What if someone asked you to be King or Queen of the World? Would you say yes?

[Jayson1]

Even though I think we all agree that one person who ruled the entire planet would not be a good idea I am guessing we might make a exception for ourselves. We naturally see ourselves immune to the idea of being corrupted by power. Which would I guess would be a mistake but I would still do it because I think I would somehow not fall for the trap.

I think I would put safeguards in place though just in case. First I assume this person who gave me this power was a God or Alien so I would naturally assume it knew what it was doing. Still my safeguards would be this. I would set up my ruling palace on a nice tropical island without people excpet of course my staff who would work with all the countries to get my new policies in place. One thing though is their would only be one boat that can leave the Island which means that if I ever go full Evil the rest of the world knows where to drop the bomb. Of course anyone who worked with me would also be in danger but that is what the boat would be for. Only my staff would know where it is so they can escape while leaving Evil Me behind.

I would also have 10 year term limits. If people didn't like what I have done as extreme Ruler then they can vote me out and set up any system they want. If they vote yes then I stay until I die someday. At which point a succesor would be needed. One flaw with a extreme ruler is even if you get a good one their is no lock the next one will be any good. That's why I would tell God if it was a God that I must be able to live forever before I take the job or if it's the aliens I need cloned replacements of me. Both Imortal or clone me would be subjected to the same rules. Basically it's a option of the world at anytime voting me out,bombing me or keeping me forever. Except maybe the first 10 years. You would need some time to try and let your idea's work and you can't have someone bombing you on day one.

Does anyone here have any idea's on how you manage the power of being a extreme ruler?

Jason

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

No.

 

[Jayson1]

No.

But it's a God or Aliens who want to put you into that job. Woudn't you feel you could trust them?. They would have to know what they are doing better than any ole humans.

Jason

 

[Kor]

First I would need a guarantee of lifelong immunity from prosecution for my planned unilateral deeds of self-proclaimed heroism that the rest of the world might not consider to be heroic.

Kor

 

[Jayson1]

First I would need a guarantee of lifelong immunity from prosecution for my planned unilateral deeds of self-proclaimed heroism that the rest of the world might not consider to be heroic.

Kor

Well that would only safeguard you from the world but it wouldn't safeguard the world from you?

Jason

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

But it's a God or Aliens who want to put you into that job. Woudn't you feel you could trust them?. They would have to know what they are doing better than any ole humans.

Jason

WHY would I want to do so much work?

 

[Jayson1]

WHY would I want to do so much work?

To save the world of course. You could put in place any idea you think would make things better without any initial restiance but since you have a time limit it means that if your idea's don't pan out the world isn't stuck with you forever like so many poor countries have been with their dictators.

Jason

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Right so I put in my super great ideas, they cause HUGE problems of their own, wars even because entire continents are very pissy I made them do stuff and then people die. All because I said yes. So, no.

 

[Jayson1]

Right so I put in my super great ideas, they cause HUGE problems of their own, wars even because entire continents are very pissy I made them do stuff and then people die. All because I said yes. So, no.

What if your first rule as Queen was to ban all weapons and disband all armies? Though I did forget I need at least one missle in case I do go evil yo use on me. Got to think of how to do that.

Jason

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Most politicians are out of touch with the day to day concerns of the common folk at the national level, even with numerous elected representatives chosen by the people. Now you're extending that lack of awareness of the needs of the people worldwide to one unelected monarch chosen by some higher power who doesn't represent the beliefs of most people, or some aliens most people wouldn't trust, and that's just a recipe for resentment and revolution, and rightly so. So I guess those aliens are going to have to start cracking down or the god is going to have to mete out some divine punishment.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

What if your first rule as Queen was to ban all weapons and disband all armies? Though I did forget I need at least one missle in case I do go evil yo use on me. Got to think of how to do that.

Jason

And so I send in the armies to get the weapons, what do you do with resisters? What do you do when a nations goes fuck you Queen Whatshername and sends some bombs over?

 

[Jayson1]

Most politicians are out of touch with the day to day concerns of the common folk at the national level, even with numerous elected representatives chosen by the people. Now you're extending that lack of awareness of the needs of the people worldwide to one unelected monarch chosen by some higher power who doesn't represent the beliefs of most people, or some aliens most people wouldn't trust, and that's just a recipe for resentment and revolution, and rightly so. So I guess those aliens are going to have to start cracking down or the god is going to have to mete out some divine punishment.

That's true. That's why I think everyone should say no if asked. Still it's kind of fun to see if one can find a loophole basically to make it work. I've already found some issues with my own safeguards. Like how even though I get a 10-year free pass at the begining that means either my staff is stuck with me or if they leave then I loose ways to use my power in any effective way. Not to mention the part of me getting supplies such as food and water and medical care. Who tells the armies to go destroy their weapons and what if they say no. If they say no then I would have to use force but then that means I am back to just being another corrupt dictator.

The other issue I find interesting though is if we WOULD say no. I think we say we would now since we know the question will never be asked but if it was asked would we stay true to what we think we would do? The lure of that much power and the seduction of being asked by a God or advanced aliens would be pretty hard for any human ego to just shrug off like it was nothing.

Jason

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

The whole question is stupid.

You didn't give the ruler of the world god like powers. So he's just like all the rest of rulers trying to make people do what they want and then using force when they don't. As hypothetical questions go this is pretty fail

 

[Jayson1]

The whole question is stupid.

You didn't give the ruler of the world god like powers. So he's just like all the rest of rulers trying to make people do what they want and then using force when they don't. As hypothetical questions go this is pretty fail

Okay then lets say you do have God like powers. I admit I sometimes feel the need to give at least some explanation why a crazy thing is now possible and being ruler of earth is kind of a crazy idea except in Star Trek but that is only because the aliens all wear the same outfits so you know they must get along well on most issues.

Would you be willing to be a God? Of course one issue stays the same. Who keeps you in check once you get the power? Like most people I would love to have God like powers even though the very idea would be very bad. I would spend half of my time in fear of just never getting angry over anything. I don't want to be the "No Husnock anywhere" kind of God!

Jason

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Would you be willing to be a God?

No.

Like most people I would love to have God like powers

It sounds exhausting. I have enough responsibilities why would I want that?

 

[Jayson1]

No.



It sounds exhausting. I have enough responsibilities why would I want that?

You would be be a God. You would no longer need to worry about the emotion of "exhaustion." You could literally take a 20 year Vacation and come back and solve a problem than go have more fun for another 20 years and come back yet again to the same point of time. You could spend billions of years solving all the problems in 2018 though to everyone else it would be like paradise literally happened in a day.

Jason

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Billions of years is too much work.

 

[DimesDan]

I would be too afraid of arbitrary removing half of the human population (and sending them "god-knows" where) of the planet if I was given the powers to facilitate such an act.

 

[Jayson1]

Billions of years is too much work.

But most of the time it is you just having fun. Remember you can also hire people to do the stuff you don't want. Your version of Angels. Also you can make a second Lesser God to oversee the Angels. Also I just figured out how to stop the insanity that would come from a infinite lifespan. Just temporary erase a good chunk of your unwanted memories and if you ever feel like you need to access lets say what you did 2 million years ago you just call it back up, Get what info you need and then back into memory storage. Even the moment you went insane could be stored and not used which I would guess for most humans would be around their 300th birthday. I'm guessing you might have to keep doing this every few centuries but eventually it would feel normal. Have fun for hundreds of years. Put in a little work to keep the planet running smoothly. Erase your latest insanity and other unwanted memories and repeat again and again.


Jason

 

[Butters]

No.

Much as I’d like to reshape the world to my ideals, it could only be done by robbing of everyone else of their own free choices.

I am ultimately a hypocrite and I’d expect others to live to a standard I never could. Take private car ownership. The world would be a better place if everyone used green public transport, so long as I can keep my car.

Everyone should have a basic minimum standard of living, and that should be high. But can the world provide everyone with steak whenever they fancy it?

Then again, maybe I’d have a responsibility to say yes. If the alien/god picked me at random and I said no, the next person might be a militant vegan or something, and they might say yes.