reality tv were significantly more relevant

One extra death a day wouldn't even move the needle, it sounds terrifying but there's lots more likely ways to die.

Someone played Black and White a little too much

People would start religions around The Hand. Obviously only sinners would get crushed by The Hand.

the size isn't that big if its index can crush one person and nothing else around, so you're in luck if you see it once in your lifetime I think

But knowing humanity it would be a spectacle

Or only the blessed get crushed by The Hand. The crushing transports you straight to the heavenly hand realm. You will get worshipped as a god for generations in your village after getting crushed.

Humans are awful at probability, so yeah - there would be an entire highly-profitable industry centred on hand detection and protection products.

There would be a TV show about it, featuring the chase every day

historically accurate Master Hand

look, if I could see an actual giant hand crushing people, I'd sign up to that religion really fast

What if the next hand victim gets shot into space and it would take the hand more then one day to reach that person?

Or if its relative, because the hand is slightly faster so it moves always relative with the person, what if it takes more then one day to get back? Does it just respawn on earth?

This is basically way less lethal than cancer.

It would be the single most active gambling economy.

Yup. I just looked up car fatalities in the US. It's 120 people per day. Source

I think it's funny how if this was caused by a giant floating hand that only targets people in cars, people would be absolutely terrified to get on the road. But since it's caused by cars, people are just like, "meh, that's just the way it is."

Blasphemy! Only the wicked are punished by The Hand! Crush the heretic!

Some people would deny its existence.

Hand insurance

~deeeeeaaaath...~

Does the hand reach people that are underground or inside buildings?

Soundbyte fused into memory. What a great game

We would have killed it thousands of years ago along with all the other megafauna

if it sees them.... with its eyes....

"It's probably just a freak weather accident caused by microclimates, Susan. A giant hand isn't just going to come down and -"
*smush*

Guys, guys, it's not about morality. It's about appendages. Tom had a big dick. Harry had a big dick. That's why you're still here, Dick.

SMACK MY BITCH UP!

Guy on a dirtbike trying to outrun it on the freeway but the hand just goes up and hides behind a cloud, waiting

It'd attract a crowd of Blue Meanies to help it.

I imagine the hand has a getaway island where it lies on a sunny beach to get a tan, has a nice little patch of forest to act as a scratching post, and jerks off oil tankers causing occasional spillage

That smush didn't even come from the hand. Susan just had enough of the bullshit

Sounds reasonable.

This is how you get Super Smash bros

Zeus could always use more followers, you know?

If The Hand had always been there, it’s basically like being struck by lightning. There would be people claiming to have survived, people telling the tale of having seen the squishing, but overall such a minuscule occurrence not many would really care about it

The hand spend 1/3 of the year in China + India alone.

Numberwang?

The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate? Or is it The Glove?

It turns out the invisible hand was always seen and used by those with lots of money and power. Not so invisible.

I assume that there is a point in the past (though it would be pre-history), where the Hand would have been enough to wipe out the humanity. But we would have to have a clearer definition on what a person is

THAT'S NUMBERWANG

It’s the illusion of control. We all know logically that the best driver in the world can still be killed by a really negligent fellow driver, but people don’t really internalize that. If there were a giant hand that sometimes killed people on staircases, people would be more worried about staircases than they are now, even though plenty of people already die on them (about a tenth as many die on the stairs as occupants of cars die in accidents). We know what the risk factors are, and we can reduce our own risk by using a bannister, carefully clearing snow or ice from outdoor steps/making sure there isn't a loose carpet on indoor steps, and arranging our homes to use stairs less frequently as we get older. Doing those things makes us feel like stairs are less dangerous, even though our statistics reflect a world in which people already know to do those things.

It’s why aneurysms are so scary to some people- we don’t really know how to diagnose what causes them until they’ve already happened, so they feel random to people

"Stop poking me!"

Who's going outside in 2026?

Politicians would brag homeless rates are going down.

Damn, we’re the scary ones, aren’t we?

At least since we figured out ranged weapons, yeah. We went from being mid tier to apex overnight and have been wrecking shit ever since.

Hand eye coordination

Question: Can we bribe the hand for sexual favors?

I suppose you would gamble on location? Country/state. Age and gender of victim? And then they read it on the nightly news like lotto numbers? “Male. 40s. Mexico.” You win the Hand Jackpot.

It does have that Macro/Micro vibe