Questions tagged [science-fiction]

For questions that allow fanciful, creative or imaginative solutions based on or rationalized by real world science, but not necessary limited by real world science. Entirely magical solutions must use the magic tag instead. This tag should not be used with the science-based, hard-science, or internal-consistency tags. This tag should never be the only tag on a question, because this tag frames how a question should be answered, not the topic.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
6 votes
12 answers
4k views

How could a Renaissance level feudal society get into space?

My story features Renaissance-era feudal society with working space travel. Humans are able to travel around the Solar System (Earth, Mars, asteroid belt, moons of Jupiter) in spacecrafts fitted with ...
Amadán Dubh's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
280 views
+150

How could I redesign my dragons to have 6 limbs and still be able to fly?

In a previous post, I asked about dragons in my stories and how I could make it plausible for them to fly while also meeting the criteria of having 6 limbs and being 15 to 20 feet long when fully ...
Godzilla Louise's user avatar
12 votes
7 answers
4k views

Can a spaceship "hitchhike" on an explosion to escape a gravity well?

Common in sci-fi tropes but absolutely climactic nonetheless, a spaceship faces impending doom after encountering a gravity well such as a stellar black hole. The spaceship's captain gives the order ...
user6760's user avatar
  • 46.6k
20 votes
14 answers
5k views

What makes small-scale private star-harvesting profitable?

In a distant future where FTL interstellar travel is commonplace, there is a stable large-scale market for a commodity called photonic negentropy ("PhoNE" for short, though nobody remembers ...
parasoup's user avatar
  • 3,640
-1 votes
1 answer
75 views

Advantages of locations in the solar system for a space station [closed]

In my story, a hostile alien force has arrived in our solar system and parked a station to keep us in line. They've mined the near-sun planets to build a Dyson Swarm, something they do fairly ...
Beyla's user avatar
  • 7
10 votes
3 answers
1k views

Iron drive: does this fusion superengine require clarketech? [closed]

For context: this is a very far future sci-fi setting, dozens of millenia from now, where dyson swarms and interstellar travel are commonplace, bioengineering and tech are so advanced they merge ...
Kugelblitz's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
1k views

How to recreate a "land" harp that can work in the deep sea?

Once again, I am asking questions based on my as of yet defined highly-evolved, human-derived "merfolk". But this time, I'm going towards deeper waters-- let's say about 5000 meters below ...
Thunderhammer's user avatar
5 votes
5 answers
298 views

Is it possible to use rail guns or mass drivers as some kind of anti orbital weapon?

I know it is possible to use missiles to shoot down satellites in orbit but what about using rail guns or mass drivers as some sort of anti orbit weapon. I know the idea of a "space gun" ...
Mass Media's user avatar
18 votes
6 answers
6k views

How long would it take humans to notice a civilization on Venus?

Now I know this is a very weird and impossible question, there is clearly no civilization on Venus. But for the sake of the story I'm cooking up in my head, Venus remains habitable and develops life ...
Dono's user avatar
  • 181
7 votes
10 answers
4k views

Avoiding time travel or causality stuff

How to avoid blatantly time traveling or breaking causality in a big way when getting my characters to places quickly (Faster than light)? The method used is a tunnel in some sort of different space ...
Woli's user avatar
  • 415
11 votes
3 answers
2k views

What would a medical condition that makes people believe they are a machine be called? [closed]

I have been thinking about a world where there have been incredible advancements in biotechnology. Genetic engineering, advanced bionics and, of course, the long-time human tradition of finding new ...
Chuck's user avatar
  • 1,399
-3 votes
0 answers
53 views

How would future humans be able to evolve large heads? [duplicate]

In my story there are future humans that managed to build a time machine and for research purposes decided to travel back in time to change past events from taking place. These future humans have a ...
Blue Shark's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
57 views

How would future humans be able to evolve large heads? [closed]

In my story there are future humans that managed to build a time machine and for research purposes and decided to travel back in time to change past events from taking place. These future humans have ...
Blue Shark's user avatar
12 votes
14 answers
4k views

How might a science-fiction world's technology advance faster than our own? [closed]

I'm wondering what techniques exist to make the technology change quicker in my story. I want to be able to change the setting quickly, like progressing from a computer mechanic where space travel is ...
Jakav's user avatar
  • 432
14 votes
15 answers
3k views

Would Artificial Gravity With Short Range Be Possible?

Assuming a spaceship with artificial gravity was possible, would it be possible for it to have an extremely short range, like a few feet. So you'd be able to have a ship with 1g but not have it ...
Connor Dawn's user avatar
10 votes
22 answers
5k views

Necessity of army and navy in a space warfare setting

I'm writing a realistic sci fi story involving interstellar conflict , where space warships (assume something like star destroyers from star wars) are the norm, These warships are capable of orbital ...
Zetrox's user avatar
  • 438
4 votes
4 answers
2k views

How can I determine the radius of turn a 4.6m diameter Tunnel Boring Machine could have? (im building fictional underground labs in the desert)

I have chosen this kind of Tunnel Boring Machine to make the tunnels (4.6m diameter). The curvature of the tunnels depends on the radius of turn the machine has. The idea is to build underground ...
olivia__bd's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
210 views

Non absurd way to lay a cable over light years of distance [closed]

This isn't entirely hard science but bear with me. (Prologue) In the near future, a series of increasing heavy elements are synthesized building on the theory of islands of stability, incredibly ...
MegatheriumMegafauna's user avatar
-1 votes
2 answers
70 views

Collectible energy resources in sci-fi world [closed]

I am exploring a post-apo sci-fi world TTRPG game where the PCs need to collect some kind of treasure. Unlike fantasy games, gold doesn't seem adequate. I thought collecting energy sources would be ...
gruszczy's user avatar
  • 849
8 votes
12 answers
3k views

What would justify the use of homing pigeons in a world where sending digital messages is a viable option? [duplicate]

The setting is a post-scarcity civilization, where a galactic government exists, but due to the limitations on faster-than-light travel, each world is relatively self-governed. I want a city on one of ...
koi's user avatar
  • 311
3 votes
2 answers
855 views

How would weather work on a planet with no rotation and constant sun on all sides?

A while ago I had an idea of a man made planet that consist of a thick, incredibly strong, outer crust, and at the core there is an antigravity/antimatter device that also produces consistent heat and ...
nutella breakfast 's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
284 views

Office Superpowers: which augmented soft skills help with happiness? [closed]

Office Universe: In my fictional universe, superpowers exist, but they manifest in a peculiar manner. Individuals are granted abilities that are strictly related to enhancing their office work and ...
Enthu5ed's user avatar
  • 3,739
8 votes
6 answers
4k views

How are custom organs controlled by the brain?

In various sci fi settings you'll often see soldiers that have been modified beyond their baseline human level. Sometimes they are genetically grown this way, but other times they're modified as ...
FIRES_ICE's user avatar
  • 2,963
1 vote
2 answers
195 views

Black Hole Containment

Black holes are often featured in advanced sci-fi technology. A significant challenge for such technology is the safe containment of a black hole. Some stories have electrically charged black holes. I'...
Kronimiciad's user avatar
  • 2,561
1 vote
2 answers
127 views

Could Aluminum-Based Placoderm-like Tooth Structure Break a Human Skull?

I have a monster in mind, but a major part of its introduction to the story is that I want to have it bite a human soldier's skull clean off. Its teeth are similar in structure to a Placoderm's, but ...
TheDarkeLordeReturns's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
219 views

What would be the fastest concoction of natural poisons to kill a person?

I am coming up with a character that is able to produce poisons from his own body. He does this by analyzing the DNA of various poisonous animals and plants, and being able to 'manufacture' whatever ...
GuyRansom's user avatar
31 votes
23 answers
7k views

Why would cyborgs, assuming they are rare, be found in the lower classes rather than the elite?

In my world, advanced technological body modification exists. Those with any sort of modifications are rare, and those with extensive modifications are even rarer. These rare and uncommon cyborgs are ...
Clock World's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
1k views

What would be an appropriate size for an interplanetary bulk cargo ship?

I've been working with a friend to design a sci-fi setting for a TTRPG campaign and one of the issues I've run into is the scale of food production and transportation within the setting. In the ...
Space_Trash's user avatar
14 votes
3 answers
4k views

How plausible might planimals be, and what would they be like?

This question is in relation to speculative biology/evolution: A genre of science fiction and hypothetical branch of science which seeks to explore "what if" questions about life using ...
LordMalecith's user avatar
3 votes
6 answers
397 views

How to keep a city floating beneath the surface of an exoplanet's ocean in place?

How would I be able to explain a city that is underwater, floating in place and such. Without it constantly moving. Basically, how can I explain how it stays in place and doesn't get pushed all across ...
DanceroftheStars's user avatar
-1 votes
2 answers
133 views

How would law-enforcement authorities tell a clone from the original? [duplicate]

Something I've been pondering- in a future where it's possible to create a clone of a specific person at the age that person is now (instead of as a baby) and, for various reasons government and law ...
king of panes's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
286 views

What would a planet where giant creatures live be like? (gravity, weather, etc.)

I am thinking about a planet on which gorilla-like people live in. Gorilla-shaped, walking on their knuckles, but with the capability of complex speech and a slightly more humanoid face (possessing a ...
nunchucks's user avatar
5 votes
6 answers
1k views

Eyes that aren’t spheres: possibilities? [duplicate]

I have a sci-fi-like universe and one of the species has long, vertical eyes. But would this be anatomically possible without a sphere-like structure? I know that compound eyes are a thing, but how &...
apsistema's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
103 views

Motivations for creating "brainstar" bioplanets [closed]

I define a "bioplanet" as any single organism that completely covers the surface of a planet. In my scenario, humans pass Kardashev Type I status and build a Matrioshka brain around the core ...
Strava Ostetnis's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
92 views

Can an advanced android interface with nature to repair themselves? [closed]

Context: This takes place in a soft science, post apocalyptic world. The actual time is a WIP, but technology would be advanced, post nuclear age but not quite interstellar travel. The world itself ...
Saxionkin's user avatar
  • 433
4 votes
1 answer
386 views

Symbiotic brain [closed]

I like to take mythological humanoid creatures and reimagine them in multiple species of primates. For instance, wendigos are just skinny-but-strong gigantopithecus that wear bones/skull of their prey....
lollo259's user avatar
  • 433
0 votes
2 answers
163 views

What long term effects would an eruption of the ring of fire have on Earth? [closed]

We all know about the ring of fire, and we all know what happens when a volcano erupts. For context: this is set in the near future, with humans living in high-tech protective domes during/following ...
Saxionkin's user avatar
  • 433
4 votes
6 answers
2k views

Is it possible to store the gravitational energy between planets somewhere in space? [closed]

Say I have a space station operating between Mars and earth. Can it somehow steal energy from Mars- Earth Earth - Sun Sun - Mars Combinations of gravitational pulls? Would it distort he orbits?
user1194497's user avatar
-4 votes
2 answers
93 views

Is there such there frequency reasonance that could through entanglement be used to exchange all the atoms in a field from the frequency here/there [closed]

I am a science fiction writer. In my world there is this space ship that has a drive that has a real time mapper that can map the atomic particle frequency in this space, map the frequency of a far ...
Rena D's user avatar
  • 1
2 votes
2 answers
249 views

How do robots gain independence? [closed]

Something I'm working on- in a spacefaring human society, while most robots are still considered property of a specific human being or institution, a slowly growing number have managed to gain an ...
king of panes's user avatar
2 votes
5 answers
291 views

Why is my laser’s effectiveness dependent on the target material?

This is for a moderately hard sci-if (as in, as real as I can get it, minus FTL & humanoid aliens) Side B has been captured by Side A, in order to get them to fight Side C. But Side B has a plan, ...
Blue Skin and Glowing Red Eyes's user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
4k views

Could a planet orbiting a star have a habitable moon and this moon have its own moon orbiting it?

Could a star system exist where a body orbiting the star has an inhabited planet moon orbiting it instead of the sun? And the inhabited planet moon has its own smaller satellite. I have very little ...
smunji's user avatar
  • 151
11 votes
10 answers
3k views

Engines capable of surviving a highly destructive space battle

Context: It is set 50 000 years from "now" in no-FTL interstellar setting. The idea is that active defences and armor of spacecrafts have obscenely advanced to the point that any projectile ...
Kugelblitz's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
199 views

An eye that can see all the electromagnetic spectrum from gamma rays to radio waves [closed]

Imagine humans with a brain capable of processing gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet, and infrared radiation. Would the resulting image be a juxtaposition of how the image would look for each specific ...
lollo259's user avatar
  • 433
4 votes
3 answers
2k views

Birds flying or swimming in space

I had a dream. Imagine the Moon as a bird nest the size of a dwarf planet. Flocks of adult birds travel through space to Earth in order to hunt their prey. (imagine gannet birds swimming in space) ...
lollo259's user avatar
  • 433
2 votes
1 answer
195 views

What potentially breathable gas behaves the most like a liquid?

So I've already found that Neon seems to be the highest viscosity gas, at least that I can find. However, I don't feel like simply adding a lot of Neon to the atmosphere of my fictional planet of ...
Laz's user avatar
  • 21
10 votes
15 answers
3k views

What makes my artificial intelligence indestructible, but containable?

In my story, I have Artificial Intelligences that turn against their creators (think something akin to Skynet). These AIs are bent on the destruction of humanity. Humans and the AIs go to war ...
Kal Madda's user avatar
  • 1,851
2 votes
1 answer
77 views

Minimal inductance vs Superconductors and Unintended Consequences

I have a setting with railguns. To make them more feasible I have some particles that can be applied to metals, wirings etc.. These particles can change the properties of the metals/objects or the ...
FIRES_ICE's user avatar
  • 2,963
1 vote
1 answer
283 views

Is there any general word for a space between universes?

I have many imaginary worlds in my head that are all separate from each other and they exist in bubbles but plenty of worlds have enough tech and/or magic (depending on how the individual world works) ...
ProtoKirby's user avatar
12 votes
4 answers
3k views

Feasibility of a 5000km tall orbital tower using active support

Note: I'm working on a far future sci-fi setting for a novel series which aims to blend elements of both "soft" and "hard" science fiction concepts. I'm aiming for the series to be ...
Nemactual's user avatar
  • 195

1
2 3 4 5
48