Improbable Technology

POSTED BY: bluekieran
UPDATED: Monday, July 5, 2004 14:29
VIEWED: 12248
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PURPLEBELLY

Sunday, July 4, 2004 4:09 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by embers:
I don't see the point in having your own stupid floating island, where your view is of other floating islands

In these extrapolations of gated estates you wouldn't see the poor people, except when you invited them into your home, and told them to clean it

BLUEKIERAN

Sunday, July 4, 2004 4:18 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by embers:
but I'd been thinking that here you have a very poor planet, where the locals for the most part can't afford much (if any) technology...
but the one place that DOES make some money (so has some techology) is the bar!

Hmm, I do like the idea that the line between hi- and lo-tech could be very thin indeed: with hi-tech goods very cheap, but not so prevalent as to be truly commonplace, you really could end up with a predeominantly low-twxh world with the odd piece of techno-frippery scattered around. Nice :)

(Oh, and I do get the point made elsewhere that it's more to do with storytelling or style than realism; I'm fine with that, but it's not what I'm trying to discuss).

DIXIEFLATLINE

Sunday, July 4, 2004 4:18 PM

I'd very much expect to see a patchwork of technology -- the core worlds probably have a consistent level of high tech, but out on the frontier there would be only bits and pieces that either a) make sense and can do a particular job better and cost less to maintain than the low-tech equivalent, or b) are playpretties that somebody brought out with them and that hasn't broken down yet. (E.g., Rance Burgess' beloved sidearm that runs out of batteries at the worst possible moment.) So it's hard to pinpoint anything as really out of place.

One thing that strikes me a bit odd is the guns (the traditional ones, not the force-pulse weapons we see in "Ariel" and "Trash"). They certainly look and act like standard gunpowder-based weapons, except for the little electric whine we hear whenever somebody cocks one. That I'm having a hard time figuring out a reasonable justification for. Only explanation I've come up with is that the bullets have tiny capacitors inside to deliver a disabling electric shock when they hit, and the whine we hear is the round in the chamber getting its capacitor charged up. It's kind of a stretch, though, and we haven't seen anybody who looked like they were "stunned" when hit by a bullet.

There are also some really clever touches, like the design of Serenity's engine. Not only is it a rotary, but it's started by a hand crank (viz, the end of "Out of Gas"), which brings to mind nothing so much as WW1-era aircraft and automobiles. It's a nice touch that works well to give the impression of antiquated, but rugged and functional technology.

TIGER

Sunday, July 4, 2004 4:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor: ...that too is a bit of a stretch. We have holographic pool tables,(and windows) but still have horse drawn wagons - on the same planet! Lets just hope Joss et al iron out those tiny imperfections for the movie.

I've heard this complaint about Firefly from the beginning, and I just don't understand why anyone has a problem with the mix of high and low tech in the Firefly 'verse, when the exact situation is present on our planet right now.

Look at any third world country, or even a second world country like India. There you have millions of people staking out 10sq feet of sidewalk to call a home, they eat rotten vegetables and fresh bugs, bath in a river used for sewage and disposal of the occasional corpse - and right around the corner there is an internet cafe. Down the street there is a nuclear power plant, and on the militry bases there are 20 million dollar fighter planes, and bombers that can carry nuclear warheads.

This disparity in weatlh and technology is the rule rather than the exception in most of the world. We here in the U.S. (and many other western nations) have avoided the worst of it, which may explain why so many people have a problem with the concept.

The gulf in technology in the Firefly 'verse is a stroke of genius, and with the possible exception of Heinlein's 'Citizen of the Galaxy', I've never seen (or read) it done more succesfully.

---------------------------------------------
...In pleasant peace and security
How suddenly the soul in a man begins to die.
He shall look up above the stalled oxen
Envying the cruel falcon,
And dig under the straw for a stone
To bruise himself on.

RELFEXIVE

Sunday, July 4, 2004 5:10 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DixieFlatline:
One thing that strikes me a bit odd is the guns (the traditional ones, not the force-pulse weapons we see in "Ariel" and "Trash"). They certainly look and act like standard gunpowder-based weapons, except for the little electric whine we hear whenever somebody cocks one. That I'm having a hard time figuring out a reasonable justification for. Only explanation I've come up with is that the bullets have tiny capacitors inside to deliver a disabling electric shock when they hit, and the whine we hear is the round in the chamber getting its capacitor charged up. It's kind of a stretch, though, and we haven't seen anybody who looked like they were "stunned" when hit by a bullet.

The powder in the rounds could be set off by electric ignition instead of by the impact of a hammer/firing pin on the detonator thingy on the rear of the round. So the the "capacitor charge" noise is for that.

Incidentally... you all realise that the window must have been a force field instead of a mere holoprojection, don't you? A floating image would not keep out the wind or rain, or loud noises; it would not be anywhere near as good as a glass window otherwise, so it would be pointless. And naturally, it's one not strong enough to stop heavy things going through it, like people or chairs.

How does that sit with you all?

Mal: "We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so... very... pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die."

BRITCHICK

Sunday, July 4, 2004 6:10 PM

Holo pool tables don't get smashed up in a fight.. sounds like a good investment to me!

Plus they can switch it off if they need the floor space, or change it for something else later (I assume!).

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CYBERSNARK

Sunday, July 4, 2004 8:00 PM

The "mixture of tech" idea is a good one. I remember reading a Star Wars book once where they talked about an alien civilization being inconvenienced to have to run their matter resequencers by candlelight.

Maybe the holographic window being permeable is the point.

On one hand, you'll want some kinda screen over the window to (A) make the place look classy (B) let the people inside see the people outside without being seen clearly. Yet at the same time, depending on how hot/cold it'll get outside, you may also want airflow ('cause it's cheaper than actually paying for air conditioning that will inevitably break down on the hottest day of the year).

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

STATIC

Sunday, July 4, 2004 8:27 PM

Not only would you probably want to maintain airflow. . .but like mentioned previously. . .

Bar owner pays out the wazoo every time someone got tossed through his pretty glass window. . .so he replaces it with something that might be pricey to begin with, but much cheaper to maintain that accomodates having a mouthy drunk having tossed through it on a regular basis without breaking down.

==================================================
"Wash. . .we got some local color happening. A grand entrance would not go amiss."

KURUKAMI

Sunday, July 4, 2004 8:48 PM

Or, alternatively, some of the handguns have actuators in them which help the gun track a target. That idea popped up a decade ago in Lawrence Watt-Evans' novel "Nightside City".

"Sir, I would like to gingerly point out that it is difficult for someone to be gently reassuring when they're holding three and a half feet of sharpened steel."

VELOXI

Sunday, July 4, 2004 9:22 PM

Well, in my estimate, the availability/price/demand for the materials that make billiard balls, for example. Billiard balls are made of plastics or ivory from elephant tusks, and I've never seen an elephant in FF. ;) Therefore, I'm guessing that holo technology is cheaper and easier to deal with, since real billiard balls would probably be way too expensive and valuable to waste in an ordinary bar.

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