What If.....? An exercise in Creativity and What Iff'ing

What if we could see smells? You'd know the source of the bad smell in the kitchen--a plant, rubbish bin, wastebasket, old food in the refrigerator. You could see the perfume as it wafted off the girl wearing it--a visible "come on." Since we can see farther than we can smell, you could see who had an orange or banana in his lunch bag from across the room. Visible odors could be socially embarrassing in ways not necessary to detail.

Whether or not the "seeing smells" thought suggests the invention of an smell detecting device, a super sniffer like the ones used by the U.S. military to sniff out enemy soldiers, a main benefit of practicing what-iffing is to train the mind to explore unreality or imagined reality, to think about, for a few minutes, the necessary, logical consequences or facts needed to support such a change in real things. Too often when someone gets a new idea, little attempt is made to think about its logical consequences for a few minutes.

Notice when you mention a "what if" to your friends, their reaction will probably be to laugh and change the subject, or to laugh and suggest one funny consequence. There is little attempt to trace probable consequences thoroughly, to outline a full set of associated realities. By not doing so, we are in danger of cutting off many new ideas.

Try It Yourself

What If.

Choose one of the questions below and then trace the reasonable and logical consequences that would follow. You might be sure to think of both good and bad (and perhaps indifferent) consequences. List or describe (in a sentence or two each) at least ten consequences.
What if anyone could set up as a doctor?
What if each home could run the television only one hour a day?
What if petrol grew on trees and was a renewable resource?
What if exams were abolished in college?
What if our pets could talk?
What if we never had to sleep?
What if we could read other people's minds (and they could read ours)?
What if all marriages were automatically cancelled by the state every three years?
What if everybody looked almost exactly alike?
What if clocks and watches didn't exist and daylight lasted six months?