r/hypotheticalsituation Sep 24 '24

META [Subreddit Meta announcement] Hello everyone. Some updates for all of you.

52 Upvotes

Hello. As a quick update to all of you, I want to say a few things.

  • The money based question ended with pretty much a tie. We're talking 2 votes in favor of limiting money based posts in some factor. What does this mean?

Well, this means that while we will not be banning money based posts, we will limit individual user ability to post money based posts to 3 times in 1 day. If a user posts more than 3 money based posts in 1 day then we will remove the subsequent post and ban the user for 1 week.

You may believe this is barely a solution, but this is the first step in trying to ensure that everyone is happy. The subreddit's subscriber count has continued to grow on a daily basis, which is also good news.

For the second factor:

  • We have a new rule. No edits to remove loopholes. Once you make a post, you have 2 minutes to make any edits necessary to your post if you spot a glaring issue, otherwise the post remains as it is. If you add an edit to remove a loophole, your post will be removed. Read over your post carefully before you post it. This does not cover edits to clarify posts. Just edits to remove an option for users to use.

As always, you're all free to comment and discuss. I try to reply to every comment in some way or another.

Make sure you familiarize yourself with the rules of the subreddit. This place is for random hypotheticals. Let's not take it super seriously, shall we?


r/hypotheticalsituation Mar 04 '25

META [Meta announcement]Some rule updates and clarifications

10 Upvotes

Hi everyone. Over the last few months we've seen an increase in politically-charged posts and comments on the sub, much like the rest of reddit. We do not want this sub to devolve into real-world political discussions and debate. So I'd like to share one rule update, and a couple of rule clarifications with the sub.

Rule 11 has been added that bans rants or soapboxing. This rule explicitly calls out politics and complaints about the sub itself, but is not limited to those topics.

Hypotheticals that deal with politics are not completely banned. Those that are intended for honest discussion are fine. But the posts that are just disguised rants or soapboxing will be removed. Same with comments. We've seen a similar issue with people complaining about the sub, usually regarding money-based posts. If you'd like to have an honest discussion about those topics you can, using the META flair on your post, but the low-effort "complaint" posts will be removed.

I'd also like to remind people about a couple other things.

Rule 8 bans editing the OP to remove loopholes. If you realize that you left a loophole in your post and aren't happy with it you can delete and re-post. The rule does not ban all edits of the OP. Edits to clarify something or respond to questions in the comments are fine.

I'd also like to remind people that there is a sitewide rule against calls for violence. Comments or posts suggesting violent action, even hypothetically, about specifically named people violate that rule and will be removed with posters receiving a ban.

Edit: I decided to take advice from /u/Freshly-stabbed and implemented a minimum account age and minimum karma for the sub. Both are set pretty low, but it should help weed out some of the spam we get. If anyone is running into issues with automod please let the mods know.


r/hypotheticalsituation 16h ago

You have accidentally washed a 2 3/4" diameter catfood can down your 3" diameter sink/waste disposal...

746 Upvotes

You were rinsing the empty catfood can so it wouldn't stink in your kitchen garbage.

This has worked fine for years, but today, the water washed the 2 3/4" can down your 3" drain.

You cannot get your hand in there. Tongs do not work either because of the narrow space between the can and the drain rim. The disposal will break if you try to grind up the can. You do not want to pay for a plumber and your handyman skills are ass.

What do you do to fix it before your wife comes home in 3 hours and kicks your ass?

Oh yeah, if you get the can out in time, a wizard appears and gives you 47 million dollars.


r/hypotheticalsituation 8h ago

You can have an extra $5000 per month for life, tax free, but every time you meet someone new, you must ask them to marry you.

134 Upvotes

By "meet," I mean a situation where it is typical to exchange names, or when someone introduces you.

Example: Your brother says: "This is my friend, Bob."

You: Shakes hands "Nice to meet you Bob. Will you marry me?"

Yeah 😂

You cannot explain it in any way other than a desire to marry the person.

You only get ten free passes in your life to NOT do it before you lose the pension, and if they say yes and are serious, you give up $1000 per month of the pension to get out of it.

Do you accept the deal?

Only exception, you dont have to say it if the person is under 18, or if you can't be sure of it.


r/hypotheticalsituation 55m ago

In the future, the government announces that in 35 years an asteroid will hit the Earth and destroy all life on the surface, and the spacecraft available for humans to fly to outer space in search of a new home can only accommodate 5% of the population.

• Upvotes

However, the global government has proposed a choice to the people: the capacity of the spacecraft is limited, and 95% of the population will inevitably die in 35 years. So,You can choose to leave the earth, but you can also choose to stay on the earth.

Those who stay on the earth will be fully taken care of by the government. All food, clothing, housing and transportation will no longer require money. You can get most things you want. Robots will take care of all daily life.

Since this society will only exist for 35 years, there is no need to worry about resource limit problems. In other words, those who stay on the earth will live in a Utopia that can only last for 35 years.

Your choice is to stay on the earth or fly into the universe?


r/hypotheticalsituation 1h ago

Money A genie appears and says they can give you between One thousand and One hundred Billion dollars.

• Upvotes

However it comes with a catch... the genie says that whenever you decide on an amount the genie will give you a task you HAVE to complete or else you die. The more money you decide to take the worse it will be, the only other information they will give you is that the task will only require (at most) 50% of the money received and that you will not be able to be put in any LEGAL trouble (so society could hate you but you couldn't be arrested).

They refuse to give any examples for how bad the tasks could be or how fast it scales. If you really wanted to you could ditch the genie and not take any money at all, what do you do?


r/hypotheticalsituation 16h ago

You get $500 billion dollars BUT

212 Upvotes

You get to live in a country of my choice

Can only travel to 2 other countries of my choice (You're wanted anywhere else in the world and will be killed at first sight by their military/police/population forces 100% of the time, meaning you cant land, step on those unsafe zones EVER, same for other countries sea places)

Can stay for as long as you want in those 2 other countries

Can bring whoever/as many people as you want along with you but they are subjected to same rules as you for the rest of their lives, same for their offspring, same for all next future generations, all the rules listed here applies to them

If you try to cheat your way out all your wealth immediately disappears! But you free yourself and whoever came along with you from all these constraints

Can pass down your wealth to whoever you want

Do you take the deal or not?


r/hypotheticalsituation 6h ago

Your girlfriend becomes a goddess

17 Upvotes

No idea how it happened but she's a goddess now. Her list of responsibilities have just increased 1,000 fold. She has very little free time and you two barely see each other.

But she doesn't want to break up. The biggest benefit of dating her now is pretty much being able to say that your girlfriend is a goddess. She's busy even on holidays.

Would you break up with her?

*What do you do?*


r/hypotheticalsituation 21h ago

10 million dollars for every .01 multiple you add to speed up time. So 30 million dollars means life is now 1.03 times faster forever.

218 Upvotes

r/hypotheticalsituation 7h ago

How would you react if you went outside and saw a cat wedding taking place in your yard?

17 Upvotes

You see two cats facing each other, meowing at each other, as if they are making their vows.

A third cat is standing there, meowing, as if it's officiating, and the officiant cat has black and white fur as if it's wearing a tuxedo.

And about 20 neighborhood cats, are sitting there watching. The wedding guests.

Lol how would you react?


r/hypotheticalsituation 1d ago

$1000/week, but everytime you hear any of the Top 5 songs on Spotify that week, you sob hysterically.

458 Upvotes

Lol like you’re walking around the mall and Beyonce’s new song comes on and you’re just crying on the floor for an whole 3 minutes


r/hypotheticalsituation 5h ago

Money It all starts with the flip of a coin. You’re given $1 million. But from this moment on, every single decision you make must be made by the flip of a coin. Would you take the money and leave your life to chance?

9 Upvotes

Heads or tails. Gamble of a lifetime.

Want to quit your job? Flip.
Marry the love of your life? Flip.
Take a flight, invest money, move cities? flip.
Even life-or-death choices… like standing at the edge of a cliff, wondering whether to jump , you have to let the coin decide.

You can’t cheat, redo, or ignore the result.
This is your life now: guided entirely by chance.

Would you take the money and surrender your free will to fate? Or walk away and keep control?


r/hypotheticalsituation 22h ago

You are suddenly Scrooge McDuck wealthy but you can only keep the money by hiring fictional people to do your cleaning, driving, cooking etc. With that in mind, who do you hire first?

176 Upvotes

r/hypotheticalsituation 8h ago

Would you rather get $200,000 when you turn 65, or never have to scratch an itch again?

10 Upvotes

Would you rather get $200,000 when you turn 65, or never have to scratch an itch again?


r/hypotheticalsituation 2h ago

Imagine this situation: some kind of disaster happens and almost all of humanity dies, leaving 25 children and you as the only surviving adult, what would you do to survive?

4 Upvotes

r/hypotheticalsituation 28m ago

The United States has decided that they will make the continental 48 states all follow the central time zone. What happens as a result?

• Upvotes

Just as the title states what would be the outcome of the continental us all merging into one time zone? (Central). What would be some potential positive and negative effects?


r/hypotheticalsituation 22h ago

$1 million a year to flaunt it to the poor

105 Upvotes

You're approached by a group of eccentric billionaires who want to hire you as a "wealth ambassador" for the cool salary of $1 million USD annually.

For your "job" you will spend one week out of every month being dispatched to poor areas of the world with the goal of showing the people there how great it is to be rich. You'll be doing things like going door to door, hosting an information booth at a park, doing presentations at community gathering places and the like. You'll show pictures and share stories of how great it is to be wealthy and do your best to convince them it's important that wealthy people be allowed to exist and continue to be wealthy.

All of this will be done with a highly trained security detail to ensure your safety at all times. Arrangements will have been made with the appropriate government entities to ensure all activities are above board and you'll not face any legal repercussions.

During your working time, you must make an honest effort to sound convincing and earnest in your desire to convince your audience how great it is to be rich. If they feel you are holding back they'll fire you. You aren't allowed to bring gifts or share your wealth with anyone you interact with on these trips. During your free time you can engage in any charitable work you like as long as the locales you have visited do not benefit directly.

Will you take the job? If not, no hard feelings, they'll just find another candidate.


r/hypotheticalsituation 5h ago

Money You are immortal and ageless, what is the minimum amount of wealth (in terms of monetary value) you think you need to collect before you think you could retire off of the investments made with it?

3 Upvotes

Essentially, I'm trying to figure out how much money it would take to make the initial investment for retirement and be able to sustain yourself off the interest while also beating inflation. You don't need to retire but I'm just trying to figure out how little someone could get by with and never need to work again if they don't want to. I figure any investment that beats inflation as well as gives you enough of an income to survive off of would eventually grow beyond that level unless you are really unfortunate in your investment.


r/hypotheticalsituation 1d ago

You can choose to become immune to any single disease or illness. What do you choose?

133 Upvotes

Think anything able to be "developed" by humans, including allergies. Alzheimers. Cancer. Not abstract concepts such as "stupidity".

If you choose cancer, it has to be a specific type, such as lung cancer, ovarian cancer, testicular cancer, breast cancer, heart cancer etc.

What do you choose and why?


r/hypotheticalsituation 11h ago

Purr like a cat or wag your tail like a dog?

11 Upvotes

You can choose one ability for the rest of your life. You grow an attractive tail that you can wag when you're happy, or you gain the ability to purr when you're happy.

I want to purr.


r/hypotheticalsituation 1d ago

Everyone over the age of ten dies. What happens?

306 Upvotes

For the simple sake of mental health, let’s say that the bodies vanish rather than falling down dead and rotting for months. Yes, I understand that lots of babies would die unattended. Many children would die in plane, crashes, and car accidents the moment it happens.

Give short answers or long answers. I’ve thought about this for a little bit, but I think humanity has both good and evil in it. I think the net change in greed and empathy would both remain equivalent. Beyond that I didn’t get to creative with it. What do you think would happen?


r/hypotheticalsituation 20h ago

You get paid 5,000 dollars everyday but you have to speak Shakespearean forever.

49 Upvotes

You will lose the ability to speak other languages other than Shakespearean. You can only only write in Shakespearean language. You will have the ability to still understand other languages but the magic of this deal will force you to only speak, and write in Shakespearean language.

I'll give you a example

"Meaningless, i understand you not?! What doth thee knoweth of meaningless?! Spendeth most of thy existence ruled by anoth'r! Gaze thy raceth dwindle to a handful! And then bid me what hath m're meaning then thy owneth force!" - (Prince Vegeta)

"I has't in me the blood of a Saiyan prince, that gent is nothing but a joketh. Yet I hadst to gaze that gent surpass me in force. Mine own destiny-thrown to the way side. That gent hath coequal saved mine own existence as if I w're a helpless child...he hath stolen mine own hon'r, and his debts might not but beest paid."


r/hypotheticalsituation 1d ago

12 THOUSAND YOUNG PEOPLE between 15 and 20 years old are the last humans alive on earth, what would be the best place for them to start their settlement?

84 Upvotes

They are dividing into groups of 2,000 each by age group There are a thousand girls and a thousand boys per age group How long can they survive


r/hypotheticalsituation 14h ago

You are the only person on the planet who knows about an asteroid that is hurtling towards earth. Do you tell anyone?

12 Upvotes

You are an astrophysicist. One night while stargazing you notice a large asteroid that is quite distant, and take note of its location for later observation. Over the next year you keep watch on it occasionally, noting it's position and calculating its speed and trajectory. You realize that this particular asteroid is on a direct course for earth and will make impact in approximately 10 years if not deflected. In this scenario you are 100% certain of this information and nothing will stop the asteroid naturally. You share your findings with your government who loops in the major governments around the world with assets to work this problem. They assure you that they will do everything possible to stop the asteroid, despite the chances of success being near zero, while also attempting to build an ark to save a small portion of humanity and our history for a shot at trying to start again. They give you the choice of whether or not to tell the general public. Whatever you decide is what happens. If you say to keep it a secret, no one working the problem will divulge the secret and no one will be able to hack in and steal the information or discover it in any other way. If you decide to tell, the entire world will know. What are you doing and why?


r/hypotheticalsituation 1h ago

Bad reputation

• Upvotes

There was a rumor about a drug dealer on your school campus, and the mean girl in your class wants to become popular. She managed to convince her classmates that you’re the drug dealer and was being mean to you to “protect” her classmates. Of course, most of your classmates believe her since you’re in an upper-middle-class suburb and are part of the outcast group. All the students start excluding you, making fun of you, and being very rude; even the teachers have started to show a negative attitude. To make matters worse, you learn that many of your classmates are sending a petition for you to be kicked out of the school dance, and it has a lot of signatures. What would you do?


r/hypotheticalsituation 21h ago

You get the choice between 2 extra arms, or 2 extra legs. Decline is not an option.

36 Upvotes

The arms and legs would be fully functional, beneficial, and fully developed. They would not be a hindrance but you also would not natively know how to use the , you'd need to train and practice.

The catch, you don't get to choose where they go. You could wind up quadrupedal like an ant, or a centaur. You could get Machamp style 4 arms, or they could be closer to your hips.

Would you risk it?


r/hypotheticalsituation 1h ago

You're an adoptive father

• Upvotes

*[Post type]:* Disturbing

You took in 8 year old partial demon Fiona after you found her eating a dead homeless man. It's not as crazy as it sounds. The man was elderly and died of natural causes. Fiona stumbled upon the man and, being homeless herself and having nothing to eat, decided to feast upon him.

Okay, maybe taking her in was a bad idea but she would be killed otherwise. Demons, partial or otherwise, are not considered to be people. If they're discovered, they will be killed on the spot. You just wanted to save her life. She's a child, after all.

There isn't much in the house to eat so you decide to grab some pizzas before heading home. However, due to an accident, you're stuck in traffic for 45 minutes. Finally getting home, you arrive to Fiona eating your dog. She's covered in blood and there's a bloody kitchen knife beside her. She clearly killed it.

You're horrified and confront her, but she reflects responsibility onto you, saying that you took too long. In anger, you pick up the knife. You loom over her as she looks at you with a face of terror. She pleads for her life, tearfully apologizing for killing your pet.

You're conflicted. Once again, demons are not considered people. You can't be arrested for killing her. But can you really kill a defenseless child? Maybe you should calm down before making a decision.

But doing so could give Fiona time to retaliate. It's impossible to tell if she's actually sincere or if she's just trying to save herself. She is a demon, after all.

Would you spare her?

*What do you do?*