In the near future, the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) has discovered that an asteroid with a diameter of about 10 km is about to hit the Earth. Scientists believe that once the impact occurs, it will lead to human extinction. After repeated studies and debates, people are finally forced to choose between two scenarios. Option A would launch all the nuclear fuel available to mankind to a specific location on the surface of the asteroid and detonate it, generating a counter-thrust by vaporizing the asteroid's surface material in order to change its orbit. There would not be enough time to change the orbit, and the explosion would likely create more debris instead. Option A has a very low chance of success, but offers the possibility of survival to all equally. Plan B, on the other hand, would select the best astronauts, carry well-preserved plant seeds, fertilized animal eggs, and a database of human civilization, and escape in several nuclear-powered spacecraft to a known habitable planet to rebuild human civilization. Based on existing spaceflight experience, Plan B is likely to succeed. Due to the limited amount of nuclear fuel available, the two options cannot be executed at the same time.

Prediction markets are markets created to bet on the outcome of future events. People will buy shares in the probability of a certain measurable event occurring (e.g. Biden will be elected in 2024, if a given politician comes into power carbon emissions will be cut by 5% by 2030, etc.). The bets are put into a fixed pool, and are paid out in proportion to how many shares a person owns. For example, if 5 people each bet $5 that Toronto will host the 2030 Olympics, and 1 person bets $5 that they won't, then if Toronto hosts the games, the 5 people will each get $6, and if it does not, the 1 people will get $30.

Omelas is a hypothetical farming utopian community where citizens live fulfilling lives, have all their basic needs met and are generally content. There is no violence or poverty in Omelas. When Omelas citizens reach the age of 13, they all learn the "truth" of Omelas that all the happiness and splendor of the city exists because of the constant suffering of a young child. No one is allowed to help the child or the greatness of the city would disappear.

Ireland was previously under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom alone from the 1600s to the 1920s - in that period it suffered famine, dispossession of Indigenous Irish with Protestant Scots and multiple war crimes at the hands of the British administration. Following the Irish War of Independence, Ireland was divided into two separate jurisdictions - The Republic of Ireland which is a sovereign nation with its own legislature and Northern Ireland, a country within the United Kingdom still subject to its laws and with representation in the House of Commons. Starting in the late 1960s, a 40-year war erupted between a Protestant Loyalist majority generally favouring greater integration into the United Kingdom and a Catholic Republican minority favouring independence. Eventually, a peace deal was signed - the Good Friday Act - giving parliamentary representation to both sides in exchange for Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom.

There exists an elixir that upon consumption enables the drinker to permanently forget about all their previous and future breakups, however painful and hard they may be. This elixir is accessible to all and only needs to be consumed once in a lifetime.

A-Levels are educational qualifications used to grant credits and are heavily utilized in university admission decisions in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries. They involve a standardized test that is graded from U (worst) to A* (best). They are generally taken over a two year period and exist complementing grades and extra-curriculars, but they (A-levels) are generally given greater significance.