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1500 questions
36
votes
9 answers
Lego world. How do they reproduce?
It is difficult to find statistics for the ratio of Lego men and women in the general population but from a non-scientific survey, I get the impression that Lego men vastly outnumber Lego women. Yet clearly they do reproduce. Here is a picture of a…
chasly - supports Monica
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36
votes
16 answers
Politics and Zombies: Designing a balanced zombie plague that could realistically destroy civilization due to poor decision-making
As has been pointed out numerous times, zombie apocalypses of the classic zombie-bites-you-and-you-become-a-zombie are stupid and would never work in real life. Biting is a horribly inefficient method for a pathogen to spread, the infected are…
IndigoFenix
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36
votes
6 answers
Can I Domesticate [X]
Worldbuilding generates a lot of "Can I domesticate [insert real or fictional creature here]" questions.
This is intended to be a canonical version of that question. I'll self-answer, but please don't let that stop anyone from posting their own…
codeMonkey
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36
votes
26 answers
Why are UFOs disk shaped?
What’s the deal with flying saucers? There’s no drag in space, so alien engineers don’t have any limitations placed on them when it comes to ship design. Yet the ships portrayed by media look like disks, sometimes with a dome in the middle. They…
LiveInAmbeR
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36
votes
24 answers
Would oceans filled with long-lived, omnivore, intelligent Krakens make sea travel impossible?
Let's say the oceans' apex predator on a planet similar to Earth is a species of Kraken (octopus, just big huge ones) that live 200 years in average (so they have plenty of time to develop their cognitive skills), and have basically the same…
Inquirer
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36
votes
7 answers
Delivering the Eternal Sausage
In a future world, well-to-do people have access to piped food that travels straight to their kitchens.
Let us focus on one such food; the eternal sausage.
My first idea was to simply force sausage meat into one end of a pipe. A tap at the other…
chasly - supports Monica
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36
votes
22 answers
Can you have a Clarketech artifact that you can replicate but cannot comprehend?
Godlike-powerful ancient aliens have vanished from the galaxy for unknown reasons and left behind various artifacts. Millions of years later, lesser species had found these artifacts and discovered that those were hyperspace FTL engines. Strap it to…
Darth Biomech
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36
votes
13 answers
What would America lack if cut off from World trade for years?
North and South America totally cut off from world trade for years in modern times. No intercontinental except between the two. Would there be any current technology that couldn't be made due to lack of resources, or would they be self-sustained?…
TOM SMITH
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36
votes
5 answers
LEGO™ as a defence against barefoot warriors
LEGO™ as a defence against barefoot warriors
In the far future, after the collapse of civilisation, there is an ongoing war between two tribes. The tribes have only the ability to make neolithic technology.
These are the Barefoots and the…
chasly - supports Monica
- 49,370
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36
votes
16 answers
Signs of wealth in a world where private planet ownership is common
In my far-future world, owning a planet or moon is as common as owning a house. People usually have a large house, with an adjacent farm for their own sustenance that is usually tended by robots. Other than that, the planet is left alone, except…
MedwedianPresident
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36
votes
15 answers
How to make a fictional anarchist society believable to non-anarchists?
I'm a free-market anarchist* and, not surprisingly, I enjoy writing sci-fi and fantasy stories about societies without governments. However, I do NOT want to write stories that only myself and those who agree with me will enjoy. I'd like to know…
Logical Fallacy
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36
votes
19 answers
How would one make a reactor harder to produce over time?
I have been asking myself this question recently.
How would you make a reactor powering a powerful weapon harder to produce for each successive reactor being produced?
My solutions currently would be :
One reactor construction/design needs to be…
Malo
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36
votes
19 answers
Why doesn't knowledge of how magic works break magic in this world?
In this world, magic is based on belief - if "everyone" believes something is true, then it is true. In order to create a new belief, it may evolve naturally (and then there is no problem) OR one goes to the Guild of Professional Liars, who are so…
Michael Stachowsky
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36
votes
6 answers
Why is dwarfism considered an advantage for jobs in space?
First, a clarification:
Dwarfism is the umbrella term for 200+ medical conditions that result in short stature. Since this is Worldbuilding, my question refers to human beings with genetic dwarfism (not a fantasy/mythological race of Dwarves).…
wetcircuit
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36
votes
19 answers
Why is super hero technology never used by civilians?
In comic books all kinds of super hero technology comes up. Villains will use shrink rays, heroes will have super suits and an AI in their bat computer, and the government has flying helicarriers and super serum experiments.
Yet despite all this…
dsollen
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