10个疯狂的假设场景 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.

正如我们之前所说，我们这个神秘奇异的世界一切皆有可能。这里列举了10项与日常生活有关的更加疯狂的“假设”，甚至会改变历史进程。

Happened if We Evolved Alongside a Competitive Species?

10.如果我们进化历程中存在另一种竞争物种会怎样？

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?

人类之所以能成为地球的主宰，是因为没有别的物种能达到和我们一样先进的科技。这就产生了一个改变历史的问题：如果存在另一个物种，比如黑猩猩，和我们一同进化，各自都拥有先进的科技，会发生什么事呢？

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?

不出意外的话，应该是两个种族之间旷日持久的战争吧。人类自身都会因为资源、理念和种族斗争数千年，对待完全不同的物种，态度怎么可能会友善？

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.

美国自然史博物馆的古人类学者，威廉·哈克史密斯认为，在经历几万年的战争后，如果我们商定分住在不同的地域，使用不同的资源，比如人类专注务农住在内地，“其他的”则定居海边捕鱼，这样也许能走上和平之路。

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树上的猴子通常情况下忽视对方的存在，一旦有资源之分，就会产生斗争，这和人类的行为是非常相似的。

Happened if a Woman Took Viagra?

9.女性吃伟哥会怎样？

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.

伟哥的官网上明确指出女性不应该服用伟哥（西地那非的商品名），他们做过西地那非对女性产生效果的研究。

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.

其中一项研究表明伟哥在女性身上会产生和男性相似的效果。发表在《美国医学协会》上的一项研究说，研究人员将在服用抗抑郁血清素再回收抑制剂（众所周知会引起性欲低下）的一组女性分为两半，一半服用糖丸，一半服用伟哥。

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.

他们发现服用伟哥的女性有更好的高潮体验，但对她们的性欲没有什么影响。值得注意的是这项研究由伟哥的生产企业——辉瑞公司资助。

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.

还有，西地那非不仅仅用于缓解男性勃起功能障碍，还用于治疗肺动脉高压，不分男女。所以严格地说，一些女性本来就已经在服用伟哥了。

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.

多年来，许多制药公司都在研发对女性产生相似作用的类似伟哥的产品，但收效甚微。如果辉瑞知道，哪怕是有伟哥也能对女性起作用这种想法，早就扩大测试人群进入市场销售了。

Would Happen if a Man Took Birth Control?

8.如果男性服用避孕药会怎样？

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.

这个问题有点难回答，因为避孕药的种类很多，而且不同的药含有的人造雌激素和/或孕激素的水平不一样，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.

如果避孕药含有高浓度的雌激素，男性长期服用的话就会身体上会产生一些改变。比如降低性欲，维持勃起障碍，精子数减少及睾丸缩小。

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.

还会引起肌肉萎缩和骨质疏松，面部及身体毛发稀疏。还可能会造成性格改变，脾气会变得更加温和。

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

当然，这是长期服用的结果，要是男性不小心服用了一些，他并不会感到有什么影响。

Would Happen if the Internet Shut Down for a Day?

7.要是世界断网一天会怎样？

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，你在床上伸手去拿手机，看看世界又有什么新鲜事，然后你就发现网络无连接。你赶紧去查看邻居们的情况，结果大家都断网了。原来是因为太阳风暴导致全球互联网下线。

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

如果这在现实中出现，会有什么结果？

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！人性的陨落拉开了帷幕，我们要闯进邻居的家，砸开他们的脑袋，吃掉他们的内脏！

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

其实吧，不要担心，不会这么糟糕的。

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，让大家重新上线肯定是每个网络供应商的头等要事，所以，断网的时间应该不会太长。

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.

如果连续断网好几天，经济也不会受到太过严重的影响。人们会继续做平常不需要网时该做的事。事实上，一些公司还可能从断网中获得好处，对于经常在网上浪费时间的公司来说，这是一个赶进度的机会。

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.

确实，像脸书和谷歌这样的网络巨头肯定会遭到重创，但网络一旦恢复，大家第一时间会做什么呢？平时脸书和谷歌一周的浏览量恐怕还不及网络恢复正常后的几个小时。

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.

在非营利性组织——美国网际网络影响部门工作的斯科特·博格，将短期断网比作周末低迷的经济，而世界大经济则可以应对这种小小的低潮。

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

总之，世界断网就好像大雪天…虽然是个非常，非常无聊的大雪天。

Would Have Happened if Neanderthals Didn't Go Extinct?

6.如果穴居人没有绝迹会怎样？

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.

穴居人和人类有着共同的祖先，但是从700,000年前开始出现分支，然后在300,000年前彻底分道扬镳。原因未明，他们于42,000到30,000年前就绝迹了。

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?

但如果他们没有绝迹呢？他们会成为人类的竞争物种吗？或者我们会像盖寇广告里那样共同生存下去？

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.

古人类学者，威廉·哈克史密斯认为，除非人类和穴居人之间有意分隔开来，否则穴居人会被人类同化。穴居人的劣势在于数量比人类少得多。哈克史密斯的理论是有证据支撑的，DNA检测表明人类和穴居人之间有通婚繁衍的迹象。如果你在非洲之外的地方出生，那你1.5-2.1%的基因很有可能来自穴居人。

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.

如果穴居人没有因为疾病或气候变化等因素灭绝，也许更多地穴居人DNA会更多地传到现代人类这里，人类将展现出更多地穴居人特点。