Alternate Worlds: in which the lottery is mandatory and the winner is either bankrupted or has all debt cleared

Every day a random identifying number is drawn, and the citizen selected has their wealth neutralized. If they have a positive net worth, the excess is taken and put into the lottery's pool. If they have a negative net worth, the balance is cleared using funds from the pool. In this world, anyone could instantly …

Alternate worlds: in which ghosts are real

Jane dies and finds herself still in the world, but unable to interact with it, or be seen by anyone. Around her are the 107 billion other people who have also died throughout human history. How would ghosts find ways to oppress and abuse each other? They have no money, strength, physical appearance (or do …

Alternate Worlds: in which everyone sleeps at the same time

A genetic switch in our brain sends us into a deep sleep for 8 hours every day at exactly the same time, no matter where on earth you are.  If you are in an area where that 8 hours lines up with all your daylight, then that's just how it is. People tend to move …

Alternate Worlds: in which sleeping you is the real you

When you are asleep, your mind is at its true potential, in full conscious awareness, contemplating higher thoughts and imagining the truth of the universe. While you are 'awake' you stumble through life hardly aware of anything but your immediate surroundings, and your 'sleeping' self has no time for this you, only even thinking about …

Alternate Worlds: in which there is more than one human species

It is mostly accepted that several human species lived together at the same time, long in the past. Eventually all the others were killed/died off and we are left with only homo sapiens. But perhaps, in an alternate world, more than one human species survived to the modern world, living alongside us. Would this world …