Timeline for How to limit magic mirrors so they're not overly powerful?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Aug 27, 2021 at 15:28 | comment | added | boxcartenant | @Martin Yeah, that's a fine explanation -- sometimes when it comes to these kinds of scifi/fantasy ideas, less is more. | |
| Aug 17, 2021 at 22:30 | comment | added | Marsh | @boxcartenant How about there isn't a filter, mirrors simply cannot transmit anything other than electromagnetic radiation (light) and vibrations (sound). Some scientists experimented extensively with different configurations and came to the (correct) conclusion that matter simply cannot be sent or received, just like LEDs cannot emit matter no matter how much energy you're able to pump into them without breaking them - it's just not how they work. | |
| Aug 3, 2021 at 20:16 | comment | added | boxcartenant | @Martin I see what you mean. Yeah, I guess I'd explain it with something like: the filtering substance is also the battery that powers the mirror, and there is no alternative substance available. To your point, though, exploiting physics is different from breaking physics -- Nukes don't create energy; they just release the energy which is already there. In the case of potential energy, placing an unfiltered portal beneath it immediately increases the potential energy at no cost. | |
| Jul 27, 2021 at 18:58 | comment | added | Marsh | @boxcartenant Sure, from out of universe not allowing it makes sense. I'm looking for an in-universe reason. People find ways of exploiting physics. I would argue that nukes are a prime example - we figured out how to use some toxic rocks to make heat and then we optimized the process until we could create massive exothermic reactions to destroy entire cities. | |
| Jun 25, 2021 at 17:50 | comment | added | boxcartenant | @Martin I don't think that leaving the filter off should be allowed; without it, the mirror just doesn't work. Otherwise, someone could break physics again by adding potential energy to an object, raising it up in space and dropping it down again. Falling from portal to portal basically means unlimited energy. | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 20:00 | comment | added | Marsh | If you have to add a special filter to your magic mirror to prevent matter going through, then what happens if you leave off that filter? Do you end up with a fully-functional 2-way portal? | |
| Feb 6, 2020 at 22:18 | comment | added | Sherwood Botsford | But whatever the conversion is, must be reversible. Conversion to/from darkmatter? Note: difference in energy is small. A frequency shift wouldn't be visible in any vertical distance obtainable on Earth. | |
| Feb 5, 2020 at 21:23 | comment | added | boxcartenant | @SherwoodBotsford Good point! We wouldn't want to lose potential energy without converting it. I think that (if we were to explain that away then) the key would have to be in explaining that release of stored energy can occur along uncommon spacial axes (like the good old 4th dimension in Abbott's Flatland), and so the energy in the observable universe would be changed, but the actual sum of energy in the universe (observable + not observable) would be unaffected. Maybe it eventually comes back around as those disturbances in space/time, speeding or slowing time to make up for the change. | |
| Feb 4, 2020 at 14:07 | comment | added | Sherwood Botsford | Does light entering a mirror at sea level and exiting it's companion in a 16,000 foot elevation Tibetan lamasary get red shifted. And the converse? If not, how is energy conserved? | |
| Oct 9, 2018 at 21:48 | comment | added | boxcartenant | Looking back at this answer... it might make mirrors even more OP... suppose scientists get really good at predicting where temporal distortions will occur, and start making mirrors with intent to slow time in different parts of the world. Pretty scary stuff. | |
| Oct 9, 2018 at 21:36 | history | answered | boxcartenant | CC BY-SA 4.0 |