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1500 questions
36
votes
20 answers
Are there any mathematics that could only be learned by very few people?
I'm worldbuilding a situation where new drug increases IQ when given to preschool children. Unfortunately only 1% of the recipients get the benefits, the rest risk their development being stunted. As a result, the drug is illegal. This creates a…
Epipihany
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36
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12 answers
How Would Civilisations on Different Planes of a Cube Planet Interact?
If there was a life-supporting planet that was cubical rather than spherical, would it be feasible for there to be a unique but similar civilisation on each 'Plane'?
I know that cube planets are impossible for a whole bunch of reasons involving…
user69867
36
votes
4 answers
How long would it take for a forest ecosystem to overtake New York City?
Deer bound across broken pavement, eating from bushes growing were there were once cars beneath trees where there were once light posts. Busses have been replaced by bears, rumbling slowly down ancient, abandoned avenues and wolves build dens in the…
ckersch
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36
votes
6 answers
Why did Europeans not widely domesticate foxes?
So I've been thinking for a while about making a world where cats aren't as common and instead are more of a regional domesticated animal, replaced in (mostly Northwestern) Europe by foxes.
How come it never took that foxes would be pest control or…
Nierninwa
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36
votes
30 answers
What would be the most expensive material to an intergalactic society?
Imagine an intergalactic society that has the following abilities\tech:
Warp drive allows trips between stars in days and galaxies in weeks.
Able to live in spaceships for long time without health issues.
Full control over millions of star systems…
cypher
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36
votes
17 answers
Non-Cancer terminal illness that can affect young (age 10-13) girls?
One of my major characters is between the ages of 10-13. She is supposed to be terminally ill and she's supposed to die at some point during the story (while still within that age range). The problem is, I'm struggling to find a terminal illness…
Sora Tamashii
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36
votes
6 answers
Are there any free science fiction world settings?
Worldbuilding is hard work, as we all know. When you want to write a story, or use a setting for a game, or just as inspiration for some creation (art, music), there is a strong incentive to reuse an existing world, or heavily derive from it. The…
congusbongus
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36
votes
18 answers
How can I get mutants to cooperate with a registration program?
Mutants are individuals with various unusual powers. These abilities manifest at different points in life, some at puberty, others well into middle age. Some may be benign, such as breathing underwater or being able to heal people. Others however,…
Incognito
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36
votes
34 answers
Why would a fighter have a weaker shield than a capital ship?
I enjoy designing games, and in one that I'm working on the ships have shields, similar to the shields in Star Trek. They are created via some kind of force field projection mechanism and are spheroidical (that is, they take the shape of a…
Spitemaster
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36
votes
17 answers
An object that is gold in one specific area but becomes worthless if you leave that area?
Let us pretend there is some "sacred city" created by gods, where gold is so common that it is the standard form of currency and everyone has lots of it. But once you try to leave the city with this gold and move somewhere poorer, the gold will turn…
Horkrine
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36
votes
16 answers
How do I keep the government from detecting my flying car?
Eureka! Mary Sue has just finished her unobtainium-based levitation engine that should be able to deliver payloads to orbit for less than the price of a Tootsie Roll, and will allow her to start operating her own space agency! She's ready for her…
Trevortni
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36
votes
15 answers
Could a really fast man catch a bullet?
Let's say that a character moves much faster (>100 x) than a bullet.
If he is shot at, could he theoretically catch the bullet (and put it in his pocket) ?
What happens when he touches the bullet, does it burn ?
Where does the kinetic energy of the…
user53220
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36
votes
18 answers
How can I use my dominance of the software industry to get my customers to worship an eldritch abomination that they don't believe in?
The world is going to hell. Global warming, overpopulation, economic crises and other such issues plague humanity. The only logical solution is to summon Hastur, The King in Yellow, an elder god from beyond the void. He will Institute a random…
Incognito
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36
votes
14 answers
How can prostitution be made acceptable in a religiously conservative society?
The dominant faith in this world is religiously conservative and believes that the only legitimate form of sexual intimacy is between husband and wife, and that homosexuality and extra marital affairs are sinful. However there is an industry that…
Incognito
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36
votes
9 answers
What are the effects of slicing the Earth in half with a particle beam?
Scenario:
An exact copy of our world is sliced in half by a particle beam.
The beam has a diameter of 40 meters and moves at a speed of 0.999c.
The beam slices the earth from top to bottom in 600 milliseconds or 0.6 of a second
What are the…
Chris
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