Questions tagged [technology]
For questions about the creation, use, and application of all types of technology.
1,668
questions
3
votes
1answer
44 views
Growing organic tissue over a machine
In a short story I created, humanity encounters a sentient and consciousness messenger that is alien in nature and origin. Upon further examination, it turns out that there is organic tissue grown ...
3
votes
2answers
158 views
Of all methods of FTL travel (or as close as one can get to it), what would be the most feasible to have been invented in the next 100 years?
It's the late 2020's, and humanity has expressed an unprecedented and powerful renewal in the interest of space exploration. Sometime between then and the turn of the next century, a practical form of ...
3
votes
2answers
99 views
Game theory solution for HAM radio users during apocalypse [closed]
Premise
Consider the cult classic scene of a zombie apocalypse where pockets of survivors are reconnecting over radio channels. One party claims to offer salvation, drawing in small groups of ...
3
votes
1answer
54 views
A plausable explanation of how life is created with digital DNA
I recently read that not only would a creatures digital DNA need to be stored but its mitochondria and microbiomes DNA needs to be stored.
A previous questions answers mentions epigenetic structures, ...
5
votes
4answers
98 views
What conditions could make air guns more common than standard firearms?
I'm wondering what kind of conditions (planetary mostly, but cultural or other such fields could work as well) would promote the development and distribution of air or pneumatic weapons over regular ...
5
votes
3answers
239 views
Why would a dragon prefer to pilot a fighter plane?
In my medieval-fantasy world, there’s a secret civilization with modern technology.
A “powerful” dragon accidentally came across them and they became good allies. The dragon was introduced to the ...
2
votes
1answer
93 views
Building Island in Pacific Ocean by pouring continuous lava
I'm thinking to build an island by pouring lava into the ocean, with the advanced technology, around 40 years later,
by making a special pipe connected to the ground (maybe near volcano/es)
since the ...
0
votes
1answer
134 views
A Medieval Industrial Revolution
Dwarves were a key component to the defeat of the Dark Lord, being the main source of ores and high quality weapons, having entered their own Industrial Revolution in the aftermath. The question I ...
0
votes
0answers
42 views
How does one write science fiction technology? [closed]
My main problem I have at the prospect of writing a science fiction book, as a genre, is not being able to wrap my head around how to invent and describe these somewhat plausible technologies. Granted ...
1
vote
5answers
144 views
How bright and lit up could cities be in the future?
Technology will obviously make lamps much brighter and with wholly new designs and functions like self-illuminating walls, surfaces and glowing objects. Genetic engineering could also create trees and ...
16
votes
11answers
7k views
Is it possible to build a catapult strong enough to launch a person to the moon?
Lets say the advanced civilization never discovered rockets and for whatever reason never will.
Is it possible to create some kind of mechanical device to launch a 90kg person to the moon from earth? ...
6
votes
2answers
123 views
Global warming through waste heat?
Let's assume a world where humanity managed to stabilize the climate again and maybe even reversed the effects of the current climate change. (So that we can ignore the current global warming in this ...
5
votes
7answers
208 views
How would aliens abduct an entire nation of millions from a planet?
I am looking for as hard science answers as possible, but I am willing to bend some rules for a good answer.
Assume they need to move 10 million 100 million people off of a planet
what technology ...
29
votes
18answers
8k views
What do fairies wear and how can they evade detection by our cameras?
Set in the modern day; fairies are tennis ball sized humanoids with wings residing within the dense rainforest throughout the world. Local human populations consider them to be guardians protecting ...
2
votes
2answers
141 views
Can you make cheap steel without steam engines?
Could some method of producing cheap steel in bulk (like Bessemer) have been developed before steam engines?
The Safehold series in which there is a religious prohibition on heat engines & ...
0
votes
2answers
96 views
How far would technology have progressed for a 100 person tribe with knowledge of current technology in 15 years?
In my world, approximately 100 humans with were stranded on a planet with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They all have at least high school education, but most of them do not have degrees. ...
3
votes
1answer
69 views
How might someone live for thousands of years?
A long time ago during the last ice age an early hunter gather human encounter an unknown entity (likely a alien) who granted him the power of immortality with him living at least up into the middle ...
3
votes
4answers
72 views
Malicious Infection Transmitted Across Outer Space
If an extraterrestrial race were to send a signal to earth containing a virus (technological or psychological), how could that signal then infect our technology and then be received by humans?
7
votes
8answers
1k views
In what ways could a society that has rejected guns continue to improve on the Crossbow?
I have this idea for an alternate universe where guns were... flat out rejected. Basically, while the powers that were recognized that guns were more powerful and had greater range, they were ...
13
votes
7answers
3k views
How could hackers cause mass destruction to major cities using existing satellites?
Set in the modern day, I was wondering about a possible scenario in which some hackers gain control of many satellites, probably including those specifically for defense purposes, in order to wreak ...
4
votes
1answer
81 views
Why don't ejectable fission reactors proliferate if meltdown is still a concern?
Set in the not-so-distant future, interplanetary travels are the norm. Most spaceships are powered by fission reactors, and accidents do happen due to negligence or flaws in the system. It will ...
7
votes
3answers
2k views
How to control a nanobot swarm
Say you somehow invented 50 thousand nanobots that are the size of medium sized bottle caps. Each are capable of hovering for a limited amount of time but do recharge with both solar energy and plug ...
3
votes
3answers
167 views
Which human-made monuments would still be standing thousands of years after an apocalyptic event? [duplicate]
It has been several thousand years since an apocalypse happened. The cause was some kind of explosion, be it nukes or a extinction-event meteor. Humans have persisted, as they do, and have effectively ...
2
votes
1answer
152 views
How fast could a medieval transportation cross a sea of honey?
Set in the medieval period around 16th century C.E., all the saline water turns into honey ( avg. viscosity is approximately 10000 centipoise at room temperature). How fast can the medieval people ...
26
votes
28answers
13k views
Way to prove you are human when the Turing test is not sufficient
In a story I am working on there are 5 AI on a space station of varying levels of social, image recognition and general intelligence. At least one is good enough to pass a Turing test and do image ...
8
votes
11answers
414 views
How would criminals escape detection in a society with ubiquitous surveillance?
Consider a heavily urbanized society with modern or near future technology with hybrid visual/infrared security cameras in all public areas and most stores, restaurants, office buildings, etc. These ...
-1
votes
1answer
136 views
Ways to kill off characters on a spacecraft by freezing them to death? [closed]
Looking for ways to kill characters off while in space. The scenario has a group of people trapped in a section of a spaceship either during or just prior to landing on a planet.
Particularly, are ...
3
votes
2answers
159 views
General characteristics of an “aircraft” for gas-planet atmospheres?
In the future gas giants, ice giants, mini neptunes and gas dwarfs have been colonised. The colonisers use either hot hydrogen or vacuum in rigid ballons to keep their cloud cities up in the endless ...
36
votes
18answers
7k views
How would one make a reactor harder to produce over time?
I have been asking myself this question recently.
How would you make a reactor powering a powerful weapon harder to produce for each successive reactor being produced?
My solutions currently would ...
2
votes
2answers
124 views
How can I create strong structures with a drone swarm?
Continuing from my previous questions about a swarm of millimetre-sized drones, I want them to be able to interlock or by some method form into strong functioning structures, like a gun or a baseball ...
6
votes
2answers
268 views
Primer (2004) - Does a time traveler's cell phone ring if both he and his other self exist at the same time?
In the movie Primer (2004), there are two main characters who travel back 24 hours in time using their time machine. When they arrive, both they and their past selves exist in this same town at the ...
4
votes
2answers
150 views
Would this drone structure work?
I had an idea for a swarm of tiny drones, the smallest being as small as fairy flies at 0.15mm long, that could form into shapes and structures, even mimic the shapes of living creatures.
They would ...
7
votes
1answer
180 views
How long can the entire civilization be powered by converting all nuclear arsenal into commercial reactor fuel?
Imagine a miracle happened and all leaders decided to wind back the minute hand of the doomsday clock and passed a bill that can transform all kinds of nuclear weapons into fuel for power plants, ...
9
votes
7answers
235 views
What tech would aliens use to harvest/alter our star and why?
I'm trying to create a scenario where the local star is "quickly" (suddenly up to thousands of years) removed, dimmed with reduced output, destroyed (maybe), or otherwise fundamentally changed as to ...
3
votes
3answers
201 views
Feasibility of non lethal “x-ray” false-colour vision?
One of the powerful abilities of Superman is his ability to make several layers of opaque solid objects translucent to him and only him alone. What plausible future technology would allow us to see ...
9
votes
12answers
3k views
What are some mechanical ways to help propel a ship through a canal?
There is as a system of canals that connects a country, these canals are about 10 meters wide 15 meters deep. I am designing a ship that was built specifically to travel the canals. Its main purpose ...
5
votes
2answers
131 views
Are Alpha and Beta-Voltaics the solution to the energy storage problem in Scifi?
In Scifi there is often the issue that all the fancy technology like Mechas and Lasguns need a lot of energy. Chemical sources are limited by volumetric and regular power density. Batteries and ...
-1
votes
1answer
137 views
Is an Earth-to-Moon missile technologically possible?
Given current capabilities, is it possible for a missile launched from the surface of the Earth to impact the surface of the Moon?
I would imagine the same "rocket" used send stuff to the ISS could ...
5
votes
2answers
151 views
How to Subvert or Mind Control Human Worker Drones
Evil cyborgs, formerly humans, called the Overseers have set about building gargantuan megafactory arcologies that sprawl across the landscape. In order to keep the massive tangles of pipes and ...
4
votes
4answers
183 views
Can a biological system be used to power an android?
The purpose of this question is to know whether or not organic tissue can be used to power and android. Compared to a nuclear cell or an ordinary battery this doesn't seem efficient, it needs food, ...
5
votes
3answers
156 views
Cellphone that can cause a human to die [closed]
An evil cellphone factory distributed cellphone units that can cause instant death to a human. It was distributed to every adults in this world.
The units will kill its owner by the ff reasons;
The ...
9
votes
24answers
5k views
How can I explain a continent with extremely un-equal progress between its nations?
A long-running concept I have for my fantasy continent of Diggoran is its isolated and unequalized technological and industrial progress.
By ''isolated progress'' I refer to the fact that Diggoran's ...
2
votes
4answers
209 views
Tongue Keyboard
It is fascinating (and perhaps a bit scary) anticipating the human-technology interface in the next hundred years or so based on the acceptance of mobile computers in recent years.
Based on current ...
7
votes
1answer
380 views
Building an “animal punk” nation
With a group of friends, we are trying to build an RPG in a quite specific setup which I have a hard time to find elsewhere in order to get some inspiration/information.
So what I mean by that is: a ...
17
votes
6answers
10k views
Is it necessary for spaceships to include reverse thrusters for deceleration in space?
Set in the not so distant future, space travel becomes commonplace but is limited within the heliosphere. I'm thinking since it is fuel efficient and more economical to use gravity assist to slow down ...
6
votes
1answer
651 views
Is this a plausible interstellar propulsion system?
Interstellar travel is hard and complicated, yet I want to have a plausible interstellar propulsion system for my setting. Rockets are out because of the rocket equation and the horrible top speeds ...
10
votes
4answers
466 views
Can korean bolt throwing cannons not be a dead end?
Alright, this will take some time to explain. There is historical context to my question.
Over the course of the period of time from 16th century to the first half of 19th century, the European ...
3
votes
4answers
309 views
faster than light speed travel, but not too much faster
A friend of mine is writing a hard sci-fi novel about interstellar colonisation. He wants to use the real Earth and the surrounding stellar neighborhood. The plot requires that the initial voyages ...
5
votes
3answers
206 views
Urban design that counters shapeshifters?
Set in the present day Shanghai, China.
Humans co-exist with another intelligent species with the ability to shapeshift at will, the shapeshifters like to morph into various objects (both animate and ...
2
votes
3answers
121 views
What is the most efficient way of mining energy from a flare star?
Set in the distant future, human is transitioning to a type 3 advanced civilization on a Kardashev scale in about a hundred years or two. We have nearly exhausted the energy from our Sun and several ...
