Questions tagged [technological-development]
For questions about the progress of a society's technological state.
598
questions
2
votes
3answers
219 views
On a world that is ravaged by Carrington Events, is there any way for the inhabitants to develop electricity?
Inspired by the question On an Earth regularly ravaged by solar storms as strong as as the Carrington Event, how would technology advance?
On a world that is ravaged by monthly Carrington Events, it ...
5
votes
7answers
2k views
How to justify small Hominids not being conquered by (anatomically modern) Humans?
So in my setting there's a group of Hominids distantly related to humans.
They live in a forested continent on the coast of which humans have created colonies.
They have patchy light brown skin for ...
1
vote
1answer
62 views
How would you rebuild a time machine in the wilderness? [closed]
In my game the player travels to a parallel dimension and their time machine gets heavily damaged. So now they have to use the resources in the world to rebuild/repair it. We can assume that the ...
5
votes
7answers
2k views
How do I make a steam engine work - with next-to-zero hydrocarbons, or, for that matter, biomatter - to use as fuel?
Let's say that my colony ship crash-landed on an atmosphere-less planet. Sure, there might be sub-surface pockets that have evolved primitive life, but sulfur and phosphorous are at a premium in the ...
3
votes
4answers
148 views
Manufacturing and interchangeable parts in a pre industrial world
Let’s assume this is a society that has some knowledge of advanced technology but is currently in the 16/17th century politically and technologically. How would a society before the industrial ...
4
votes
2answers
146 views
Recreating planes at an industrial level in the 15th century
A portal has opened up in our world, leading to a world which is similar to the technological and cultural level of the the middle ages(15th Century).The Government has figured out how to send people ...
9
votes
7answers
1k views
What materials would merfolk use to craft armor?
What materials in the environment could merpeople use to make armor? The merpeople live in the mediterranean sea and have contact and trade with humans who could provide resources and craft the armor ...
-4
votes
1answer
85 views
Could a planet with only a population of 750 million achieve the technology to achieve hyper light travel? [closed]
To be clear hyper light travel is not the same as FTL travel. Hyper light travel works in a way that is similar to Issac Asimov’s hyperdrive, it transports the ship into another dimension in which ...
12
votes
23answers
6k views
Reasons why a high tech species does not have space travel
I am writing a story where humanity has advanced technology, but I want to give a justification for why they are still on their planet. Here humanity has advanced ai, superconductors, laser weapons ...
5
votes
2answers
93 views
Urban and suburban architecture on a perpetually stormy planet
In a setting I'm working on, a raised megacity the size of Switzerland (roughly 300,000 square kilometres) serves as the last refuge of humanity on a planet entirely covered by a global ocean. An ...
23
votes
30answers
7k views
Why would civilizations have no major technological development even after ten thousand years?
Basic Introduction (story background for anyone interested)
I have a character whose punishment for causing massive genocide was immortality for ten thousand years. To be more specific, after his ...
3
votes
2answers
98 views
Technology disparities between nations and internal organizations [closed]
I'm doing a series of world-building for an alternate world in a very low magic setting, basic premise is that 3000 years ago, in a dnd like a world, Wizards in order to prevent magical wars from ...
7
votes
5answers
216 views
Transportation in a fantasy world without wood
In my low-fantasy world wood is a very limited resource because all forests are haunted. Cutting a tree often means drawing the wrath of the creatures living in the woods, resulting in some very ...
3
votes
15answers
4k views
What is an expedience of sci-fi gliders? these machines flying near the very ground
What is an expedience of sci-fi gliders? these machines flying near the very ground.
It doesn't matter what they call them there (in different way).
No matter what specific principle they fly - what ...
1
vote
1answer
109 views
Development of a multi-color writing system
On earth, the first writing systems developed for accounting. You just cannot run an empire like Egypt or Mesopotamia without writing down who paid his taxes. Let alone organize mega-projects such as ...
1
vote
3answers
116 views
How well would a transplanted human civilization keep its technology and culture?
The people's of the 12 World's draw their lineage to various earthly civilizations.The magical 'events' that brought them to there new home's would also often bring along their belongings and ...
8
votes
2answers
232 views
Sailing Ships For The Vārẽn Sea
PROJEKT ' ABYDOS '
The (as of yet pretty ill-defined) setting of one of my worldbuilding projects is the Vārẽn Sea (working title). It's a large gulf that opens into waters with a large amount of ...
-1
votes
1answer
92 views
Could a city's groundwater be isolated and manipulated? [closed]
On Earth, many cities and regions experience periods of drought, despite the fact that so much of of Earth's surface is covered with water.
With underground engineering and enough energy and ...
20
votes
12answers
5k views
Pre-Modern Shipping Containers?
Modern international trade basically runs on standardized shipping containers and the infrastructure developed to handle them. Looking at just a small part of it, using crane to unload full containers ...
5
votes
2answers
174 views
How would warfare differ in a futuristic world without satellites?
In my soft sci fi/science fantasy world, humanity lives in a hollow planet. A long, long time ago, an alien species put them there and created a field that prevents anything from entering the planet's ...
1
vote
2answers
173 views
People who are interested and some what experts of history and maybe tech, what would you do in this very isekai situation? [closed]
In this impossible hypothetical situation, let's say through some supernatural means, you are transported to the royal palace of a rather small but rich kingdom that are rich in resources/raw ...
19
votes
6answers
4k views
What is the most useful information to recover from an apocalypse?
The world ends tomorrow, you can't stop it and you will die. You can, however, put information on a hard drive(s). What information has the best ratio of "days until world back to pre apocalypse ...
2
votes
5answers
179 views
non-lethal military force [closed]
A non lethal military force goes both ways, it's not just about not killing the enemy while also capturing them, this is the easy part.
But also about not getting killed yourself, this is the hard ...
6
votes
7answers
569 views
how might look and be used the firearm hand weapon for four-handed humanoids?
i mean, our firearms, in many ways, are depend on this fact - that we only have 2 hands. What would the weapon look like, its ergonomics and its qualities and properties and usage - if the use of 4 ...
2
votes
3answers
136 views
How advanced should a science fiction setting be in terms of secondary technologies? [closed]
One thing I’ve been thinking about with respect to science fiction settings in the relatively near future is the question of the overall technology level and how much things should advance in fields ...
2
votes
1answer
57 views
How advanced could a society of intelligent magpies get with help from humans?
How advanced could a society of smart magpies get with help from humans? The magpies have the assistance of near future humans. These magpies are regular Australian magpies, aside from their ...
0
votes
2answers
75 views
Could these species create complex technology together? [closed]
On an alien world there are 4 species:
The networkers are slow-moving herbivores capable of speech. They have very loud, deep voices, allowing them to speak over long distances
The sparklers are ...
4
votes
2answers
94 views
How can a gas giant's magnetosphere affect a supposedly habitable tidally locked moon orbiting it?
I have been working on an habitable moon orbiting a gas giant about 3 times the mass of jupiter and lately I have been having issues assessing how the giant's magnetosphere may affect it. To give you ...
2
votes
6answers
783 views
How would a world with limited access to modern technology work?
The setting is a semi-modern fantasy world with pockets of population separated by huge expanses of wild land where monsters and other predatory creatures live, keeping civilization from expanding too ...
8
votes
11answers
2k views
Uses for Griffins and Other Flying Creatures in a Modern Air Force?
My book series is set in a rapidly industrializing galaxy, and one of my planets (which has a sort of late medieval-early Renaissance tech level) has griffins, pegasi, hippogriffs, and other large ...
2
votes
5answers
381 views
Could plastic have been made in the medieval period?
So, plastics are made by refining oils. I've been researching the process for a little bit, and while I haven't found a video that really helps me understand exactly what physical devices are needed ...
3
votes
2answers
145 views
What is the viability of mineral-infused seawater as an effective conductor for an aquatic species' electrical needs?
In another post on this brilliant site I saw someone suggest that an aquatic species could make insulated tubes filled with seawater to transmit electricity, with the only downside being that seawater ...
6
votes
6answers
2k views
How sophisticated could a society be if knowledge depends only on some kind of religious cult or administrative group?
I been reading this question and it makes me think a lot. So I came with a question of my own.
In a resume, the post presents a world where everyone is illiterate. Some said that the society could be ...
8
votes
14answers
2k views
What point of departure would incite the medieval peoples to develop The Industrial Revolution at an earlier date than back home?
In our timeline, the Industrial Revolution spanned from 1760 to 1820...or 1840, depending on which source we're talking about. Bottom line is, this period in modern history was a pretty big deal, ...
1
vote
2answers
111 views
How advanced would a civilisation need to be to notice one of their system's planets is tidally locked?
Picture a tidally locked planet that is also the closest planet to the star (~0,17 AU from a star with a luminosity of ~1,5 times that of the Sun).
The side of the planet that faces the star would ...
10
votes
3answers
2k views
Does charcoal fully substitute for coal except in quantity?
For smelting iron, you need a fuel that's nearly pure carbon, which has typically been either charcoal or coal. The former is the more easily obtained; when the forests were too depleted to provide ...
1
vote
2answers
113 views
Gunpowder is delayed until around the industrial revolution, what are the results? [closed]
So gunpowder is one of those inventions that could have easily been delayed, because there was no logical reason to mix those ingredients together for an intended purpose. It thus seems reasonable ...
30
votes
12answers
6k views
In a world where wood is scarce, what are the most important things you need wood for?
In most large civilizations on Earth, wood has been a fairly plentiful resource, so we've used it for all sorts of things: Houses, boats, carts, spears, arrows, bows, shields, barrels, firewood, paper ...
2
votes
5answers
254 views
Technological progression over 1000 years
Would it make sense to go from the technological equivalent of the 18th/19th century to a cyber-esque/modern society in the span of 1000 years? Are there any reasons that can be applied for this ...
5
votes
6answers
1k views
What would replace/be the next evolution of tanks in the future
What would tank design or even replacements look like in the far future. The proposed tech level is something akin to the expanse, but for hand wavy reasons ships in orbit cannot just bombard enemy ...
11
votes
6answers
2k views
A planet without the materials to make jet engines -- plausible? [closed]
A continuation of Are there *plausible* planetary conditions where jet aircraft just don't have much advantage over propeller-driven aircraft?
OBJECTIVE: A planet where propeller-driven aircraft ...
5
votes
4answers
316 views
What are limitations to 3D printing in the near future?
Extrapolating ~10-20 years from our current technology, what are some limitations with 3-D printing? Is the ability to print any type of matter in reach, or are there some fundamental issues that ...
4
votes
1answer
141 views
Is it possible to create an alternate reality through intercepting neurons and creating artificial neuron signals like in SAO (Sword Art Online)
I have been thinking a lot about creating an Alternate Reality that would essentially allow you to experience similar or as close as possible sensations as if in real life, and I really need some help ...
7
votes
4answers
438 views
Technological development of an electricity producing species? (renaissance era)
I have some intelligent dragons that can discharge electricity.(Lets assume they can somehow release this electricity through contact with an object/animal when outside the water, as air is of course ...
4
votes
8answers
1k views
How could a message system made by spheres work?
In my story, people communicate through "orbs", which are spheres of a material similar to glass, but much more resistant. Basically people write a message on them with their fingers and the ...
10
votes
6answers
501 views
Advanced mechanical engineering without electricity in a traditionally medieval fantasy setting?
Could you have advanced mechanical engineering without, say, advanced electrical engineering accompanying it? Thick clockwork, clickety clackety stuff, does it need steam/electricity by default? How ...
1
vote
3answers
90 views
Gravity at the interior poles inside a large spinning sphere?
From other answers I've determined that gravity on the interior of a large spinning sphere (like a Dyson Sphere) could create a desired gravity at the equator at the inner surface.
But what would ...
5
votes
12answers
822 views
Bootstrapping first metals and electricity without help of "easy" fire
Short version kindly provided by Innovine
How do elves bootstrap their first metals and electricity production?
Without burning easy stuff humans had for their initialization. If it is not possible ...
7
votes
4answers
2k views
Could sapient amphibians develop metallurgy?
I want to create a sapient, amphibious species who have developed a civilization around as advanced as late bronze age Egypt and the Middle East. I would want to know if these sapient amphibians could ...
1
vote
2answers
235 views
How would stone age settlements interact with, and be influenced by closely neighbouring high-tech civilisation?
I've tried to find real world examples where something like Maasai Tribes, or groups of a similar life style, that live more or less alongside a high-tech civilisation, but I haven't been able to. ...
