On September 7, 1996 Tupac Shakur was shot four times after leaving a boxing match in Las Vegas. He died six days later. The murder has never been solved, spurring speculation that Tupac may have faked his own death to escape death threats, legal issues, gang life, and more.

Is 2pac actually dead? If so, who shot him? And if not, where is he living how? Is Tupac in Cuba with his godmother, hiding out? Is he “alive” in just generic photos of lookalikes wearing bandanas? Find out on this week’s episode of The What If? Podcast.

Hot Topics: Captured! By Robots, Wizkid’s Hennessy, Suge Knight, Bear Likes Our Bulls***, Wait til’ you see my alien, What If? Is NOT For the Children, and much more.

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The post Ep. #102 – What If You Faked Your Own Death? – Tupac Shakur appeared first on The What If? Podcast.

P.O.S and Eric Mayson join us for our very first live episode. Ryan breaks down the history of intellectual property and asks “holy shit does someone own this?”. Spencer talks about Humanzees. Stef thinks money is to blame, and Mayson claims not to own oxygen.

Hot Topics: Chumans. Intellectual Property. What Is My Purpose? Everybody Sample Stef’s Shit. The World’s Saddest Kindergartner. Uncle Mouse. Naruto. How Do You Milk A Snake? Stalin Was A Dick. You Get Cancer.

Holy s***, does someone own that?

People have tried to patent a lot of weird stuff. Currently, someone holds patents for a one-person seesaw, a kimchi vending machine, and Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Card Game. People have tried, and failed, to patent even weirder stuff. Harley-Davidson tried to patent the sound of their motorcycles. McDonalds tried to patent the prefix “Mc”.

Animal Patents

Since the 1980s, animal patents have increased. The first such patent was for Oncomouse, a mouse genetically modified to get cancer more easily. Prior to Oncomouse, biologist Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov tried to make a human-chimp hybrid, or a humanzee. It’s not clear if he was successful, but we’re suckers for a weird story.

More recently, Naruto, a macaque from Indonesia managed to take a selfie. David Slater, whose camera took the picture, argued he owned the photograph. However, since the monkey clicked the shutter, some argued that the photo belonged in the public domain. Apparently, monkeys aren’t legal people capable of owning copyrights.

Eric Mayson is a singer, songwriter, and musician. Listen to his music here.

Stef aka P.O.S is a rapper and producer. Listen to his music here.

Humanzee – Story of Oliver the Chimp

The One Person Seesaw

Uncle Mouse

Naruto, the selfie-taking monkey

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The post #19: What If Ideas Belonged To Everyone? – Intellectual Property appeared first on The What If? Podcast.

Crump’s in the house to talk crop circles. Ryan gives some history of the phenomenon, Spencer thinks Carl Sagan might be an ancient alien enthusiast, and Crump schools us on Mayan clocks.

Hot Topics: Bring Back Kazaa, Dr. Horace Knows Everything, The Mowing Devil, Sam & Dave, Spencer Doesn’t Know Who Ed Harris Is, Time Traveling Squids, Microwaves Did It, ISIS Sharks, and much more.

Crop Circles

Crop circles started popping up in the 1970s, primarily in England. The gained popularity through the 80s and 90s. However, there is evidence that they have been around much longer. In 1678, there was a report of a “mowing devil”. A farmer refused to pay the price a laborer quoted him to mow his field. He swore that he would rather that the Devil mowed it instead. That night his field appeared to be in flame. The next morning, the field was found to be perfectly mowed, “that no mortal man was able to do the like”.

Who’s making them?

In 1991, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley claimed responsibility for the crop circles. They explained how they used a board and rope to press down the crops. Many people have argued that the designs are too complex to be made by ropes and boards. Some people have suggested that they are messages from aliens.

The Carl Sagan Conspiracy

Donald Zygutis wrote a book called The Sagan Conspiracy. The books centers around a paper written by Carl Sagan, in which he concludes ancient alien intervention may have sparked human civilization. There’s an interesting tie-in to crop circles when you consider the Arecibo message.

In 1974, Carl Sagan sent the Arecibo message into space. It was directed at globular star cluster M13, approximately 25,000 light years away. The message contained our planet’s location in our solar system, the atomic numbers of several elements, and information about our DNA.

In 2001, we may have received a response. A slightly altered version of the Arecibo message appeared in a field in England. This field is adjacent to Chilbolton Observatory, home to Britain’s largest telescope.

The Sagan Conspiracy

The Mowing Devil

Music by Big Cats

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The post Ep. #18 – What If Aliens Went To Art School? – Crop Circles appeared first on The What If? Podcast.

Peter Gjovik joins us as we try to define what art is and how we value it. We take a deep dive into the work of Henry Darger and outsider art. Spencer thinks chicken wings might be art. Ryan dislikes illustrations of dead kids, and Peter provides some actual information.

Hot Topics: Merry Christmas, Vin Diesel as performance art, Joshua Bell, Hardware Hank, artisanal chicken wings, and much more.

Henry Darger

Peter Gjovik walks us through the fascinating story of Henry Darger. Darger’s best known work is a 15,000 page illustrated manuscript, discovered in 1973. After his death, Darger’s landlords discovered the manuscript, The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion. The American Folk Art Museum, and Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris have shown his work. It is also in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His pieces often sell for as much as $750,000.

Darger created two other works during his life, Crazy House: Further Adventures in Chicago, which contains over 10,000 handwritten pages, and The History of My Life, which is roughly 5,ooo pages. Crazy House tells the story of an evil, sentient house in Chicago that brutally murders any children unfortunate enough to enter. It features many of the same characters as The Story of the Vivian Girls. The History of my Life begins as a sort of autobiography, before turning into a story about a giant tornado.

We also discuss the differences between art and craft. Where do the audience’s expectations and the artist’s intention factor into the equation?

The Joshua Bell Subway Experiment

Peter Gjovik and The Good Camp

Music by Big Cats

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The post #7: What If Art Had No Value? – Henry Darger appeared first on The What If? Podcast.