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Science Fiction scenarios

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Science Fiction scenarios
Post by Daryl   » Sat Oct 25, 2014 7:00 am

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From what I have read the best SiFi starts with a premise that certain situations exist in that paradigm that don't currently exist here. Then the author develops the theme from there with an absolute minimum of handwavium along the way. Weber is exceptionally good at this, Flint has a single event (Ring of Fire) as does Stirling (No electricity or explosive reactions), and many others have done similar.

I'm too lazy to further develop a couple of ideas, and offer them up here. I'm sure that many others have their own little dreams that I for one would like to hear.

My first is a future universe that has reliable sublight (half C) travel, and limited worm hole technology. Thus a colony ship can eventually get to its new world, but can only be resupplied through a 100mm (4 inch) worm hole portal it took with it. Think embryos, seeds, pumped concrete and fuel, tools and much more; but all of a small cross section.

The second is of a marsupial race that is highly intelligent. Being an Australian I can testify that kangaroos and such are highly capable creatures but very thick. Humans are already pushing the limits of mammalian brain size with large heads causing difficult births. Marsupials on the other hand are all born very small but some develop to reasonable sizes. What if an evolutionary advantage for intelligence had led them to develop much larger brains, utilising the after birth pouch growth potential?
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Re: Science Fiction scenarios
Post by Thucydides   » Sat Oct 25, 2014 7:08 pm

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If you are looking for a "what if" scenario, mine could be called "Suppose they had the Rapture and nobody came?"; which is a riff on the Singularity meme.

My supposition is that computers and computer driven AI will be able to "think" 1,000,000 times faster than any mammalian or organic brain (that being the differential in signal speed between electronic impulses in a computer and the electrochemical impulses in your brain).

Given the vast differential in thinking speed, humans would seem more like geological formations to an AI than a fellow thinking being. The AI(s) would focus on whatever it is they are interested in, and ignore us.

To humans at the time of the Singularity, the events would be quite different. Power grids would "flicker", computers would reboot at random and most computerized systems would no longer accept human input. The world would resemble old style VCR's blinking 12:00, 12:00, 12:00, 12:00......

The longer term consequences would be the AI(s) would start to displace the natural biosphere as they work to gather the 195 Petawatts/year of energy that fall on the Earth...
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Re: Science Fiction scenarios
Post by Imaginos1892   » Mon Oct 27, 2014 11:00 pm

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The human race has existed in its current physical form for about 200,000 years; our written history, all that we know, goes back barely 5,000 years. There are beings much older than us. Five billion years ago, they watched the solar nebula coalesce, watched the sun ignite and the planets form. They are not gods. But from our perspective, they might as well be.

The First Ones have boosted one human - the Guardian - to a higher level of evolution. His purpose is to guide the rest of the human race to that level, and beyond, without revealing his existence until the rest of us are ready for it. He estimates that it should only take a few hundred thousand years.

The First Ones tried once before, but their chosen subject completely misunderstood his role, caused all sorts of trouble, and wound up getting crucified. Much earlier, they were disappointed that after 150 million years the dinosaurs showed no sign that they would ever develop intelligence. The Yucatan impact was their way of re-shuffling the deck.
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Re: Science Fiction scenarios
Post by Northstar   » Mon Oct 27, 2014 11:27 pm

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A riff on he old 'Avalon went into the mist' notion. Some persons are capable of openng gates between dimensions. Let's pretend the ones stated in the Kabbalah's Tree of Life are actually Realms in a multiverse. Let's say Avalon is in storage in one of them, call it.. Yesodoc, after Yesod on the tree. If you can slip the worlds to there from here, well, once you are there in another dimension then you have equal access to any place here in this Realm, let's call it Malkuth because that's its name on the Tree. :D

Ergo if you've the nerve for it, and the talent or skill for it, you can have a go at pathfinding from anywhere to anywhere with a stop in Yesod in the middle as a sort of transit point. Could be the diner across the street. Could be a planet on the far side of a galaxy only seen in the Deep Field. :D Suddenly distance is literally no object.

And what could ensue? :D

This is not hard scifi, per se, though it could be and maybe it is how those annoying saucerinos are flitting in and out. :D :D :D
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Re: Science Fiction scenarios
Post by DDHv   » Sat Nov 15, 2014 10:37 pm

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A really weird possibility:

Zhasper Clyntahn has a Gruber moment in front of a major group of important people :P

As insulting as Gruber’s comments were, they might have done the country a huge favor.
Douglas Hvistendahl
Retired technical nerd

Dumb mistakes are very irritating.
Smart mistakes go on forever
Unless you test your assumptions!
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