and killed the zombies easily
If the problem requires large collaboration, beyond the scale that ...
- 911
47
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to have a wealthy country without a middle class?
Gated Nation
One scenario that comes to mind is Monaco. One in three is a [multi-] millionaire. Most of the working-class do not live in Monaco, but commute from France. The "country" is full of rich ...
- 2,181
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible