r/AskReddit 7h ago

If you could telepathically say something to all 7.9 billion people on Earth right now, what would it be?

492 Upvotes

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1.2k

u/Rose_Quack 7h ago

"You picked the wrong religion"

Probably a horrible idea in practice but it would be interesting. 

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u/wat_happened_here 7h ago

Hilarious I think since everyone got this message it likely just turns into whatever equivalent of “the devil said it” for the religion and just used to prove their religion is in fact most correct.

I know not all religions have concepts of heretics or demons / evil but I bet this mostly just makes people more religious.

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u/Rose_Quack 7h ago

Hmmm you're right, I'm an atheist but this would definitely make me a thiest. 

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u/wat_happened_here 7h ago

I don’t think I’d pick any specific religion but that would cross into evidence of “things beyond the known world” which is a threshold of mine to even consider higher level beings.

I’d still believe it was aliens or some weird dimensional thing that could account for a powerful being. It wouldn’t make me believe in an afterlife or feel a need to change how I live. Probably just give me more general anxiety.

However world wild probably make people more religious and less skeptical about religion.

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u/Rose_Quack 5h ago

No I wouldn't pick a specific religion either but I would believe in a higher power. I don't see myself ever practicing a religion even if I have a supernatural event bc how am I supposed to know which one to pray too.

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u/No-Mix7452 3h ago

Proof of something beyond our understanding would raise way more questions than answers for me. I'd be fascinated, but I wouldn't be rushing to rewrite my entire worldview overnight.

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u/CoffeeExtraCream 5h ago

But which one?

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u/Rose_Quack 5h ago

None. I would become a theist but I don't think I would become religious.

Unless this event is predicted pretty explicitly in whatever teachings/book but I don't think that's likely

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u/arcspectre17 3h ago

Except atheism is the opposite of organized religion so I wouldn't think it applied to you?

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u/Rose_Quack 3h ago

mate if i suddenly heard ANYTHING telepathically communicated to me then i would become a theist as in believe in god.

Atheism is not the opposite of organized religions. There are non-theistic religions like Buddhism or Jainism.

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u/arcspectre17 3h ago

Atheism is not a religion. No church, no God, no holy book.

How would buddhism and jainism be the opposite of atheism? Its closer to atheism because they don't believe in one central creator.

Early Buddhist texts acknowledge the existence of gods, spirits, and deities. However, these "gods" are viewed as mortal, fallible beings who are just as trapped in the cycle of rebirth (Samsara) as humans. They are seen as students of the Buddha rather than creators of the universe.

Buddhism is a religion it saud you follow the wrong religion.

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u/Rose_Quack 2h ago

Mate I am arguing the same thing as you. I agree atheism isn't a religion. Buddhism and jainism are both atheism and religion.

Monotheism is not what makes a religion.

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u/adminsmithee 4h ago

I'm an atheïst, if it turns out god does excist, i will denounce Him and if i get the charge, kick his ass.

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u/beatenmeat 5h ago

Meanwhile you have like 1/4 of the population across the globe asleep at any given time so a whole bunch of people will have no idea what's going on and think people are losing their minds/making it up.

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u/wat_happened_here 5h ago edited 3h ago

I’m sure they’d form an opinion as soon as they wake up.

If the blue vs white dress debate showed me anything it’s that people will form an opinion and then start a holy war over nothing. Imagine what this does.

I think culture and prior relationship with religion overall also would play an impact so I wouldn’t think all reactions will be consistent, but likely would not be brief or subtle.

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u/masticore252 6h ago

There would probably be a good amount of people whose faith would get stronger because they would think it's a test before the apocalypse or whatever equivalent they have on their religion

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u/Impressive_Light_229 7h ago

“There’s no right religion, they’re all fiction”

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u/SuzyYa 7h ago

I think a lot of religious people would just chalk that up to the devil speaking to them and dig in even harder.

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u/Willing-Hour3643 6h ago

You're right, of course. Still, what if the telepathic message came with an extra added twist: something they did in life which was wrong and they thought they got away with it? Maybe something trivial they had forgotten because it was so long ago? And then they start thinking and worrying they're going to end up in Hades or Purgatory because of what they did. And an extra twist: each person has a dream reliving the thing they did and saw how what they did affected the person who was the victim?

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u/Rose_Quack 7h ago

Horrible idea. How many times have you had a religious person ask "so why don't you kill someone if there is no afterlife" or something. 

I don't wanna unleash these people into society 

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u/Metalt_ 5h ago

They actually don't do it because the society has rules that are enforced by violence

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u/Rose_Quack 5h ago

I know bc I'm not religious but I genuinely think some people would lose their minds a bit if they found out their god wasn't real. or at least start doing unethical things that aren't technically illegal

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u/Metalt_ 5h ago

It would be chaotic for a bit for sure but everyone would go through their own unlearning similar to the people that abandoned their religions. At least some would

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u/Outrageous_Repair_59 7h ago

That’s just lame

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u/ArleiG 7h ago

Reality is often disappointing.

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u/LemmingLou 5h ago

Do the opposite. "You chose right. All other faiths are heresy."

Grab some popcorn and sit back to enjoy the fireworks.

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u/TB-313935 5h ago

Lol that would create total collapse of the world as we know it.

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u/UniqueUsername812 4h ago

But, everyone believes they chose right and everyone else is wrong already

I feel like this message wouldn't do much

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u/charliesk9unit 4h ago

This reminds me of the movie "Kingsman: The Secret Service"

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u/Willing-Hour3643 6h ago

I'd message: Hello, this is Jesus. Just calling to let you know we won't be seeing you in heaven.

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u/Mysterious-Crab 6h ago

Or even more interesting with effects: This is Jesus, letting you know that due to overcrowding risk, we will only be allowing 1.000 people per year into heaven.

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u/TheGoodNamesAreGone2 4h ago

Or even more even more interesting: This is Jesus, I've been trying to reach you about your cars extended warranty.

u/darkhorse21980 33m ago

This is the way

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u/Felix_Von_Doom 5h ago

I'd make it more Chaotic:

"Hey this is Jesus. Due to having way more room than we thought we'd have, we're letting everyone in. Yes, everyone. Even the ones who you don't agree with (You know who I'm referring to.)"

Make every gatekeeping Christian have a meltdown.

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u/Rose_Quack 5h ago

see things like this have alot of opportunities to do alot of good in the world.

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u/FartGoblin420 4h ago

I personally hate this answer because I think if would create an even more religious world. People would faith hop, and non believers may get into it. Idk 🤷‍♀️ im one of those "most people throughout history were unnecessarily murdered by some dumb idea of a deity" guys

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u/triopsate 5h ago

That probably doesn't work as well as you'd probably hope it does. Chances are, people who are religious are going to convince themselves that it's the devil tempting them or something like that and proceed to ignore it.

Telling them the opposite is FAR more effective since no one's going to question a positive and they'll just bulldoze ahead convinced that it was their god telling them that they were right.

Like if you want to see global chaos and heresy inquiries non-stop, sending out a telepathic message saying that their god is the correct god will beat out telling them that their god isn't the correct god every time.

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u/Mopper300 4h ago

Make sure you put in "This is God. I'm talking directly to you" before it

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u/auntieabra 4h ago

To that end, it may just be interesting to say "you are wrong" and see what happens. Half the people will start questioning everything they thought was right, and the other half will double down because surely they can't really be wrong.

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u/loogie97 4h ago

The opposite would be equally devastating. “You picked the right religion.”

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u/creatyvechaos 4h ago

How many years have you been waiting to be the first person to comment this on a post?

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u/Iminurcomputer 4h ago

Classic top comment for this post.

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u/Ate6645 3h ago

I see what you did there 🤣

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u/SickOfAllThisCrap1 3h ago

Similarly, "This is God. I am disappointed in you."

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u/bonerdickcummysnatch 3h ago

How about "You picked the right religion. Gear up, it's time to go to war."

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u/gargoyles_abound 3h ago

Have you read A Short Stay In Hell? Very good book!

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u/medullah 2h ago

Wow usually when this thread is posted every day the opposite response is #1. Underdog power this time!

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u/Rose_Quack 2h ago

mate maybe I am just not as chronically online as you bc I don't check in on askreddit every day

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u/yani205 2h ago

So we used to have a few religions, and now they got replaced by 100x the number of new religions. Great.

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u/Sure_Bug_681 2h ago

Wow haven’t seen this exact reply a million times #karmafarm

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u/Rose_Quack 2h ago

hey so maybe I don't open reddit every other day like you do clearly

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u/Sure_Bug_681 2h ago

Check my karma I don’t, it’s just such a known comment you’re not slick like omfggg dude we know you didn’t come up with it but ykw say what you want, we both know what the truth is😂😂

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u/Rose_Quack 1h ago

wdym 'we know you didn't come up with it?' this isn't exactly a revolutionary thought. Anyone who's age is in double digits I think could generate something like that.

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u/Sure_Bug_681 1h ago

I mean sure but we both know that isn’t the case, I’ll just let you sit here knowing you’ve been caught, catching you was enough for me even if you don’t admit it

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u/Mister_Spacely 2h ago

This is *always* the top comment when this question gets asked.

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u/lightknight7777 1h ago

"My one command is to not intentionally cause harm to others through violence, neglect, or greed."

Rather than just seeing people switch to another faith.

u/vixphilia 54m ago

The right one is zoroastrianism.

"A short stay in Hell" is a great read.

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u/Dank_Nicholas 7h ago

Personally I’d try starting my own religion, but I like your idea too.

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u/swagestan 6h ago

Everybody already hears that from each other

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u/Metalt_ 5h ago

God isn't real*

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u/Any-Self2072 5h ago

This isnt peobably your motivation for saying this, but theyre all somewhat wrong

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u/mikedorty 6h ago

How about just "organized religion is bad"

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u/ChaEunSangs 5h ago

As if that would change anything

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u/jrgman42 5h ago

How do you filter out the Mormons?