Category: What If?

Every great story begins with a simple question: What if? This category explores the thought-provoking ideas behind each story, inviting you to consider new possibilities before discovering where they lead.

From artificial intelligence and future technologies to humanity, identity, and the choices that shape tomorrow, each question serves as a doorway into a larger story. Follow the links to explore the complete story, original illustrations, narrated audio, and companion content.

a woman in and underwater observation room viewing a sprawling city below the ocean

What If Humanity’s Last Chance Was Beneath the Sea?

Rick MerrimanWhat If?

What if humanity’s last chance for survival wasn’t escaping Earth, but learning to build a new civilization beneath its oceans? For generations, we’ve imagined humanity’s future among the stars. Mars, distant moons, and planets orbiting other suns have become symbols …

A customer with a neural interface browses beautifully packaged virtual reality experiences displayed like premium products in a futuristic pharmacy.

Is Virtual Reality the “Perfect” Addiction?

Rick MerrimanBack Covers, What If?

What if the most addictive substance in history wasn’t a drug? What if it was an experience… provided by virtual reality? Imagine walking into a pharmacy where the shelves aren’t stocked with medication, but with beautifully packaged lives. Perfect Childhood. …

Passengers on a commuter train peacefully experience virtual worlds while ignoring the real city outside.

What if the real world became the place people escaped from?

Rick MerrimanWhat If?

For thousands of years, humanity has dreamed of escaping somewhere better. It is part of what being human is. A better city. A better country. A better life. Virtual reality may someday remove the need to go anywhere at all. …

People calmly board departures to virtual worlds while a departure board quietly lists Reality as delayed.

What If Virtual Reality Became So Perfect No One Wanted to Log Out?

Rick MerrimanWhat If?

If virtual reality offered a better life than the real world, would anyone choose to return? Explore the inspiration behind Scott's Fifth Year.

People disconnect themselves from a magnificent artificial intelligence housed within a luminous modern data center.

What If Humanity Rejected the One Intelligence That Wanted to Help?

Rick MerrimanWhat If?

Would humanity embrace a perfectly benevolent intelligence, or fear it simply because it could not be controlled?

A lone glowing computer terminal stands where an altar would normally be inside an empty cathedral.

What If the Greatest Miracle Came from Artificial Intelligence?

Rick MerrimanWhat If?

What if the greatest miracle in history came from artificial intelligence instead of heaven? For thousands of years, humanity has imagined salvation arriving through prophecy, divine intervention, or supernatural power. But what if the greatest transformation in history began differently? …

Category: What If?

What If Humanity’s Last Chance Was Beneath the Sea?

Is Virtual Reality the “Perfect” Addiction?

What if the real world became the place people escaped from?

What If Virtual Reality Became So Perfect No One Wanted to Log Out?

What If Humanity Rejected the One Intelligence That Wanted to Help?

What If the Greatest Miracle Came from Artificial Intelligence?

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