10個瘋狂的假設場景 第二部分(上)

As we said in our original list, the world is a strange and mysterious place where anything can happen. These are 10 more crazy "what if" situations about everyday life, and even alternate history scenarios.

正如我們之前所說，我們這個神祕奇異的世界一切皆有可能。這裏列舉了10項與日常生活有關的更加瘋狂的“假設”，甚至會改變歷史進程。

Happened if We Evolved Alongside a Competitive Species?

10.如果我們進化歷程中存在另一種競爭物種會怎樣？

One thing that really helped humans become the dominant species on Earth is that we became technologically advanced and no other species did. This raises the alternate history question: what would have happened if another species, say chimpanzees, became technologically advanced alongside us?

人類之所以能成爲地球的主宰，是因爲沒有別的物種能達到和我們一樣先進的科技。這就產生了一個改變歷史的問題：如果存在另一個物種，比如黑猩猩，和我們一同進化，各自都擁有先進的科技，會發生什麼事呢？

It really shouldn't be a big surprise, but we would be constantly at war with them. Humans have been going to war with each other over resources, ideologies, and nationalities for thousands of years, so why would we treat a completely different species any better?

不出意外的話，應該是兩個種族之間曠日持久的戰爭吧。人類自身都會因爲資源、理念和種族鬥爭數千年，對待完全不同的物種，態度怎麼可能會友善？

William Harcourt-Smith, a paleoanthropologist at the American Museum of Natural History, says that perhaps, after tens of thousands of years of war, we might be able to find peace if we settled in different geographical areas and used different resources, like humans focused on animal husbandry and lived inland, while "The Others" fished and lived on the coasts.

美國自然史博物館的古人類學者，威廉·哈克史密斯認爲，在經歷幾萬年的戰爭後，如果我們商定分住在不同的地域，使用不同的資源，比如人類專注務農住在內地，“其他的”則定居海邊捕魚，這樣也許能走上和平之路。

Harcourt-Smith points out that monkeys living in the same tree usually ignore each other unless they are fighting for resources and humans act in a very similar way.

哈克史密斯指出一棵樹上的猴子通常情況下忽視對方的存在，一旦有資源之分，就會產生鬥爭，這和人類的行爲是非常相似的。

Happened if a Woman Took Viagra?

9.女性吃偉哥會怎樣？

On Viagra's official website, it clearly states that women should not take Viagra, which is a brand name version of the drug sildenafil. That being said, there have been a few studies on the effects of sildenafil on women.

偉哥的官網上明確指出女性不應該服用偉哥（西地那非的商品名），他們做過西地那非對女性產生效果的研究。

One study found that it works in a similar way that it does in men. In a study that was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers gave half a group of women who were taking the antidepressant medication serotonin reuptake inhibitors (which are known to cause a low libido) sugar pills. The other half were given sildenafil.

其中一項研究表明偉哥在女性身上會產生和男性相似的效果。發表在《美國醫學協會》上的一項研究說，研究人員將在服用抗抑鬱血清素再回收抑制劑（衆所周知會引起性慾低下）的一組女性分爲兩半，一半服用糖丸，一半服用偉哥。

They found that the women who took sildenafil had better orgasms, but it didn't do anything to their sex drive. It should also be noted that the study was funded by Pfizer, who happens to be the manufacturer of Viagra.

他們發現服用偉哥的女性有更好的高潮體驗，但對她們的性慾沒有什麼影響。值得注意的是這項研究由偉哥的生產企業——輝瑞公司資助。

Also, sildenafil does more than just help men with erectile dysfunction. It is also used to treat a form of high blood pressure called pulmonary arterial hypertension in both men and women, so technically some women already use Viagra.

還有，西地那非不僅僅用於緩解男性勃起功能障礙，還用於治療肺動脈高壓，不分男女。所以嚴格地說，一些女性本來就已經在服用偉哥了。

For several years, many pharmaceutical companies have tried to develop a female equivalent to Viagra, but to no avail. And if Pfizer knew, or even thought that it worked in females, extensive testing would have been conducted and it'd be available to be sold.

多年來，許多製藥公司都在研發對女性產生相似作用的類似偉哥的產品，但收效甚微。如果輝瑞知道，哪怕是有偉哥也能對女性起作用這種想法，早就擴大測試人羣進入市場銷售了。

Would Happen if a Man Took Birth Control?

8.如果男性服用避孕藥會怎樣？

This one is a bit more difficult to answer because there are dozens of birth control pills that act differently from one another, because they contain different levels of the synthetic hormones estrogen and/or progestin.

這個問題有點難回答，因爲避孕藥的種類很多，而且不同的藥含有的人造雌激素和/或孕激素的水平不一樣，所以作用的方式也各有不同。

If the pills have high levels of estrogen, it can lead to changes in the male body over a long period of time. Some changes include a lower sex drive, having problems getting and maintaining an erection, lower sperm count, and shrunken testicles.

如果避孕藥含有高濃度的雌激素，男性長期服用的話就會身體上會產生一些改變。比如降低性慾，維持勃起障礙，精子數減少及睾丸縮小。

It also leads to muscle loss and may make the bones weaker. Facial and body hair may become thinner as well. It's also possible that it could lead to mood changes, like a more mild temperament.

還會引起肌肉萎縮和骨質疏鬆，面部及身體毛髮稀疏。還可能會造成性格改變，脾氣會變得更加溫和。

Of course, that is over a long period of time. If a male accidentally takes a few, he won't feel its effects.

當然，這是長期服用的結果，要是男性不小心服用了一些，他並不會感到有什麼影響。

Would Happen if the Internet Shut Down for a Day?

7.要是世界斷網一天會怎樣？

It's a beautiful morning, you're lying in bed and you reach for your smart device to see what's going in the world. That's when you notice that your internet isn't working. You check with your neighbors and you find out the internet is down for everyone. It turns out there was a solar storm that knocked the entire internet offline around the globe.

新的一天，美好的早晨，你在牀上伸手去拿手機，看看世界又有什麼新鮮事，然後你就發現網絡無連接。你趕緊去查看鄰居們的情況，結果大家都斷網了。原來是因爲太陽風暴導致全球互聯網下線。

What should you expect if this were to happen in real life?

如果這在現實中出現，會有什麼結果？

Armageddon! Break into your neighbor's house, crack their heads open and feast on the goo inside because the downfall of humanity has begun!

世界末日了！人性的隕落拉開了帷幕，我們要闖進鄰居的家，砸開他們的腦袋，吃掉他們的內臟！

Actually, don't worry, it won't be that bad.

其實吧，不要擔心，不會這麼糟糕的。

First off, getting everyone back online will be every internet service provider's top priority, so the internet should not be down for very long.

首先，讓大家重新上線肯定是每個網絡供應商的頭等要事，所以，斷網的時間應該不會太長。

If the outage lasts for a few days, the economy may not even be too severely impacted. People will continue on doing the things they normally would that don't involve the internet. In fact, some companies may benefit from the internet outage, as it will give them a chance to get caught up on tasks they have been postponing because they spent time goofing off online.

如果連續斷網好幾天，經濟也不會受到太過嚴重的影響。人們會繼續做平常不需要網時該做的事。事實上，一些公司還可能從斷網中獲得好處，對於經常在網上浪費時間的公司來說，這是一個趕進度的機會。

Yes, online giants like Facebook and Google will be hard hit, but what is everyone going to do as soon as the internet comes back online? They'll probably have more visitors in those first few hours after the internet comes back online than they do in a week.

確實，像臉書和谷歌這樣的網絡巨頭肯定會遭到重創，但網絡一旦恢復，大家第一時間會做什麼呢？平時臉書和谷歌一週的瀏覽量恐怕還不及網絡恢復正常後的幾個小時。

Scott Borg, who works at the non-profit organization United States Cyber Consequences Unit, compares a short term internet outage to the economic depression during a long weekend, and the world's economy is set up to handle the occasional long weekend.

在非營利性組織——美國網際網絡影響部門工作的斯科特·博格，將短期斷網比作週末低迷的經濟，而世界大經濟則可以應對這種小小的低潮。

Overall, it would essentially be like one big snow day… albeit a very, very boring snow day.

總之，世界斷網就好像大雪天…雖然是個非常，非常無聊的大雪天。

Would Have Happened if Neanderthals Didn't Go Extinct?

6.如果穴居人沒有絕跡會怎樣？

Neanderthals and humans started to branch off from a common ancestor 700,000 years ago and completely split apart about 300,000 years ago. For reasons unknown, they went extinct about 42,000 to 30,000 years ago.

穴居人和人類有着共同的祖先，但是從700,000年前開始出現分支，然後在300,000年前徹底分道揚鑣。原因未明，他們於42,000到30,000年前就絕跡了。

But what if they didn't? Would they have been a competitive species, or would we have lived alongside them like in the Geico commercials?

但如果他們沒有絕跡呢？他們會成爲人類的競爭物種嗎？或者我們會像蓋寇廣告裏那樣共同生存下去？

Paleoanthropologist Will Harcourt-Smith says that unless humans and Neanderthals actively kept themselves separate from each other, the Neanderthals probably would have been assimilated. The problem the Neanderthals had was that their population was much smaller than the human population. Evidence to back up his theory is DNA tests show that humans and Neanderthals did interbreed. If you were born outside of Africa, there is a good chance that 1.5 to 2.1 percent of your DNA comes from Neanderthals.

古人類學者，威廉·哈克史密斯認爲，除非人類和穴居人之間有意分隔開來，否則穴居人會被人類同化。穴居人的劣勢在於數量比人類少得多。哈克史密斯的理論是有證據支撐的，DNA檢測表明人類和穴居人之間有通婚繁衍的跡象。如果你在非洲之外的地方出生，那你1.5-2.1%的基因很有可能來自穴居人。

If the Neanderthals weren't killed off because of some other mitigating factors, like disease or weather change, perhaps more Neanderthal DNA would have been passed on to modern humans and this could have led to more prevalent Neanderthal traits in humans.

如果穴居人沒有因爲疾病或氣候變化等因素滅絕，也許更多地穴居人DNA會更多地傳到現代人類這裏，人類將展現出更多地穴居人特點。