What if everyone jumped at once?
651,982
Published 2024-04-16
More serious answers to absurd questions at: what-if.xkcd.com/
What would happen if everyone on earth stood as close to each other as they could, jumped, and landed on the ground all at the same instant?
Randall Munroe is the author of the New York Times bestsellers What If? 2, How To, What If?, and Thing Explainer; the science question-and-answer blog What If?; and the popular web comic xkcd (xkcd.com/). A former NASA roboticist, he left the agency in 2006 to draw comics on the internet full time.
Henry Reich is the creator of MinutePhysics and executive producer of MinuteEarth and MinuteFood and founder of Neptune Studios (the parent company for all three youtube channels).
Credits
Narrated by and based on "What If?" by Randall Munroe
Written & Directed by Henry Reich
Illustration and Video Editing by Lizah van der Aart
Illustration and Animation by Ever Salazar
Music & Sound Effects by Know Art Studios
What If? The Video Series is the official adaptation of the What If? books by Randall Munroe and is produced by Neptune Studios LLC.
©2024 xkcd, inc.
All Comments (21)
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Most important take away from this is: the wizard who teleported everyone to Rhoad Island is an asshole
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So this begs the question, where is the best location on earth to teleport everyone to minimize deaths
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Everyone who was in surgery or on life support probably died soon after they were teleported. Everyone who was deep diving experienced rapid decompression. Even assuming clothes would be teleported, quite a few people arrived naked (those who were showering, taking a bath, etc.). About a third of people arrived asleep.
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A stone slab left atop the ruins of Rhode Island reads: "This place is a message. Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves a powerful culture. This place is not a place of honor. No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here. Nothing of value is here. There is danger here. The danger exists in your time, as it existed in ours. The danger is only unleashed if you gather eight billion people and make them jump all at once. This place is best shunned and left uninhabited."
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This is a masterclass in answering the question they asked, rather than the question they meant.
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“Who can stop you? All the cops are in Rhode Island.” That is one of the best lines I have ever heard.
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Note to future generations: "Don't call it an island if it's not an island."
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Aliens: "So, what caused your world ending apocalypse?" The last human alive: "We all went to Rode Island"
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It's funny how the action of everyone jumping at the same time wouldn't cause some post-apocalyptic event, but the aftermath of getting everyone to the same area in the first place would.
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Everyone dies. Just not in the way you were expecting.
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I like how 7,000,000,000 people jumping in one spot did nothing to the world, but getting those 7,000,000,000 people out of the one spot is what would cause the chaos.
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It’s fascinating to know that simply bringing everyone together would tear us apart.
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crowd crush is nightmare fuel
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My favorite is the Japanese person going “Oh, I forgot to put out the fire.”
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This is how my non-american self found out Rhode Island is not just like... A single island.
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I just want to say that my heart fills with joy every time I see a whole world map using a proper projection. Thank you for that.
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"Did the rapture just happen? Have I been Left Behind™?" "No, you just got excluded from the species-wide jump in Rhode Island." "NNNOOOOOOO!!!"
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Thomas: "What would happen if everyone got together in one place and jumped?" Randall: "We wouldn't be heavy enough to affect the Earth's orbit." Thomas: "Damn, I guess nothing would happen." Randall: "That's not what I said."
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I love how half of this video isn't even about the jumping simultaneously thing, it's about how would people live if they were suddenly and abruptly all brought together with no reason
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2:02 I’ve also been there; they truly do have some of the best bathrooms ever
