The rule could be anything, as funny or as serious as you want. The universe will progress in a similar way that it has up until this point, unless your changed rule prevented it from doing so.

Some examples might be:

  • The invention of currency is not allowed.
  • Iron is slightly less stable.
  • The Ancient Greeks are able to cultivate Silphium, which does not go extinct now.
  • esc27@lemmy.world
    57·
    21 days ago

    Instant karma. Weighted based on intent. E.g. If CEO cuts benefits to improve his stock value, then his balls explode. If a driver accidentally cuts someone off but feels bad about it, a full mosquito hits the windshield.

  • Icalasari@fedia.io
    265·
    21 days ago

    A necessary requirement for higher intelligence is proper, functioning empathy. If you lack this, you’re just… Incapable of intelligent thought beyond that of a particularly stupid dog

      • leftzero@lemmynsfw.com
        41·
        21 days ago

        CEOs and similar psychopaths don’t, though.

        (Though those already tend to have the intelligence of a particularly stupid dog anyway, so I don’t really see how this would change anything.)

        • bizarroland@fedia.io
          1·
          19 days ago

          I thought the thing about psychopaths is not that they don’t have empathy or that it’s something that’s completely bizarre and alien to them, but rather that they have a switch where they can turn it off.

          Like most of us would recoil in horror at watching a video of somebody being beheaded on the internet and many of us have had that unfortunate experience, but a psychopath has the ability to not feel anything at all about it if they don’t want to.

    • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      5·
      21 days ago

      Have to say this wouldn’t affect me, not because I don’t have any empathy but only cold, logical political solidarity, but also because I wouldn’t really class myself as particularly intelligent. I’m just walking here

  • PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee
    16·
    21 days ago

    Base 36 counting becomes predominant.

    0 1 2 3 4 5

    6 7 8 9 A B

    C D E F G H

    I J K L M N

    O P Q R S T

    U V W X Y Z

    Also the point at which hundred changes over to thousand gets pushed back by a power, so 6KL2 is Sixty Kay Hundred Elty Two, while 8,A59G is Eight Thousand Ayty Five Hundred Ninety G. Same with the changeover to Millions, Billions, Trillions, etc.

    Probably wouldn’t change that much practically, but it’d make “Ten” a square that’s also the product of two prime squares, and it’s divisible by a lot more ways than the current number base, and it makes “One Thousand” the square of “One Hundred” the same way “One Hundred” is the square of “Ten” and that “One Million” is the square of “One Thousand.”

    • yeather@lemmy.ca
      3·
      20 days ago

      Granted, the vast majority of people are illiterate, as there are no longer competent teachers, we never make it out of the stone age, as there are no competent organizers.

      • Don_alForno@feddit.orgDeutsch
        21·
        20 days ago

        I wouldn’t classify “teacher” as a “position of power” in the sense that people who are mostly interested in holding power over others want the position for that reason.

        There’s a huge difference between “being interested in power” and “being interested in improving things for yourself and other people”. The one is selfish in nature, the other isn’t.

        There is also a huge difference between wanting a position and being good at it.

        • yeather@lemmy.ca
          1·
          20 days ago

          And yet, instructors and teachers are in a position of power over there students. A bad teacher can ruin a subject for you, destroy your grades, and get you in trouble. I believe it fits within the definition.

  • bizarroland@fedia.io
    11·
    21 days ago

    Silphium was recently rediscovered so it’s no longer considered extinct just highly endangered.

    Aside from that, I would make it so that instead of having mental illness you would have magical powers.

    Schizophrenic? Nope you just talk to the Dead. Adhd? Nope, you’re an elemental wizard. Bipolar? Nope, you’re either a healer or a necromancer. Depressed? Nope, you’re just low on mana. (Major depression means that you’re suffering from a curse) Psychotic? Nope, you’re suffering a mana storm Narcissistic? Nope, you are an illusionist. Autistic? Nope, you’re an enchanter.

    • bizarroland@fedia.io
      5·
      21 days ago

      Maybe instead of schizophrenics talking to the dead they would just fit into the class of spiritualists and diviners, oracles and the like.

      I’m open to interpretation.

      • bizarroland@fedia.io
        1·
        20 days ago

        After a little more thinking on this:

        Gender dysphoria? Nope! Shapeshifter. Furry? Nope Werebeing

        Basically, anything that is a deviation from bog standard human would have a magical reasoning behind it.