Questions tagged [alternate-history]
For questions that ask what might have happened if history had taken a different path.
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What would the population trends be, in a world where all the humans and infrastructure vanished on the mainland (leaving the islands to survive) [closed]
Basically, I'm in a collaborative project where all of humanity and human-built structures disappear on the mainland continents; and the islands have to fend for themselves in this new world. This ...
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What mode of transport is ideal for the cold post-apocalypse?
The first world war, thought to be the "War to end all wars" in our timeline, really was the end in mine.
Eldritch weapons of mass destruction set off a cataclysmic end-times scenario that ...
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What is the lowest feasible depth for lightly-armed military submarines designed around the 1950s-60s?
TL;DR: What is the lowest feasible depth, with some wiggle room, that a smaller, lightly-armed military submarine designed around the 1950s-60s would be capable of reaching? Are there examples of such ...
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Would a manned Mars landing be possible with Apollo-era technology?
I am creating an alternate history of the Space Race. Essentially the Point of Divergence from a Space Race perspective would be the Soviet moonshot efforts not failing spectacularly. Therefore they ...
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Long term viability of a human population with super healing that causes female to male sequential hermaphrotism [closed]
This question starts with a conversation I had with friends about the implications of super healing ability of Marvel comics characters like Wolverine, Deadpool, Hulk, and more. How would a person ...
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Would a flipped Northern Hemisphere still have huge deserts in the Sahara and Siberia?
I am making alternate history timelines where Earth has radically different geographies. I noticed one day that a huge chunk of Earth's land area is near the Arctic Circle. Canada, Siberia, Alaska, ...
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Which invention from the last fifty years could have the biggest impact on history? [closed]
Similar to the Three Body Problem, humanity has learned it will soon be attacked by an advanced alien civilization. Humanity as it currently stands does not have the technology to withstand them. They ...
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How many people can China geographically support?
I'm writing an Alternate History Timeline. In that timeline, the Self-Strengthening Movement implemented by the Qing Dynasty actually works. As a result, the Qing Dynasty is able to modernize, fight ...
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Would Earlier Knowledge of Rubber Vulcanization have been a Game Changer?
I was working on an alternate history world where the Americas are not heavily colonized and I became aware of how some people in the Yucatan were vulcanizing rubber long before Goodyear. Assuming ...
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How would a CIA program to investigate the truth of religion work? [closed]
I'm developing a story in which the CIA has investigated the truth of religion. In real life, during the Cold War the CIA investigated things like aliens, psychic powers, etc. That’s because if ...
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Earliest possible time for hydrothermal carbonization
Assuming that some lucky (and very wealthy) alchemist was on the right track, what is the earliest time that the hydrothermal carbonization process can be both discovered and implemented on a large ...
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How early can the concept of "evolution" come to be? Can it come earlier than religions? [closed]
To this day, some "primitive" tribes still don't have any concept of god or religion. When presented with the idea of a divine being, they will call you a liar or a fool the moment you say &...
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Steampunk-inspired constructed world tips? [closed]
Nothing too complicated but what are some tips and tricks to consider when creating a steampunk-inspired conworld and the like?
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Is this diesel gun concept feasible?
Inspired by this question here regarding the possibility of gasoline firearms.
On a world that is equivalent to the Late Victorian Period technologically where smokeless or even black powder was not ...
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If you had a fusion reactor the size of a suitcase, would it be possible to power a car with it via a steam turbine with 1950's level technology?
The specifics of the reactor are intentionally vague. It would be a form of lattice-confinement, produce very little radiation, and be scaled up or down very easily. I'm working on a Fallout-like ...
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