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1500 questions
72
votes
20 answers
How do I drug a population in the most efficient way?
I want a whole city to be on drugs secretly, so they don´t know they are drugged by their government.
The city is about 2 billion people and roughly structured like a Makropole from the Warhammer 40k universe. This means:
Many levels
4 classes…
Fulli
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72
votes
15 answers
How can an unimaginably huge life form reliably communicate with mortals?
The Starmakers are vast. Stars are their seeds, supernovae their hatching. Unimaginable millennia pass before they even begin to blink at their neighbours, and they do not die, merely pass along their experiences to the next generation (unlike some…
Joe Bloggs
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72
votes
25 answers
How can you possibly stop/kill a person who has the ability to stop time?
Let's say we have a character (let's call him Nelson), who can stop time and let's pretend like it's possible and comfortable for him to do it. He can see and move in stopped time, can apply force to objects and move them, hit them, whatever.…
Skypho
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72
votes
20 answers
What would it take for society reach a point where the time it takes to learn leaves no time to discover?
As society advances, technological discovery adds more and more to our accumulated knowledge. As such, scientists need to learn more and more to get to the point where they start exploring the boundaries of our knowledge. Sir Isaac Newton for…
Telastyn
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72
votes
26 answers
Why should humans risk a robot apocalypse by modifying Asimov's laws?
I recently read the following xkcd strip:
I was dismayed, because I've been working on a short story centered on the sociological impacts of a near-future society where a minority of robots obey a version of Asimov's laws where the third law…
HDE 226868
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71
votes
10 answers
Is there a real life substance like movie acid?
Is there a real life chemical or compound that exhibits the characteristics of stereotypical movie acid?
From what I know of most acid, it is usually clear or just a little cloudy, but I'm looking for a substance suitable for a TV supervillain.
It…
highpriestofpie
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71
votes
17 answers
How does vampire-dad keep the masquerade to his daughter
A new girl moves into town with her eccentric parents who are self-proclaimed, professional vampire-hunters. They, for some reason, are completely convinced that their new neighbor is a vampire, but so they were of the previous 10 'new neighbors'…
Not A Vampire
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71
votes
14 answers
Is it possible to make an alloy that melts at low temperatures and solidifies at high temperatures?
In my world I've created an alloy that can melt at low temperatures and solidify at high temperatures. This got me wondering, is something like this actually possible/does it exist. With most materials, of course, bonds are broken between individual…
Garto
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71
votes
28 answers
How can I prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union?
During the era of the Soviet Union, Russia was a much scarier nation: The Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Space Race. No one can deny these were major events in Russia's history. Let's say that for some reason, I want to prevent the…
TrEs-2b
- 56,200
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71
votes
18 answers
Would a culture with magic consider it magic?
I was discussing with a buddy of mine about magic and how it could easily be explained using alternate laws of physics. She replied simply "Magic that relies on alternate physics is only magic to people of our physics, would you call heat from…
TrEs-2b
- 56,200
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71
votes
27 answers
Can humans interact meaningfully with the economy when robots are better at everything?
The year is 3030, and robots have finally become better than humans at everything.
Not just standard tasks we would think of a robot being good at, but everything. Manual labor. Math. Robot design. Art. They've even become better than humans at…
ckersch
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71
votes
11 answers
How much steel armor can you wear and still be able to swim?
I know there are many historical accounts of soldiers trying to cross a body of water and drowning, but this got me thinking how much of this was due to panic, lack of swimming skills, water currents and how much was this due to the weight of their…
TobyB
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71
votes
30 answers
How to monetize magical mirrors in today's world?
This is kinda a followup question to my earlier question about magical mirrors: Magical internet - unique addressing system
Two months ago, I discovered an ancient house in the middle of woods. As I scrolled through the books stored there, I…
Pavel Janicek
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71
votes
11 answers
Is a pig-mounted cavalry possible?
Recently, my neighbour upset me. I have discovered that he plans to somehow improve his trebuchets to throw nasty things across the river. I told him that my pig-mounted cavalry will attack him.
I need to confess you something...
I don't have any…
NotATyrant
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71
votes
6 answers
Would earthlike planets in other solar systems have well-known Earth gemstones such as rubies, emeralds and sapphires?
I'm currently working on a conworld that has never had any contact with Earth, and I'd like to create words for iconic gemstones, such as rubies, emeralds and sapphires.
However, I can't help but wonder: Are these gemstones "universal", or are they…
loghaD
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