Scientists and philosophers would struggle for centuries trying to explain what the hand is and how it works. For a long time it would be considered divine. Each place on earth would only see it couple times a year and most people would never see anyone crushed by it. Legends would say that someone in the next city was crushed 200 years ago but most people would not believe it. As communication would improve news would spread faster and people would realize it’s true, people are crushed by the hand. From now on people would try to gather as much data about the crushed as possible but global coverage of hand observatories wouldn’t be reached until XIX century. Models would be developed but no clear patterns would emerge. At the same time scientist would try to understand what the hand actually is. Is it alive? Is intelligent? Where did it come from? What does it want? No clear answers would ever emerge. By the end of XX century people would successfully land on the hand and bring back samples. Discovery that it’s a machine would shock everyone. The Church of the Giant Hand would officially disband, it’s Pope gone missing, it’s properties looted, all kidnapped children released from sex dungeons. It would take another 200 years to understand all the technology behind the hand but by the year 2235 people would finally replicate it. For the first time in history there would be two giant disembodied hands zooming around the planet and crushing two random people with their index fingers every day.
Scientists and philosophers would struggle for centuries trying to explain what the hand is and how it works. For a long time it would be considered divine. Each place on earth would only see it couple times a year and most people would never see anyone crushed by it. Legends would say that someone in the next city was crushed 200 years ago but most people would not believe it. As communication would improve news would spread faster and people would realize it’s true, people are crushed by the hand. From now on people would try to gather as much data about the crushed as possible but global coverage of hand observatories wouldn’t be reached until XIX century. Models would be developed but no clear patterns would emerge. At the same time scientist would try to understand what the hand actually is. Is it alive? Is intelligent? Where did it come from? What does it want? No clear answers would ever emerge. By the end of XX century people would successfully land on the hand and bring back samples. Discovery that it’s a machine would shock everyone. The Church of the Giant Hand would officially disband, it’s Pope gone missing, it’s properties looted, all kidnapped children released from sex dungeons. It would take another 200 years to understand all the technology behind the hand but by the year 2235 people would finally replicate it. For the first time in history there would be two giant disembodied hands zooming around the planet and crushing two random people with their index fingers every day.