Questions tagged [science-fiction]
For questions relating to worlds with a setting of common science-fiction.
6
votes
5answers
238 views
Explaining pyrokinesis powers
I write sci-fi, and I don't love fudging important things. I have a character that was a victim of genetic experiments (I know how original). I want to find a semi-reasonable way to explain this.(not ...
13
votes
6answers
1k views
Time travel from stationary position?
This is my first question on this site, which I recently found and can’t get enough of.
In many time travel scenarios, the machine is static in space. My question is how to explain this. For ...
1
vote
1answer
80 views
What society/government would be stable if people get superpowers randomly? [on hold]
To refine the question:
Goal: a society/government capable of lasting centuries. This takes place somewhere within a technological time period (1000BCE to 1000CE). No gunpowder or explosives. I'm ...
6
votes
6answers
1k views
Humanity loses the vast majority of its technology, information, and population in the year 2122. How long does it take to rebuild itself? [on hold]
The year is 2122. An AI created in the year 2115 with complete, unfettered access to control of the entirety of Earth's electronic equipment has caused a mass extinction event of humanity after ...
0
votes
0answers
97 views
An immanent, Omnipresent, all-seeing eye [closed]
By the title, I don't really mean the type of all-seeing eye that Sauron in the LOTR is, where it's perched on a tower watching all over middle earth, looking for his ring etc. I mean an all seeing ...
6
votes
2answers
216 views
Is it possible for something like a werewolf to exist? [closed]
The most impressive thing to me about how werewolves are used in fiction, is their ability to transform humans into other werewolves with their bites. Aside from the full moon myth, could it be ...
5
votes
2answers
180 views
What's the minimum time that it would take for an advanced species to create an ecumenopolis?
In figuring out the rough timeline for my sci-fi, I've run into an interesting dilemma. As it stands right now, There are about 90 years in between one of my civilizations discovering space travel and ...
0
votes
1answer
85 views
How would a receding sea level affect cities along Asian & Australian coastlines?
To make a long story short, the previous ice age resulted in not just massive glaciers and building snow from appearing, but larger landmass as well due to most of the water being frozen from the ...
8
votes
5answers
216 views
How can I make a dense asteroid field?
Okay, so I'm working on a novel and I'd like to have a dense asteroid field, something akin to the old ESB Hoth field, though it doesn't need to match that exactly. The notion is there is an advanced ...
12
votes
8answers
3k views
How would an energy-based “projectile” blow up a spaceship?
I have noticed this in many fictions: during a battle between spaceships exchanging fire in empty space, a pulse of laser fire hits the hull and the entire spaceship explodes into many pieces.
Is ...
0
votes
0answers
57 views
Mass human die off [duplicate]
If there was a mass human die off, let's say due to a super-flu pandemic, what would be the greatest danger to the survivors in regards to dealing with bodies? Typhoid? Any other secondary diseases? ...
36
votes
11answers
10k views
Can a space-faring robot still function over a billion years?
This short story, which I've already written, is set in the FAR, FAR FUTURE, where a robotic space probe is exploring as much of the known universe as it can, despite its AI not knowing if its ...
0
votes
1answer
79 views
What are the implications of a race with multiple personalities [closed]
In my universe there is a race of proto-humans known as legionaries. They have a are a minority group and used to be even smaller, only living on one planet in the past. This race used to give birth ...
6
votes
4answers
155 views
Feasibility of A Decoy Earth
I am currently writing a story that involves the never-ending-theme of alien invasions. Assume Humans are roughly at a Type I civilization at this point. Humans have unfortunately wandered into a ...
11
votes
1answer
88 views
Degradable ammunition for electro magnetic guns
Would it be possible to make ammunition for railguns and gauss rifles that would degrade over time either through a natural process or by the means of star radiation, so the missed shots don't ...
1
vote
1answer
32 views
Could controlling the oceans result in a wide-spread freeze?
My idea is a device that gives its user great power over the ocean, its currents, and presumably temperatures. Could this be used to dramatically (and in relatively short time) effect the climate of a ...
5
votes
14answers
527 views
How can the remains of a god's corpse be kept off the black market and out of the hands of mortals?
A demigod is a mortal being infused with divine energy. This essence comes from a divine spark in their soul that activates due to some external traumatic event. This spark is very rare, and most ...
2
votes
2answers
58 views
Bicycles/human-powered vehicles on low gravity planets/moons?
In this scenario, humanity has managed to colonise some of the solar system, including Mars, some of the moons of Saturn and Jupiter and some of the larger asteroids of the belt. In most places they ...
0
votes
4answers
105 views
which problem can be solved by virtual world technology [closed]
can we use this technology to do scientific experiments(example : making The Large Hadron Collider, New medicines's reactions against virus and bacteria.)
maybe you can make the argument that the ...
1
vote
3answers
128 views
If aliens would be like us, how can we survive [closed]
We Humans are the most intelligent species of this planet, we have total control over all other species of this planet, we can use them however we want like (Food,clothes,experiments). We are the most ...
8
votes
2answers
162 views
Would Small Mecha be well-suited for Underground Warfare?
Assume a subterranean civilization exists with technology roughly on par with the modern era. With changes due to lack of certain environmental factors being likely due to the vastly different ...
9
votes
10answers
1k views
Plausible reason to leave the Solar System? [closed]
According to this article, it would take tens of thousands of years to travel to the nearest star given today's technology.
My question is, what could give the countries of today, or most of them at ...
0
votes
5answers
124 views
Is that possible to make a world in which no one needs to speak? [closed]
In my ideal world, everyone will be very very Intelligent. By that I mean everyone can think and feel what other people around them think and feel, so no one needs to talk with each other. Everyone ...
9
votes
6answers
1k views
What is a good way to explain how a character can produce flames from their body?
So in a webtoon that I am drawing/writing everyone is born with 1 or 2 psychic abilities that can range anywhere from teleportation, sensory manipulation, thermal conductivity, elemental kinesis ...
12
votes
6answers
2k views
What would be some possible ways of escaping higher gravity planets?
I know that chemical rockets would allow for some minor loads to escape the gravity of a planet with higher gravity.
My question is, what kind of technology would possibly allow a dominant species ...
22
votes
8answers
3k views
What could cause an entire planet of humans to become aphasic?
I'm working on a story in which there is some sort of planetary erosion of language. Humans lose the ability to communicate verbally (orally and written). They can remember having language, can even ...
1
vote
2answers
166 views
Properties of a planet roughly four times as big as Earth
I have some research I want to do about a planet for a novel I'm writing. It is a fiction/science fiction novel, but I do wish to actually have some parts of the world correct in the scenes I depict.
...
9
votes
4answers
1k views
How do sapient birds/theropods build their seats?
Thinking about the shape gets pretty weird.
So my species has a more or less horizontal posture, pretty much a small sentient raptor. They can assume an 'upright' position, but only in the sense of a ...
4
votes
4answers
154 views
How long could humans survive on my planet?
I have created a planet which is a clone of Earth. Except I messed up where wasps, cobras and scorpions were concerned and they have turned out to be the size of elephants (everything in proportion).
...
8
votes
1answer
296 views
Mathematics of monsters
Researching for a science fiction novel. My character loves math + I have dyscalculia = Problem. Therefore, I need your help.
In my story, there are aliens we can see, but we can't hear or touch. ...
-3
votes
7answers
303 views
A Theory for Science-Fiction Time-Travel
From H.G. Wells onward, there have been many stories concerning the phenomenon of time-travel. Few of them provide a plausible mechanism. For my story I would like to put forward such a theory.
We ...
-4
votes
1answer
86 views
What do you think about pulsed ntr as a low end torch drive [closed]
Can pulsed ntr be a good torch drive. Atomic rocket says that with some development it can be a low end torch ship. Suppose extraction of hot fission fragment is possible and and also better cooling ...
-2
votes
2answers
134 views
Help with military structuring [closed]
I'm building a military for this sci-fi book I'm writing, and I'm struggling with the hierarchy of command this military should follow. At this point, I'm just worried about the planetary forces, ...
3
votes
1answer
268 views
Would a planet the size of Mercury with the gravity of Earth be scientifically possible? [duplicate]
I'm trying to do calculations for a planet around the size of Mercury with the gravity of Earth. Would the gravity be too high for a planet this size? Do I have to change some numbers, or is this ...
-4
votes
1answer
69 views
What would be the most viable form of lighting in future bladerunner-esque cities? By viable, I mean widespread and efficient [closed]
Neon has been around for a very long time in cyberpunk narratives. LED seems like the way to go according to some of the responses - any other viable candidates?
1
vote
7answers
186 views
Problems Blending Sci-fi & Traditional Fantasy? [closed]
I have been cautioned against blending:
Traditional fantasy elements
Such as magic systems and exotic, less plausible creatures (on a scientific level - magic tends to explain away these beasts)
...
16
votes
13answers
3k views
Occupation Forces
So, I'm well aware that Sci-fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale. This is an effort to avert this for intragalactic conquest.
My mighty space navy has crushed a solar system's defensive fleet, and now ...
1
vote
2answers
102 views
How Long Would Interstellar Expansion Take at Our Current Population Growth in This Circumstance?
FTL (Faster than Light) travel exists,taking around 88 hours 48 seconds to travel 1 light year. FTL communications also exists and takes only 53.28 seconds to travel 1 LY (Light Year). Jumps longer ...
7
votes
1answer
98 views
How fast could a large creature feasibly grow and how much would it need to eat?
A creature in my story was largely inspired by the xenomorphs of the Alien franchise. In wondering how long it would take one of these creatures to grow from conception to maturity, I decided to look ...
3
votes
1answer
83 views
Laser Induced Plasma Channel Inspired Gun
The idea is for a gun that was manufactured by revolting mining colonists from existing mining lasers, as such a weapon would be easily procured from their own resources. The weapon itself would be ...
5
votes
2answers
177 views
Verbally communicating with a no-lips, no-nosed, spiked tooth alien
In my world, humans encounter an alien species. They want to communicate verbally with each other, so I'd like to know what sounds could be shared by both species.
The species has no/very thin lips, ...
5
votes
8answers
577 views
Small Species - What weapons would make sense?
One thing that I've been thinking about, for one of my sci-fi worlds, is the main race that inhabits it. They’re a small mammalian species, about three and a half feet tall on average, evolving on an ...
4
votes
3answers
1k views
Discovery of life on Mars [closed]
For months now I've had a dream, with every night building upon it. Only till recently I've decided to write it as a story. I'm by no means a writer, but once I started writing, I got this feeling ...
0
votes
0answers
32 views
How would humans adapt to be better suited to flight? [duplicate]
My main OC, I was thinking, could have some sort of jet pack/ propulsion device to be able to fly etc. But having recently read some articles about the barriers and the obstacles preventing humans ...
5
votes
2answers
457 views
What alterations without drastically altering their humanoid shape nor horns, can I make to my species that lower the risk of neck snapping?
continuing from the question I had asked yesterday, I have had another query come to mind. For my humanoid alien species to possess horns, it would surely put forward the risk of being the shortcut to ...
6
votes
4answers
239 views
Is it plausible for a being to possess a singular halo-shaped 'horn', while other members of the species possess two 'regular horns'?
I am currently working a humanoid roughly deer-like species in a sci-fi roleplay setting, and one of the developments I have had with such species has me stuck trying to explain it in a way that makes ...
2
votes
1answer
107 views
How strong would an armor made out of steel grain bonded with living GMO plant root possibly be?
In my setting that take place around a century from now, there is a military organization which consist of multiple fraction from various lawless independent industrial colonies. Their technology ...
3
votes
4answers
193 views
How wide would a Whipple shield on spacecraft traveling at near-luminal speeds need to be?
I was thinking about the classic beanpole design for interstellar travel. Wouldn't the Whipple shield need to be at least twice as wide as the ship is long to fully protect it from collisions with ...
6
votes
2answers
192 views
Can I contain and control a small black hole within a facility?
A black hole is supposed to suck in everything by nature. Micro black holes are theorized to "fizz out", so for example if one was on Earth it would not grow until Earth was consumed. It would seem ...
1
vote
1answer
190 views
Electric muscles
There is a popular belief that the muscles of our body are controlled only by electrical impulses. This is not entirely a lie, but ... From what little I have researched, the nerves send a command for ...
