Thank god They haven't invented_____

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

Inspired of course by the Why haven’t They invented _____ thread.

And by cell phones. Which I think we can admit are a mixed blessing. Are we really delighted to be in touch with the rest of the world all the time? And video phones. Which seem to be something enough of us didn’t want invented that they have never become commonplace.

But cell phones have…(and computers and tvs and so on and so on) and they’ve changed the world. Given that, what would you rather they not invent?

Think about it, this may be an important quesestion.

#2

Oh, whaddya call it…that gun thingie that shoots laser rays…you know, they kill you instantly. One of those, but like, old style. Maybe…20’s style. That thing.

#3

Ba-da dum! I love rimshots.

In other news, thank God they haven’t invented a Startrek style “universal translator” (or for you more literate SciFi geeks, a Douglas Adams style babelfish.) Can you imagine what it would do to international deplomacy if everyone knew what you actually meant?

#4

A pill that could turn people straight. Those of us who actually like being gay would find ourselves with even fewer people on our side.

#5

I imagine religious fundamentalists thank God (literally) nobody has invented a way to turn them into atheists. :smiley:

#6

But they have… it’s called “freshman philosophy”.

I kid.
I think a genuine diet pill that allows you to eat whatever you please, not exercise and remain thin would be a social catastrophe.

#7

A pill or gas that made everyone happy and no one would bitch and moan.
CNN and Fox would be out of business in a week.
I would love to see a pill that made people tell the truth. Kinda like Liar, Liar. HAH!

#8

Don’t forget to take your Soma today!

I’m glad they really haven’t perfected a real-as-life Virtual Reality experience. a Holodeck, or whatever.

Video Games and the Internet are bad enough, but this would be a truly massive black hole for time.
And if they ever succeed in programming your personal all-time sexual fantasy into it, you’d never come out. We’d be worse than the Lotus-Eaters.

#9

Thank god They haven’t invented_____

Telepathy.

I mean, sure I’d like to know what you’re thinking. But my thoughts would get my face slapped in a heartbeat… or arrested… or burned at the stake… depending on who was nearby at the moment.

#10

Flying cars.

Because then we’d having nothing left to wish for.

#11

Soylent Green.

X-Ray Glasses.

Force fields, city-sized, capable of withstanding a nuclear blast.

A reliable, cheap, easily-performed, not-too-terribly-invasive test to determine gender preference defined by genetics rather than upbringing or personal choice.

A Truth Detector.

#12

Quantum physics, because then we’d never consider that expressing thanks for something that hasn’t been invented changes the condition of supposed bliss we were living in.

#13

Clear toilet paper

#14

Reusable toilet paper.

#15

Having just come across from this thread:

Thank goodness they haven’t invented teleportation :eek:

#16

Ditto, flying cars, but for another reason. That being that if people flew as badly as they drive on land, tossed as much crap out of their windows as they do on land, failed to tie down as many hazardous loads as they do on land, etc., the results would be catastrophic.

#17
      • Inflatable sex dolls for pets. The dog ones would look like human legs…
        ~
#18

Interesting. I’m curious about your reasoning.

Myself, I’ve never particularly felt that good diet and exercise had any redeeming features beyond that they were necessary for good health. If you could have the good health without the nusciance, why not?

Or am I reading too much into this, and you meant only “thin,” not “thin and healthy” which is how I interpreted it?

#19
      • It’s a moral presumption that fat people are lazy, I’d suppose.
  • I think an interesting exercise (mental exercise, that is) is to try to imagine some time in the future, when changing ANYTHING about your body becomes a matter of taking a particular pill.
    Every aspect is after all a matter of chemical regulation.
    You wanna be thinner, shorter, fatter? Fatter in certain places,thinner in others? Wanna try being black for a year? Oriental? And even extras not available from the factory: extra limbs, tails, fur, scales, wings? What will people look like when every aspect of their physique becomes simply a matter of fashion? As simple and harmless to change as the clothes you wear?..
    ~
#20

Nah, I don’t presume that fat people are lazy. I think all people are lazy.

A pill like the one I describe most certainly won’t be accessible to everyone. Probably just the morbidly obese through insurance, and anyone else who can afford it. Canada better make room for some immigrants from the south.

Forget about wearing or driving your status symbol ----- Your extra 10 pounds will show the world that you can’t afford the Pill, and dinner among friends, some medicated/some not, could be awkward. The great divide between the haves and have-nots may not get any larger, but it would be inexorably tied to our very bodies.

Then there’s the philosophical divide.

The die-hard Diet/Exercise hold-outs will have to form support groups in which they will complain about how tough it is to be ‘naturally’ thin. They’ll serve carrots and water at their meetings, pretend to like it, and mutter in superior tones about those Pill People.

Of course, the Pill People will have their support group meetings too, but theirs will be catered.

Babies will go without shoes, college funds will be frittered away, and worst of all, there won’t be any more late night infomercials for the AbLounger.

But seriously, take all the energy, time and money we (society) invest in the quest for beauty, (not health, beauty) and particularly focused on that number on the scale. Now take all the energy, time and money we invest in the quest for yummies, (not nutrition or fuel, yummies). Our outrageous gluttony is balanced only by our desire to look like print ads, and the balance is precarious enough as it is.