Pick from a list of people, alive, historical figures and even fictional characters. Each would have a database of how they'd approach a given situation.
"I've been offered a job that pays more but it's in a different state. What would Leif Erikson do? "
"Leif Erikson would explore this opportunity in a new land."
"What would Socrates do?"
"Socrates would evaluate the outcomes by which would provide the greatest good for yourself, your loved ones and society."
This would require years of data base management so you might put a few fictional characters in there just for fun.
"I'm starting a new company but my supply chain has been interrupted. What would Superman do?"
"Superman would fly around and punch things. He would do so while wearing Spandex for some reason, probably because Spandex clothing was easier for the cartoonist to draw not having folds and creases that would take a lot more time to illustrate. Plus Spandex shows of muscles and form better. Spandex: not the answer to all your problems, just some of them." (Sponsored by Spandex)
ADDITION: The app or website would feature virtual representations of the figures giving their advice on how to handle various situations. So you'd say "Einstein, what's the best toothpaste to use" and he'd say for instance "I like Colgate".-- doctorremulac3, Nov 07 2021 Answer to "What would Scooby Doo?" https://www.youtube...watch?v=lV7evRdBTxk [doctorremulac3, Nov 08 2021] It would be paired with this idea. History_20Taught_20...e_20Who_20Made_20ItVirtual representations of the figure would answer your questions. [doctorremulac3, Nov 08 2021] The sad story of the original Superman. https://en.wikipedi.../wiki/George_ReevesWhat the? [doctorremulac3, Nov 09 2021] Movies then and now https://www.youtube...watch?v=oj8JK6c5x3MVery interesting. He says he's not a movie star, his spandex clad character is. The age of stars is over among other things. [doctorremulac3, Nov 09 2021] Kurzgesagt: The Egg https://www.youtube...watch?v=h6fcK_fRYaI [zen_tom, Nov 10 2021] [8th of 7] would invade the neighbouring state.
[MaxwellBuchanan] wouldn't need the extra money, but would take the job anyway, pocket the salary and despatch the intercalary twin to impersonate him from time to time in the new office, because blackmail, or just as a joke; his new "employer" would be impressed that he kept so busy as to be seldom available.
Don't try these at home, kids.-- pertinax, Nov 07 2021 + It is said that Spartacus and his followers used kitchen utensils to fight their way to where the real weapons were stored. So I will take this hero’s advice and start carrying knives, egg beaters, and a pizza cutter! At least for now, until there are mobile electric plugs, so I can use my blender, toaster and waffle iron as weapons.-- xandram, Nov 07 2021 LOL.
You know, I was just thinking there is great opportunity for humorous answers with this thing.
There's a Bugs Bunny episode where Bugs is running a computer that Daffy Duck is consulting for how to get Bugs Bunny, there's a huge bolder decending on Daffy, her runs to the computer, types "Huge bolder falling on me, what.. should.. I... do?!?" "Bugs types in (as the computer) "Go back and take your medicine." Of course Daffy runs back to the boulder, pops out one of those little clown umbrellas and gets crushed. (In a funny way of course.)
Back when cartoons were actually funny.-- doctorremulac3, Nov 07 2021 "Alexa, what would Nikola Tesla do about the energy crisis? Alexa? Alexa?... jeez I think it's dead."-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Nov 07 2021 ^What would Scooby do?-- AusCan531, Nov 08 2021 Say "Ruh-row" and do that weird thing where he floats in the air while his feet scramble while making that woodblock / cowbell sound. (link)-- doctorremulac3, Nov 08 2021 No no no... he would do the whole running through a building emerging from completely unexpected doors with Shaggy until the perpetrators mask was revealed... and then Daphne and Fred would recap while we all stare at Velma's boobs.
duh...-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Nov 08 2021 //idea is to extend the memes into an app?//
Asking the question is not a new idea. Providing automated answers is, so far as I know. [+]-- pertinax, Nov 08 2021 A diversity of thought often ends up leading to better and more nuanced decisions that those made by a single charismatic individual. Therefore I suggest that this be modified so that it's not asking "What would [person X] do?" but rather "What would a team made up of [X, Y and Z] do?"."Help! My aeroplane is on fire and will surely crash! What would a team made up of the Dalai Lama, Thor Heyerdahl, Frida Khalo and Stalin do?"-- hippo, Nov 08 2021 // A diversity of thought often ends up leading to better and more nuanced decisions //
This reminds me of the Onion advice column "Ask 10 people at once", where the typed answers are just heavy overstrikes, one on top of another.-- 4and20, Nov 08 2021 //My aeroplane is on fire and will surely crash! What would a team made up of the Dalai Lama, Thor Heyerdahl, Frida Khalo and Stalin do?//
The Dalai Lama may take it on the chin (or perhaps not) but the rest would likely curse you roundly for summoning them to a certain death scenario, then (after a bit of fighting for the parachutes (now insufficient with four extra people, cue further recriminations) & questions about where the emergency door release is) you'd all die horribly.-- Skewed, Nov 08 2021 Damn, that was further than I knew.-- pertinax, Nov 08 2021 //What would a team made up of the Dalai Lama, Thor Heyerdahl, Frida Khalo and Stalin do?"//
Isn't that a variation on the kind of joke that has the formula; A priest a rabbi and an immam walk into a cheese shop, only more specifically?
I'm trying to channel Geoff Bridges' "The Dude" as and whenever I can, but that's like just my opinion, man.-- zen_tom, Nov 08 2021 Thought it was pretty clear. The idea is to have an open source social app where people post questions to various figures and experts on those figures weigh in on what that figure would answer. The What Would Jesus Do example is similar but it's just a very old idea that's been digitized. It is not this idea.
So it would actually be a sort of social discussion sight where people would confer with each other about problems and how various famous figures would solve them. Those discussions and up votes of the best answer would create the ongoing searchable data base. Yes, you'd have the occasional smug troll like a1 that would try to wreck the fun, but that's something all social sites have to deal with.
And yes, there would be joke questions like "What would a priest a rabbi and an immam order in a cheese shop?"
I could see this actually helping people deal with real life problems, weigh how different philosophies could be utilized, maybe get through some hard times by seeing various ways strong people would deal with them and get a couple of different approaches to choose from.
I'd add my other idea to have virtual representations of the people actually having the conversation. Let me find that link.-- doctorremulac3, Nov 08 2021 No. "This would require years of data base management." covered that.-- doctorremulac3, Nov 08 2021 Referring to the virtual representations of the historical figures "answering" questions and the example given, somebody would actually research what kind of toothpaste Einstein used and post it. It would be a Wikipedia based info input database. And it could have fun and silly questions as well as critical life philosophies and crisis management options.
I was sort of joking about this idea but I think it might be kind of fun and informative, especially with the addition of the virtual faces actually talking.-- doctorremulac3, Nov 08 2021 //There are plenty of other posts on this site, go troll them//
Nooooo! don't! he might pick one of mine & then I'd be sad, I don't handle trolls very well, hands are too small for their big thick bodies & they tend to slip on the slime :))-- Skewed, Nov 08 2021 I'll step in for you Skewed. Been standing up to bullies my whole life. Got the scars to prove it. (But they do too.)-- doctorremulac3, Nov 08 2021 Keep reading this as What Would Your Horses Do?-- xenzag, Nov 08 2021 That was the original concept. Turns out they'd do the pretty much the same thing whether confronted with ontological or epistemological questions. Walk around, eat oats, take a dump, that sort of thing.-- doctorremulac3, Nov 08 2021 //the anti-hero opinion might be what we really need//
Definitely, all being equal (never is, the writers are biased) the anti-heroes almost always have survival strategies when needed with a higher potential for success than a hero in the same situation.
"Hmm.. the lifeboats overloaded & we're going to sink"
[Pushes an old lady out]
"There, problem solved"-- Skewed, Nov 08 2021 See how interesting the discussions surrounding the group database updating of this thing would get?
There's another category. What would bad guys do? Would bad guys survive in a situation good guys wouldn't?
Now we're getting into the deep philosophical waters here.-- doctorremulac3, Nov 08 2021 //See how interesting the discussions surrounding the group database updating of this thing would get?//
Interesting? perhaps, conducive to the psychological & emotional well being of little old ladies who find themselves in overladen boats after spending time with your app? probably not.-- Skewed, Nov 08 2021 I wonder, if given enough general personality parameters, could you design an AI that behaved roughly like each of these heros and fudged answers of unpublished holes based on that? Like what toothpaste Einstein would use probably isn't available in any material, and it's likely the product doesn't exist anymore anyway.
Throwing them all together into where there's a single group decision seems like an easy LQR optimization problem to solve where you lump an aggregate of their combined personalities and weight factors as necessary. Getting a group of them to behave independently might be tougher.-- RayfordSteele, Nov 08 2021 [Skewed] I believe the usual answer to that one is: It's okay Mr. Lama sir, Stalin just jumped out with my backpack.
Also, I've never quite understood why superman is particularly well muscled. A runner/swimmer's build, sure, but what is he lifting to actually develop muscle? He can shove planets around without breaking a sweat.
As far as the idea, it's heavily pre-heated in SF, ranging from Rulers advising their successors (Heinlein's Glory Road is the earliest I can think of), to various Holmes pastiches using a regenerated Sherlock, to I don't know how many others.-- MechE, Nov 08 2021 //heavily pre-heated in SF//
You forgot all the previous kings, advisors to kings & others heads in jars in Worms by Orson Scott card in your list.
I've always been disappointed he never turned that one into a series, always felt he had a lot of scope for one in that book.
Still time I suppose, he's not dead yet, but I rather think he's stuck a fork in it & moved on.-- Skewed, Nov 08 2021 //Also, I've never quite understood why superman is particularly well muscled. A runner/swimmer's build, sure, but what is he lifting to actually develop muscle? He can shove planets around without breaking a sweat.//
Exactly, and see what happens when he takes a relatively minuscule thing like a locomotive and stops it by pushing it while his feet smash all the railroad ties as he stops it from going over a cliff? He's literally straining with all his might.-- doctorremulac3, Nov 08 2021 Did a search of "How much weight can Superman lift?" Approximately ten trillion pages on the subject.
And no, nobody knows.
And holy shit! Look at the bizarre story of the original Superman actor's death!-- doctorremulac3, Nov 09 2021 //Did a search of "How much weight can Superman lift?" Approximately ten trillion pages on the subject//
Would have thought that one was fairly straightforward to answer even if the writers have never explicitly stated a figure, you just trawl through the back issues & find the heaviest thing he's ever lifted run the figures or do a search to find out how much it weighs & then say "he can lift at least this much, & maybe more".-- Skewed, Nov 09 2021 // There's another category. What would bad guys do? Would bad guys survive in a situation good guys wouldn't?
Now we're getting into the deep philosophical waters here.//
Welcome!We've been waiting for you. There may be some...
...discomfort.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Nov 09 2021 //Would have thought that one was fairly straightforward to answer even if the writers have never explicitly stated a figure//
My thought exactly, but going through the pages looking for a number like "Ten tons" I get pages and pages of rambling on about the subject. It's a number, give it and say where you got it.
Google pops up: "In fact, the comics have put Superman's strength at a point where he's able to lift around 2 billion tons! To put that into perspective, the Empire State Building is only 365,000 tons!" then they don't say where they got that.
So what did he lift that was 2 billion tons? And what was he standing on that could hold 2 billion tons?
Now I know at some point that's like asking how Santa uses reindeer to fly and cover all the houses he needs to without disintegrating due to the friction of having to fly at something like a billion miles per hour but still, if I were a Superman writer I'd give something reasonably plausible.-- doctorremulac3, Nov 09 2021 //if I were a Superman writer I'd give something reasonably plausible//
They already tried reasonably plausible at the beginning, for a given value of reasonable, seasoned only lightly with plausible (aka "leaps tall buildings in single bound" "as fast as (or was it faster than?) a speeding train" etc), but decided they didn't like it & changed it to what we have now, can fly & able to turn back time because he's faster than the speed of light etc.
So you don't remember the original super boy, as he was, originally then [doc]?
.
Oops that was 'leaps tall buildings in a single bound faster than a speeding bullet more powerful than a locomotive' wasn't it, got it a little mixed there, been a long time [doc] :)-- Skewed, Nov 09 2021 I was never a fan of comic superheroes and their tendency to constantly go over the top. Give me someone who has just baaarely perhaps the slightest hint of a power of some kind that isn't the crux of the story. Much more interesting.-- RayfordSteele, Nov 09 2021 //So you don't remember the original super boy, as he was, originally then [doc]?//
I just remember Superman as a boy in the movie. Picked up a car that fell on somebody or something. Was there a Superboy comic as well? That would have been brilliant since comics were mostly sold to boys.
And wasn't there a Superdog as well or am I tripping?
//I was never a fan of comic superheroes and their tendency to constantly go over the top.//
Comics served their purpose as throwaway cheap entertainment for kids back in the day. Their genesis into the backbone of our entertainment industry is disturbing because although there have been a few good ones, super hero movies suck for the most part.
The move from movies with plots like The Godfather to movies featuring what I call "spandex punchers" is to a large extent due to Hollywood wanting to sell to the biggest relatively new entertainment market on Earth, China. 1.5 billion potential customers compared for instance to the US's measly 1/3rd of a billion.
The Godfather with its constant bla bla bla narrative plot isn't going to sell in China, "Spandex Punchers IV, Revenge Of The Heroes In Tights" is. Unimportant simple dialog, simple good vs bad characters, action, punching, lots of flying around, more punching and all in tights that doesn't rely on any cultural links to get across. All cultures understand spandex and punching, so that's what you're gonna get.
There's a reason that The Godfather opens with the line: “I believe in America.” It's because that's what The Godfather is about. It's a movie about America: American politics, American crime, the American dream. Now if you were an investor (and that's who green lights movies) would you want to make that movie or "Captain Spandex - Universal Puncher!" to sell in the biggest market, China?
But don't listen to me, listen to somebody in the industry. See the link from an actor who makes his living as a spandex puncher super hero talking about how all the great movies of the past wouldn't be made now. (This guy's my hero)-- doctorremulac3, Nov 09 2021 I dunno. These days we do get some occasional good series in Netflix and such which have enough of a target market to fill the plot void.-- RayfordSteele, Nov 09 2021 Yea, I'm enjoying Squid Games. Very original, minimal spandex and only sporadic punching.-- doctorremulac3, Nov 09 2021 //spandex punchers// Yeah; I'm hoping (forlornly...) for a plot where the Avengers (or who-ever) have a problem they CAN'T solve by punching or blowing shit up. At least some of them are supposed to be quite intelligent; let them THINK instead of fight for a change!-- neutrinos_shadow, Nov 09 2021 Was it on here that we had ordinaryman? Faster than a stationary bullet, can stop a OO guage train with one hand, can leap over a small dolls house in a single bound, etc.-- pocmloc, Nov 10 2021 That is if he feels like it.
(Sung to the tune of the Spider Man theme)
"Average Man, Average Man. Does the things anybody can.
Starts his day, makes his bed. Makes some toast, out of bread.
Look out! (Or don't.) It's only Average Man."-- doctorremulac3, Nov 10 2021 I'm thinking of calling myself "Low Iron Man!"-- AusCan531, Nov 11 2021 That's a lot of opting out. Maybe more than I'd do unadvised.-- reensure, Nov 11 2021 Pretty sure I saw it on TV in the nineties, if not earlier.-- pertinax, Nov 11 2021 random, halfbakery