+42 When someone asks "What is the one thing you'd get rid of on Earth?," the best response is "nothing" because removing even that one thing can soil everything up. They say "be careful what you wish for" //for// a good reason, amirite?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

This was inspired by Formspring's QOTD now that I think about it there's probably a loop hole in the response of "nothing" too think maybe it's best not to respond at all eekconfused

by Anonymous 11 years ago

If the genie wanted to be an asshole, he could pretend he thought you meant you canted to compress all the atoms so their empty space was gone, turning Earth into black dwarf (I'm reasonably sure that even with that kind of compression, a planet doesn't have the mass to be a neutron star or black hole)

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I am afraid that even removing things like //hatred, war, famine, etc// would have devastating effects. Earth is a virtually closed system but so complex that homeostasis is nearly impossible. I believe it can be / should be - treated as a living being in much the same way an ant-hill is more of an entity than is an individual ant.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

yeah I wouldn't even ask to remove a single ant or even a drop of water if I got bit by a snake I wouldn't ask that to be changed either small changes can lead to ginormous results

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Pollution? I can't think of any negative affects from that hmm

by Anonymous 11 years ago

that's the thing we're very limited in the knowledge we have and what we think to be true changes constantly removing pollution can have some disastrous effects probably something we're not even aware of right now

by Anonymous 11 years ago

http://amirite.com/754851-you-should-thank-all-the-primordial-cyanobacteria-for-their-billions-of-megatons-of-excrement-now Just because pollution might kill off the species that created it doesn't mean that a "greater" species won't evolve to replace it. Do we have the //right// to try to control nature's //will// or //God's// or whatever you believe?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

now that could mean all the activities of the world that make pollution would cease to exist, we could potentially not be able to just go to the bathroom.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I agree things could get worse, but isn't it sometimes worth that risk? The Earth already seems like a pretty fouled up place to me.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

In response to “I agree things could get worse, but isn't it...” I'd rather take action than to just wish it away Plus there's good along with the bad it's important to look at the big picture

by Anonymous 11 years ago

People who save seats in crowded lecture halls.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Love this! however one can imagine a colleague holding a seat for a young Jonas Salk at a undergraduate lecture on microbiology.

by Anonymous 11 years ago