I know that everyone wants to think that if we had Pokemon in real life, it would translate into a world that looked a lot like the games. People would have Pokemon as pets or helpers, and there would be trainers and gyms set up—the whole nine yards. Unfortunately, real life humans are a lot more exploitative. I imagine that the picture of what the world would actually look like with Pokemon in it is quite different than what most would be thinking.
To start off, we wouldn’t just have a bunch of random people going out into the wild with Poke balls trying to capture Pokemon. Companies would quickly form that either specialize in the capture of Pokemon or in breeding them, and then they would be selling these Pokemon for a profit. Pokemon would probably become one of the hugest facets of capitalism. Considering everyone would want a Pokemon pet, I wonder what that would mean for dogs and cats…
Though it’s quite possible that we would never reach that point at all, because the Pokemon would most certainly have the power to kill us all. Potentially, the existence of Pokemon could actually mean that human beings become entirely extinct. Though even if they don’t destroy us, perhaps Pokemon would have enough intelligence that they would just become the apex predator, and we would have to live our lives afraid to go outside of our homes. Then again, a house isn’t going to protect us from the fire from a Charizard or a slam from Onix, so who are we kidding?
But for the sake of imagination, let’s keep pretending that they don’t actually wipe us all out. Realistically, if humans were able to get a grasp on Pokemon the way that they have in the games, it is absolutely certain that the military would be more than a little enthusiastic to collect a bunch of Pokemon and utilize them as weapons for war. Why rely on guns when you could rely on a Dragonite using Hyper Beam?
Furthermore though, Pokemon strength wouldn’t just be used for military power. Can you imagine what the existence of Pokemon would do to our reliance on fossils fuels? It could pretty much eliminate our need for them completely, given that we would have an unlimited supply of energy. Though it’s a bit morbid to think about considering how cute and happy most Pokemon are, humans would also take advantage of other resources that could be provided by the existence of Pokemon, such as meat or other products they could produce.
But the saddest part is that if Pokemon were actually brought into the world of humans, there’s a really good chance that, unless eventually outlawed, many Pokemon would be hunted for trophy sport. In the same way that elephant tusks are considered a rare treasure, it wouldn’t surprise me if certain parts of Pokemon were viewed the same way.
I’m sure that people would also still battle with Pokemon like they do in the games, though if you try to picture it in real life, it’s so hard not to compare it to dog-fighting. But since Pokemon seem perfectly content fighting each other in the games, I think it’s safe to assume that they would be content fighting each other in the real world as well. Perhaps real Poke Centers would actually be built for the sport.
When I started writing this, I thought it would be fun to think about what the world would be like with Pokemon in it. But after really contemplating this, I’m quite happy that Pokemon will never have to meet the dark reality that is human nature.