44
votes
How would computers develop in a society where a Cherokee-like language is the dominant lingua franca?
Early computer programming languages were originally machine code, which was effectively a sequence of numbers that encoded machine instructions, memory addresses and the data on which the program ...
- 56.2k
22
votes
How would computers develop in a society where a Cherokee-like language is the dominant lingua franca?
Every computer language now in use is far and away simpler than the language of the person who developed it. Even the languages with the simplest grammar are more complex than the most verbose and ...
- 2,238
20
votes
How would computers develop in a society where a Cherokee-like language is the dominant lingua franca?
Not a worldbuilder, but am a software engineer.
The different language would have no significant effect on the development of computers. The underlying fundamentals of computation are universal, and ...
- 301
19
votes
Would Artificial Gravity With Short Range Be Possible?
If your fiction needs it, make it so.
Such artificial gravity works perfectly well in Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, etc. ad nauseum. No-one needs to explain how it works (nor can they ...
- 22.2k
16
votes
How to recreate a "land" harp that can work in the deep sea?
Compare this video of "Under the Sea" performed underwater on a piano to a normal piano cover, especially the first 5 seconds of the song. The former version has these completely dead-quiet ...
- 1,960
16
votes
How would computers develop in a society where a Cherokee-like language is the dominant lingua franca?
Mathematics has a very precise notation where particular symbols are given precise meanings. You can express the same relationships in words, but you lose precision.
Here's an example. The word '...
- 7,068
15
votes
What would the effects of a space based laser weapon system capable of tracking and destroying any projectile posing a threat to human life?
Such a system, assuming that for a moment it could actually work, would make war terribly easy!
Having a laser capable of vaporizing a bullet from a distance of at least 80 km in the few milliseconds ...
- 277k
12
votes
Would Artificial Gravity With Short Range Be Possible?
Newton's law of gravitation states the force that exists between two masses is based upon the magnitude of those two masses and the distance between them. The force is inversely proportional to the ...
- 56.2k
12
votes
Accepted
Would Artificial Gravity With Short Range Be Possible?
It would be conceivable, which is the important part. You are hypothesizing a new development in scientific knowledge.
A simple way would be to introduce a rule that the effect is only short-range. ...
- 27.6k
12
votes
What would the effects of a space based laser weapon system capable of tracking and destroying any projectile posing a threat to human life?
The first effect? There'd be a lot more anti-satellite weapons developed.
The second effect would be a lot more light based weapons in general use.
Weapons and armour are an age long ever evolving ...
- 117k
11
votes
How would a scaled-up ballista designed to launch 50-foot spears function?
Summary similar to the other answers
Thanks for the clarifications and improvements. I've retracted my close vote.
Basic math: A cylinder 50 feet long with a radius of 1.75 feet has a volume of 481 ...
- 117k
10
votes
Would Artificial Gravity With Short Range Be Possible?
There is no modern day Physics-based answer to this question
By definition, artificial gravity does not work in the same way as the one, and only one, way we know to create gravity - having mass. ...
- 7,198
9
votes
How would computers develop in a society where a Cherokee-like language is the dominant lingua franca?
As for the programming languages: There would be no difference.
Programming languages are not related to human languages. They respond to universal logical principles that are not affected by human ...
- 229
8
votes
Accepted
What causes my expedition RTG to produce way less power when deployed in a magic realm
Quantum Demons
Suppose there is a magic user, or a class of them, that is capable of using magic to drain energy from nearby quantum fields. This explains the energy loss observed by your expedition, ...
- 14.2k
7
votes
How to recreate a "land" harp that can work in the deep sea?
String instruments would work fine, albeit with a more muted sound, as would many percussion instruments.
You might have seen the Danish orchestra who started doing underwater performances, if not, ...
- 3,110
6
votes
Could I make a city float using lifting gas?
A quick calculation - giving it a bash anyway!
On Earth the Hindenburg (lifting gas hydrogen) had a lifting volume of aprox 200,000 cubic meters and could lift approx 230 tonnes including 90 ...
- 15.5k
6
votes
How would computers develop in a society where a Cherokee-like language is the dominant lingua franca?
If it helps to continue your writing:
Computer languages do not follow or resemble the spoken language of the programmer. Perhaps you imagined they did.
At a very basic level they use the concept of ...
- 281
6
votes
How would a scaled-up ballista designed to launch 50-foot spears function?
Poorly
The likely "full metal" for the mid-1400s would be cast iron. A bolt a metre in diameter and 15 metres long comprised of cast iron would mass about 90 tonnes.
Medieval ballistae used ...
- 30.4k
6
votes
What would the effects of a space based laser weapon system capable of tracking and destroying any projectile posing a threat to human life?
No, this would not render modern projectile weapons obsolete. It would make them more difficult to use, and it would change the tactical environment.
Consider that Adam wants to kill Bob. Adam has a ...
- 56.2k
6
votes
What would the effects of a space based laser weapon system capable of tracking and destroying any projectile posing a threat to human life?
The sensors for this system would change everything.
The ability to detect and recognize a bullet in flight would mean detecting and classifying bullet-sized objects in the environment, worldwide, 24/...
- 112k
5
votes
How would computers develop in a society where a Cherokee-like language is the dominant lingua franca?
For the programming language part, i think the other answers allready covered that well enough.
For the text adventure part of your question, i think that shouldn't pose too much of a problem.
The ...
- 113
5
votes
How would computers develop in a society where a Cherokee-like language is the dominant lingua franca?
The question you should ask yourself is how your society would notate mathematics. Although a lot of math is influenced by western languages, it ultimately does not follow the grammar of any natural ...
- 3,367
5
votes
How to recreate a "land" harp that can work in the deep sea?
Your problem is not the pressure, but the density.
As a 0th order approximation, considering that water is 1000 times denser than air (and water pressure doesn't affect water density appreciably), it ...
- 277k
5
votes
Is it possible to use rail guns or mass drivers as some kind of anti orbital weapon?
Sure
I mean - we already have anti-satellite technology, we have the ability to intercept orbiting vessels.
However - for a real-world example:
The Thunder Well
This is one of those batty 1960s 'Let's ...
- 18.9k
5
votes
Would Artificial Gravity With Short Range Be Possible?
If the spacecraft used rotation as a means of generating artificial gravity then the space craft need not be that massive nor have any significant gravitational field but those aboard would still be ...
- 36.9k
5
votes
What causes my expedition RTG to produce way less power when deployed in a magic realm
The "easiest" explanation is not that there is an additional decay, but that there is some unknown field which slows down the decay by about a factor 10, explaining why your RTG performs 1 ...
- 277k
5
votes
What causes my expedition RTG to produce way less power when deployed in a magic realm
Expanding on L.Dutch's answer a little: consider the possibility that in the other universe, the weak nuclear force is weaker still, or even absent entirely. A "weakless universe" is a ...
- 72.7k
5
votes
Designs for copper-gold-silver armor
There was in fact a period in some parts of the world referred to as the chalcolithic, or copper age. That would seems to be a good start for your future research. It spanned quite a considerable ...
- 72.7k
4
votes
Is it possible to use rail guns or mass drivers as some kind of anti orbital weapon?
See also Project HARP. This used long-barrelled guns of up to 16 inches diameter to shoot a projectile into near space. The highest it got was 180 Kms with an 84 Kg projectile. Whatever it shot had to ...
- 7,068
4
votes
How would a scaled-up ballista designed to launch 50-foot spears function?
You do realise that a 100 metric tonne bolt is the weight of about a Boeing 757. Having a ballista launch something like that is not really feasible, not even with today's technology.
I would suggest ...
- 41
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible