SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Would you rather have forgotten your book or your toothbrush?*




*Absolutely not based on real life events.

My toothbrush definitely

Would you rather be deaf or blind?

toothbrush (easy to replace) and deaf (view the world without all the unnecessary noise? Bliss).

Toothbrush, but I have my books available in, multiple formats: Kindle, Kindle app on iPad, Kindle app on phone, the internet. It would be hard to not have access to a book.

Toothbrush for sure. It's easy to get a new one, and most hotels have some little free kits with toothbrush and toothpaste, but I couldn't guarantee I would find a good replacement book (assuming this is for travel).

Allison wrote: "Would you rather have forgotten your book or your toothbrush?*




*Absolutely not based on real life events."

depends on the book, to be honest. And, in the spirit of the moment, I'm going to substitute "kindle" for "book," because that makes the choice more meaningful to me.

Would you rather have the DeLorean time machine or the Enterprise's transporter (assume you can go anywhere on Earth)?

The Delorean Time Machine. Then I can travel to the future, where hopefully they’ll have teleporters.

Transporter! I have no desire to be in a position where anyone's parent is makin' eyes at their own offspring. And also I hate driving!

Hmmm... tough one, but I think I'd go with the transporter. I love to go places, but I hate the actual getting there part.

Re the memory bit above, i saw this article over on boingboing.net today

https://boingboing.net/2018/10/24/peo...

Actress Marilu Henner (Taxi) can recall specific details from almost every day in her life. She has hyperthymesia, a rare condition that only she and 10 other people in the world are proven by tests to possess.

Also definitely transporter.

I don't want to go into the past and accidentally cause a current crisis. I just know I would try to fix something and screw it up.

I also don't want to go into the future where my loved ones are no longer around. Plus, if I find that we didn't manage to get our shit together I think the sadness that would cause would kill me.

But I love to go places! And not having to rely on fossil fuels would be great!

Id take a transporter, who wouldn't want to be anywhere when ever they wanted?

Would you rather have a food replicator or a hover board?

I don't think I ever answered the memory. I'd like to remember everything. I have a kind of shite memory, and I would love to actually be able to remember things... The only downside I can think of is that you never really get that experience of re-discovery, but even that I'm not sure you'd actually lose, because I've gotten stuff out of rewatching or rereading thing even when I actually do remember what's going to happen.

***

Food replicator, easy.

Yeah, I'd take the food replicator, but I still like the ritual of food preparation. It'd be nice for snacks and playing bartender and such at parties though. My extended friend group basically can't eat any food in common, so a replicator would be nice.

OTOH, then we'd have a lot of conversations about whether a food was prepared according to religious observances, and probably I'd need a separate food replicator for Halal and Kosher. I'm not sure my house is big enough for 3 magic food printers.

But I know I don't have the bank account to deal with hoverboard accidents. Now, if it was a flying, self-driving car, we'd be talking.

A food replicator could make your food halal if needed, it build the food from the proteins, so it would never matter how it was slaughterd. No need to bless anything that wants living, yeah? I'm not sure what Kosher entails, don't know that much about Jewish traditions.

Also, imagine flying a hoverboard to work each morning? I'd be so jealous of whomever had that tech.

Time Travel gadget that's not a car. =D
I would enjoy being able to experience the world at different stages of time. If you have time travel gadget, you can go anywhere you want without going out of your time.

I'll take the hover board over the food replicator. I like cooking too much to want it to be done for me instantly. Plus, replicator just makes me think about what made the food in the first place and that's a rabbit hole I would like to avoid. Ya know, the kind where you wonder about how a hotdog is made or how particles get exchanged when you microwave food, etc.

I think Planetfall/After Atlas kind of ruined food replicators for me - I’m highly sensitive to smells and artificial flavors so I’m afraid I’d be one of those that could taste that it was all ‘fake’......

But maybe I’d get one anyway if it was high end enough just to make the kids’ food - how much nicer life would be without the constant food prep!!

(I used to enjoy cooking....before kids...)

I'm an extremely picky eater, so a food replicator would come in handy.

I'd probably fall off a hoverboard and break a hip. With a food replicator, I'm afraid I wouldn't have the self-control to not impulsively whip up a peanut-buster parfait or triple-chocolate brownies or a deep-fried snickers or... well, you get the idea. So I guess the food replicator it is then.

I think I'd take the time machine (I'm just too curious, paradoxes be damned) and the food replicator.

Mareike wrote: "I think I'd take the time machine (I'm just too curious, paradoxes be damned)"

So many tv shows make sense now. The time travelers are all just Mareikes! ;-P

Allison wrote: "Mareike wrote: "I think I'd take the time machine (I'm just too curious, paradoxes be damned)"

So many tv shows make sense now. The time travelers are all just Mareikes! ;-P"


But if I had the time machine, I could actually watch all the TV shows and movies and read all the books that I want to!

*considers changing her vote*

Allison wrote: "Mareike wrote: "I think I'd take the time machine (I'm just too curious, paradoxes be damned)"

So many tv shows make sense now. The time travelers are all just Mareikes! ;-P"

Haha, oops. Blew my cover there, didn't I? ;-)

Fine ladies and gentlemen, I made it easy with food replicator or hover board.

Let's up the ante...

Living forever (you know... By entertaining your cells) or living 500 years. So either you die, or you don't, but you still might see us leaving the starsystem...

Oooo hard choice me thinks...

500 years.

I've read too many vampire stories to want to live forever. ;)

I would take living forever as long as it's not attached to some exchange like drinking blood, sacrificing other life, etc.

My question would be: Would you hide that you are immortal or go public?

Living forever would be a curse. Think of how everyone thinks his/her generation is the best. Now imagine centuries of future generations "messing everything up." Life will always change, much faster than people will. Even 500 years would be too much, but if I must have a prison sentence, I don't want it to be life. The magic of life is it's finite, so you have to make the most of it.

Live forever, but only if my cat lives forever and if I don’t age at all or much.

I refuse to let this thread die! I have too much fun with these.

Would you rather be insanely famous in a foreign country all times of the year (you also don't live any where near there)?

or

Be famous in your native country, but only for one month (perhaps your allure is tied to a specific holiday)?

I'd prefer to be famous abroad. That way I could indulge in adoration when I wanted, but still go home and be a regular guy when the spotlight shines too bright.

neither...

Definitely not famous in my country! I take famous abroad thanks!

Definitely neither!

I'm not really a spotlight seeker, but I would rather be famous at home for a month. I like to travel a lot, so I wouldn't be home all that much anyway, and I could have new experiences with people who don't know me, and then come back to my adoring fans for Bobby Palooza

Famous abroad, I think.

I value my privacy and readily-available solitude way too much to ever want to be famous.

If I absolutely had to choose between the two, I think I’d choose to be famous in my native country for only one month. Because people travel, and I live in the U.S. near a major international airport hub. People, media workers included, might travel to my home country and seek me out, either as a “while we’re in the area” side trip or as the main destination. Plus people from the country where I'm famous might bribe people in the U.S. to get pictures or info about me.

So I’d rather minimize the amount of time I spend being famous and then resume my blissful fame-free lifestyle. I’d probably stock up on non-perishable food and other supplies, hire some security, and then not leave my house for that entire month. :)

Relevant to today, would you rather always wake up in sunlight but leave work every day to darkness, or wake up every day in darkness but leave work in sunlight?

I’d rather never shepherd little kids through pointless transitions again : p

I prefer to have sunlight when I wake up, but since my sleep schedule isn't exactly the same as the average person's, it's actually quite easy for me to manage that no matter if it's DST or normal time.

I'd rather wake up to darkness and always go home in the daylight. I practically do that now, and I enjoy getting home before the mad rush of everyone else.

I'm retired now, but when I worked I used to hate both about equally. Getting out of bed when it's dark and cold is miserable, and sitting in an office while it goes dark outside makes you feel you've been robbed of the day.

Humans did not evolve to function in the dark. Darkness is the time to retire to a nice warm cave, sit around the fire and eat a meal, and tell each other stories.

I agree with Chris. I wish we were on DST year-round so I could do *something* in the 'evening.' But we're retired, so all I really miss for not being able to drive in the dark is my irl bookclub.

While I find it harder to wake up when it's dark outside, I would prefer it being darker in the morning and lighter when I leave work in the evening. It's hard for me to go home in the dark and then have to go back out if I have things to do.

I'm a birder, so I appreciate the extra hour of sunlight to get in my morning bird walk before anything else I need to get done in the morning.

Cheryl wrote: I agree with Chris. I wish we were on DST year-round so I could do *something* in the 'evening.'

You've reminded me of a few lines from the comedy series 'The Million Pound Radio Show' where one lizard is reading another lizard extracts from his diary:

First lizard: Monday: Sat on a rock. Sun got too hot. Sat under a rock. Tuesday: Sat on a rock. Sun got too hot........ well, it's the same as Monday, really.

Second lizard: Being a lizard gets so boring.

First lizard: Tell me about it. I wish I was a mammal, then at least I could go out in the evening.

Hah! Simpatico...

I’d rather wake up in darkness and leave work in sunlight.

I'd enjoy the sunlight more after work than before it. I wouldn’t do much with the sun in the morning. I usually don’t even look out the window until I open the blinds for the cat just before leaving. When I leave work, then I’m ready to relax and appreciate my surroundings a little more.

But I would just be happy if we stopped changing the clocks, no matter which time we stayed with. Falling back is the worst – my cat will be waking me up an hour early for days, if not weeks. When we spring forward, then I’m the one waking him up and I confess to taking some sadistic pleasure in getting my revenge. :) Except he doesn’t have to work all day with an hour less sleep, so it’s not the greatest revenge.

Edited to remove a random word that didn’t belong. I blame the cat. :p

Would you rather have an eidetic memory or be fully functional with only three hours of sleep every night?

Three hours of sleeep!!!!!! OMG I'd rule the world! But in a totally benevolent way.