1 a day? I feel like a lot of people might not ever get to see it. You’d go a large portion of your life always hearing about it, seeing stories in the news, one of your friend’s relatives was squished by it. But then one day you’re minding your business on your way to work when it shows up and crushes the car in front of you.
Looks like you get to call off from work. You just witnessed The Hand. Go ahead and take a day to collect your senses.
lo how he punisheth the wicked who by thought or action hath kindled the wrath of the eternal judge. The sins of man unknown to his brother shall be sown again into the earth. By his hand we are raised and so to by the hand my we fall
I'd imagine the hand's interaction would tell people a lot too.
like, if it just flicked your head off your shoulders, or grabbed you by the foot and took you 400 feet up and dropped you, or whether it splatted you like a fly...
If it's been with us all through history, I guess the further back you go, the more likely it is that you will have seen someone be crushed by the hand. And global travel? That's the foundation for a persistent global mythology that'd probably dominate our storytelling for a while. I don't know what all happens between then and the point where we have satellites that track the hand all the time, but I bet there's potential for a novel. Or an anime. Or at least a comic.
There would be a lot of ideas about why different people get squished. We wouldn't know it was random definitively. And because it looks like a human adjacent hand, probably a lot of speculation about God punishing people for being bad.
People would soon block it out, as they do with other things out of their control. They’d mourn their dead, there’d be poems and ballads and darkly ironic stories about those squashed by the Hand, and figures of speech alluding to this, but people wouldn’t fret about it. And if it kills 365 people a year around the world, that is a fairly low death toll, so it would be classified with improbable but spectacular threats like sharks or volcanoes, rather than car accidents or heart disease.
It was probably their own fault they got smooshed by The Hand, anyway. Obviously, they did heinous things no one knows about or The Hand wouldn't have chosen them for smooshing.
It sounds like The Hand is inevitable, so you'd just be dooming everyone else in your tunnel/bunker/whatever when it collapses. If anything, I'd argue we'd spread out a bit more to avoid collateral damage.
This heathen dares to suggest that The Hand causes collateral damage!?! The Order Of The Deliberate And Benevolent Hand finds this extremely offensive!
The Most Pointiness From Above only Squishes those who deserve to be Squished!
If you live in China or India, hand sightings only make the news if it lands on someone nearby. In Europe and the US, the hand heading your way means a few minutes on the news presenting the mathematical models predicting where it will land based on trajectory, and something like "John Johnson, a 34-year old Liverpool resident, was a victim of the inexorable hand yesterday. He will be missed." For the likes of Iceland or New Zealand, the hand heading your way means a full day of tension and lots of wills being updated.
TBH, would probably be a lot less violent as people put faith in THE HAND to bestow god's judgement rather than all the crazy shit the Abrahamic religions did. Religions tended to be mutually exclusive in history.
Not to make the game but for the creature. Maybe the villagers behaviour too. You could have the villagers talk to each other so they seem real, and have the creature learn as you interact with it.
The best part is that since there are ZERO stakes here it doesn't matter if the thing hallucinates and starts doing insane shit, in fact, it could be preferable this way.
All the artists and designers and coders would still have jobs building the game, it would just be built around the absolute fucking abomination most people would end up nurturing.
A significant concern 80k years ago (though with lack of communication, few would know that the disembodied hand represented), not even a consideration now. 1 person dies from The Hand in the world each day? More people die of aneurysms each day, I would imagine, and it's effectively the same thing.
Also, does it stop following a given person if they escape it by the end of the day? If you could hop in a car and just drive until the day is over to escape it, it would be more of a "hey, watch out for the hand" kind of thing. But it would be so rare I don't even think it would be on anybody's mind.
A lot more inside time? We probably be at least 20years ahead of where we are now with video games.
With a more common enemy we might be less likely to squabble so much with one another. Religion would probably be a little more standardized as well.
Since it's a death at a constant rate with threat of increase. It's also random and not preventable. So I think we would just accept it as another risk we live with but don't think about.
In terms of humanity's progress. Most advances happened through incremental progress and most historical figures could be replaced with similar people from their family of political party that would have yielded similar results. There probably a few people that genuinely couldn't be replaced, but the chance of them being fingered seems like a statical anomaly.
Socially it could be quite a change. A magic hand could easily become a piece of worship and establish a cult. The idea of it being a human hand would give the impression that humans are the default life form which would add more resistance to animal rights. The biggest one is the race of the hand... Which, given human history, would definitely have been used to justify some horrific actions.
1 a day? I feel like a lot of people might not ever get to see it. You’d go a large portion of your life always hearing about it, seeing stories in the news, one of your friend’s relatives was squished by it. But then one day you’re minding your business on your way to work when it shows up and crushes the car in front of you.
Looks like you get to call off from work. You just witnessed The Hand. Go ahead and take a day to collect your senses.
Cars kill more than 3500 people every day and we don't seem to care. This hand is benevolent by comparison
I understand. You're saying we should worship the hand. All hail the Hand! For the Hand is benevolent!
May the hand be with you brother
Brother, May you pull thy finger in peace.
lo how he punisheth the wicked who by thought or action hath kindled the wrath of the eternal judge. The sins of man unknown to his brother shall be sown again into the earth. By his hand we are raised and so to by the hand my we fall
I'd imagine the hand's interaction would tell people a lot too.
like, if it just flicked your head off your shoulders, or grabbed you by the foot and took you 400 feet up and dropped you, or whether it splatted you like a fly...
The Divination of Hanns from the book of Gif...
jackass hand of god amen
We absolutely care. I know we care because my car insurance rates are going up again
The Hand is still the safest way to not be squished ... statistically speaking.
I mean the average person doesn't even see 30,000 days in their lifetime. At the rate of one a day, lightning is more of a threat to people - https://www.neuralword.com/en/education-history-science-general-culture-society/science-nature/how-many-people-are-striked-by-lightning-annually-around-the-world.
Even if the hand existed, the odds of you even knowing someone who died by it are really slim.
If it's been with us all through history, I guess the further back you go, the more likely it is that you will have seen someone be crushed by the hand. And global travel? That's the foundation for a persistent global mythology that'd probably dominate our storytelling for a while. I don't know what all happens between then and the point where we have satellites that track the hand all the time, but I bet there's potential for a novel. Or an anime. Or at least a comic.
I would have been a bigger deal 10 thousand years ago, but after agriculture definently not
How early did the hand get started on the human crushing? 1/day is a lot bigger chunk of the population back in caveman times.
I vote for the hand
There would be a lot of ideas about why different people get squished. We wouldn't know it was random definitively. And because it looks like a human adjacent hand, probably a lot of speculation about God punishing people for being bad.
This reminded me of The Leftovers
Some say it is the ghost of Jack Horner's hand punishing bad cooks.
People would soon block it out, as they do with other things out of their control. They’d mourn their dead, there’d be poems and ballads and darkly ironic stories about those squashed by the Hand, and figures of speech alluding to this, but people wouldn’t fret about it. And if it kills 365 people a year around the world, that is a fairly low death toll, so it would be classified with improbable but spectacular threats like sharks or volcanoes, rather than car accidents or heart disease.
It was probably their own fault they got smooshed by The Hand, anyway. Obviously, they did heinous things no one knows about or The Hand wouldn't have chosen them for smooshing.
All Hail The Hand!
We appease The Hand with our thoughts and prayers, that we might live within it's palm and be lifted up to the heavens!
Live Handedly And Thou Salt Receive The Eternal Thumbs Up!
People will also block out things that ARE in their control, if culture tells them to.
I already kicked that guy's ass in super smash bros
Yeh seems like even a plumber could probably handle it
A lot more people living underground and a lot more snake oil. Probably a cult or two.
It sounds like The Hand is inevitable, so you'd just be dooming everyone else in your tunnel/bunker/whatever when it collapses. If anything, I'd argue we'd spread out a bit more to avoid collateral damage.
You think you understand the will of The Hand!? HOLY WAR.
This heathen dares to suggest that The Hand causes collateral damage!?! The Order Of The Deliberate And Benevolent Hand finds this extremely offensive!
The Most Pointiness From Above only Squishes those who deserve to be Squished!
If you live in China or India, hand sightings only make the news if it lands on someone nearby. In Europe and the US, the hand heading your way means a few minutes on the news presenting the mathematical models predicting where it will land based on trajectory, and something like "John Johnson, a 34-year old Liverpool resident, was a victim of the inexorable hand yesterday. He will be missed." For the likes of Iceland or New Zealand, the hand heading your way means a full day of tension and lots of wills being updated.
TBH, would probably be a lot less violent as people put faith in THE HAND to bestow god's judgement rather than all the crazy shit the Abrahamic religions did. Religions tended to be mutually exclusive in history.
You cant argue with the hand its there man you can watch it dispense "justice" on those who failed to follow the hands commandments
So sayeth he on that day in December "if thou disagree with thee, thou must talk to the hand".
And then the religious leaders will make fake commandments that lets them get their way and use the hand as an undeniable truth.
Black and White was such a fun game.
If any game needed to be revived that's one of them.
It's weird that this and populous just died out. IMHO they could have just kept going like so many other sims did.
An ACTUAL use for an ai model, too, imo.
Not to make the game but for the creature. Maybe the villagers behaviour too. You could have the villagers talk to each other so they seem real, and have the creature learn as you interact with it.
The best part is that since there are ZERO stakes here it doesn't matter if the thing hallucinates and starts doing insane shit, in fact, it could be preferable this way.
All the artists and designers and coders would still have jobs building the game, it would just be built around the absolute fucking abomination most people would end up nurturing.
huh that looks like a fun game
A significant concern 80k years ago (though with lack of communication, few would know that the disembodied hand represented), not even a consideration now. 1 person dies from The Hand in the world each day? More people die of aneurysms each day, I would imagine, and it's effectively the same thing.
Also, does it stop following a given person if they escape it by the end of the day? If you could hop in a car and just drive until the day is over to escape it, it would be more of a "hey, watch out for the hand" kind of thing. But it would be so rare I don't even think it would be on anybody's mind.
But the post states it’s always slightly faster than you, so if you get in a car it would presumably still be able to overtake you.
The question of the hour is what happens if you break the sound barrier. Can the hand do this as well?
Pushing to the logical extreme, what happens when you approach light speed?
So it's rubber band AI logic? Eh, just speed up slowly, and make sharp turns.
Whenever someone dies by crushing, detectives have to verify if the hand was spotted elsewhere at the time.
Person freaking out as Columbo gradually unravels their perfect copycat Hand murder
Tech bros trying to harness it's energy and sell hand crushing predictions
Rich people would commission special suits to withstand the crushing.
There would be attempts to shoot it down.
Does it only target adults? Imagine the hand crushing your kid
There are many questions we have about THE HAND.
So just the game Black & White from 2001?
In my experience, I would try to perform a miracle gesture, but instead I would accidentally grab a person and throw them across the map.
So a lot like that, yeah
Even one death per second wouldn't be enough to overpower humanity's population growth rate. One per day would just be an urban legend.
Shouldn't appear too early though.
There were very few people at one (distant) point
POV you're an ant in our actual reality
No one left alive at one point:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-ancestors-nearly-went-extinct-900-000-years-ago/
A lot more inside time? We probably be at least 20years ahead of where we are now with video games. With a more common enemy we might be less likely to squabble so much with one another. Religion would probably be a little more standardized as well.
Probably a net positive really.
Better than cancer I guess
Just find the person whos casting bigbys hand, and give em a few love taps until they lose concentration. Problem solved.
Well this is just the last boss in super smash bros., and yes its a huge asshole.
I would prefer a Monty Python style foot. Complete with the raspberry sound effect. More entertainment value.
not much change, but every city would have a circular section that rotates at slightly faster than human speed where all the rich people live.
I mean, good idea but terminal execution. The hand just has to move opposite to the rotation or even just move to where you're going to be.
It's always slightly faster than you being anyone?
Original post not precise enough to tell.
The Visible Hand
I can tell you one thing, Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy would never have gotten off the ground.
Since it's a death at a constant rate with threat of increase. It's also random and not preventable. So I think we would just accept it as another risk we live with but don't think about.
In terms of humanity's progress. Most advances happened through incremental progress and most historical figures could be replaced with similar people from their family of political party that would have yielded similar results. There probably a few people that genuinely couldn't be replaced, but the chance of them being fingered seems like a statical anomaly.
Socially it could be quite a change. A magic hand could easily become a piece of worship and establish a cult. The idea of it being a human hand would give the impression that humans are the default life form which would add more resistance to animal rights. The biggest one is the race of the hand... Which, given human history, would definitely have been used to justify some horrific actions.
Insurance companies would love this.
anyone remember that flash game pillage the village?
Anyone remember Black & White