Questions tagged [technology]
For questions about the creation, use, and application of all types of technology.
3
votes
2answers
28 views
Where must computers/telecommunication deviate from reality for a retrofuturistic setting?
I want to build a fantastical retrofuturistic setting, think Thundercats(2011) x Outlaw Star x Star*Drive.
I love the aesthetics of retrofuturistic settings, how yesterday saw tomorrow is very ...
2
votes
2answers
71 views
How to preserve and use assault rifles brought to the past
A group of time-traveling soldiers ends up in 15th century Europe. They have an arsenal of either AR's or SMG's and need to use them until their resources (ammo) run out. How can they preserve the ...
4
votes
6answers
972 views
How can I turn ice into gold?
I have my eyes on this new Porsche but all I have is an unlimited supply of ice and a molecular distillery. How can I convert this ice into gold?
The molecular distillery can disassemble and ...
4
votes
7answers
169 views
Locking an old spaceship from the outside?
I know it may be a bit of a silly question and not really something of great importance to a story, but how would you secure a spaceship when you leave?
For example; when the Millennium Falcon lands ...
0
votes
0answers
43 views
Could submachine guns be made in 14th-15th century? [duplicate]
If people of the 14th-15th century had the knowledge required to build a submachine gun, how would they do it and is it possible?
4
votes
1answer
148 views
Ancient, medieval, and middle ages ship speeds
I think an opportunity was missed when this question was asked, but closed.
It is relevant to worldbuilding in the same way that this question and this question are, to determine how far apart ...
1
vote
2answers
83 views
How realistic is it for civilization to regress to a pre-industrial era? [duplicate]
So here's a quick setup: One or two calamities hit as once. No one is spared and every nation on earth is effected by it. Soon the population dwindles to roughly the same number as the 1800's which is ...
1
vote
0answers
91 views
What's a modern era armor that would be best for a late medieval-style fantasy world? [on hold]
Armor has changed to meet the needs and demands of a particular time period's training, technology, and combat styles.
If you were sent to a medieval fantasy world- full of monsters, mounted knights,...
2
votes
2answers
123 views
Mechanism to slow down the light emitted by an object such that it will result in inaccurate position of the object to the observer?
Let's say that there are two people named S and C. They are not far apart; less than 10 meters. Let's also assume the scenario takes place in late evening or in the night, for simplicity.
Normally ...
4
votes
7answers
394 views
Most effective Faraday-Cage hat design to avoid government spying
A tin foil hat is a hat made from one or more sheets of aluminium
foil, or a piece of conventional headgear lined with foil, worn in the
belief or hope that it shields the brain from threats such ...
7
votes
3answers
411 views
Practicality Of Orbital Fusion Reactors for Power
Much of the struggle with terrestrial fusion power seems to be with keeping the ultra-hot plasma contained. In a classic Tokamak configuration, magnets using massive amounts of power, suspend the ...
13
votes
1answer
1k views
Could someone reasonably clean off and return a child's toy retrieved from a radioactive fallout zone?
So... I've been playing a lot of the video game Subnautica lately, which put me in the mood for a "trying to cope with being marooned on an alien planet" sort of story; however, there's something in ...
5
votes
2answers
65 views
Technological Animal Control
In various TV series and movies villains or organisations have been shown to control animals through technological or cybernetic means, such as the future predators in Primeval. These creatures have ...
4
votes
2answers
110 views
What water generating technology would be required to create a planetary scale flood?
Aqadatio is a planet which is completely flooded. This flood was generated by its own government to get out of debt (long story). The inhabitants of this planet are technologically advanced, more so ...
66
votes
34answers
18k views
What (modern) weapons could be used to destroy skeletal enemies as completely as possible?
As per the cliché, after getting hit by a truck, our protagonist finds herself in a 'swords and sorcery' fantasy world. Also as per the cliché, she is granted an overpowered ability to make her new ...
5
votes
3answers
147 views
How much equipment would be needed to set up a mining colony?
Setting: a mining colony on a distant world, exporting rare-earth minerals. As in many space opera stories, the world is a shirtsleeve environment with a reasonably pleasant biosphere.
Tech level: I ...
-1
votes
3answers
109 views
Using Snow to generate Electricity in Antarctica
So I had an idea for an emergency electricity generator that works like this: you fill a bucket up with snow, you pour it down a hatch and the snow spins some turbines which spin some generators to ...
5
votes
5answers
647 views
A Roman-technology clock run by slaves - how to make it accurate
In a land similar to the Roman Empire, slaves are used to drive machinery. Mostly this is a matter of getting them to pull carts or wind handles.
The Emperor wants a clock that is accurate to the ...
0
votes
1answer
100 views
What could prevent a planet from possessing magnets/electricity?
Without changing a planet from being habitable for humans and keeping a similar ecosystem why could intelligent races never access electricity?
What systems need to be erased from the planet to not ...
1
vote
2answers
245 views
How to keep intelligent races from discovering electricity?
Without changing a planet from being habitable for humans and keeping a similar ecosystem why could intelligent races never access electricity?
...
9
votes
1answer
106 views
What are the fundamental limitations of echolocation in Earth's atmosphere?
I'm writing a cyberpunk novel where one of the characters has an augmentation that allows them to echolocate.
The idea is that there is a device on the center of his forehead (is there a more optimal ...
29
votes
12answers
7k views
Enforcing a speed limit in medieval times
The Emperor has decreed that the speed limit for horses and horse-drawn vehicles within city limits is to be 5 leagues per hour. As usual he has left the implementation details to his Scientific ...
4
votes
5answers
148 views
Hypothetical: Could living standards improve in a zero economic and population growth society?
This is a hypothetical question, with the intention of exploring the nature of wealth and standard of living.
By zero growth, I mean that the output of goods and services produced per person does not ...
11
votes
9answers
4k views
Victorian CCTV?
In a setting of late Victorian technology, would it be possible to record and replay sound and light near-real-time similar to modern video-recordings?
The ideal criteria for the system would be (in ...
1
vote
2answers
308 views
What can I do with perfectly precise “weights”? [closed]
Suppose I have a few "weights". Half of them, and I know which half, has a mass EXACTLY, to infinite precision, twice the other half. I know that very quickly the weights will not be exactly related ...
8
votes
5answers
732 views
How much can you learn about a planet while in its orbit?
Suppose a team of astronauts have travelled to another solar system, and are currently living in a craft which is in Medium Earth Orbit of a planet which has oceans, continents, and complex life. ...
4
votes
4answers
1k views
Could an industrial and a post-industrial civilization exist at the same time?
One of the big issues I have run into while building the story I'm currently working on, is the fact that their are multiple nations that exist in an industrial state, while others are far past this ...
1
vote
2answers
130 views
Spaceship Engineering & Infrastructure Challenges: Air Currents
I have a spherical spaceship that is about 2 kilometers in diameter with an outer clear, yet strong shell. This spaceship is largely made up of empty space occupied by air. Aside from this the ...
9
votes
9answers
4k views
Would it be more efficient to build fleets in orbit?
My Dino theme park business didn't end well and I reluctantly fall into depression and decided to go into suspended animation to seek a cure. 200 years later, a lady claims she works with the military ...
1
vote
5answers
330 views
What's the next stage of transportation, after wormholes are invented?
I've seen many movies in which advanced civilizations use wormhole-opening technologies to either travel across the universe, or to simply get to the other side of a city. And this is also what I've ...
12
votes
6answers
1k views
How can a city state remain neutral among techno barbarian tribes? [closed]
There was an ancient war between two advanced alien civilizations that culminated in a battle over Earth. These two armies destroyed themselves in this final battle, but the fallout indirectly ravaged ...
5
votes
2answers
161 views
Minimum percentage of immune when epidemic lowers IQ in the 80's?
I have an epidemic of unknown origin spreading across the earth. The effects are decrease in cognitive ability to around 80+ IQ. So we have a surgeons who don't know how to operate, engineers who don'...
31
votes
10answers
7k views
Would using thick glass wall be better than electric fence for my dino theme park?
My company has perfected its gene modifying technique.We can create life-sized hybrids of dinosaurs, with the exact appetite and behaviour as the original species (at least according to our advice ...
8
votes
7answers
394 views
Technologically advanced civilization still using melee armor and weapons
Similar idea to this post, why would an advanced civilization able to create AI/ droids ranging from 'hardshell' (I-Robot (movie) or C3P0) to 'soft' (Bishop (Aliens)) still have use for melee combat, ...
1
vote
0answers
82 views
Creating a world run by corporations [closed]
Recently, CDPR Projekt Red released a trailer featuring a dystopian cyberpunk world more or less run by corporations. To give an example, the most powerful (and expensive) medical services group will ...
1
vote
1answer
118 views
Tanks in medieval age [closed]
If people of the medieval age or 14th century had knowledge over steam engines and decided to make tanks out of it, how would it work and how effective would it be? Since they would be big and heavy, ...
10
votes
3answers
466 views
How Long Would Artifacts Last Under the Moon's Surface?
How Long?
In the 1960s, unknown to most, the United States set up a secret base on the moon manned by an "extra" aboard each Apollo lander. NASA architects decided that the base must be built into ...
1
vote
2answers
109 views
Trains and light bulbs but no guns? [closed]
Would it make much sense in a sword (and possibly sorcery) world to have trains and light bulbs but no guns?
7
votes
13answers
4k views
Could machine guns be produced in the 14th century? [duplicate]
Could light machine guns such as the Madsen be made during the 14th century? And since materials may be scarce only a few would be produced for use by a single soldier in a unit. Lets say their ...
34
votes
24answers
11k views
What is the most reasonable way for non-binary computers to have become standard?
Let us assume planet Earth, with a history similar to ours. Except, the result of the computer revolution is not a computer system based on binary (i.e. 0 and 1), but some other system. This system ...
3
votes
2answers
90 views
Could the gatling gun of the civil war be made smaller for individual use?
Could the gatling gun used during the civil war which was heavy and large be made into a smaller variant with perhaps 3 barrels for individual use? What challenges would be faced and how can they be ...
7
votes
3answers
142 views
On a world of sapient anthropoid felines, can fur pattern be used for recognition?
On a world populated by sentient anthropoid species evolved from Terran felines, both big and small cats, could the local authorities use the fur patterns and colors the same way that we used ...
5
votes
7answers
1k views
Medieval airlocks, would they be possible?
In terms of context, this airlock would be used on airships which fly at a height in which oxygen levels are too low for humans to live. Within the hull of the airship, stored oxygen would be pumped ...
22
votes
11answers
6k views
How long would it take to nuke an alien spaceship in orbit?
Some gigantic, and presumably evil, alien spaceship has taken up residence in LEO. This spacecraft is ominously blocking all satellite communications, and launching smaller flying saucers towards the ...
10
votes
6answers
887 views
How can spacecraft manufactured on the moon be powered?
Background:
The moon has been selected as the base for human space exploration. Rather than ship tonnes of material out of earth's gravity well, interplanetary space-craft and space stations will be ...
7
votes
7answers
401 views
How could carbon nanotubes help me build supertall skyscrapers?
It is the near-future. Breakthrough, mass produced carbon nanotubes have been invented and are relatively cheap. These nanotubes have the properties that we would expect, and are manufactured in '...
5
votes
6answers
251 views
What would need to happen for solarpunk technology to exist in the 1920's/30's?
Solarpunk, for those who are somehow unaware, is a subgenre similar to that of steam/cyberpunk that instead depicts a future running on advanced renewable energy-powered technology. It usually depicts ...
5
votes
6answers
2k views
How can you build a secure, pre-digital distributed ledger?
A distributed ledger is a 'database' without a central administrator or central storage. Instead, each copy of the database replicates and saves an identical copy of the data and updates itself ...
23
votes
12answers
8k views
How does a super-power salesman not get shut down for legal reasons?
I am in trouble: my boss, a multi-millionaire, has just come up with a scheme, but it has problems and he wants me to solve them.
The whole thing started when he saw this picture:
This gave him an ...
1
vote
3answers
157 views
How do I build an ancient moisture vaporator?
Let us suppose a world that exists under a harsh red sun. The entire planet, which may once have been fertile, is, in its current state, covered with desert. The civilization living there, which may ...
