Whats the point of What ifs?

Wyboy26

Hi group,

May seem like a strange topic, but why after so many people, who come up with a idea for a alternative timeline get criticized by people saying that it would happen. I always thought that is the point of alternative history, stranger things have happened in history. If we are not open to ideas then why are you on this site?

If someone writes a time line about, say for example no Russian Civil war, and has taken time to do all the research, why do people reply that is was bound to happen because of such and such a reason?

I just thing it is strange that a interest I enjoy is changed by people who should be discussing stuff on a historical site and not this one.

If I did a idea of the BEF landing in Serbia, which might of happened, who’s do say it wouldn’t because of such and such reason, we should be talking about the consequences of such a action

Remember it is What if, not what happened for such a reason.


Simon
 

hammo1j

Donor
Hey, wyboy26 are you going round all the forums.

Football: Hey what's the point of putting the ball in the back of the net. It just ends up back at the centre circle again.

Gang Bangers: Hey what's the point of all these orgies: you just end up feeling horny again the next day.

Formula One: Hey so what if one guy gets round the track a little faster...

Its all a bit CONTRAVERSIAL what's the point of AH on an AH forum.

Answer we're all a bit bored but nuclear weapons mean we can't have a decent war these days. So we have to rehash...
 

Earling

If there is no logical how? to the what if? then it is difficult to determine logical concequences.
 

Weapon M

Some, not all, of it might be a "I know more than you about subject XXXX, and to demonstrate my vastly superior mind, I will crush your unthinking speculation for the mere drivel that it is. Everyone will then see how much truly, madly, and deeply smarter than you that I am. I will feel superior and important. Ha!"
 

DominusNovus

Then, there are plenty of implausible ideas out there. "What if Alexander/Caesar/Napoleon/Hitler lives longer and conquers everyone" comes to mind.

Yeah, there are plenty of alternatives, but they have to be plausible. You mention a landing in Siberia. Well, what were the reasons for doing it? What were the reasons against doing it? Do the cons outweigh the pros? Often they do. In this situation, most people just wave their hands and say "oh well, they do it anyway," rather than figuring out a way to eliminate the cons. Some of the more veteran posters here can back em up when I say that there have been people who basically say something happens "because they said so" with no logical reason behind it.
 

Flocculencio

Donor
DominusNovus said:
Some of the more veteran posters here can back em up when I say that there have been people who basically say something happens "because they said so" with no logical reason behind it.
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Yeah this does often happen- which is why there's a fiction forum and an ASB forum. I know that a lot of my TL's include things that might not be historically accurate which is why after starting them out here I transfer to the fiction forum. That way when building TL's I don't nbeed to worry if, say, I want the Indians to have paper in 50 BC. In the fiction forum I can just say they stumble on it while here I'd have to show how they might have done so.
 

Weapon M

What if Alexander Caesar Napolean Hitler Jr. lived longer and gave the Indians paper in 50BC? Hmmmm? What if?
 
Chrispi

Chrispi

There are a lot of good reasons for asking "what if..."

What If Albert Einstein never wondered what would happen if light slowed down?

Alternate history is actually a real phenomenon that could be observed in a double-slit experiment with electrons. The most plausible way that a group of particles can yield an interference pattern is if the particles take all possible alternate histories, most of which interfere with each other.

Asking "what if" is also useful in string theory, or whatever they're calling it today. What if the gravitational constant was stronger? How will the development of the universe change?
 

GBW

Weapon M said:
What if Alexander Caesar Napolean Hitler Jr. lived longer and gave the Indians paper in 50BC? Hmmmm? What if?
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The South would win of course!
 

Flocculencio

Donor
Earling said:
If there is no logical how? to the what if? then it is difficult to determine logical concequences.
Click to expand...

Actually this chap has summed up the first, best and often-overlooked rule of the 'Discussion' forum.
 

Othniel

Wendell said:
What if Napoleon had tanks and AK-47's at Waterloo? :rolleyes:
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Commonly known as uptime interference. An ASB start to be sure, but you could make a plausible timeline with no further interuptions.
 
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