Poll: Which Would You Rather See In The Future?

[theboombody]

I've heard that the major question of our age is this: "Does life exist on other planets?" And it certainly is a question that makes one curious about its answer. So a huge portion of our efforts as we progress into the future has been spent on the exploration of space. And I definitely would appreciate a future filled with more space exploration. Somehow though, my vision of the future as a kid wasn't that a sky-high divorce rate be maintained.

So I found myself thinking, well geez, I think my vision of a brighter future would be that the divorce rate lowers first, and then we can start living in space and stuff. But I knew not everyone would agree with me, so I thought I'd see the results of a fair poll.

Of course I would want the divorce rate to lower by mutual consent, not because the man or the woman holds a dominant position in the relationship and frightens them into staying.

 

[Jamash]

I'm not too bothered about space insects, but if the divorce rate dropping to 5% is a symptom of a greater level of tolerance, peace and understanding between people, then I'm all for that.

On the other hand, in the divorce rate dropping to 5% is merely a product of statistical jiggery pokery and bureaucratic law enforcement that makes it harder for people to be granted a legal divorce except under very extreme circumstances, like it was in Medieval times, resulting in more people being trapped in loveless and destructive legal arrangements, then I suppose I'd have to support that space insects that I don't really care about.

 

[Asita]

Broken options.

Proof of insect life on another planet == Life on other planets. Very exciting find, very little wiggle room in interpretation.

Divorce rate plummet == More marriages are happy and don't seek divorce || Legal process for acquiring divorce is rendered harder, thus lowering the divorce rate by virtue of impracticality alone || Social stigma makes divorce less socially acceptable leading to less pursuing it for fear of vilification || Less people get married leading to lower divorce rates by virtue of divorce not being required for a break up...lots of wiggle room, with many of the possibilities involving unsavory methods for the desired result.


And seriously, what on earth spawned this choice between two very disparate thoughts? And why specify 'insect life' instead of the more general 'life' as used in the OP?

 

[Esotera]

Proof that life exists on another planet, that's way more interesting than divorce rates. Also divorce rates falling might just be down to conservative attitudes or something like that...and divorce can be a very good thing if two people don't want to be together anymore.

 

[Elfgore]

For me it depends on if the divorce rate is lowered because of regulations, or people just magically got along and it lowered naturally. If the divorce rate is natural, I'll say that. As human happiness outweighs learning of alien life.

Now if the rate is low because of laws and regulations, then aliens. There is nothing worse than being in a loveless relationship. My mother was miserable before she divorced my Dad. When they split up for the final time, she looked so happy. So forcing people to stay in a loveless marriage is messed up. So alien life would be better.

 

[Phasmal]

Question: Why does the divorce rate matter?
What do other people's marriages have to do with you?

Aliens definitely. People bicker and fight and break up and that is kind of a fact of life and isn't going to change. You can't make everyone all magically happy-smiley and want to stay married forever, because people grow and change and often grow apart.

But alien life would be pretty cool.

And yes I am saying that aliens are more plausible to me than a tiny divorce rate.

 

[Aramis Night]

I voted for a low divorce rate. Of course the only way I see that happening is if marriage dies as an institution. Maybe then people can start having more realistic expectations about their relationships that aren't tied up in a "special day".

 

[Radeonx]

Insects. On a very general level, I don't give a shit about John Doe's marriage status, and sometimes, divorce ends up being better than staying together and being unhappy (As I have experienced from a kid's perspective). Insects has groundbreaking impact on a lot of cool science shit, so I'll go with that.

 

[Story]

Broken options.

Proof of insect life on another planet == Life on other planets. Very exciting find, very little wiggle room in interpretation.

Divorce rate plummet == More marriages are happy and don't seek divorce || Legal process for acquiring divorce is rendered harder, thus lowering the divorce rate by virtue of impracticality alone || Social stigma makes divorce less socially acceptable leading to less pursuing it for fear of vilification || Less people get married leading to lower divorce rates by virtue of divorce not being required for a break up...lots of wiggle room, with many of the possibilities involving unsavory methods for the desired result.


And seriously, what on earth spawned this choice between two very disparate thoughts? And why specify 'insect life' instead of the more general 'life' as used in the OP?

All of this. ^

Honestly OP these poll choices seemed so unrelated to each other that I actually laughed for about a minute.
Obviously I choose life on other planets because the 2nd choice could have either good or bad implications as pointed out by Asita there. Just because divorce rates are down doesn't mean citizens will have a brighter future, not necessarily.

 

[Autumnflame]

need to fix our own problems before we go looking for new ones out in the cosmos

 

[JoJo]

Question: Why does the divorce rate matter?
What do other people's marriages have to do with you?

Maybe it's nothing to us who childless adults are married to (or not), but plenty of divorces break up families with children and that really is a tragedy, even if it's often a better solution than the adults involved staying in an unhappy relationship. No-one's saying we should force people to stay married but it'd be a worthwhile goal for more parents to want to stay married and give a secure home for their kids until they're grown up.

That said, discovering alien life would be the scientific highlight of my life and so I really can't choose between the two! I wouldn't even mind if they're insect-like, bugs are cool

 

[Story]

And seriously, what on earth spawned this choice between two very disparate thoughts?

Honestly OP these poll choices seemed so unrelated to each other that I actually laughed for about a minute.

Which would you rather see: a new theboombody poll or the announcement of the next Doritos Locos taco flavor?

Lol Okay you got me. xD
I'm all giggly now, I'll never get this stats homework done.

 

[Dimitriov]

WHY INSECTS?!

I can't stand them on THIS planet. The last thing I want to learn is that they are on other planets as well. Seriously, if there are insects on other planets I can only hope to be cryogenically preserved until such time as the technology exists for me to fly around destroying any and all solar systems that contain insects.


And you better believe that includes this one!


...I voted for the divorce rate thing.

 

[FPLOON]

The divorce rate of alien insects decreasing by [more than] 5%... Seriously, we're saying our humanity's divorce rates are bad, when clearly it's the alien insects that have it the worse in this kind of situation...

Say what you will about me... But, like hell should alien insects suffer more for our noting of how divorces play out...

(This is what happens when multiple planets try to work together around the same laws of, what we call, "life"...)

OT: Neither... Because I'm more open-minded to more than just two vastly different ideals of the future...

Plus, those two ideals, alone, I'm not "too" familiar with to begin with...

 

[suitepee7]

who the hell chose divorce rate dropping? that could be a symptom of a huge number of things. perhaps it drops because only 1% of the worlds population now gets married. maybe only royalty are allowed to get married. what if getting divorced is only legal in 1 country in the world? the meaning of marriage changes over time and cultures, life on other planets does not. somehow the divorce rate is now pretty insignificant.

i'm gonna go with science, not social trends

 

[nvzboy]

While having lower divorce rates is a good thing, finding alien life on another planet would really be a turning point in how we percieve our world. We would no longer be the only living beings out there and it opens up the gate to the real possibility of finding even sentient life. It could cause a mindset to develop where the earth works together as a whole... Or maybe I've just played way too much XCOM.

 

[BanicRhys]

I'll take the lowered divorce rate assuming it's due to people being happier in their relationships (which seems to be the spirit of the question) because:

need to fix our own problems before we go looking for new ones out in the cosmos