About
What the if Lamarck was right? Stanford historian Jessica Riskin, author of "The Power of Life," is our guide into a universe where living things aren't passive passengers waiting for evolution to happen to them, but the active architects of their own bodies, their offspring, and the world around them. The line between creature and environment dissolves. Even the smallest beings turn out to be busy reshaping the planet. Stretch your neck. Reshape your descendants. Welcome to the Lamarckian universe.
Want more Jessica? Grab her book at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/763654/the-power-of-life-by-jessica-riskin/
Find her at Stanford here: https://history.stanford.edu/people/jessica-riskin
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In the show, I mentioned a wonderful note from longtime listener Steve Scalici about our recent "no gasoline" episode. Here's Steve's full message:
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From: Steve Scalici
Subject: No gasoline, phase 2
"Maybe THE best IFisode I've heard, perhaps because I've been noodling with that inevitable coming world without petroleum…how'd we function, how would society break down, would we be in a Soylent Green-scape?
"Seems to me that this too was a corollary of the IF I sent in regarding an aeroplane-less world. My supposition culminated with small self-supporting cities of a certain drivable radius from the city limits.
"But overlaying the petro-less factor into the equation, we would devolve berryyyyy quickly to an agrarian localized world perhaps reminiscent of sometime in the 1800s.
"The curveball to this is the Industrial Revolution would not, could not be. No power source! This leads me back to my Malthusian philosophy is coming: population does invariably increase when the means of subsistence increase.
"Well then the opposite is true…population would curtail as our means of food harvesting ebbs. And it'd happen rather quickly as our food stocks diminish and famine would occur.
"Back to the Middle Ages of castles, moats, bows and arrows, and self-sustained populations.
"So my newer IF is 'how and what would a powerless world happen, assuming a stasis occurs in, say, 20 years?'
"Shout out to my grandson Matteo here as we drive to a gas station to fill up, he posed a mini-IF: where does the gas come from. Tough to explain to a 5-year-old, but then last week's IF struck and I listened to it multiple times with my wife hearing it replayed and yelled 'WTF!'"
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When she's not studying zombie fungus at Harvard or helping us break the universe every week, our very own Gaby Paniccia writes science fiction. Her short story "The Automatic Grocery Store" is now featured on the popular podcast Escape Pod! Listen here: https://escapepod.org/2026/02/19/escape-pod-1033-the-automatic-grocery-store/
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Check out our membership rewards! Visit us at Patreon.com/Whattheif
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Got an IF of your own? Want to have us consider your idea for a show topic? Send YOUR IF to us! Visit https://whattheif.com/contact and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big!
Keep On IFFin',
Philip, Matt & Gaby
Want more Jessica? Grab her book at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/763654/the-power-of-life-by-jessica-riskin/
Find her at Stanford here: https://history.stanford.edu/people/jessica-riskin
——————————————————
In the show, I mentioned a wonderful note from longtime listener Steve Scalici about our recent "no gasoline" episode. Here's Steve's full message:
——————————————————
From: Steve Scalici
Subject: No gasoline, phase 2
"Maybe THE best IFisode I've heard, perhaps because I've been noodling with that inevitable coming world without petroleum…how'd we function, how would society break down, would we be in a Soylent Green-scape?
"Seems to me that this too was a corollary of the IF I sent in regarding an aeroplane-less world. My supposition culminated with small self-supporting cities of a certain drivable radius from the city limits.
"But overlaying the petro-less factor into the equation, we would devolve berryyyyy quickly to an agrarian localized world perhaps reminiscent of sometime in the 1800s.
"The curveball to this is the Industrial Revolution would not, could not be. No power source! This leads me back to my Malthusian philosophy is coming: population does invariably increase when the means of subsistence increase.
"Well then the opposite is true…population would curtail as our means of food harvesting ebbs. And it'd happen rather quickly as our food stocks diminish and famine would occur.
"Back to the Middle Ages of castles, moats, bows and arrows, and self-sustained populations.
"So my newer IF is 'how and what would a powerless world happen, assuming a stasis occurs in, say, 20 years?'
"Shout out to my grandson Matteo here as we drive to a gas station to fill up, he posed a mini-IF: where does the gas come from. Tough to explain to a 5-year-old, but then last week's IF struck and I listened to it multiple times with my wife hearing it replayed and yelled 'WTF!'"
——
When she's not studying zombie fungus at Harvard or helping us break the universe every week, our very own Gaby Paniccia writes science fiction. Her short story "The Automatic Grocery Store" is now featured on the popular podcast Escape Pod! Listen here: https://escapepod.org/2026/02/19/escape-pod-1033-the-automatic-grocery-store/
——
Check out our membership rewards! Visit us at Patreon.com/Whattheif
——
Got an IF of your own? Want to have us consider your idea for a show topic? Send YOUR IF to us! Visit https://whattheif.com/contact and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big!
Keep On IFFin',
Philip, Matt & Gaby