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1500 questions
51
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9 answers
Could you have more than one building in the same spot by "stacking" them in 4th dimensional space?
In my universe a 4th SPACIAL dimension exists around our 3 dimensions. I'm playing with ideas for a society that has access to a 4th spacial dimension and am currently thinking of what they would be able to construct. My thought process is this:
Say…
AJ D.
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51
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29 answers
How to explain the use of high-tech bows instead of guns
I'm creating a science fiction dystopian world that takes place about about 50 years in the future. One of the characters for this world is a member a highly sought-after group of mercenaries that I want to use a high-tech bow instead of guns. What…
Bryan McClure
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51
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12 answers
Natural Projectile Weapons
I'm not aware of any animals which have evolved projectile weapons that they fire. There are a number that spit venom but none that even throw rocks, let alone using projectiles.
On the other hand though creatures that do so are a staple both of…
Tim B
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51
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19 answers
Tactics to prepare for an alien invasion when nobody will believe you
This question is focused on what one man could do without the implicit resources on a larger scale.
The year is 1980. Paul is a 17-year-old farmer in Iowa, with nothing really to his name besides his pickup. Late one evening as he's driving down the…
Ranger
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51
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10 answers
Wondering what would happen if magic was constrained by Conservation of Energy
Would throwing a fireball leave a trail of frost in its wake? Would transmuting too much lead into gold cause a small meltdown? Would collecting enough power to cast a really big spell like causing an earthquake incinerate the caster if they don't…
bowlturner
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51
votes
6 answers
Creating convincingly alien viewpoints
Most aliens tend to be humans with bumpy foreheads and/or pointy ears. Even when they do have differences then usually it is an entire species being portrayed as a particular brand of human. For example races might be based on Vikings, or Mongols,…
Tim B
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51
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12 answers
What would happen if a country weighted voting in inverse proportion to wealth?
It's often remarked that voting with dollars — not literally, but through spending and the influence that comes with control of capital — is more ultimately influential than actual voting in a democracy.
What if a society were to set up its…
mattdm
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51
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17 answers
What if we lived near a boundary of the universe?
This answer and its follow-up discussion with the OP made me think, and boil it down to the essentials:
We live in a universe that’s either infinite in spacial extent or unbounded, and wrap-around effects are neglected. That is, even if space is…
JDługosz
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51
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10 answers
Does "Demon Gravity" break physics?
I have a regular planet with regular gravity that pulls all on the surface towards the center. In almost all ways, it is identical to our own Earth.
The major difference is that, beneath the south pole, a couple dozen kilometers below sea level is…
Dragongeek
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51
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31 answers
What's the most efficient way to destroy civilization from orbit?
What's the easiest way for your stereotypical aliens to destroy civilization from orbit? I'm taking "destroy civilization" to mean the destruction of all large-scale forms of governance, but bonus points for extinction.
Criteria: Either cheapest or…
Nathan Ringo
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51
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29 answers
How long can it really take to calculate a hyperspace jump?
It is a common trope in sci-fi that engaging a vessel's faster-than-light travel requires performing some complicated mathematics that takes a non-trivial amount of time.
I want to know to what extent this is even remotely plausible. In other words:…
Tom
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51
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16 answers
Could red lights be eliminated if all vehicles were automated?
At a typical intersection that uses red lights to control traffic, vehicles traveling on one roadway have a green light and can travel through the intersection, often at full speed, while vehicles traveling on the intersecting roadway have a red…
jawns317
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51
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13 answers
What would a 1.5 km wide, 20 km tall spire look like?
In the middle of the North Atlantic is a black, hexagonal spire. It's 1.5 kilometers wide at the base, tapering to a mere 100 meters wide at the top. It rises 20 kilometers above sea level, and an unknown distance down (anchoring it to the…
Matthew Sullivan
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51
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18 answers
How to Interrogate a Memory-Stealing Shapeshifter?
There are shapeshifters who can perfectly replicate a person, and eat their brains to absorb all their memories. These shapeshifters are cunning and predatory, and so humans form extremely close knit societies to try and combat them.
In these…
user69867
51
votes
20 answers
How can a person Insulate copper wire in a medieval world?
Time traveler here, stranded in the year of 1019 AD, medieval ages. Location: europe. While I can still access and post on web forums because my temporal transmitter has a 1Ky range, I have a broken solenoid. Thing melted down and it is part of my…
Mindwin Remember Monica
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