Parallel universes are real! You shall be sent to live in one... forever.
You will get a choice between 5 universes that each have a similar collection of languages though technology & culture may be very, possibly hazardously, different.
To make your choice you may request one (1) kind of typical artifact. This will be fetched from each universe, you may compare to make your choice.
Electronics will be disabled. If the artifact doesn't exist... you get nothing.
What do you request?
You receive:
Universe A: Nothing
Universe B: A pocket-size clockwork device that prints as it travels over the paper like a wind-up car
Universe C: Nothing
Universe D: Some kind of plant.
Universe E: Something clearly taken from a museum. Very dusty and unused, tags indicating the names of various parts.
It's a close call between steampunk and awesome plants do wild things, but let's be real I'm a chemist and the odds of my finding a mad scientist's laboratory to shelter in are much higher in B than in D.
E sounds like bad new bears, since if no one is even using them for art any more...
Not going to the advanced world with bidets?
Universe A: A square tablet. The electronics inside are dead.
Universe B: A thin bit of wire that might be some kind of medical device.
Universe C: Nothing
Universe D: A plant
Universe E: Pills.
Seems a little risky to me, honestly. They are *probably* some type of learning drugs, but they might not work properly on me, and if they do, they might also do some sort of brainwashing or indoctrination.
A world without any sort of equivalent to encyclopedias sounds worrisome. I'm guessing the wire also taps into your brain to teach you things directly, and maybe the plant does too, unless it has writing on it?
The tablet's the most familiar, as it's probably just something like a kindle or iPad or such with no power.
Of course, I'm kinda thinking these are *all* dystopias. A's the one I lean towards, but that's just mostly because I'm good with computers. It's probably some sort of far future Star Trekky type place, but the trouble is there are plenty of universes with Star Trek like tech that are not great places to be in, too, and even the Star Trek universe would be an issue if I came through to the wrong place...
@futurebird @SweetAIBelle
if the electronics from the electronics-focused universes are disabled, what about the plants from universe D? Do they still function/behave as intended? Why or why not?
(I have the same question about the pills ...)
Despite (and because of!) the chance at the cultural landscape of each universe being critically different, I would opt for a grand piano.
Music being an aspect of the human experience which is highly likely to, well, resonate, that puts me at lower odds of being burned at the stake, and somewhat better odds of being able to make a living.
@futurebird
Bottle of craft beer.
Will include insights into language and culture from the label. Isotope ratios will give an idea of local stellar conditions / age of that universe etc.
Most importantly, traces of yeast will indicate if DNA has the same right-handed twist as in our universe, and whether the chirality of the amino acids in the proteins is the same as ours. (Getting this last lot wrong could result in a cruel, horrible starvation...)
Universe A: An abstract metal sculpture with 300 tiny dots on the surface.
Universe B: A black brick with a simple inscription.
Universe C: An urn.
Universe D: A black plant
Universe E: nothing
@futurebird
A typical meal.
(This will tell me whether I am even physically able to survive in the universe. If I had multiple requests, I would work my way down body needs -- clothing, a toilet, shelter, etc.)
@futurebird Is a house an artifact?
btw im getting scared of universe E are we gonna get the story
It can't be much bigger than a breadbox.
Universe A: A very stretchy sheer rubbery tee-shirt
Universe B: A white button down shirt with lace collar.
Universe C: A long piece of cloth with several mysterious holes
Universe D: A long-sleeved shirt with vents for breathability. It can be sealed at the wrists by depressing nodules, causing the fabric to tighten as if alive.
Universe E: It's an animal, alive, cuddly, cat-like, it won't let you take it off. (or you don't know how)
Universe A: A necklace with a little magnifying glass with a red dot in the center of the glass.
Universe B: A plastic action figure.
Universe C: A folded bit of paper like a paper snowflake. When you unfold it, it sets itself on fire and disappears.
Universe D: A glass cup of rich dark soil
Universe E: A small leather pouch that contains beads made of various compressed materials of different colors.
A piece of what is generally regarded as geat art.
Universe A: A silver tablet, when you look at the surface at different angles different patterns appear.
Universe B: A clockwork locket that contains a little bird that sings various tunes.
Universe C: Several wax cubes
Universe D: A flower that looks like an ocean wave at sunset
Universe E: Pills
So when does the contest end and we get to receive a description of the universes?
@futurebird Typical footwear worn by someone who's among the 10% poorest on the planet, used for about a year.
(Hopefully that would help me weed out the ones with dystopian levels of poverty, at least. (Like our own.) Although I would probably get nothing from the non-materialistic paradise with nice climate.)
Universe A: A spray can of some kind of polymer.
Universe B: High laced black leather boots
Universe C: Plastic shoes, but very breathable
Universe D: Nothing
Universe E: Pills
Things related to my wife's gender transition
Universe A: Nothing
Universe B: A hard drive... but not compatible with anything you have.
Universe C: Nothing
Universe D: Nothing
Universe E: What is clearly the work of children in colorful chalks and paints filling most of large art pad.
Well Universe B totally sends you THAT fork.
Universe A: A simple wooden bench, kinda modern but unremarkable.
Universe B: High-backed iron chairs in a little semi-circle
Universe C: A little weather proof cubby that contains rolled-up blankets.
Universe D: A tree that is bench-shaped
Universe E: A rubber ballon thing that moulds itself to your body.
myrmepropagandist
Sam Levine
Mike McCaffrey
Bob Davidson
JollyOrc
Dan Lyke
SweetAI Belle 
Mike McCaffrey 
llewelly
Infrapink (he/his/him)
Jennifer Kayla | Theogrin 🦊
Coprolite9000
🦇 Jennie Rigg 🏳️🌈 (she/her)
ReimanSaara
Bill Hooker 😷
handmade ghost
Chip Unicorn
Yai Torres
Shauna GM
Naomi Saphra
Lama Tin 
MikeK
Martijn Vos
Mike McCaffrey
Hilde Austlid
aburka 🫣
Till
Xavier
Gurre Vildskägg
Alon
Sapphic Lawyer
Cykonot
Peter Drake HAS MOVED
nebulos
Evan Prodromou
Dave Dawkins (D. Harrigon)