Of course, the science fiction trope that there is an alternate or other Earth, opposite sides of the sun from our own, can easily be disproved. But it has made several science fiction made-for-television movies.

Typically, an astronaut gets lost or unconscious and finds himself / herself landing on an alternate earth, which very much resembles this one. Even the language is the same.

But home does not exist. The telephone operator has never heard of Cape Canaveral and there is not even a listing for Florida. There are three moons in the sky. etc etc. At least those differences were on one movie I remember.

Of course, even if the alternate Earth did exist, it would be different enough to be instantly recognizable as not our home. If nothing else, language and societal development would be very different.

But lets play around with the trope anyhow.

Maybe their technology would be advanced enough that they could transmit matter from one place to another, or transfer energy/electricity itself from satellites. Or, maybe, despite resembling the modern era in every other way, some major invention such as radio or telephone, was never developed.

Maybe their history was much as ours up to a certain point, but the equivalency of some major war, nation’s founding, or other discovery, were very different from the way they worked out here.

Maybe the differences are societal. Women are women and men are men, and act accordingly—but women are the ones who dominate business, commerce, etc. and seem to “own” the men. A man can still be a woman’s “knight in shining armor” but is HER knight in shining armor—and she sorta ‘owns’ her knight in shining armor.

Maybe strange and unexpected animals are domesticated and human companions.

Maybe the differences turn out to be physiological in some bizarre way. Vampires rule and the rest of us are like cattle and the people accept it that way. Maybe people don’t eat or need to use the restroom at all (or have restrooms)—human bodies and most animals have a better fuel source or way to metabolize their food completely. Maybe people sleep but don’t dream, or don’t even need sleep.

It can be black comic hell, a human paradise, or something in between. But keep it something that would be a bizarre surprise to the hapless astronaut or other individual who finds themselves landed on this bizarre alternate earth.

Topics: science fiction, society, Earth, alternate reality, alternate history