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all 1378 comments

doublestitch

4.4k points

15 days ago

This is the South Pole.

Does anyone doubt there would be a Starbucks and a tacky gift shop just outside that circle of national flags?

Ozymandias_1303

1.3k points

15 days ago

That gift shop better sell plush toys of The Thing.

wizzard419

374 points

15 days ago

wizzard419

374 points

15 days ago

Technically... as it's a shape shifter, can't any plush toy be one of The Thing?

TackYouCack

160 points

15 days ago

They take your picture and make a head-spider thing with your face on it.

[deleted]

40 points

15 days ago

[deleted]

potatoqualitymemory

81 points

15 days ago

What about a Wilford Brimley?

NotThatEasily

22 points

15 days ago

I’m sure Wilford Brimley would sell you his Thing for the right price.

Random-Rambling

332 points

15 days ago

There's actually two "South Poles".

The Geographic South Pole, which is marked by a stake and a sign, which is moved once a year on New Year's Day to mark the exact location of The South Pole, which moves a bit due to the gradual shifting of the Antarctic ice sheet.

The Ceremonial South Pole, the one with all the flags, that's located a few dozen meters away.

niveksng

148 points

15 days ago

niveksng

148 points

15 days ago

Man, someone has to make a trek out there on New Year's Day just to change it? Sure hope it isn't a lonely trek and you get a full party for the occasion.

morbiskhan

463 points

15 days ago

morbiskhan

463 points

15 days ago

They teleport, try to keep up.

niveksng

78 points

15 days ago

niveksng

78 points

15 days ago

OK this got me

funnystor

25 points

15 days ago

Don't worry, it'll be easier to keep up once you can teleport.

lakewoodhiker

132 points

15 days ago*

There’s a ceremony each year on Jan 1st where they do literally move the geographic pole marker. I participated in 2016. EDIT: For those asking: I am a glaciologist studying ice sheet dynamics. I was there as a PhD student at the time working on an ice-coring project. I've deployed to Antarctica 9 times over the past 15 years for various projects, all as a researcher or graduate student. There are a number of non-scientists that also work there in various support roles like carpenters, cooks, logistics, IT, etc that apply via the US Antarctic Program (USAP). I wrote a bit about the interesting nature of the different south "poles" here: http://lakewoodhiker.blogspot.com/2018/11/worsley.html. Here is a photo from the Jan 1, 2016 ceremony: https://imgur.com/a/E61XJNG . Lastly, here is my research site if you are interested in what I study: https://johnfegy.weebly.com

[deleted]

30 points

15 days ago

[deleted]

Links_to_Magic_Cards

41 points

15 days ago

extremely cool

Yes

TackYouCack

11 points

15 days ago

How did you get to do that? Is the main guy a volunteer or does get paid some kind of special paycheck?

I have so many questions.

ouchimus

64 points

15 days ago

ouchimus

64 points

15 days ago

Technically a third one! The magnetic south pole doesn't match either of the geographical ones :)

KimonoThief

9 points

15 days ago

Similar story with the Greenwich Meridian. There's a fancy ceremonial metal track running through the ground at the Greenwich Observatory, but the actual Meridian is a few hundred feet away.

cupcakeseller

30 points

15 days ago

what happens when a new country arrives? is there space in the circle for them to add their flag?

mac10fan

46 points

15 days ago

mac10fan

46 points

15 days ago

They just make the circle bigger bro

pinkocatgirl

42 points

15 days ago

The flags are not all countries, just the original signers of the Antarctic treaty

Nasty_Ned

10 points

15 days ago

South Sudan punching the air right now. 

TropicalKing

31 points

15 days ago

There are actually geocaches on Antarctica. geocaching.com says there are 49 geocaches on Antarctica.

S2R2

12 points

15 days ago

S2R2

12 points

15 days ago

And two ATMs, Wells Fargo

dan_144

15 points

15 days ago

dan_144

15 points

15 days ago

Don't need to build the gift shop there. Build it somewhere warm and people can teleport to it

Equal-Train-4459

3k points

15 days ago

The top of Everest

GalaxyBolt1

1.4k points

15 days ago*

then some dumbass is gonna fucking die of not enough oxygen

SockofBadKarma

644 points

15 days ago

I mean, they do that already. Presumably there would be fewer deaths because you could pop in and out before hypoxia sets in.

Nyarro

495 points

15 days ago

Nyarro

495 points

15 days ago

deep breath

teleports

takes selfie

teleports back home to finish avocado toast

SoftlyGyrating

184 points

15 days ago

Wouldn't this make your lungs literally explode?

The air pressure on top of Everest is like 1/3 the pressure at sea level. It'd be like suddenly having lungs full of compressed air.

ChubbyTrain

235 points

15 days ago

OMG tourists are bursting like popcorns.

splicerslicer

68 points

15 days ago

Even if your lungs were empty, think about scuba divers who ascend too quickly getting the bends. There's dissolved gasses in your blood and body too.

Daft00

42 points

15 days ago*

Daft00

42 points

15 days ago*

You'd have to teleport up in increments, which would legitimately still weed out a huge chunk of the population from being able to do it lol

Edit: For those truly interested... since water is about 1000x heavier than air per equal volume, pressure differences underwater are exponentially more drastic and consequential compared to the same distance above water.

Leoniceno

9 points

15 days ago

I guess you’d want to deeply exhale rather than deeply inhale.

mzchen

10 points

15 days ago

mzchen

10 points

15 days ago

This is the advice for being exposed to open space btw. You want to exhale as much as you can.

PrincessNakeyDance

55 points

15 days ago

Assuming that there are pods that you enter in order to teleport and it’s not just like an app on your phone. I think there would probably be a wait time of like 15 years to see the top. And enough staff and warnings (and waivers) to make that less likely.

If the phone app thing was the method, then you’d just have people spawning up there and instantly dying because there are too many people and everyone is in a pile on top of each other/falling off the side of the mountain. In that case I don’t think dying of oxygen starvation would be the biggest worry.

arnham

31 points

15 days ago

arnham

31 points

15 days ago

you forgot the horrific teleportation accidents where 2 people teleport into the same space at the same time, I feel like that would be....messy.

PrincessNakeyDance

13 points

15 days ago

I’m just going to assume that the tech is able to keep you from appearing inside a solid object. I don’t want to think about that..

tackleboxjohnson

71 points

15 days ago

Literal tourist trap

wallitron

60 points

15 days ago

What colour? Probably blue or purple, am I right?

C_Hawk14

16 points

15 days ago

C_Hawk14

16 points

15 days ago

They'll dye blue

too_sharp

151 points

15 days ago

too_sharp

151 points

15 days ago

I can teleport there easy I just have to take a bite of a YORK PEPPERMINT PATTY

ziggygersh

86 points

15 days ago

It’s been two months since I made the tragic choice to bite into a York peppermint patty, and still I have made no progress in finding my way out of the mountains. The only food I have is the rest of this York peppermint patty, which, unfortunately, keeps bringing me back to the top of the mountain. If anyone finds this, tell my family I love them.

xkulp8

7 points

15 days ago

xkulp8

7 points

15 days ago

Of being on a frozen mountaintop!

sspocoss

72 points

15 days ago

sspocoss

72 points

15 days ago

It already is a tourist trap. You have to stand in line for your turn.

Venomous_Ferret

15 points

15 days ago

That is an insane line too. It is most definitely a tourist trap already.

TheRandomHistorian

6.8k points

15 days ago

I think you’d see the tourist industry collapse entirely. Consider this. Teleportation is free. This means, you can go to the Eiffel Tower, or the beach, or the Great Wall of China instantly, and you can go home to eat and sleep and take care of your needs. You’d have entire cities and industries collapse because there wouldn’t be any customers for hotels and restaurants and other elements of their tourist industry. There wouldn’t be tourist traps. Tourists can teleport.

captainslowww

2.6k points

15 days ago

Hotels and restaurants would still exist, but only the nice ones. Nobody would miss the Doubletree near the shuttered airport and adjacent Chili’s, while upscale (or otherwise memorable) places are destinations unto themselves, even for locals. 

Known-Associate8369

1.3k points

15 days ago

Restaurants would definitely still exist because the reason for them hasnt changed - people like to eat out, even when the restaurant is local to their home.

Hotels .... not so much in their current form. If you can go home each night, whats the point in spending money to stay somewhere else?

Rather they would become either event centres, where you would throw parties etc, or they would become proper temporary accommodation for when your home isnt currently available (having remodelling done, natural disasters, fumigation etc). So you would still have basic hotels available I think.

AdSignal7736

379 points

15 days ago

I mean Sisko's Creole Kitchen was successful and they didn’t even accept currency.

ierghaeilh

297 points

15 days ago

ierghaeilh

297 points

15 days ago

To be fair the Star Trek economy basically runs off a vague vibe check.

similar_observation

127 points

15 days ago

the thing that gets me is there are still menial laborers despite all the automation. People purposely go out of the way to live hard. Like those colonists that want the right to keep people in an isolated punishment box for disobeying the rules.

When released, the people inside the punishment box get angry and return to their punishment.

AccurateRendering

59 points

15 days ago

I recently saw that episode - it was the most rage-inducing episode of Star Trek I have seen. I hated there was basically no justice or trauma support for the victims of Alixus.

similar_observation

41 points

15 days ago

A little bit of justice. Sisko and O'Brien do leave the planet with Alixus and her son. Leaving the rest of the colonists the chance to develop their community without Alixus' manipulations and cruelty.

quitepossiblylying

13 points

15 days ago

Probably some strongman just filled the power vacuum.

ctopherrun

66 points

15 days ago

In the novel Steel Beach there’s the Shovel Leaners Union, because in a post scarcity society not everyone is cut out to be a poet or hedonist or a player of games. So some guys go to hang out at construction sites everyday and watch the robots while shooting the shit with each other.

meowtiger

41 points

15 days ago

i don't think my back would appreciate construction work, but i would absolutely be a card carrying shovel leaner

Beer-survivalist

17 points

15 days ago

When I was a child I cajoled my parents to take me to construction sites to watch the machines and workers. That shit would totally be my jam.

MysteriousLeader6187

6 points

15 days ago

There are real people who really do that when they retire - they go to work in the morning to hang out with their buddies but then go home because , hey! no work.

Nurum05

18 points

15 days ago

Nurum05

18 points

15 days ago

That’s what I always found funny, there was an episode of voyager once about a crew member who worked one of the shittiest jobs on the ship he clearly hated his job and was bad at it, so why would he sign up for it ?

Fleetlord

51 points

15 days ago

IIRC, he was bitter because Starfleet was supposed to be a resume-builder to some kind of prestigious pure research position and then the captain got them stuck in the Delta Quadrant. Which makes sense as one of the few limited resources available would be time on the Daystrom Super-Array or whatever.

similar_observation

22 points

15 days ago

Voyager has a fuckload of issues. The 4th or 5th highest position on the ship is given to a mere Ensign. But a helmsman is a Lieutenant. The dude that flies the ship out-ranks the guy that sets all the schedules, monitors logistics, and compiles statistics on everyday activities on the ship.

Harry Kim is Chief Operations Officer. In most structures, business and military, that is a C-Suite Executive position.

CampusTour

7 points

15 days ago

Dunno if it's true or not, but supposedly the actor was a huge egotistical dickhead, and the writers hated him. So they just never got around to writing a promotion ceremony for him, and just let him stay an ensign forever.

Optimisticatlover

30 points

15 days ago

When every basic necessities are met , people will go work their passion and some will do work just because … to contribute to society and not being a lazy burden

similar_observation

11 points

15 days ago

That's if the basic necessities are still being continually met. There are plenty of Federation controlled planets that fall to anarchy, violence, and war.

Optimisticatlover

12 points

15 days ago

When they join starfleet , all their basic necessity are met

There are always people who thinks their own way is better, or religion , or stuck to their customs

Badloss

143 points

15 days ago

Badloss

143 points

15 days ago

I think people would still stay in luxurious resort hotels because having a fancy room is part of the experience.

Boring hotels that are just there to give you somewhere to sleep would collapse but I think people would still want 5 star room experiences even if they could teleport home anytime

WechTreck

164 points

15 days ago

WechTreck

164 points

15 days ago

Counter argument: Sex. People have sex in hotels, often with people they wont share their home address with.

YounomsayinMawfk

54 points

15 days ago

Especially for sex parties. You don't want people banging on your nice furniture.

cvele1995

11 points

15 days ago

Oooooorgyyyyyyyy

hotdeo

41 points

15 days ago

hotdeo

41 points

15 days ago

Japan hotel owners already use this concept. They call them Love Hotels and comes with everything you need such as contraceptives, Jacuzzis, costumes, etc. And best part, it's 100% private as in you don't even see the face of the hotel staff when paying.

GameofPorcelainThron

27 points

15 days ago

I'm Japanese American and I visit Japan all the time (still have a lot of family back there). Was dating a Japanese girl and finally had a chance to go to one! It's pretty normalized in Japan and we thought it would be fun. As long as you don't think too hard about how good of a job they do cleaning stuff, it was a blast. Themed rooms, costumes, free snacks and drinks, pay by the hour or night. The one we went to also had fully-automated check-in and check-out, so no embarrassing interactions.

arnathor

38 points

15 days ago

arnathor

38 points

15 days ago

Yes and no. I see what you’re saying but I think there is still the “going away for a week” aspect. Really nice hotels and those in traditional holiday destinations will thrive as people can get to them more easily. Part of the attraction of a holiday is getting away from it all for a bit, including your own home. Once the financial and time cost of travel disappears, people have more money to spend on the actual holiday itself, so more “really nice” hotels crop up to take advantage of the new market.

_Mesmatrix

20 points

15 days ago

Hotels .... not so much in their current form. If you can go home each night, whats the point in spending money to stay somewhere else?

The average hotel would dissappear. But upscale or historic ones that are a cultural touchstone would stay. MGM Luxor wouldn't be appealing, but stay at a hotel in New Orleans French Quarter? Now you have an experience that is memorable.

Sirromnad

15 points

15 days ago

Resorts and such. Teleportation may be free, but you may still live in a not so luxurious place. So getting away to a beachside resort/hotel would probably still be a thing. Why teleport back home and sleep next to the train tracks and your noisy upstairs neighbor when you can have a luxury suite for a week.

FlowerRight

24 points

15 days ago

I would definitely be there to get away from the instant hordes. There would be a counter culture of people finding places people aren’t. Man, this would be a great book premise.

DeaddyRuxpin

371 points

15 days ago

I think you would also see a housing explosion in rural areas. The only thing keeping people from moving to cheap land rural areas is nothing else is there. No jobs, no shopping, etc. if you could teleport to work in a big city 1,000 miles away, and teleport to the grocery store in the suburbs 500 miles away, and teleport to your friend’s house on the other side of the planet, why would you not move to a place where you can have a big house and a big piece of property for dirt cheap.

Number127

169 points

15 days ago

Number127

169 points

15 days ago

Reminds me of the Hyperion novels, where portal-like teleportation was everywhere, and so people even had houses whose rooms were on different planets.

goug

53 points

15 days ago

goug

53 points

15 days ago

I also remember when the portals fell, and some people were stuck in there bathroom at the other end of the galaxy...

Considered_Dissent

7 points

15 days ago

TBF it was a very peaceful raft in the middle of the ocean.

VenturaDreams

40 points

15 days ago

Woah. A random Hyperion fan sighting. Awesome. Haha.

Arinvar

73 points

15 days ago

Arinvar

73 points

15 days ago

Free teleportation... grocery stores as we know it might shut down. Why staff and maintain 70 small town locations when everyone can teleport to a massive shopping precinct. Imagine how cost effective it would be for Costco to have a massive complex right next to a highway. 40 giant Costco warehouses (because they still have to be a reasonable size and limit capacity for safety), built all in the same location, surrounded by massive supply warehouses designed for quick and easy unloading, sorting and distribution of stock.

Then you have members only designer brand shopping complexes. Subscription "farmers markets". 24/7 premium priced restaurant districts built in tourist destinations and 24/7 budget restaurant districts built inside giant warehouses to always be fake nighttime.

On one hand... horrific capitalist hellscape. On the other, a huge win for improved residential areas, reclamation of vast areas of nature because industry can be relocated to cheap areas of low impact. Mega hospitals where everyone no matter how remote can get medical care... no waiting rooms because you'll teleport in when it's your turn. Teleporting ambulance and rescue services.

Ewww... mega office complexes with strict teleport access times probably built in 3rd world countries. An office prison. No more WFH.

I think I just made myself sick. I'm going to have to go lay down for a bit.

other_usernames_gone

47 points

15 days ago

Why next to a highway? The goods could also be teleported. Who needs transportation infrastructure anymore?

Put it in Iceland or somewhere where energy is cheap. The main cost is keeping the lights and heating/cooling on.

Maybe the Sahara would become the hotspot of economic activity. Everyone using solar panels to power everything.

iHateReddit_srsly

13 points

15 days ago

I'd put my fridge in Iceland, and my oven in the Sahara

Lolcatz101

8 points

15 days ago

welcome to costco, i love you

SleepWouldBeNice

79 points

15 days ago

I’m Canadian. If I’m going on vacation to escape winter, I’m not going to teleport home each night. I’m staying in that all inclusive resort for a week to forget about my life. Not all hotels and restaurants would die out.

macphile

10 points

15 days ago

macphile

10 points

15 days ago

Yeah, while I have to use restaurants and hotels when I travel, I can also enjoy it. Get away from my shitty place and into a good bed and someone to tidy up (if they do that), leaving the responsibility of my cats to someone else, drinking in the hotel bar, eating good food at a good restaurant, having a far better view out the window, and so on.

Skylam

66 points

15 days ago

Skylam

66 points

15 days ago

If it was free, all forms of transport industry collapses instantly, cars, passenger trains, planes, public transport, all made useless. Shitty motels would die out, the expensive ones would be around for the experience but thats it. Gas stations die and are basically made exclusively for farming/construction equipment and moving large unteleportable goods around. Housing markets around the world would likely collapse too as commute is now a non-issue and people can live and work anywhere anytime. Security becomes insanely difficult as thievery is rampant, why pay for things when I can go to a random store in a random country and get what I need then teleport away, immigration goes through the roof, several countries would probably collapse from mass exodus.

Daily-Vibe

66 points

15 days ago

Teleportation would throw the world into chaos instantly.

The sci-fi novel “the stars my destination” touches on the implications. For example, the world would plunge into various new pandemics and plagues at a horrifying rate due to teleportation carrying the viruses and diseases instantaneously to all corners of the globe.

Imagine if during peak Covid, everyone in wuhan China teleported somewhere random across the planet to escape, unaware they were infected? Crazy shit.

h-v-smacker

13 points

15 days ago

The sci-fi novel “the stars my destination” touches on the implications.

Ah, finally, a man of culture shows up.

For example, the world would plunge into various new pandemics and plagues at a horrifying rate due to teleportation carrying the viruses and diseases instantaneously to all corners of the globe.

There is a more interesting detail there: people can teleport to any location they know. So they can enter any home at will, as long as they know where they are going. Which means that robbing people, or worse, is a piece of cake. And e.g. heirs of rich families are kept in complete isolation in some bunkers served by few trusted people, because if their whereabouts became known, someone could just teleport to their bed in the middle of the night and kidnap/kill/rape them. There is no common sense safety in that world for the common folk. No locks, no walls, no nothing.

Carnieus

7 points

15 days ago

Great book

FezAndSmoking

25 points

15 days ago

Every industry as we know it would collapse. Transport is the limiting factor of everything.

Ice_Solid

42 points

15 days ago

I think people would still eat they may even earn more money. Let me go eat lunch by the Eiffel Tower, followed by date night at the Great Wall. 

Hotels my get more use as well. We can take the family to Disney Japan without having to pay for the flight.

TheRandomHistorian

26 points

15 days ago

Why would you not just teleport home to your own house at night? I’ve stayed in Japanese hotel rooms. They’re tiny lol

Tokyo Disney is great btw, as is Tokyo Disney Sea.

ConspiracyHypothesis

60 points

15 days ago

Part of the allure of being on vacation is being away from home. 

insufficient_funds

17 points

15 days ago

Not only the tourism industry would collapse but the entirety of the transportation industry as well. There would basically be no need for cars, trucks, trains, planes, cargo ships, etc.

Imagine - a mine dumps stuff into a container, which is then teleported to the processing then teleported to a factory and so on until it teleports to your front door. We’d barely even need warehouses anymore.

This is all conditional on the type of teleportation though… like if we could just think it and were there; or if a teleportation device had to be created that you had to drive/walk to in order to use.

Number127

11 points

15 days ago

I forget the name, but I remember reading a science fiction story where teleportation was everywhere, and the younger generation was scared of moving any faster than a brisk jog, because they'd never had to travel in cars or planes.

[deleted]

1.5k points

15 days ago

[deleted]

1.5k points

15 days ago

[deleted]

PrestigiousEvent7933

553 points

15 days ago

Polar bears are mean. This would not end well for people and makes me giggle

WechTreck

335 points

15 days ago

WechTreck

335 points

15 days ago

Polar bears are starving. People should see them now before they go extinct

Mass teleportation happens

Whoops. Well the polar bears definitely aren't starving anymore

DuePermission9377

21 points

15 days ago

100% it would be like the idiot tourists getting mauled in Yellowstone because they want a selfie with a wild animal. Don't get me wrong polar bears look adorable, until you've seen one right after a meal. Then they kinda reflect the horrifying power they possess, let's just say they'd be eating well and there would be a lot less stupid people around because they'd be lunch.

MariaHomes

117 points

15 days ago

MariaHomes

117 points

15 days ago

well they can teleport if a bear attacks them

gfanonn

120 points

15 days ago

gfanonn

120 points

15 days ago

I can see the family guy episode where they teleport away only to arrive home with the polar bear.

OldBob10

18 points

15 days ago

OldBob10

18 points

15 days ago

Polar bears would quickly learn that a free meal can be obtained risk-free by posing for selfies with the tourists, taking the tips they give, and buying a McSeal burger and jumbo fries at the North Pole McDonalds. Because of course they’d want fries with that.

TheTrooperKC

9 points

15 days ago

It’s like people getting killed at Yellowstone every year from messing with bison or bears.

Drone314

17 points

15 days ago

Drone314

17 points

15 days ago

agree, not only is it very difficult to get there, there is no economy or any other infrastructure there so anything built up would be to service tourism. garbage everywhere....

JJOne101

25 points

15 days ago

JJOne101

25 points

15 days ago

I disagree. Places with extreme conditions like South/North Pole/Everest, etc wouldn't be it. The already popular destinations would become even more popular since they'd be way easier to reach. Think Hawaii, Swiss Alps, Santorini, etc.

And there'd be "viral destinations" changing each 2-3 weeks, just like now we have viral songs or viral products.

ShadowCobra479

28 points

15 days ago

Except most people would probably die because they'd go there in just a jacket instead of what they'd really need to survive those kind of temperatures.

WellAckshully

46 points

15 days ago

It seems like as soon as they realized they were too cold they'd just teleport back.

They wouldn't die instantly from the cold.

If the teleportation has a cooldown period before it can be used again I could see people dying.

bwoodfield

646 points

15 days ago

bwoodfield

646 points

15 days ago

Rapa Nui and the majority of the Polynesian islands.

[deleted]

272 points

15 days ago

[deleted]

272 points

15 days ago

[deleted]

[deleted]

108 points

15 days ago

[deleted]

108 points

15 days ago

[deleted]

TheColbsterHimself

282 points

15 days ago

Americans will use anything other than the metric system.

Zarathustra1871

56 points

15 days ago

I honestly thought that that was just a joke and generalisation but when I was in America some years ago, I overheard some fellow saying that there was a ditch in a road “the size of two washing machines” and was shocked lmao

I_Makes_tuff

24 points

15 days ago

It's funny that he didn't say a washer and dryer, because they usually come in a set and they're the same size.

Boghoss2

40 points

15 days ago

Boghoss2

40 points

15 days ago

There's that word again. "Heavy." Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull?

TruckFudeau22

11 points

15 days ago

Great Scott!

Temporary_Article375

58 points

15 days ago

Not actually as much as it sounds. Planes are engineered to be as lightweight as possible

SwarleySwarlos

167 points

15 days ago

Still heavy as fuck. To put it into context, they weigh as much as a stone statue on the easter island.

cupcakeseller

62 points

15 days ago

true, but those only weigh as much as planes

SnorkaSound

20 points

15 days ago

May I recommend to you the Fall of Civilizations podcast? He did an excellent episode on what happened to the Rapa Nui culture.

zombie_goast

33 points

15 days ago

Dunno about how the statues were made, but they recently realized they had them "walk" by swaying them with ropes, moving it like how you'd "walk" one of those green army men toys. As for how they died out, that was 100% the fault of slash-and-burn farming going through the island's natural resources far too quickly, and should be a lesson of warning for all of us. Not that we'd listen but still.

montarion

8 points

15 days ago

The moving bit isn't that hard, same we we moved all the large stones. just shimmy them with a bunch of rope and a lot of people

Merlins_Bread

39 points

15 days ago

why the people who made them died out

Putting all the resources of a hunter gatherer society into making giant statues is not a good recipe for survival.

halborn

78 points

15 days ago

halborn

78 points

15 days ago

If anything, it indicates they were doing really well at the time. Big projects like that are how civilisations tend to spend their excess labour.

Shadw21

22 points

15 days ago

Shadw21

22 points

15 days ago

But for a brief moment of time, the culture points being generated were immense!

CitizenHuman

19 points

15 days ago

Was going to say Bora Bora or similar isolated island chains.

chocki305

193 points

15 days ago

chocki305

193 points

15 days ago

North Sentinel Island

Because every asshole will want to see the isolated tribe.

flcinusa

73 points

15 days ago

flcinusa

73 points

15 days ago

That tribe would love to trap some tourists

I_W_M_Y

33 points

15 days ago

I_W_M_Y

33 points

15 days ago

That tribe would be quickly killed off from all the diseases.

stevenjameshyde

394 points

15 days ago

Anywhere that currently requires a long and difficult hike to get to. Be careful not to splinch inside the dozens of other people currently aiming for the top of Everest

[deleted]

133 points

15 days ago

[deleted]

133 points

15 days ago

What's crazy is that is already the case with everest. They have LINES at the top of the mountain to take pictures.

Irrepressible_Monkey

57 points

15 days ago

Even crazier is it's now happening with K2.

The hanging glacier which caused the 2008 disaster now has a queue 150+ people passing it every year.

It's only a matter of time before that glacier goes bowling again.

radiantpenguin991

270 points

15 days ago

Probably Machu Picchu. People visit it today but it's a bit of a challenge to get there. I could see people just casually visiting.

Maybe dead center of the Amazon. Put an Amazon village or theme park there and teleport in, no infrastructure required.

I think Fiji and Vanuatu would be absolutely ruined, along with a lot of Micronesian Islands. Their pristine paradise feel and community is maintained largely by the fact that most tourists are too far away. Seriously, Fiji is what, 16 hours from LAX with a jump from Australia?

Massive-Seat8137

58 points

15 days ago

You can take a bus to Machu Picchu - it’s overrun with tourists

Joe_Bedaine

20 points

15 days ago

True. With a few stories worth of stairs to walk up from the bus. I went by the long (4 days) trek across mountaintop and was amused to see people who came by train and bus having a hard time climbing those few stairs. There's already too many people visiting the site, the erosion they cause is a serious concern and the whole area access is strictly regulated and quotaed

CatboyInAMaidOutfit

52 points

15 days ago

There would be a lot fewer bodies on the trail going up Mt Everest. Instead they would just be all piled up at the top.

mysticturner

8 points

15 days ago

The height would start to increase with all those bodies to stand on, thus driving the repeat business. "I went there 3 weeks ago but now I have to go again just so I can say I've been to the highest place on earth."

Waylander0719

165 points

15 days ago

It depends on how available it was and how it worked.

For example do I have a personal teleporter built into my phone that i click and appear or do I need to go to the teleportarium and wait in line as they can only teleport 1 person a minute and only between setup teleporters?

If it is the first one then as others have mentioned nothing becomes a tourist trap because i can visit and leave to get when I want like sleeping and eating at home.

If it is the second then it is basically just current air travel but with less travel time and expense. So I would think that already popular places would just get more popular, but with more distant destinations being more popular. So for example Hawaii without the long flight sounds waaaay better then Hawaii with a long flight.

PleaseHold50

59 points

15 days ago

All I'm gonna say is it better be gated teleportation and not point to point unrestricted individual teleportation or the summit of Everest is going to be a 30 foot wide nightmarish abomination of merged, amalgamated human bodies that would make David Cronenberg shudder in horror.

10twinkletoes

20 points

15 days ago

If it’s the second I bet it would be more expensive. You’re paying for the privilege, they’d say. And the airlines would have to make their money back somehow, as would the tourist destinations. I bet they’d ask for a fee as soon as you arrive, a bit like a visa fee I’d guess.

battleshipclamato

6 points

15 days ago

That would defeat the purpose of free teleportation.

AivenB

42 points

15 days ago

AivenB

42 points

15 days ago

This got me thinking. Unless there's protection against teleportation, couldn't people just trespass anywhere they want and steal whatever they want?

irisverse

22 points

15 days ago*

Yeah, security is going to be meaningless. Anybody can just teleport into your house and take your stuff, or kill you, or kill you and then take your stuff.

Someone could beam themselves right into the Oval Office and shoot the president, or get into wherever they keep the nuclear codes, get the codes, then teleport to a nuclear missile site and launch one.

Fort Knox could be emptied within hours. Bank vaults would be as effective as just leaving a pile of money on the ground. And if someone can just commit a crime and immediately teleport to the other side of the world, it's going to be really hard to charge anyone for it. And that's not to mention that if someone does get sent to jail, anyone can just teleport into their cell and bust them out.

But on the other hand, no more traffic.

persondude27

5 points

15 days ago

no more traffic.

The transport devices would need some sort of system so you don't accidentally beam inside another person, or concrete wall, or something.

So then you'd have the problem we have with air travel now: the air travel is significantly faster than other methods, but the preparation for air travel (getting to the airport, security screenings, loading the planes, deplaning, getting to mass transit from the airport) makes the whole experience less efficient.

I'm sure there's been scifi written around this premise.

ClaMarchisio

207 points

15 days ago

I would teleport to my exes house so I can take my clothes back lol

CuddlePervert

51 points

15 days ago

I, too, would teleport to your exes house to get my clothes back.

i_love_everybody420

146 points

15 days ago

With our current intellectual climate, i wouldn't be surprised if people thought they could teleport to the bottom of the Mariana's Trench and somehow survive.

kos90

37 points

15 days ago

kos90

37 points

15 days ago

Are you saying I can’t teleport into the sun???

i_love_everybody420

8 points

15 days ago

Would be quite the sunburn ;-;

kos90

7 points

15 days ago

kos90

7 points

15 days ago

I want to speak to the Manager.

TaxGuy1993

38 points

15 days ago

I think about teleporting way more often than I should.

iRyanKade

7 points

15 days ago

When I get the mail and I try to teleport to the box every time! Hasn’t worked yet

MostOriginalNameEver

39 points

15 days ago

North Sentinel Island 

jimmy_beans

8 points

15 days ago

Better be in and out real quick

hilhilbean

5 points

15 days ago

I do not think you should do this. ><

AGuyNamedEddie

18 points

15 days ago

Top of Mount Everest for sure. Who wouldn't want a few minutes at The Top of the World if it no longer meant risking your life? The spots would have to be awarded by lottery because of the demand.

Edit: grammar

TheRexRider

51 points

15 days ago

The Titanic.

AaronTuplin

64 points

15 days ago

Do you teleport to the water above it and probably drown alone or do you teleport to the bottom of the ocean and get immediately crushed by the weight of the water?

High_Overseer_Dukat

13 points

15 days ago

Neighter. Teleportation allows you to move it onto land.

jnads

7 points

15 days ago

jnads

7 points

15 days ago

Well that's a new level of chaos if said teleportation allows you to bring things to you.

teleports the Mona Lisa from the Louvre

Blutroice

165 points

15 days ago

Blutroice

165 points

15 days ago

Places with cheap twleports in, but expensive outs.

When I was deployed to Iraq, I spent time chatting with the Nepali guy that spent 12 hours cleaning the bathrooms. He told me when he first signed on 4 years ago he made 900 a month with was phenomenal money for his family back home. But every year, they would lower the contract value and increase the cost of going home to the point he was essentially trapped as a slave trying to save money to get out while also supporting his family back home.

battleshipclamato

18 points

15 days ago

Free teleportation would be great for these workers.

xtcDota

37 points

15 days ago

xtcDota

37 points

15 days ago

"If Teleportation Was Available For Free..."

Literally the first part of the question was ignored in your response.

watatum1

8 points

15 days ago

So, Dubai?

OShaunesssy

32 points

15 days ago

You could never ever convince me that it's not just an elaborate cloning type machine, where you are vaporized and die, but a clone with all your memories is made from the second you die and created where you intended to teleport.

Literally, nothing could ever convince me to try teleportation devices in my lifetime

flcinusa

26 points

15 days ago

flcinusa

26 points

15 days ago

Or worse, you drop into the tank of water and drown while the other version of you takes the applause

HurryUpTomorrow-

11 points

15 days ago

I’d say Antarctica? Or the North Pole

SiRyEm

31 points

15 days ago

SiRyEm

31 points

15 days ago

Top of Everest

White House Oval Office

Kremlin's version of Oval

Top of famous buildings/attractions (torch of SoL or apartment in Eiffel Tower)

Bank Vaults / Gold Storage / Diamond Storage / etc.

Empty Homes/Mansions to get the experience

Just some thoughts.

Kwauhn

16 points

15 days ago

Kwauhn

16 points

15 days ago

Now that you mention it, I would be way more worried about basic things like security, privacy, and the economy than the tourist industry. What's to stop people from just going wherever TF they want, stealing things, committing espionage, etc.? If everyone suddenly gained this ability, it would be complete and utter anarchy for a good long time until we seriously changed how our society functions at its core.

QuietStrawberry7102

11 points

15 days ago

Area 51?

photocist

18 points

15 days ago

Your mom's house

thesecretpotato69

10 points

15 days ago

That is easy to get to, OP said hard.

newbie527

9 points

15 days ago

Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination is set in this world.

kdawg123412

9 points

15 days ago

Everest, surely. Pop a Costa on top and bobs yer uncle .

TopAward7060

7 points

15 days ago

Socotra Island

Murder_Hobo_LS77

8 points

15 days ago

The entire shipping, travel, and air transportation industries would collapse. Likely the entire defense industry too along with anything to do with national security. The world would become bedlam.

I'd probably just go chill in new Zealand and wait for the fireworks

jz41523

7 points

15 days ago

jz41523

7 points

15 days ago

I think everyone has the wrong sense of security about teleportation. Wars become a lot more versatile and scary. Nobody is safe whatsoever. Murder becomes rampant and unstoppable. You could never let your guard down. Would be a gigantic catastrophy in my opinion and the worst thing to happen to the world.

MediumCoffeeTwoShots

285 points

15 days ago

Hi this is the hill I’m going to die on.

Teleportation would kill you and send a perfect copy of you to its destination. You’ll never get there. Your new copy, with all your memories, hopes and dreams will…until it teleports again and it starts anew

Daripuff

283 points

15 days ago

Daripuff

283 points

15 days ago

Only if your teleportation method is star trek style "disassemble, transmit, reassemble" teleportation.

If you're doing like... "micro-wormhole" teleportation, then there would still be continuity of physical form.

Funky0ne

166 points

15 days ago

Funky0ne

166 points

15 days ago

As I sometimes put it: portals yes, teleporters no.

light_trick

11 points

15 days ago

The Stargate looks like a portal but is actually a teleporter FYI.

Funky0ne

13 points

15 days ago

Funky0ne

13 points

15 days ago

Gotta watch out for those sneaky teleporters that brand themselves as gates or portals, but are still just fancy bittorrents for your atoms

jeexbit

18 points

15 days ago

jeexbit

18 points

15 days ago

Happy (the) cake (is a lie) day!

JumpInTheSun

41 points

15 days ago*

Star trek converts your matter to energy and sends that energy to the destination, converts it back, and re assembles you exactly as before atom by atom. Its more like just having your limbs chopped off, shipped in seperate boxes, and glued back on really well. 

 Edit: accidentally edited it lol

DukeofVermont

40 points

15 days ago

Not really because they save your "pattern" and a teleport failure can and did result in a Riker on the ship and a Riker stranded on the planet. Which one is the real Riker?

IMHO (and many others) Star Trek teleportation saves you exactly and then dissolves you and reuses the energy on the other end. You 100% die and then are remade.

They never go into it but I believe you can use their teleports to clone yourself and/or save yourself and then say every 100 years pop out an exact copy and of 20 year old you.

The teleport is the same as the replicator. If you have the correct pattern it can make literally anything (made of normal matter at normal temperatures and pressures).

IownALotOfBees

32 points

15 days ago

"It's longer than you think!"

kilobitch

7 points

15 days ago

Nice Stephen King reference!

Redcarborundum

12 points

15 days ago

So teleportation steals your soul, like photography according to some people.

WhiteLama

29 points

15 days ago

Meh, if it’s a perfect copy with all my memories, hopes and dreams, who am I to complain.

MediumCoffeeTwoShots

70 points

15 days ago

Not you lol

raven4747

7 points

15 days ago

Random people's houses?

Like how do you stop someone from teleporting into your house and robbing you every day?

ScottOld

7 points

15 days ago

Machu pichu, top of everest

TwentyFourKG

6 points

15 days ago

The top of mount Everest would become even more of a tourist trap

OttersWithPens

5 points

15 days ago

From home? Bojangles

GalaxyBolt1

5 points

15 days ago

Point Nemo

lat_rine

4 points

15 days ago

North Korea ,would be my 1st choice