#30 - animals (2 of 2)

You have ascended to a position in which you are a representative on a small but powerful panel that monitors and oversees all wildlife, worldwide. Soon after this panel has formed, you are presented with an interesting opportunity.

The scientific community, coming off a series of breakthroughs in the field of genetics, has informed your group that the ability now exists to bring a species back from extinction. Woolly mammoths, dinosaurs, the dodo, all of these are real possibilities.

The catch here is that the process would require the DNA of an existing species, and the endeavor would consequently result in the extinction of that species. It would, in effect, be a species for species trade. Also, the species chosen to supply the substitute DNA must come from the same class of animal (Mammalia, Reptilia, etc) as the extinct, candidate species.

Do you elect to bring back an extinct animal? If so, which one?

For the purposes of the question, please answer as if the events in post #29 had never occurred. There is no epidemic and there is no need for a species to be eliminated if you elect not to attempt the "un-extinction"..

#29 - animals (1 of 2)

You have ascended to a position in which you are a representative on a small but powerful panel that monitors and oversees all wildlife, worldwide. Unfortunately, soon after this panel has formed, a dangerous epidemic begins sweeping the globe, and it is feared that the death toll could eventually stretch into the tens of millions.

Your panel has been in contact with many different individuals and groups since the outset of the crisis, and nearly every scientist surveyed recommends the same radical course of action.

The scientific community believes that intense, exhaustive research on a single species of mammal would almost assuredly lead to the development of a successful vaccine for the spreading disease. The specific choice of species is not critical, it could be any mammal currently present in nature. However, the discomforting fact is that the proposed research and tests would lead to the extinction of the selected species. The consensus is that there is no way around this.

The decision has already been made to pursue this course. Your panel will meet in one week to choose the species that will be used for the study. What animal do you tab for this research and inevitable extinction, and how do you make your choice?

#28 - time bank

A new business has set up shop on the corner of one of your town's busier intersections. The company bills itself as a "time bank" and intrigued, you pay the location a visit one Saturday afternoon.

Once inside the classy, high-tech interior, you are guided to an open desk of one of the time bank's consultants. After a short amount of small talk, the consultant explains how the bank operates.

Those running the business have pioneered a method by which a person can reclaim (withdraw) time from earlier in their life. These withdrawals can be from a certain time period (the summer months of 1992, for instance), or interestingly enough, tied to specific experiences. The bank consultant throws out the example of piano lessons. If you feel that the piano lessons you were put through as a child were a waste of time, you can reclaim any or all of that time to be applied to other endeavors. The catch is that you will no longer have any memories or skills associated with those times. If you retain any of your knowledge of playing piano, it would be erased once you made the withdrawal (which involves a quick, painless, safe scan of your brain).

Once you have this additional time on your hands, you are somewhat limited in how it can be used. There is no real way for this time to simply be added to the end of your natural life (though the consultant implies that some research was initially done in this area). Instead, the time bank carries an extensive set of "skill cassettes". Your knowledge from the erased time will be replaced by a corresponding amount of knowledge from any combination of these cassettes (which include sports, foreign languages, etc). Though there are some differences, the process is likened to what was shown in the original Matrix film. An important factor to bear in mind when making these selections is that you will be limited by your own mind and body. The tapes will not have the same effect on every individual. If you are not naturally predisposed to excelling at golf, it would take a longer time with the golf cassette for you to fully internalize its contents.

There is a nominal fee associated with setting up an account and doing business at the time bank, but it does not strike you as an unreasonable amount. You take some of the available literature and head home to ponder the possibilities.

Do you return to the time bank? Before you left, the bank agent made a point to caution you as to how you make your selections. Any memories (including places or people) associated with the withdrawn time will cease to exist in your brain, so there is the possibility of altering relationships in ways that would be difficult to predict.

#27 - human photosynthesis

You receive a questionnaire in the mail from a group of renowned scientists. You have been hearing and seeing a lot of recent news coverage about the impending possibility of medical science implementing a sort of photosynthesis in the human body, and in fact, this is the topic of the mailing.

It appears that these scientists have perfected a viable technique and are ready to begin testing human subjects. The feedback form in your mailbox has been sent to you and thousands of others in order to gauge interest in volunteering for the operation.

The work of the scientists has been rigorously documented. If the procedure is successful, the subject would never have to eat again, instead "ingesting" light and carbon dioxide in a method similar to plants. The body would store sugars as an energy reserve, leaving oxygen as the only waste product. There are no consequences to a failed operation, a volunteer would merely continue to ingest food normally as before. Regardless, the subject would still retain his or her digestive organs (though because they would no longer be needed after a successful operation, the scientists speculate that using them more than once a month could prove dangerous).

The mailing asks if you would be very interested, mildly interested, or not interested in participating in these first trials. Ample space is provided for comments. Should you show some interest, you would be contacted at a later date, but there is no ironclad commitment at this point. How do you respond?

#26 - the international pastime

Some decades in the future, all existing professional sports leagues have collapsed. This includes the four major US organizations (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL), those in other countries, and all international leagues (though the Olympics are still held every two years). Experts have suggested various reasons for the demise of professional sports, but attempts to revive any of the leagues have continually met with failure.

In response to the widespread public desire for a new professional league as well as an attempt to foster international goodwill, the United Nations has added the discussion of such a league to their upcoming docket. Though far from a sure thing, the hope is that these discussions will lead to the creation of a viable, sustained international league.

If everything were to go according to plan, the talks would result in the selection of a single sport. A governing body would then be elected and nations could apply to have a team represent them in the league. The UN at this point would no longer be connected to the league, each nation taking responsibility for the outfitting and managing of their team. Though it is expected (especially within larger countries) that smaller leagues, in which anyone could play, would spring up to act as feeders for the national teams, athletes on the these teams would need to meet some sort of eligibility requirements (similar to the Olympic Games).

You have been selected to serve as the United States ambassador to the UN panel for the professional league. Part of your charge will be to recommend a single sport for the league, and you will be given the opportunity to present your argument to the panel and the rest of the UN. Which sport do you choose to advocate, and why?

#25 - electronic history

You have reached the age of sixty-five, and although you are in good health, you have begun to ponder your legacy and what you will leave behind for your loved ones.

Over the past several decades, e-mail and social networking sites have remained viable entities. Whereas those in past generations would have a handful of letters, journals, or photo albums, by this time you have accumulated thousands upon thousands of e-mails and digital photographs. Not to mention any blogging you may have done.

You have already written a will, but you feel it is time to come up with some sort of plan for what personal information you would like your family or anyone else in the future to be able to access. Do you delete all of your old e-mails? Would you make albums out of the scores of photographs at your disposal? How would you decide who (if anyone) would receive access to these accounts? What factors might influence your decision?

In short, as you near the end of your life, what do you do with all of this personal electronic history?

#24 - past or future artwork

You wake up and seem to be lying on some sort of operating table. You are unable to fully sit up and take in your surroundings, but you can make out a group of shadowy figures watching you.

You are told by the strangers that you are in no danger and will not be harmed. However, you are have been drafted into a large scale experiment and your participation is apparently out of your control at this point.

The figures tell you that you will wake up tomorrow in your own bed, but you must first make a choice that will affect the rest of your earthly existence. You must choose between being able to experience either the art that you have already seen or heard in your lifetime or art that you have never experienced (which would include anything in existence that you have not yet experienced as well as things that have not yet been created). Your choice will extend to books, movies, music, and works of art.

So, in short, you will be left with the ability to experience just one set of artwork. Should you choose the artwork to which you've already been exposed, you will be forever cut off from anything new. New paintings would appear as blank canvases, books as a set of blank bound pages, music and films nothing but static. Should you instead elect to preserve the art you haven't yet seen or heard, you would lose all access to your favorite works. Though you would retain some memory of these things, an attempt to recreate them (say, starting a cover band or going to a dramatic reading) would prove futile. You would be left with only the fading memory of your favorite novels or songs, with no way to reference them. Even your own singing or humming would be (to your ears) muted if you were to try to produce a tune from the banished set.

The shadowy figures give you an hour to make your decision. If you have not done so before the hour is up, the choice will be made for you. Which set of artwork do you choose?