Ozymandyus wrote:Time travel, Flux capacitor style. Then I could just go into the future and get the rest of the as of yet fictional technologies that I wished was real.
I'm still pissed nobody has invented the flying skateboard yet!
-1
Yea... But I can watch movies in 3d!
I would like a Mr. Fusion or two for sure though.
And in an instant all progress towards the sublime, the great and enduring in man fell away and became a monkey's trick.
Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:35 am
MrEsoxPosts: 14Joined: Sat Mar 06, 2010 11:00 pmGender: Male
I would like to turn my extra room into the holodeck from Star Trek:TNG. Goodby world, hellooo ladies. Yeah, I know. That would be rather selfish and hedonistic, but what the hell.
Sun Mar 07, 2010 9:22 am
Gnug215Posts: 2695Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:31 pm
MrEsox wrote:I would like to turn my extra room into the holodeck from Star Trek:TNG. Goodby world, hellooo ladies. Yeah, I know. That would be rather selfish and hedonistic, but what the hell.
I was particularly enchanted by the data download technology in Olympos, by Dan Simmons. Within a day or two, one can learn all of the collective knowledge of the human race. An extremely painful procedure, but definitely worth it (assuming you survive it, of course). With all of the knowledge out here today, I could spend my whole life studying the tiniest fragment of this world (the fracture mechanics of metals, the biology of the human eye, the perfect techniques to river fishing) and still not learn everything there is to learn about it. I might consider putting myself under some hellish mental pain just to be able to assimilate more of the discoveries that my ancesters have made before me.
"Knowing your limits is the key to true superiority. Having the confidence to push your limits is the key to true humility."
"Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed." - Mao Tse Tung
Fri Aug 27, 2010 12:40 am
TechTigerPosts: 9Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2010 3:37 amGender: Cake
"A lack of another explanation does not make your assumption correct." Vulcan logic Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt
Fri Aug 27, 2010 2:11 am
Anachronous RexPosts: 2008Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2010 4:07 pmLocation: Kansas City, MOGender: Male
Our prefrontal lobes are too small. Much too small. That's a problem of the birth canal, I'm very sorry to say for those that like their birth canals... tight. -C. Hitchens.
Fri Aug 27, 2010 2:30 am
lrkunPosts: 3831Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2010 8:37 pmLocation: R.Gender: Tree
The wormhole network from Peter F. Hamilton's Confederation series. The wormholes are not space based but go between points on the surfaces of planets meaning that people take the train to travel across the galaxy. I love this idea.
“I don't believe in an afterlife, so I don't have to spend my whole life fearing hell, or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse.” - Isaac Asimov
Fri Aug 27, 2010 2:22 pm
lrkunPosts: 3831Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2010 8:37 pmLocation: R.Gender: Tree
The former offers tremendous practical value -- being able to move goods or personally travel from point to point within seconds. Yes, there would be risks, but we can limit those risks to very nearly negligible through very stringent maintenance standards, and the fact that practical applications are not that likely to consist of interplanetary or even space travel where many forms of interference are more likely to be strongly damaging. I think if this becomes a viable form of travel and shipping of goods, it's of pretty tremendous value. Vehicular transport becomes limited to short distances and recreational purposes. There would be no need to consider taking 30-hour international flights when 30-seconds is all it would take to teleport you there.
The latter would probably be the opposite extreme, since it would basically yield the complete downfall of society. Yeah, you see it on Star Trek for things like playing out storybook fantasies and that sort of thing, but we all know what kind of fantasies would actually be lived out in practice. And when you can basically go in and experience an endless stream of lurid sexcapades with a harem of nubile goddesses aching with an unquenchable urge to writhe against your loins, why would you ever leave? Only problem I see here is if Apple puts out their own version.
Yahweh can't possibly get tenure -- He has only one major publication. It has no credits and no references, and was not published in a peer-reviewed journal. He used human test subjects, many of which he killed, without ethics committee approval.
Sat Aug 28, 2010 1:21 am
cri8rPosts: 13Joined: Sat Aug 14, 2010 9:21 amGender: Tree
I'm pretty well convinced that advanced nanite tech is the way to go--used medically, it could generate lifespans that would let you see more tech, and used mechanically, you could build machines capable of "magic".