NationStates Jolt Archive

I've sort of been working on/off for quite a long time on a science-fiction scenario, which would take place in about 2300, although there's a fairly extensive backstory, which actually starts in earnest in the past (1980's). I'm trying to get at least a general perception of what is possible/likely. As of now, I'm sort of planning on using a hyperspace system. (like, say, Babylon 5)

A lot of the technology that will be used is actually adapted from captured alien technology by Earth (and as of about 2150, Interstellar Commonwealth) forces. So the 300 year rule doesn't necessarily apply to all of it. Although it would for a lot of it, with the primary exception of hyperspace drives/gates (only originally invented by one known alien species), advanced terraforming technology (only partly adapted as of 2300) and possibly a more advanced artificial gravity or energy shields.

Would it be logical to have energy weaponry on spacecraft? I don't think it would be feasible on small arms due to the amount of energy needed, though. As for the primary weapons, I'm not sure if antimatter warheads are really appropriate, I suppose fusion warheads are a safer bet. As for regular propulsion, I imagine a highly efficient fusion reactor would be sufficient, since there's an effective FTL travel method.

the direction in which tecnology evolves, even given an infusion from alien sources, remains determined by how it is used. that in turn resaults from a defacto consensus of the priorities the member of the culture in question actualy live by. the other thing to consider for 2300 is that by then for sure the oil will be gone (i.e. costing more to extract what if anything remains burried deep in the earth then it can be sold for. and yes this IS what has long since already happened to gold. even at $800 an ounce.), and coal might very well be too. cold fusion is posible but probability questionable. photovoltaics effecient and cheap along with really long life storage batteries and windmills. the private passinger automobile is most likely a curiosity out of history no longer even remotely practical. but comfort zones, tecnology dependent ways of life, and continual tecnological evolution will likely remain or even be reemerging cleaner and more sustainably into a world in which populations has also long since peaked and may well have bennifited from a high percentage starve off, and if that it would have been considered 'the end of the world' at the time. but even that is history well in the now (2300) past. oh, and the calendar year probably won't be 2300 but based on one that started in the year 1844 of our current era. or possibly one that has yet to begin.

also don't expect earth to be any big deal out there in the rest of the universe. it's a BIG universe out there and collective egos to the contrary, if we're even accepted as anything other then crude, primative and ineffective barbarians, not to mention naive, (which no mater how smart you are, when confronted with a signifigantly broadened horizon, you inevitably will be) we will still be very much 'the new kids on the block'!

also bear in mind, while wars have been one with tecnology more advanced then that of the victors and captured from the advisaries, this is the LONG SHOT scenario, and not the by any streatch of it anything that can be expected. you'd have to provide a convincing scenario in which pure dumb luck plays a major roll to suspend disbelief on that one.

trek, star wars, even b5, pretty much did an end run arround that one. b5 at least tacitly acknowledged it, giving us a LOT of help from centauri and membari both. star trek, lovely as it usualy was on moral philosophy, totaly blew it on that one. even star wars pretty much the same. only b5 of those popular media universes even hinted at how alien alienness is really likely to be.

read jo clayton's skeen stories if you want an idiea, or nevin for all his faults, and gordy dickenson, this masters will give you some feel, still only the tiniest inkling of the diversity to be expected.

and while it may seem unfasionably ancient, flanged wheel on steel rail is still, and may very likely remain the most efficient aplication of energy to surface transportation. but like everything else, you move forward a bit, even decades, let alone centuries or milinium, well nothing remains tied to familiar forms. even perceptions and priorities, and the incentives they create, themselves evolve. and this last, not even the masters mentioned entirely captured a sense of that a long and objective look at existing history will reveal, if one looks beyond the familiar direct anticedents of cultures currently dominant.

if you really want to suspend disbelief, which must go hand in hand with sense of wonder to create truely quality and convincing science fiction or even fantasy, all of these are factors to take into consideration.

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Surely if you're using alien technology rather than extrapolating, this provides you with a get out free clause for any and every plot device that occurs to you?

For the record I did not bother to read anything above this post.
I want contact lenses that act like computers and can be moved with slight hand motions.

Earth recieved a lot of help, both directly and indirectly from a number of different alien races in its wars with the Vagary (it's a working name for the alien race who attempted to invade Earth twice before the formation of the Commonwealth). Directly from rebel subject races and indirectly from non-subject races hostile to the Vagary. And for the record, dumb luck does play a major role, as does incredible arrogance on the part of the Vagary.

About 25% of the world's population was killed in the first Vagary invasion (which went down a bit like Vietnam for them), and population growth was kept in check for a fairly long time by an alien plague, not to mention massive famines in China, Africa and South America (the Vagary directly inhabited tropical regions and China was a client state in the first invasion). Furthermore, by the 22nd century, with a demographic recovery, a fairly strict population policy is in place. Some regions of Earth are so depopulated by the Vagary invasion and its consequences that there's actually internal colonization as well, although that completes itself in the late 22nd century for the most part.

The Vagary themselves are not even remotely humanoid. All humanoid societies are either transplanted humans or genetically engineered from human stock by what is generally presumed to be the Vagary.

For the record I did not bother to read anything above this post.
I want contact lenses that act like computers and can be moved with slight hand motions.

I'm pretty sure that could be arranged.

They wouldn't be able to correct eyesight problems surgically by then?

I was assuming he meant an interface, actually. Personally, I think I'd prefer a monocle though. Putting things in my eyes just creeps me out. And I would assume so. I would imagine that many of the plagues of our time would be gone.

The problem with future technology is that it's in the future. When it finally makes it into the present, it's very expensive; and by the time I can afford it's no longer future technology.

It sucks.

Why are aliens always trying to conquer Earth in science fiction?!

Chances are, the Earth's environment is as hostile to them as Martian environment will kill a human being very quickly!

Besides, what's unique about Earth that they'll willing to combat for it?

No aliens live on Mars, though. And it's also because it makes for a good plot. And since science fiction is ultimately literature, it's a not insignificant consideration. As for the Vagary themselves, most of Earth is far from ideally habitable for them. They don't need the living space as much as they want slave labour for both Earth's resources and for export (since Earth has a huge population) for projects elsewhere. It's also a relatively strategic location in galatic geopolitics.

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