Questions tagged [technology]
For questions about the creation, use, and application of all types of technology.
2,616 questions
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The Apollo program on an alternative moon with greater surface gravity
I want to create a story in which only the Moon differs from reality. The surface gravity of the Moon in this story is greater than in reality, about 0.6 G. In my story, the United States in the 1960s,...
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are there any theoretical alterations (whether genetic or mechanical implants) that could be made to the human lungs to suit thinner atmosphere?
I have concepts of a new frontier sort of world, post evacuation of earth/solar system (I've already been able to jump through a few of the logical hoops necessary for such an event to happen), and ...
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How large will a Black hole need to be to achieve Type II civilization using Penrose process?
I'm developing a world where a Kardashev Type II civilization is extracting the energy they need from an accessible black hole rather than a star.
Question: What would be the minimum mass of a black ...
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Can a Iron Age society maintain primitive firearms with copious amounts of bog-iron, peat and wood?
I've written a geographically humid-wet-tropical-fenny-foresty ish setting.
Within it is a tribe of what are best described as iron-age inhabitants. They know how to create cast-iron axes, they can ...
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What could cause ranged troops to prefer depth over frontage?
I understand that as a massive oversimplification, ranged units (ie, caroleans, redcoats, tommy atkins, union men, etc) tend to prefer formations (though not always) that emphasise width over depth (...
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Best way for floating jellyfish to be deactivated?
The buoyfish is a very common type of animal. It is basically a jellyfish but it flies. Inside there is a hydrogen reservoir filled by bacteria making the gas. The buoyfish has air bladders to use as ...
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Overland Ekranoplan Highways?
Supposing the world had access to these technologies at the same time, how viable would creating large, flat highways for large ground effect vehicles for the fast transport of cargo or passengers ...
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Which industrial revolution-age technologies could be mimicked with magic pistons?
In my world there is a magic paint that can be applied to things which will then cause that thing to repel anything it touches that is also painted with it. It would be very easy to build a ...
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How rare is ancient debris?
A Star Wars-like civilization once dominated this sector of galaxy, having serious cargo fleets running to and fro, and military fleet capable of deflecting a galaxy-size threat. They did have enemies,...
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Explaining Cassette Futurism
I am trying to write a Cassette Futurist setting, but I am having trouble at one thing: keeping it Cassette Futurist!
The more I read and write about this subject, the more I realize that eventually ...
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Would a higher altitude make solar power 'more effective'?
So my setting revolves around a sci-fi society residing at a very high-altitude above cloud cover. They use a lot of solar based power and renewable energy. Ie, solar capable rechargable powerbanks, ...
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How could technological development be significantly accelerated without a major war?
I'm working on an alternate earth where technology is significantly ahead (Eg. technology adjacent to the things we have in our present day, stuff like kevlar, the internet, mobile phones, etc., ...
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How humid does it have to be for flamethrowers to start experiencing problems?
I'm writing a setting where the use of flamethrowers is 'reasonably pervasive' both for warfare and the clearing away of foilage and shrubbery. I'm not sure how much in-universe context I need to ...
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How does a government that has a 'cash-for-kills' bounty system avoid recreating the 'Great Hanoi Rat Massacre'?
To put it in very simple terms, in my sci-fi setting, we have a bounty system in use by Nation A (cash for kills). Basically for every legitimate kill a soldier or police officer makes, they get a ...
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What worldly conditions would prevent low explosives (gunpowder etc) from being adopted for firearms? [duplicate]
After playing Kenshi, a world with advanced AI androids and old-world space elevators, one of the biggest questions I had was why there were no guns in the game. My first thought would be that the ...
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