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History is awash with examples of incredible discoveries, inventions and innovations that we take for granted today, but were widely mocked as crazy when they first came to light. Maybe, just maybe, there is future genius hidden in some of these ideas, taken from the subreddit CrazyIdeas.

I mean, who thought that injecting people with a benign form of disease to immunize them was a good idea at first? Or putting wings on a tube and attempting to fly in it? Absolute madness!

What we have here is a list a crackpot ideas that nobody could ever take seriously. Or could they? Some are undoubtedly just stupid and funny, others are actually rather insightful. There is even the odd nugget of genius where you think “hey, that could actually work!”

Scroll down to check out the latest batch of crazy ideas from the internet’s hive mind, and don’t forget to vote for your favourites!

#1

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Make all the Anti-Vaxxers live together in one community, make them experience first hand what happens when you lose herd immunity.

dienamight , muhammadiqbaldar Report

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Donna Turner
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Already have conclaves of "anti-vaxxers" called the Amish- no epidemics of vaccine related illness or deaths in these communities.

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#2

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Everytime Congress gives themselves a raise, they have to raise the minimum wage by the same percentage

konag0603 , itkannan4u Report

#3

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Siri and Alexia should only work if you say “please” and “thank you”. This could improve people’s manners to each other.

wandy24 , f0t0b0y Report

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Susie Eagar
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I totally say, "Thank you," to Alexa and feel like an idiot afterward.

#4

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Poaching is only illegal if you use a weapon. If you think you can take a rhino or a lion with your bare hands, go ahead.

Mutant_Llama1 , HTH Photography Report

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Suzanne Haigh
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What an excellent idea, of course the Americans will not like this, would make them even to a lot of animals they kill for "sport"

#5

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work A 'none of the above' option in elections. If that option wins, the election is reheald with all new candidates.

burndirt , freakingnews Report

#6

Put kindergardens, kennels and retirement homes in the same building

carljohan1234 Report

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#7

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Make Stevie Wonder a judge on 'The Voice' so every audition is a true blind audition.

SSAvenger Report

#8

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work A reality TV show where billionaires try living on minimum wage for at least a month.

Trayus9 , Lawrence OP Report

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#9

Mandatory training for police: They each visit another precinct as a prisoner, can't tell those cops the truth, they experience the other side of things. Other officers never know who's a cop or perp, and the experience will remind officers that we're all human.

Cerulean_Shades Report

#10

Get all the one hit wonder bands together for a massive concert where they each only play their one song.

Ro11ingThund3r Report

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#11

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work If someone is falsely convicted for rape, and later found not guilty and freed, the person who wrongfully testified against them should spend the same time in prison as the wrongfully convicted.

armageddon020 , Chris Carr Report

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#12

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Allow children with stupidly-spelled common names (Errika, Stephfanie, Mahrsa, etc) to legally change their parents name to whatever they'd like when they turn 18.

pspetrini Report

#13

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Everyday, hang the Mona Lisa in a different part of the Louvre. That way people might take the time to look at the other paintings while they search for it.

Sylvester_Scott , Jasper Daniel Report

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#14

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Next time the United Airlines CEO has a restaurant reservation, allow him to take his seat, then shortly thereafter tell him he must give up his table for restaurant employees and take a later reservation as he has been involuntarily bumped. Film the fit he has and then call the police.

Sewer_Ice , istockphoto Report

#15

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Make bathrooms pay to enter but you get your money back if you wash your hands.

thesnakeinyourboot Report

#16

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Instead of showing women ultrasounds before they get an abortion, show them video of children dying from polio, whooping cough, etc. before they decide not to vaccinate.

ryannefromTX , Andrew Malone Report

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#17

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Since Donald Trump apparently has a serious problem distinguishing "fake" news from real news, The Onion should write a satire piece about how great he is and see if they can get him to retweet it.

nvanprooyen , The Onion Report

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Barbara Harrison
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Could be interesting!! But The Onion would HAVE TO LIE LIKE A RUG!!

#18

Google should tell you if you're the first person to ever Google something.

istareblankly Report

#19

Remove the drinking age, make it so that you have to graduate highschool to legally drink. Increase graduation rates all over the country.

guitarguy109 Report

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Wallace Close
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At least you might have more of a chance of understanding consequences.

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#20

Start a western themed bar, where the music stops randomly when the door opens, so that everyone can turn around and look at who entered and then go back to their drinks.

cold08 Report

#21

Pet stores should have an empty reptile cage labeled "chameleon" to see how long people will stand and look.

AmazingShoes Report

#22

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Companies such as Microsoft / Google / Facebook / LinkedIn / Apple / Netflix / Wikipedia / Twitter / etc. should throttle accounts belonging to politicians opposing Net Neutrality to 0.1KB/s for a month.
From tech standpoint - flag their accounts and move them to throttled infrastructure. This way they'll be calling the ISPs who are trying to push net neutrality aside complaining about speeds.

kenef , U.S. Federal Communications Commission Report

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#23

Write a book called How to Fix a Wonky Table. All the pages are blank, except for the first one that says: put this under one of the legs. It will have perforated pages they can be ripped out to fit any table.

Wyatt1710 Report

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#24

Donate 1000 shirts with your face on it to your Goodwill and see how long it takes to see a person wearing one in public

SnicklefritzSkad Report

#25

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work A gym membership where you pay less money the more often you go.

Tr1pleJay Report

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Wallace Close
Community Member
5 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

That’s how it works. Monthly membership, less per visit

#26

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work A microwave that goes to YouTube and finds a video the exact length of the time you just typed in and plays it on the microwave door.

QuixoticViking , David Shane Report

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Maggie Dawdy
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The kittens in the microwave are a startling and unnerving visual.

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#27

A movie where Tom Cruise, Terry Crews, and Penelope Cruz stop Ted Cruz from attacking a cruise ship with cruise missles.

Tobacconist Report

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#28

A TV show called String Theory where every episode has the same beginning and slowly deviates in a unique way.

AlisterDX Report

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#29

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Give youtube comments % of video watched next to them

yourenotmydad , MLG Highlights Report

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#30

The US must have two Presidents at all times (one democrat, one republican). They share a bunk bed in the white house.

West-Korea Report

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#31

A reality show idea with gay men.

11 gay men and 1 straight man are locked in a house. The object for the gay men is to find out who isn't gay. Once a week someone gets outvoted, until 2 are left, or the straight man is out. If the gays manage to outvote him, they win 1 million dollars. If the straight man is among the 2 last people in the house in the end, he wins 1 million dollars.

Now here's the twist: None of the men are actually gay, they just all think they are the one straight man.

SupraBoi95 Report

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Barbara Harrison
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Despise ANY And ALL REALITY SHOWS ...good OXYMORON....REALITY SHOW👎🏼

#32

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Google switches entirely to the metric system (searches, maps, everything) and the world unifies to that standard in under a year.

HandySamberg , Jen R Report

#33

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Make ten movies from the same script, but use ten different directors, cast and crew. Release them all on the same day.

deep_fried_guineapig , Jonathan Report

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#34

An army of twitter bots that reply to every Trump tweet with 'shut up'

soju1 Report

#35

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Buy 365 near-identical, solid color shirts that range through the entire color spectrum in a loop. It will appear as though you wear the same color shirt every day, but in photos from previous months you'll be wearing a completely different color.

TheLimewedge , Whoisnotwo Report

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#36

If wiki needs money so badly they should shut down for a couple days and scare everyone into donating.

pm_me_hairy_men Report

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#37

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work One T.V. show that is split into two shows, that air at the same-exact-time showing the perspectives of the "Bad Guy" and the "Good Guy" - but each show portrays their characters as "The Good Guy."

JaySavvy , kpirat Report

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#38

an app that keeps track of songs that you skip the most and suggest that you delete them at the end of every week.

praisedalord1 Report

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#39

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work A self-driving car made by Google that has an 'I'm feeling lucky' button that would take you to a random location.

willig123 Report

#40

Google's Self Driving Car should have an incognito mode where it tints all your windows.

awesomejim123 Report

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#41

A videogame which seems like a kiddy adventure game, as long as you follow the linear path the story has set you. The more you deviate from the main storyline path, the more unsettling, creepy, and horrific the game gets.

night-addict Report

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#42

They should have a TV show called "Help, I'm Wasting My Life" where relatively smart, talented people who are doing nothing useful with their skills are given life makeovers and useful jobs.

ThneedSeed Report

#43

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Let's all google "Lesbians on a bicycle" just to confuse google trends.

stroud Report

#44

Abolish Leap Day. Instead, every 1000 years have one year with 615 days.

www.reddit.com Report

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#45

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Vatican City should have an untrained Olympic Team that rely solely on prayers to win.

nilslorand Report

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#46

Let's get a team of people in neon green morph suits to break into a news room an harass the weather man. No one at home will have any idea what's happening.

okawei Report

#47

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work A remake of "127 Hours", but Dwayne Johnson plays the rock.

second_to_fun Report

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#48

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Start a band named Torrent and name your subsequent albums Seed, Leech, Kickass, Client, etc, and watch people struggle to pirate your music.

JG_92 , The Zender Agenda Report

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#49

Bring back The Joy of Painting, with Terry Crews as the host.

justhereforhides Report

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#50

50 Times People Had Genius Ideas That Are So Crazy They Might Actually Work Guinness World Records should create a record called "Person Who Spent The Most Money To Buy This World Record", and then let rich narcissists give them millions for the title.

TheWayOfTheWood Report

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