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In a parallel-universe jumping setting (akin to Rick and Morty or Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness) we enter a universe where people teleport to a nearby location at some reasonable rate (per individual maybe 2-3 times an hour? Enough that in a busy street it would seem to happen to someone every couple of seconds). They don't teleport in such a way that they intersect with any other solid object, they teleport with whatever they are wearing and holding, the displaced air is swapped in so there aren't any sudden vacuums messing things up, and the teleportation is of the order of meters, so society could still plausibly form.

All living animals experience this behaviour, and the distance moved is proportional to their body size.

What features of normal society on our earth does this condition preclude, and conversely, what additional behaviours might this require?

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    $\begingroup$ 3 questions, when we take only 1. And each of them is overly broad and opinion based. There is not a single and unique "society", and social conventions are, as the name says, conventions, not universal laws. $\endgroup$
    – L.Dutch
    Commented May 22, 2024 at 10:34
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    $\begingroup$ Has this always been the case? Does it only affect "people" (human or otherwise) or other animals/lifeforms/objects? Do people always teleport from solid ground onto "safe" solid ground, or can they end up (briefly) in mid-air several metres above the ground (or in a fire)? (What if they were swimming?) Is the rate at all predictable, ie if a person has just teleported then they have at least 20 min "clear", or can consecutive teleports occur separated by seconds or by hours? Hint: Forget about motor vehicles, can they hunt, mine metals or even develop agriculture? More details required. $\endgroup$ Commented May 22, 2024 at 11:07
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    $\begingroup$ I certainly don't see bronze age war as we know it happening here. Random teleportation would completely screw up fighting lines. Both creating gaps and teleporting someone smack-dap into the middle of the enemy where they are then easy to pick off. Actually, I would think there would be even more problems, okay, you're in the middle of a clandestine affair, then suddenly you get teleported out of the tent with your junk on display. Not so sneaky, it turns out. $\endgroup$ Commented May 22, 2024 at 16:09
  • $\begingroup$ When in the human creature's evolutionary history did this ability (~unfortunate effect) first emerge? Bear in mind that questions of the type "what effect would X have on society?" are just too broad and opinion-based for our format. $\endgroup$ Commented May 22, 2024 at 19:03
  • $\begingroup$ Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. $\endgroup$
    – Community Bot
    Commented May 22, 2024 at 20:54

1 Answer 1

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No people, therefore no civilisation

Even if we assume that the random teleport is being run by a "benevolent" trickster god or AI with safety settings on full*, this is not survivable at even the hunter-gatherer stage, let alone any more developed (and fragile) technology level.

The most obvious point of failure - actually tragic fatality - are the children. An infant that teleports randomly between 48 and 72 times each day is sooner or later going to end up stumbling onto something dangerous, or being overly exposed to bad weather, or bitten by something venomous etc.

"Oh, we'll protect them by having adults carrying them at all times until they are old enough to look after themselves," I hear you say, "The adults will all work together in shifts so that when the parents are sleeping then other adults will carry them." Unfortunately, that will not work - children learn to look after themselves by exploring their environment, rolling around, crawling, pulling themselves up on things and eventually walking. If they are constantly coddled then they will never be ready to look after themselves, even if it is practical to carry every infant 24 hours per day, 365 (or whatever) days per year.

For that matter, the civilisation will simply die of exhaustion. People need, on average, 8 hours of sleep per day, with greatly degraded health and mental alertness if they do not get it. These people can never get that, because they will be teleported out of their bed between 16 and 24 times per 8 hour rest period. Even in fair weather that is going to be uncomfortable and slightly dangerous. In a cold rainstorm or snowstorm getting teleported out into the cold multiple times per hour so the person (and their clothes and bedding) are soaked will kill them. I see it as unlikely that anyone would survive a prolonged period of bad weather. (Imagine the last time you were comfortably inside when the weather was foul outdoors, then imagine how you would be if you were teleported out into it every 2-3 times per hour for the entire duration of the storm.)

This is also ignoring the accidents that will happen in regular every day use when people are using tools such as shovels, picks, and cooking knives to suddenly find that they are swinging/stabbing/cutting somewhere other than where they started the motion, or that someone else has been teleported into the path of the dangerous tool they are using. With every person teleporting 20,000 times each year, one-in-a-thousand accidents will be happening daily even in a small family grouping.

Therefore, there is no need to even consider road safety, warfare or humorous/humiliating/unhygienic incidents concerning urination, defecation or fornication because this setting is unsurvivable for any length of time. Infants and children will probably die first, but the adults will not last much longer.

*When I say "safety settings on full", I mean that people are always teleported to be no more than a few centimetres above solid ground that is not on fire. If those settings are not applied and people are teleported to random heights in the air and/or over water or flames, statistically no one will last more than a few weeks.

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    $\begingroup$ to add to your comment: the only way to salvage the setting and make it survivable is giving people the ability to "hold off" teleportation, about the same way we can hold off urination. Every person would feel the urge to teleport about 2-3 times an hour, but they can focus and fight it off. Eventually, the build up of unspent teleportations would be too strong, and the person would need to go out onto some open space to "blink-about" several dozen times. $\endgroup$ Commented May 23, 2024 at 6:36
  • $\begingroup$ Regarding infants specifically: Since it's already established that the distance teleported is proportional to body size, one could tune the system in such a way that the maximum distance they can teleport is "short enough" that it's not as much of a concern. $\endgroup$ Commented May 23, 2024 at 7:33
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    $\begingroup$ @BambooleanLogic the "distance is proportional to body size" info had not been included when this answer was posted. As a parent, I think that a 2 year old teleporting even half a metre will put them in danger far too often over the course of 20k teleports per year - given that often they will be against a wall of a tent/house/enclosure etc, the teleport will put them on the other side about 50% of the time. $\endgroup$ Commented May 23, 2024 at 7:57
  • $\begingroup$ You highlight the biggest problems these people are facing, and adapting to those would probably be an excelent answer to OPs question. These people would live in caves much longer (as they would constantly teleport outside tents/huts) and when they finally build their own housing it would have really thick walls. Thick enough to prevent accidental teleporting outside it. $\endgroup$
    – datacube
    Commented May 24, 2024 at 13:10

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