General Q&A about worldbuilding and other speculative developments that can be extrapolated from science.
Filters (None)
Let's imagine a race of Giants, with an average height three times that of a normal human being. Let's also imagine that these Giants are completely identical to humans, proportionately speaking......
This question:Why would a language be untranslatable by universal (machine) translator? inspired me to consider, if one possessed a universal translator, is it reasonable to consider that it could ...
What would happen to occupants of an O'Neal Cylinder if it suffered a massive hull breach on one of its ends i.e. the base of the cylinder? Specifically, those nearer to the breach. If the breach ...
Is it reasonable for a river to be shallow enough to ford in one location, while nearby (say within 5 miles or less), be at least 12 feet (3.6m) deep? The same river can have shallow sections and d...
I'm working on a story set in a generation ship traveling through the stars. Its propulsion is a solar sail, which will accelerate it over many decades to a substantial fraction of the speed of lig...
Are there any reasonably plausible alternatives to the process used by our plants on earth (Carbon Dioxide, Chlorophyll, Oxygen) around which an ecosystem could be built in a planet with a complete...
Hear me out before you downvote; It's not as simple as it seems. On Earth, nuclear reactions produce heat energy. This is used to heat water, creating steam, powering turbines connected to generat...
I am a huge Minecraft fan and just realized, this hasn't been asked before, so I wanted to ask a live-long (31. August 2009) question, and pay my obulus to the Anatomically Correct series. I have ...
Assuming you already had sufficient money and resources to build a tower stretching from the top of Europa's ice layer down to the bottom of the seabed, could you build it on top of one of its geys...
The idea of adapting to a longer day is not new. Besides other recent questions here, I recall it in When Worlds Collide (or its sequel). As I'm rewarming half a pizza for a late meal, I wonder h...
I have an idea for a story in a post-apocalyptic setting where guns and other explosive devices unusable or otherwise impractical. Is it possible to do this by changing the atmosphere (either by a...
I want to live in a pollution free world, where all creatures can breath clean air. I also want to live in a high-end space civilization, where its possible to travel to other planets in our sola...
I am currently orbiting Jupiter, the rent is pretty cheap and the view is magnificent. However, my former electricity provider refuses to connect me to earth's grid for petty reasons like "are you...
Set in the distance future probably a type 3 civilization on a Kardashev scale, I plan to setup multiple chain of convenient stores at many wormholes where there are heavy traffics, how can I creat...
I've asked before about my polytheists with competing moon gods. I now have a better understanding of how tides -- a very visible manifestation of lunar influence -- work with multiple moons (than...
Could a high powered telescope in space (such as the Hubble Telescope) be capable of peering through a large worm hole with enough clarity to detect that a planet is somewhere on the other side? I...
BioSteel is a substance produced by goats whose DNA has received the silk-producing genes of spiders. While silkworms are generally social creatures, spiders are reclusive, meaning they cannot be...
Back home and in this alternate scenario, the Ozarks are all that remains of a Proterozoic mountain range hundreds of millions of years ago. Back home, the Ozarks look like this, highlit in lime: ...
Is it possible to have a world that meets the following conditions? "¢ There are two types of air (in term of its gas mixture) "¢ Each type of air has its own creatures which cannot survive i...
This is one of a series of questions centered around how an isolated group of people would survive. Each question focuses on a single aspect of survival. Details about the peoples' situation are be...
I'm writing a science fiction novel set 100 million years in the future, but humanity is still the same basic form we have today, biologically speaking. Would 100 million years of evolution drastic...
I want to create a world set on our Earth but with humans shrunk down as much as possible to allow a huge population. As the population increases they genetically modify their bodies to be as smal...
The village background: It is located at an elevation of 2,119 m (about 6,952 feet) above sea level with a population of about 1,800. It has a continental climate with Oceanic influence. Summers ...
I was thinking about how humans have evolved from apes to what we are now, while apes still remain a species that isn't extinct. Is it possible that the human race will evolve into a species that c...
I just had an idea "“ likely an absurd one "“ but it could make an interesting plot. Picture this scenario "“ Present day earth. (easy to picture) But, there is an antagonist. He has a facility ...
In an Earth-like world with a moon as large as this: Would the larger tides discourage oceanic shipping?
It's easy enough to figure out how a species might evolve a third biological gender in general (e.g. some sort of asexual drones/workers, ala insects). But what I want to build is a system where t...
I trying to describe colonization of an Earth Like planet orbiting a red dwarf in its habitable zone. It is NOT tidally locked with the star Similar to Earth though somewhat larger Magnetic field...
I am trying to build a truly alien form of life, and easily found several replacements for water, such as methane or ammonia, with there own unique advantages and disadvantages (Wikipedia has a won...
I want to have an Earth like planet, but with most of the continents having very little flatland. Thus continents would be covered mostly by hills and mountains. I want the rest of the planet to be...
Would it be possible to produce a pair of human brains that are connected by a wormhole that has each end inside one of the brains? What I had in mind is that the wormhole would have neurons insid...
Possibly a dumb and outsider question, but my knowledge in the basics of computer networks is terrible. Imagine the possibly not too original concept, that humanity somehow manages to transmit dat...
A person is born with no senses, so he can't hear, speak or sense. The only way in which the world can communicate with him is through brain signalling. So they can send different signals to his b...
Pretty simple question. Whether you're launching a spy satellite, building a top secret orbital missile weapon, or investigating a mysterious alien artifact in orbit around Earth heralding the retu...
The energy source both in terms of fuel and electricity on my ship is nuclear fusion. Very precise nuclear fusion: there is no helium fusion until there is absolutely 100% helium in the main fusion...
Premise A large spacecraft is powered by a massive fusion reactor - in essence, a miniature star. This star is surrounded by a dyson sphere at the center of the spacecraft. The star's radius is ...
I am considering whether a pre-Industrial civilisation could carry on for millennia on an Earth-like planet without entering the Industrial Age. Of course, regularly destroying everything with pla...
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." "” H.P. Lovecraft One example of this is the universal fear of the da...
At the center of my small (one million star maximum) galaxy, there is an incredibly enormous light pillar, originated from a ridiculously huge super-construction. The stars orbit around the giant o...
If I were to hide an artifact, where would could I hide it so that it is the hardest for a human to get there (or even be there). For example, hiding something inside a volcano sounds like a prett...
In the future, AI systems sanitize humans as they walk through doorways. Home surfaces self-sanitize. Food is mostly 3D printed from cleaned particles, including Vitamin K and possibly some probiot...
In the overly sterile environment my characters live in, the AIs supplement probiotics with food servings for the humans. Let's say one type of gut flora went extinct. The AIs are trying to fix t...
I'm throwing around a rough concept in my head and wonder which effect it would have on the present world. How would the world as we know it change if this technology were invented (and nothing els...
I've been reading this question about agriculture for merfolk and more specifically the accepted answer. They mention the problem of food preservation only minutely. Now I'd like to pour that thoug...
Simply put is there an upper bound for the largest possible living creature in a scientifically rational world without incorporating anti-gravity, magic, the force, or other physical concepts we ar...
I am working on a project (The Longest Day), and I'm sure some people here have the necessary knowledge to give me some more usefull info. OK, here it is: Lets say that Earth's spinning speed dim...
Given that AIs will be produced with military and commercial "prime directives", all over the world, by organisations that will ignore or subvert something like a UN resolution ... what is a practi...
How would you justify hidden aliens on Mars, which no one on Earth has discovered yet? I was thinking over it, and having them be primitive or highly advanced seems a necessity. The latter gives a...
Out there in the vastness of space there is a colossal machine by unknown makers. An entire artificial planet that, underneath the initial crust, has massive systems of clockwork with the topmost p...
This world is all water, and I want the trees to be the only thing that represents land. The trees are horizontally positioned, and start from a large self sufficient floating seed pod, much like a...
