TARGET was my favorite magazine as a kid. Watching a subscription copy slide into the room from beneath the door remains an experience yet to be replicated. One of the facts I came across from reading it was about the possibility of an entire American city (I don't remember which one) being flooded by a tsunami-styled monumental wave if all the people in China jumped in unison.
While it's hard to ascertain for sure if this would really happen, it's surely fun to speculate. And speculations over such disruption caused by over-populous China have been many. One movie even depicted an obese kid coming up with the fantastic idea of throwing the earth out of its orbit by asking the Chinese to jump for his school project! Even Calvin couldn't measure up against this one!
Now, Scientific American finally puts the speculations to rest with a report on an experiment conducted to predict what would really happen. The result was an anti-climax for anarchy enthusiasts.
In continuation of the spirit of what-if, here's my question for the 21st century. What if all the people of India and China jumped together? I predict at least a flattened Manhattan!
While it's hard to ascertain for sure if this would really happen, it's surely fun to speculate. And speculations over such disruption caused by over-populous China have been many. One movie even depicted an obese kid coming up with the fantastic idea of throwing the earth out of its orbit by asking the Chinese to jump for his school project! Even Calvin couldn't measure up against this one!
Now, Scientific American finally puts the speculations to rest with a report on an experiment conducted to predict what would really happen. The result was an anti-climax for anarchy enthusiasts.
In continuation of the spirit of what-if, here's my question for the 21st century. What if all the people of India and China jumped together? I predict at least a flattened Manhattan!
Comments