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1500 questions
38
votes
13 answers
What is Santa's defense against an unlawful withholding of welfare charge?
Santa's1 been taken to court!
Kids in the United States have complained that they're getting too much coal and the class-action lawyers heard their cries for redress! Obedient to a summons from the Superior Court of California, San Fransisco,2 Santa…
JBH
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38
votes
17 answers
How could the crew on a small spacecraft (6 people) on an isolated long (10yr) mission remain productive and harmonious?
Near future, Earth is starting to die, we send out dozens of small spacecraft to investigate promising exo-planets for habitability among neighbouring star systems:
AI isn't smart enough to do the task for us - AI can help, but we need humans there…
User12321313
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38
votes
8 answers
How realistic is it to have building blueprints?
In fictional media that revolves around police, SWAT, or agents from some three-letter-agency, it's common that before they go somewhere, they have their tech-genius go though some database and instantly pull up plans of the building that they're…
Dragongeek
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38
votes
17 answers
How can I make a humanoid character look less human?
I have a shapeshifting character who isn’t human but pretends to be one, but people who look at them notice something is wrong, but can’t quite place it. What kind of features could I give them that make them look slightly less human? Currently,…
Grey
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38
votes
37 answers
What non-electrical, basic tool from today, could be made that would change the world in ancient times?
John from our future, takes the time-travel bus back in time and steps off in 5th century Europe. He heads for the secret location where travellers are kitted out with authentic clothes, food and currency to keep them alive until they can establish…
chasly - supports Monica
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38
votes
10 answers
What's it like to be an uploaded human with limited computing power?
In most science fiction where humans are simulated or uploaded onto computers, the humans are simulated with perfect fidelity. But this seems unlikely-- humans are very expensive to run. In Robin Hanson's Age of Em, humans that are too poor to run…
lirtosiast
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38
votes
18 answers
What do fairies wear and how can they evade detection by our cameras?
Set in the modern day; fairies are tennis ball sized humanoids with wings residing within the dense rainforest throughout the world. Local human populations consider them to be guardians protecting the sacred forest and its inhabitants.
A lot of…
user6760
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38
votes
4 answers
Is it possible to maintain a gun functioning after thousands of years?
The gun in question is a normal, reliable and non-specialized .45 revolver. The idealized character is the last descendant of a lineage of carriers of this gun, considered by them legendary.
Is it possible that this gun 'survives' (continues to…
Cesar de Barros
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38
votes
13 answers
What should a god put on an island, so that its human settlers will more quickly achieve an industrialised society?
A class of young gods at Cthulhu University were given a planet to divide between themselves. They are each given an artificially isolated island the size of Ukraine, and must make conditions on that island such that a human population will achieve…
KeizerHarm
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38
votes
10 answers
Is there any math conjecture that would cause a lot of damage if disproven?
As a plot device I need some kind of conjecture that is used in lot proofs and widely assumed true. Something like many papers in computer science start with "Assuming P != NP ...".
In my story for dramatic purposes my heroine disproves it.
It…
mc_cubed
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38
votes
5 answers
Doing chemistry under water?
Aquatic races are usually assumed to be stunted in technological development by the inability to create fire or forge metals.
But what about doing chemistry at all?
The development of chemistry in human history seems to hinge on being able to…
Logan R. Kearsley
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38
votes
8 answers
How do I resolve science-based problems in my worldbuilding?
I want my story to be science-based. I want there to be technical jargon that goes over most people's heads (the average Joe shouldn't question it). But I keep running into a problem...
I'll come up with an idea that I think is great for my story.…
overlord
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38
votes
14 answers
How to Keep Winged People Where They Belong?
I, Lord Leopold Borthwell, have recently encountered a series of most damnable conundrums that all seem to stem from a single problem: flight. You see, caer can merely fly over any walls that would keep a normal human out. This leads to many…
Syric
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38
votes
19 answers
Are dead worlds a good galactic barrier?
In my fictional universe there are two galactic civilizations that have never interacted until recently and thus have developed different cultures, science, etc.
From a technological standpoint, one of the civilizations is similar to Halo's UNSC and…
Locksmith
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38
votes
8 answers
Are diamond berries possible?
Diamonds are carbon. Plants take in CO2 and use the carbon. Chemically, could the right kind of plant have diamonds for berries, or is there some other limiting factor?
Sam Washburn
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