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.
2,380
questions
5
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Is it possible for a group/clan of 10k people to start their own civilization away from other people in 2050? Like the Amish but with more technology?
They are a group of fed up people in a third world country who somehow acquire/buy land in a remote place near the Himalayas.
Ignore the powers like China trying to conquer them.
Is this possible in ...
- 59
12
votes
12
answers
3k
views
Can it make sense for a spaceship to be crewed by many individual AI, rather than a handful with all the processing power?
Related to my previous question regarding fine dining for computer processes.
Background
We've got a spaceship sailing through the ocean black, crewed entirely by self-aware artificial intelligences. ...
- 14.2k
3
votes
2
answers
400
views
Sci-Fi Science: Ramifications of Photon-to-Axion Conversion
I'm considering what consequences would come from the development of hypothetical devices that could convert photons to axions at cost and power requirements accessible to governments, large ...
- 327
3
votes
2
answers
256
views
Effectiveness of antimatter particle accelerators in space warfare
I came up with this idea for a space-based weapon and I'm wondering how viable it actually is. The weapon is made possible using portals.
The Portals
The portals are a clarketech produced by a portal ...
- 1,842
6
votes
4
answers
830
views
Developing a Theoretical Quantum Effect and Experimental Methods for 'Heat Death' in a Science Fiction Universe
I am currently crafting a science fiction story in which humanity confronts an unprecedented threat: a novel form of 'heat death' that causes matter to cease to exist when it reaches certain ...
- 846
3
votes
5
answers
1k
views
This drug can rewire the brain and “insta-teach”. How fast can I make it work?
I’ve got a nice new technique that, to put it simply, uses a sort of drug to target neurons, pump out more receptors and/or transmitters, and alter connectivity among brain cells, allowing the brain’s ...
- 889
2
votes
1
answer
86
views
How can floating islands of vegetation prevent getting beached on continental land masses?
The title says most of it. The water-floating islands are several kilometers large, made of earth-like vegetation, but with some floating-island adaptions, like mangrove salt-tolerance and roots that ...
- 867
3
votes
4
answers
167
views
Would a life support system designed for space be practical on a planet?
Considering the:
required reflectivity and insulation from heat from a star,
heat dissipation capability (radiators, other methods),
general conductivity of the skin,
of a modern spacecraft e.g. ISS,...
- 412
2
votes
2
answers
241
views
What medical problems would doctors in a far future setting, plausibly have trouble dealing with?
This is based on another thread in regards to how you can avoid having sci fi technology be a deus ex machina.
So when it comes to writing inorganic technology, IE spaceships and laser guns, the laws ...
- 491
3
votes
4
answers
659
views
Is there a reason for Rocket-style vertical takeoff craft when you don't need to bring reaction mass?
Reactionless Drives?
I have a sci-fi setting that takes place very far in the future. I like to think it tends toward the harder side of sci-fi, so I'm trying to minimize the number of Clarketechs (...
- 452
8
votes
7
answers
797
views
In a scientifically-inclined world, what could be used to explain a magic system like the one described?
Basically, my world includes both magical and scientific elements, but it leans more towards being scientifically explainable (even if it usually ends up being more pseudoscience). As such, I want to ...
- 589
3
votes
3
answers
151
views
What could be used to explain the visual effect of the ‘Blackout Flare’ phenomena described?
As stated on a work-in-progress document for the phenomena I’m referring to as “Blackout Flares”:
A Blackout Flare is a short-lived, instantaneous warping of shadows produced by an object moving ...
- 589
2
votes
0
answers
40
views
How could I make an earth sized planet with 3 moons work? [duplicate]
Im world building an earth sized planet with 3 moons. These three moons are symbolic in my world with many religions on this world celebrating the number 3 and saying the best things come in 3. I was ...
1
vote
4
answers
211
views
How would I get a moose sized creature with no mouth to be able to survive?
The creature I have thought up has no mouth or eyes. It doesn't eat or drink. It feeds off of the energy present at the core of it planet.
The creature is the size of a moose. It has a skeletal and ...
- 19
6
votes
2
answers
212
views
How many different mines and extraction industries would a colony need in order to be able to produce equipment similar to what we have now?
Help me, you benevolent geology nerd!
This is a question I'm trying to find a workable (but not necessarily precise) answer for a colony-building sci-fi RPG game that I am GMing for some of my friends....
- 61
1
vote
1
answer
307
views
Extracting Magic out of Magic field [closed]
In a series like Harry Potter, magic is an entity that exists predominantly but still portrayed mysterious and rather unclear in its complete origins.
In my world too I am creating a similar sort of ...
- 238
1
vote
2
answers
173
views
Can it be called an 'illusion' if it can change things? [closed]
In a sci-fi book that I am still to write, can I use the word 'illusion' to denote extreme cases of mind trickery where such an 'illusion' can alter things and space around, example: people are able ...
2
votes
3
answers
268
views
What would be the fastest way to generate heat energy for damage?
For a suit of armour to deal damage via the hands/palms/claws primarily as an antihero/vigilante gimmick. Now thinking around ~2000°C (3632°F) (Containment is another question) but I need it hot ...
- 23
5
votes
4
answers
2k
views
What changes does physics require for a hollow earth?
Lets just assume I want a Hollow earth, similar to movies like the Monsterverse, etc, but without the plant/animal life. what changes does earth's structure or physics require for that?
Around the ...
- 163
10
votes
8
answers
4k
views
Are interstellar penal colonies a feasible idea?
I've been exploring the idea of an interstellar penal colony or prison planet from a realistic perspective. This idea is featured in many science fiction stories, but I've never really thought deeply ...
- 113
4
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Could algae and biomimicry create a carbon neutral jetpack?
In this fictional world a top aerospace engineer has created a carbon neutral jetpack design through two main inventions.
First to improve the efficiency of fuel creation, she has created a more ...
- 49
1
vote
6
answers
268
views
Why might a repressive order allow for flamboyant newscasters?
Thanks in advance and sorry if this isn't within the scope of the forum, I'm new but I've lurked so I totally get it if this doesn't really fit.
Anyway, let's get into it. Setting is a far-future ...
- 99
6
votes
5
answers
479
views
Surviving Organ Failure
This is a re-phrasing of the question "How Would Metabolism Work For A Zombie?".
It's the year 2026 and a new engineered virus turns people into zombies who are very stupid and can only ...
- 445
3
votes
2
answers
149
views
Habitable zone of this red giant
I have a Red Giant star of about ~4.15 solar masses (a number I generated from what I found to be the average size of red giants).
My question for right now would be "What would be the habitable ...
- 33
4
votes
7
answers
424
views
What is a plausible sex determination system with males, females and multiple hermaphroditic sexes?
EDIT: I unexpectedly had a possible solution to this come to me, and posted it as answer here. Please look it up and give feedback on it.
I'm trying to come up with a plausible sex determination ...
- 814
4
votes
3
answers
463
views
Effects of metal-augmented skeletons on behaviour and evolution
In the planet I'm working on, strong tidal forces meant early on in evolutionary history most organisms developed a nacre or chitin-like composites with calcium carbonate, even in internal skeletons.
...
- 381
2
votes
1
answer
81
views
What could cause a star system's protoplanetary disk to fragment more easily?
Essentially I'm looking to fill a star system with as many planetary bodies as I can, and I figure the larger the objects get, the more planets get crushed together or flung out of the system. There's ...
- 381
8
votes
12
answers
7k
views
Why don't my hover tanks fly?
I have a setting where the surface of a planet is slowly being terraformed by a hostile force. The ground is slowly changing into a swampy/sludgy liquid like consistency. Stepping or driving through ...
- 2,963
2
votes
1
answer
162
views
Ideal location for settlement on Bishop Ring Space habitat
let's take a Bishop Ring, with a diameter of approximately 1800km, 460km wide and with retention walls 150 km tall. At the centre of the ring there is an artificial sun that recreates a day/night ...
- 113
2
votes
2
answers
239
views
Ways to harvest hydrogen (apart from sun and giant planets)
Various posts and articles discuss the possibility to harvest hydrogen (but also Helium etc...) from the Sun or the giant planets, Uranus appearing the be the most favourable for this operation.
Is ...
- 113
4
votes
2
answers
349
views
Breathable air on large space habitat with no water?
I am theorising a scenario in which humans land on a continent-size space habitat of alien origin (probably a rotating habitat).
The gravity is similar to Earth's (96/97% of Earth's) and the air is ...
- 113
1
vote
1
answer
348
views
Is it possible for a race of alien humanoids to evolve a diet based of semen?
On this planet there are two species of alien humanoids creatures , one group evolved an omnivore based diet and the other has a semen based diet, both groups are bipedal and share a common ancestor.
...
user103236
3
votes
2
answers
269
views
How to make intragalactic space navigation difficult
Say there are two factions in a cold war with each other. Each faction controls huge amounts of the known galaxy, but there is a demilitarized neutral zone in-between them. Both factions have access ...
- 133
2
votes
2
answers
117
views
What are some good Methods to Extinguish Forced Psychological Conditioning?
Premise:
Suppose sometime in the future you have an evil empire (morally ambiguous scientocracy) with the capability to rapidly induce extremely potent and enduring psychological conditioning in human ...
- 321
0
votes
4
answers
214
views
Would it make more sense to terraform a planet with a single climate or multiple varieties of climate?
A human civilization in my story has terraformed hundreds, possibly thousands of planets across their galaxy to support life. They have done this by changing the atmospheres, adding minerals into the ...
- 1,851
2
votes
3
answers
650
views
Frozen Stars - Alternate sources of electricity
As in my previous question, I was talking about survival, when the parent star of a planet, Eridanus, froze due to some unknown cause. So the residents of this planet Taurus, the Villagers, have done ...
- 3,304
3
votes
2
answers
184
views
How can I hide a flying city? [closed]
In my writings I've created an island I need to hide. The island itself is around 100-200 square miles in area and the island rests around 12,000 feet in the air and is surrounded by a mountain range ...
- 41
9
votes
9
answers
3k
views
Implementing a system of "happiness currency" in a transhumanist society as a way to avoid wireheading
I am writing a transhumanist science fiction story that employs a system called "utility vouchers". A utility voucher is a redeemable unit of value that humans are allotted on an egalitarian ...
- 117
-4
votes
1
answer
97
views
For a 60 billion light year journey, what would be the distance with this wormhole? [closed]
An advanced human civilization possesses Portal Engine technology built in to their ships. These portal engines produce traversable wormholes from one end (the ship’s end of the wormhole), and uses ...
- 1,851
5
votes
4
answers
562
views
Stranded mining colony using its own resources to build an interplanetary spacecraft: how long to completion can I credibly make it? (More = better)
Setting
In the not-too-far future, Mars hosts a few mining complexes that extract, refine and send materials back to our planetary system, as well as some scientific research bases. Commutes between ...
- 465
0
votes
1
answer
90
views
Would it be possible to alter the chemical composition of a planet’s atmosphere for humans? [closed]
If my civilization (composed of humans who have extremely advanced technology such as portal engines (which can create traversable wormholes from one end) is terraforming worlds and creating colonies ...
- 1,851
2
votes
3
answers
295
views
KBC Void Stupendously Massive "Vacuum Hydrogen" generators- How to convert the Anti-Hydrogen into Hydrogen?
So, let me get this straight right here.
According to Wikipedia:
"The KBC Void (or Local Hole) is an immense, comparatively empty
region of space,...... The underdensity is proposed to be ...
- 3,304
1
vote
2
answers
278
views
How would my collapsible sword blade work?
The collapsible sword in question would be:
3 feet / 90 cm long total length of handle + blade. The blade would be 2 feet / 60 cm long, and the handle would be 1 foot / 30 cm long. (Handle could be ...
- 1,851
-2
votes
2
answers
234
views
How hard would it be for a cockroach to massacre over a dozen humans at around the same scale 'barehanded'?
I know ANOTHER weird cockroach question, but bare with me.
I have this very W.I.P story about an non-governmental organization that wants to send out people to make peaceful first contact(not ...
- 1,421
3
votes
1
answer
751
views
Survival in a low-oxygen environment
I have a small group of astronauts in a damaged vessel, adrift for days with a non-functional environmental system/scrubbers. Ambient oxygen levels are low, but they have some emergency tanks of ...
- 39
11
votes
4
answers
4k
views
How would a future humanity "terraform" the moon?
Let's say, hypothetically (perhaps in the setting of a book series), Earth is temporarily destroyed. Antimatter weapons have been used in self-defense during a violent conflict. Now, thousands of ...
- 309
3
votes
8
answers
2k
views
What would prevent androids and automatons from completely replacing the uses of organic life in the Sol Imperium?
In my world, androids at the equivalent, or higher, of human intelligence are commonplace. In fact, almost half of the sentient workforce in my world is composed of androids. Much of the less ethical ...
- 101
2
votes
6
answers
890
views
Can an exploding object survive? [closed]
Imagine a small object (a sphere in my mind) buried underground. This object is meant to cause some vibrations around and then take some measurements.
In order to cause the vibrations, I see no option ...
- 151
3
votes
2
answers
206
views
Can I Make Glass with just Pure Quartz Sand and Magical Heat Powers?
Okay, I've been researching how to make Glass for a character with powers that include Sand and Heat. But, I keep getting results about soda–lime glass/soda–lime–silica glass. Along with purities of ...
5
votes
2
answers
362
views
Is there a way for a Super-Earth have Earth-like Gravity?
I have a planet about 2 Earth Radii large, and even at a lighter Density this puts it squarely in the 10 Earth Mass Range and about 2.5g. It's about 90% ocean, has a thick atmosphere, and near ...
- 381