Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Speculative biology is simultaneously a science and form of art in which one speculates on the possibilities of life and evolution. What could the world look like if dinosaurs had never gone extinct? What could alien lifeforms look like? What kinds of plants and animals might exist in the far future? These questions and more are tackled by speculative biologists, and the Speculative Evolution welcomes all relevant ideas, inquiries, and world-building projects alike. With a member base comprising users from across the world, our community is the largest and longest-running place of gathering for speculative biologists on the web.

While unregistered users are able to browse the forum on a basic level, registering an account provides additional forum access not visible to guests as well as the ability to join in discussions and contribute yourself! Registration is free and instantaneous.

Join our community today!

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Scifi V.S Scifact
Topic Started: Sep 19 2009, 05:41 PM (2,065 Views)
Temporary
Transhuman
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
I'm surprised John Faa hadn't started a topic like this. Basically, science fiction tends to get everything wrong, and I'm sure (considering the people here) we all get annoyed by something, or just want to show off that we know more then a TV show writer (I'm mostly the second one). So I say we create a sort of record of when science fiction has serious screwed up, I'll start.

Series: Star Trek TNG
Technology: The Replicator.

This series is the second of two shows that got me into physics and science in general, but looking back at it, a lot of it was wrong. This is the one that I think is, really, the weirdest one to think about.

The device basically worked like this: you program in what you want, usually to eat or drink, sometimes a machine, basically it could make anything (sort of a universal assemblar). Next it would directly translate energy into matter in the form of what you asked for.

Un-huh. Let's ignore the incredibly MASSIVE computer system you would need for it to work, and just focus on the energy requirments.

The writers seemed to understand E=MC2 pretty well. The ship ran on antimatter and matter interations. So, this famous equation remains in affect. Well, the transfer of matter into energy is equivalent of one gram of mass is directly proportionate to an atomic weapon. How many grams is in anything you eat? Drink? How about a full crew? You would need half the amount of mass of the entire crews' diet, other things replicated, in antimatter. Oh, and fuel. Did I forget the fuel? Then there's storing it, which would require a vacuum and electromagnets (assuming, of course, the antimatter here is normal antimatter), which, since it looks like everything in the ship is ran by antimatter, so are the magnets. On, and the weapons.

Basically, most of the ship would be carrying antimatter. In theory, they could create it on the ship, but since it's never mentioned I'll assume not.
Quote:
 
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear


I'm here.

Posted Image

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Should we bring back Recon? Click here to share your opinion.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ATEK Azul
Member Avatar
Transhuman
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
I beleave the ship is fueled by Dilithium which is a complex imaginary molecule made of 10 lithium atoms which acording to my memory is structured in a way where when bombarded with antimatter particles will decay much slower than normal while releasing energy.
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


I enjoy hard Sci Fi, but you need some flexibility. SF is like a Composite Bow, use too much horn and the bow will break, you need to use some sinew. The Genre needs big showy soft stuff, because it sells better to support all the great Hard SF. Clarke and Asimov would not have worked as well if it was not for pulp.

I'm not much of a Star Trek fan, I liked Enterprise but the rest I could take or leave. But it and other things like it made the genre assessable and helps support the variety SF has.
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Temporary
Transhuman
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Atek: Yes, but that does not change the energy deficit.

Lamna: For some series, yes but we all have fun seeing the science behind something fictional. Science of Super Heroes, for example, where they applied scientific reasoning to all of them and seeing what worked and what didn't (Spiderman was 100% plausible, go figure). This is what that stuff is about.

Plus, this is good practice. I'm planning on doing a miniseries (if i ever decide on the plot) in the Habitable Zone. Basically, a series of colonists on a planet trying to deal with some problem, with a major focus on the planet's wildlife. I figure that would be more fun to write then a cold scientific analysis of everything, AND the technology is something I'm working out later on for a book (maybe one of the characters will be in it).

However, I might skip the series and go straight to the book, I don't know. Nor would the series be canon, so it would serve little point. Either way, this sort of mental training.
Quote:
 
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear


I'm here.

Posted Image

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Should we bring back Recon? Click here to share your opinion.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


You should put it here is small chunks first, it will be easier for people to make the effort of reading and we would spot mistakes better than you could.
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Ànraich
Member Avatar
L'évolution Spéculative est moi

Dude the replicator didn't work like that. It worked like replicators we use today, just on a smaller scale; you use lasers to push atoms into place and build an object atom by atom. It works out well and makes the best quality goods, but as you can imagine it costs lots of money, takes weeks to complete just one item, and requires a room the size of a sports stadium just to hold all the necessary equipment. But if we can make it as small and cheap as in Star Trek, we'd have an Economic Revolution on our hands; if you can just make things atom by atom, money is practically useless.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

Tree That Owns Itself
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


Yeah in one of his books Arthur C. Clarke's explained if and when we get one copper will be more valuable than gold.

I hope we do get one of those machines, but they might completely change society like in Nano Comes To Clifford Falls.
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Temporary
Transhuman
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
I might not post it, like I said, since a miniseries can be pretty weird to write.

As for the Replicator, this was based on the limited explanation given on the show (In the pilot, Data makes a passing statement about it being 'resequenced energy' not 'reseqeunced matter'). Riker makes a similar statement during the prebeard era. It was later retconned, but I'm sticking with original concept for this.
Quote:
 
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear


I'm here.

Posted Image

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Should we bring back Recon? Click here to share your opinion.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


They retcon for a reason, because Zat shots disintegrating objects is just silly same with the replicator.

The casual way teleportation is used in SF is kind of weird. Real teleportation would involve scanning a humans, creating an exact copy and destroying the original.
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Temporary
Transhuman
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Well, in science fiction it never works like that (okay, exceptions, but still). For example, in some they just turn the body into information and transmit it, the molecules in both places reform to be what the other matter was, umm... basically the air or liquid atoms become the person while the person becomes the air or liquid. I think in stargate they use a space-time bubble in the rings, moving the bubble from one place in the universe to another (I could be wrong, it might be the information trade, based on some scenes, I have no idea).

Now both seem plausible but we really aren't sure how possible they are. The reason we talk about that one (which relies a lot on Quantum Effects that are PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE on a large scale being) is because it is known, and proven to be possible on an atomic scale. A lot of scientists forget the laws of physics deny an exact duplicate to come into existence, so they say it can, leading to this conundrum. Frankly, it sounds incredibly unsafe to me (do to the problem I mentioned, at least one atom will be out of place, likely more, which could mess with your health each time. Basically, remember the guy from Fringe?).
Quote:
 
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear


I'm here.

Posted Image

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Should we bring back Recon? Click here to share your opinion.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


I don't remember that guy from Fringe because I don't watch that program it sounds odd.

Also have you read the Arthur C. Clarke story about the chap who gets "flipped" and his whole body is inverted, down to his amino acids?
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Ànraich
Member Avatar
L'évolution Spéculative est moi

That sounds pretty cool, what is it called? Definitely need to read that.

As for teleportation, I'm not sure that transforming people into information would work so well. I mean, it's certainly possible, but there are more effective ways of teleportation we have right now. Of course we can't teleport but a single atom, and not too far, but it's a start. Ultimately though I think teleportation will probably be used only as a device to transport people and cargo around cities as they get larger and more difficult to navigate, long range teleportation would be risky. Even at the speed of light it would take you four years to reach the nearest star, and three minutes to reach the moon. And it's not like information doesn't get corrupted in space, radiation ruins data in light form just as much as it does in chemical form.

If only there were some way to simply give yourself priority over the laws of physics, like upgrading yourself to administrator status in the Universe. Now that would be a feat, one I would certainly give my life and soul to see.*

*Just a note, that's just symbolic; I don't actually believe in souls, nor anything "evil" that I could sell it too.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

Tree That Owns Itself
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


"Technical Error"

And the moon is about 3 light seconds away. 3 light minutes is, well the sun is 8 light minutes away.
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Ànraich
Member Avatar
L'évolution Spéculative est moi

Perhaps I was thinking of Mars then, I don't know. I thought it did seems a little off, but I didn't question it.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

Tree That Owns Itself
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


Mars sounds more likely, but I don't know how close it is.

Has someone read that Asimov story which something a little bit like the internet in it? Except it's a massive snarky computer that can be contacted from around the globe.
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Science Central · Next Topic »
Add Reply