Improbable Technology

POSTED BY: bluekieran
UPDATED: Monday, July 5, 2004 14:29
VIEWED: 12248
PAGE 4 of 5

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 NEXT PAGE

BIKISDAD

Monday, July 5, 2004 2:23 AM

I guess it depends on assumptions we're making for ourselves that aren't defined in the show. If they are in one system (what I think), then FTL is totally unnecessary. However, if you're right about multiple star systems, then it would be necessary. Maybe we'll find out in the movie...

Apathy on the Rise. No One Cares.

WAVE

Monday, July 5, 2004 2:31 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by annik:
As mentioned before in this thread, we already have significant tech discrepancies in countries all over the planet ... no different in the future, I'm sure. The Have's will have a lot, the Have Not's will lack a lot more.

Yep. I don't have a problem with tech discrepancies in countries, or towns, or even homes. I do have a problem with huge discrepancies in small systems. How likely is it that a spaceship with gravity/inertia-control would be started with a hand-crank?

We are not in the 8th dimension! We're over New Jersey!

TJACK

Monday, July 5, 2004 2:34 AM

Austin: " ...Oh no! Now I've gone all crosseyed!"
Basil: "Don't worry about things like that Austin, just relax and enjoy yourself.
And that goes for all you folks out there as well."

Happy Independance Day from Boston U.S.A.

When faced with a moral question I ask myself; "What would The Lone Ranger do?"

ANNIK

Monday, July 5, 2004 3:17 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Wave:
Quote:
Originally posted by annik:
As mentioned before in this thread, we already have significant tech discrepancies in countries all over the planet ... no different in the future, I'm sure. The Have's will have a lot, the Have Not's will lack a lot more.

Yep. I don't have a problem with tech discrepancies in countries, or towns, or even homes. I do have a problem with huge discrepancies in small systems. How likely is it that a spaceship with gravity/inertia-control would be started with a hand-crank?

Ever look at a Lada 4x4? (Niva)? They still had hand-cranks.

Look at diodes. Hopelessly old-fashioned and never used anymore, right? But now LEDs are the hottest thing in low-cost lighting technology.

I say everything that goes around comes around, and that includes technology.

Oh ... and I vehemently believe the Firefly 'Verse is at least the size of a galaxy.

Cheers,
Annik
... my sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood.

WAVE

Monday, July 5, 2004 3:24 AM

Quote:
Ever look at a Lada 4x4? (Niva)? They still had hand-cranks.

How 'bout FTL?

We are not in the 8th dimension! We're over New Jersey!

GUNRUNNER

Monday, July 5, 2004 3:44 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Wave:
Yep. I don't have a problem with tech discrepancies in countries, or towns, or even homes. I do have a problem with huge discrepancies in small systems. How likely is it that a spaceship with gravity/inertia-control would be started with a hand-crank?

Despite modern tech like magnetic key cards, fingerprint scanners, retina scanners, and voice print id you still need a everyday looking key to fire the Trident D-5 nuclear missiles on a US SSBN.

Just because tech is old that doesn’t mean it goes away. A crank is a simple way to get power to start an engine when there is no other power available, if a ship is just sitting around and someone needs to start it up, do you think they have there own portable nuclear reactor to give the engine a jump start? With a crank you don't need a genarator or power in the ship's capactors all you need is a little muscle-which in the FF 'verse is cheap is dirt.

The Firefly CCG Yahoo Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/FFCCG
The Firefly CCG Forum:
http://s8.invisionfree.com/FFCCG/
My Other Site:
http://www.geocities.com/billds9/

ANNIK

Monday, July 5, 2004 3:52 AM

What Gunrunner said.

Cheers,
Annik
... my sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood.

THEGREYJEDI

Monday, July 5, 2004 4:24 AM

It seems to me that when the Earth That Was got used up, everyone left our solar system for the next closest system. Thus I think it's all in one system, though it might be a bit larger than ours. And they mention terraforming. Now, let's look at our own solar system. A trip from earth to, say, a moon of Saturn, would take a week with the nuclear driven ship that Serenity appears to be. But, let's say your ship breaks down in the space between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. And then Jupiter and Saturn are on the other side of their orbits from you. You're stuck out in the black. And if you take into consideration that most of the big gas planets in our system all have several, to over a dozen moons, that's a lot of terraforming. So then, you have lot's of black space where the planets eventually orbit, but aren't at the moment, and these planets have many moons apiece. And then Reavers are all pushed out the far reaches beyond Neptune, hovering about in the lonely cold that is Pluto, where even out sun looks nothing more than a large star. And you figure, all of the planets and moons around 93 million miles from the star of the system were terraformed first, given the closeness to earth. But these worlds obviously can't hold the growing populations, so they ship out settlers with little more than hatchets and blankets. No nifty tech like lasers and the like. So you figure a new settlement prospers for a while and then get equipment to make rudimentary arms. Guns. Guns are way easier to manufacture than a laser gun would be. And I've heard theories of electric or chemically propelled rounds as opposed to combusting powder, hence the whine. And I also think that a low power field that could keep rain out and heat in but not withstand the force of, say, a body makes a certain amount of sense. The same with a holo-pool table. You figure there's sensors in the cue sticks that interact with the geometry and collision programming of the ball, no cue balls to keep up with and all.

At least that's my take.

"And these three remain: Faith, Hope, and Love. And the greatest of these Love."

WAVE

Monday, July 5, 2004 5:43 AM

Quote:
Just because tech is old that doesn’t mean it goes away. A crank is a simple way to get power to start an engine when there is no other power available, if a ship is just sitting around and someone needs to start it up, do you think they have there own portable nuclear reactor to give the engine a jump start? With a crank you don't need a genarator or power in the ship's capactors all you need is a little muscle-which in the FF 'verse is cheap is dirt.

I could buy the safety kind of argument: that in a system that crucial it's good to have a manual element to guard against accidents, but I'm not sure about the kickstarting thing. How much energy would be required to boot that engine? Certainly more than a hand-crank could supply, even if they actually cranked it rather than simply clunking it a half-cycle like a switch. And if there are layers of bootstrapping systems, why not bypass the manual element entirely, as we do in most systems today, like cars? I suppose it could be an oversized ignition switch...

I'm glad the writers left this kind of info unspecified. Imagine not being able to spend hours discussing it!

We are not in the 8th dimension! We're over New Jersey!

WAVE

Monday, July 5, 2004 6:10 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by TheGreyJedi:
And they mention terraforming.

That's something else that bothers me. Would an organisation expend the mind-boggling amount of wealth required to terraform a planet, and then just dump a few settlers there with no support? Where's the return on that investment? Surely they'd stay and make the place a going concern? If they didn't, they'd not only lose their investment, they'd be setting themselves up for a war of independence in a few decades.

It may be an example of inter-planetary pork-barrel politics, i.e. politicians playing power games have the incidental effect of a few planets being terraformed, a la the International Space Station.

We are not in the 8th dimension! We're over New Jersey!

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 NEXT PAGE