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  1. WI: In the biblical creation myth, Adam first ate the forbidden fruit instead of Eve?

    The medieval view was that Eve sinned and caused Adam to sin and was thus responsible for the expulsion from Eden. The punishment was that Adam had to work while Eve had to bear children and obey Adam. This reinforced the belief that women were inherently more sinful, more sexual, weaker...
  2. WI: In the biblical creation myth, Adam first ate the forbidden fruit instead of Eve?

    I am not a biblical scholar but I think the first few books of the bible were cobbled together from the myths of the surrounding polytheistic societies, ( my memory says C700BC but I could be wrong) by extracting other gods and inserting a single male god. The powers that be in the Hebrew...
  3. Which Religions are easily convertible to which religions

    You think risk of death is a better motivator than any synergy between the religions? I think you are agreeing with my point or did I misunderstand?
  4. Which Religions are easily convertible to which religions

    I suggest any religious meme-plex that easily let its devotees switch to a different meme-plex would not have survived long enough for us to notice it. Instead I suggest that circumstances dominate the decision to convert. There are very few non muslims in iran not because islam from...
  5. Stagnant Technology.

    Perfectly plausible. I would argue the rate of technological change since 1600 (to pick a year at random) is not typical of human societies. However slow change is not no change when you say medieval you have to accept that there were huge technological changes in Europe between say 1000AD and...
  6. 1941 - Britain and Japan vs USA - How long until the USA wins?

    Evan a fascist Britain would not attack the USA. Japan thought the American will would crumble, the British have no such cultural blind spot. Britain has known that fighting the USA is a losing proposition for many years. (How many? Good question I suggest 1900 but any way by 1940 it was...
  7. What if Italy joined France and the Allies

    I think just removing the French need to garrison the Alps would free up enough forces to create the famous "Mass de Manouvre" and make the defence of northern France practicable. Add a German requirement to defend the Austrian/ Italian front and the allies are looking at the war they expected...
  8. If colonialism hadn’t happened, would the general standard of living of the world be higher?

    We also need to think about that tricky word "average". I think without colonialism the sum total of world wealth would be less (although with a lower population) and hence the mean personal wealth would be less. However what wealth there is may be more widely spread so the modal personal...
  9. AHC: Make Sealion very unlikely

    No it wrecked the Japanese carriers. It had no (zero) affect on the capabilities of the rest of the country. Apples and oranges.
  10. Earlier Allied victory in North Africa?

    I think this is quite easy. Delay the Greek debacle in some way or interfere with the timing of the Afrika Corps. Hell even a few miles of railway might be enough. As for longer term effects. This greatly strengthens the uk in the Med and weakens Vichy north africa. The Brits will have more...
  11. WI Hitler got the Japanese to invade eastern Russia during Barbarossa?

    The Japanese army was, to a first order approximation, compleatly insane. If even they did not attack the russians it was because they all, from the lowest conscript to the fanatic junior officer to the reality ignoring general knew they would be stommped. And I think they were right. Not...
  12. Hannibal ante portas again! A hellenistic era ATL.

    Personally I suspect Hannibal (who must have been almost 60) would have attacked in the same old way and been beaten back in the same old way and you end up with something like Napoleon's 100 day campaign. Carthage would get a much harsher peace and perhaps even vassal status to Rome, but it...
  13. WI: President Roosevelt wants (to liberate) the Channel Islands in 1942?

    Roosevelt Knew he was not a military expert and listened to his advisers. Churchill had his enthusiasms but he listened to the professionals too and he knew enough to realise the channel islands were indefensible and a strategic dead end. The biggest island is only 46 square miles (malta is...
  14. Through a victory at Kursk, can the Germans win WW2?

    I do not believe the Eastern front could ever stalemate, If Hitler thinks he has a chance of winning he will not accept a stalemate but call for more attacks. If the Germans have been hammered enough that they would accept a stalemate the Russians will fight on to their defeat. There is too...
  15. The traitor in NATO

    Turkey, Turkey , Turkey, Greece seemed unable to agree with anything Turkish in the 1980's. I think it was overstated and if NATO called for help Greece would have done it's bit.
  16. WI: European Colonization of the Americas Without A Black Death?

    According to the dread Wiki in the first 100 years less than 250,000 Europeans travelled to america. I wonder how many died and how many returned home. Most growth seems to have come from large families and or intermarriage. More settlers might not have made south and central America more...
  17. How can the Protectorate survive?

    The only way is for Oliver to live forever. He was the only one holding the whole thing together. He was a military strongman with an iron fist reputation, trusted by the puritan saints but also trusted by the petty nobles, the merchants and the squirearchy not to sell them out to radical...
  18. WI: European Colonization of the Americas Without A Black Death?

    Without the black death the economy and politics of western Europe would be very different. It is quite plausible that ship building skills are retarded, Spain is never formed and Portugal in personal union with England still locked into war with France. And nobody knows what the American...
  19. Edward VII Dies from Peritonitis on 25 June 1902

    I agree with stenz. There is an interesting timeline here but it is not the one you suggest. Now a British monarch in 1905 certainly has influence but a new king has a lot less than an established one and the effects would be subtle. A slightly less fashion in Britain for French things and...
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