General Q&A about worldbuilding and other speculative developments that can be extrapolated from science.
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The great venture capitalist Elian Minsk has decided to start an "autonomous" car driving service. But who needs complicated AI based systems when he can hire tech support workers in India to driv...
In a world where people can feel each other's thoughts and emotions, is it possible to lie? Is it possible to think something different from what you really think? It doesn't make sense... When yo...
I was wondering if an object that changes its own mass could exist. But let's try not to fill it up with air or other gas so it feels "lighter". That way you could protect things from being stolen...
In my world there is an old human guarding something of great significance. All chemical reactions in their body have been slowed down to a microscopic fraction of what is deemed usual*. Once the ...
Supposing climate change continues at its current "worst case" projected rates, would we see a noticeable reduction in insects down the line? I am wondering if it makes sense to have a character wh...
Long ago, I asked a question on how to make the Nine Realms of Norse mythology--Niflheim, Muspelheim, Asgard, Midgard, Jotunheim, Vanaheim, Alfhiem, Svartalfheim and Helheim--a reality in regards t...
A space opera sultan has a problem. Sentient androids are haram, but an unwelcome android spy has saved his life and helped prevent a coup. Rather than have the android destroyed as his ministers d...
I've got a home-brewed D&D setting. Diamonds, in D&D, are needed for resurrection magic, so access to diamonds is literally life and death for any country with clerics capable of casting su...
A secret government organization created the largest and most advanced computer cluster ever. Ridiculous amounts of money went into it, and it is decades ahead of the competition. The goal of thi...
Is it possible for a planet to be much further away from its star than earth is from the sun (because for example the star is much brighter/Hotter) yet still have a comparable (as in not tens if no...
For the sake of analogy, let's take the Chixclub impactor and move it a mountain range akin to the modern Himalayas. Obviously we're dealing with an extinction level event here so I'm not concerned...
The hero of my story has been cursed to be forever 'bloodthirsty' in the literal sense of the word. Effectively, he has been turned into a vampire. But drinking blood will cause him to lose his sen...
In my setting, centaurs are related to other six-limbed creatures such as dragons and griffins (the "fur" is actually made up of tiny feathers). Assuming they were originally creatures similar to s...
Armageddon is coming. A giant Texas-sized meteorite on a collision course with planet Earth is discovered in 2020. It will hit Earth in 2030 and will wipe out 90% of living things including humanit...
For an elf-like race whose people do not age beyond physical maturity (the accumulated DNA damage associated with aging does not occur), what would prevent overpopulation? This elf-like race is f...
I'm trying to figure out a way to make this species as I envision it while still maintaining scientific realism. I want to get it as close to "yes, this could exist in the real universe" as possibl...
Acording to current scientific knowledge, birds descend from theropod dinosaurs. This evolution had, as usual, some transitional forms, like Archaeopteryx. Following this evolutionary path, we not...
So, let's say Bill wants to gain immortality. Bill is a billionaire, and so invests a large portion of his estate to Brain Transplant research. After a bit, the doctors vivisect him, and encase his...
I'm writing a story that takes place entirely underwater, mostly in a deep sea town and shallower city. Both are underwater and populated by beings who can survive underwater. My thinking is that...
What would humans look like if they lived 50-100,000 years 20,000-30,000 feet / 6 to 9 km above sea level? Or 500,000 years? Would we have bigger lungs / chests? Bigger wider noses? Thicker skin a...
Considering that oil is only really prevalent on earth (where dead biomatter can be compressed over millions of years into long hydrocarbons) I began to think that plastic might be just as rare as ...
Right from the beginning, the xenarthrans--armadillos, sloths and anteaters--have been at a disadvantage. For the longest time, their home was an island continent, which made them extremely vulner...
There is a forest in my world with a special property: All the trees are optimised to shade as much as possible during summer and give as little shadow as possible during winter, to regulate the te...
What is the best material to use for a near future spaceship. Assume that most materials in the solar system can be mined and used. The spaceship is 700m long, 500m wide and 500m high. It travels...
For a story I am writing, I need a planet covered in a shallow ocean. What I mean is that I want the majority of the planet's surface (=> 60%) to be in the photic zone of the ocean. This planet...
My hypothetical gas giant has five major moons. Three of those moons are icy bodies with abundant water ice and volatiles. Any of these could provide fuel for translunar spacecraft, or for spacecra...
Angels are advanced technological beings who are messengers of the gods. These extra-dimensional beings are large, upwards of 30ft tall, and resemble eldritch abominations in their true form, such ...
On another planet there is a group of organisms that have colorful display patterns allowing them to attract mates. Eventually a branch of this type of organism evolves the intelligence of early h...
Wouldn't it be cool if giant monsters were on giant planets? Of course it would be, but unfortunately physics doesn't really like that idea. Big planets make things on them need more support, so be...
I am investigating the possibility of modifying the speed of light in my world. Assuming that the speed of light in a vacuum can (and in my world, is) modified, what lower bound exists that would ...
It's possible to have lots of electric charge while having only a small amount of mass, and a black hole with a significant electric charge has properties that are different from one with no electr...
My story is set in a fortress town built below a mountain, and revolves around the struggle between the witch who protects the mountain and the tyrant who seeks to plunder it for resources (think P...
What would be the best configuration of solar panels on a rotating wheel space station? I am thinking about Space Station V design and dimensions. Space Station V comes from 2001: A Space Odyssey...
The title pretty much says it all. I'm wondering if it is possible through "digital" means only (aka any physical disruption of satellites is not allowed) to disable the US GPS satellite constella...
In a sci-fi RPG I eventually intend to run for a couple of friends, I had the idea of them visiting ancient ruins on a planet orbiting a shedding red giant. Now, ignoring the problem of intelligen...
I thought of a concept for a dragon or similarly gigantic reptile with a special adaptation, in which they're born with scales made almost entirely of carbon. Then, over an incredibly long life cyc...
In a vaguely Medieval setting with some limited magic, how would an underwater city handle sewage? Sanitation was one of the biggest limiting factors in the growth of human cities, and being under...
Could Space Station V, from 2001: A Space Odyssey have an inner ring? Would the inner ring have a different G-force if the inner ring was halfway between the outer ring and the hub. Would there b...
Once a long long time ago a guy called Newton came up with a law he called his 3rd law. "The laws of motion" Everyone knows about "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction" My question her...
In my world an advanced alien civilization are worshiped as gods by the human population. As the gods have better things to do than actually spend time interacting with the local fauna they created...
Given an unlimited time to evolve: what are the best ways to make any wild bovinae immune to its natural predators like the classic big felines (lions or tigers) and most reptiles (crocodiles or Ko...
The three most common properties of dragon scales are: being lightweight heat-resistance just plain resistance The first two are simple: by making the scales out of a substance similar to nacre...
Assuming an ion propulsion ship was leaving station in an orbit at the radius of the heliopause, and the most direct trajectory takes 18 months to get to Earth, would there be a launch window or co...
In my world, interstellar vessels use a drive whose design mankind learned from an extinct elder civilization. While construction of the drives is possible, the physical principles making them work...
I'm looking for a way to bypass the bidirectional diffusive gas exchange that happens in human alveoli, to allow aquanauts to breathe a standard Nitrogen-Oxygen air mix at very high pressures (up t...
I'm working on a sci-fi setting which includes an aquatic space-faring species. When a human space vessel is ruptured and depressurizes, the gas can escape rapidly and we immediately suffer from t...
Gods in this universe inhabit a higher plane of existence. Their spirits inhabit large, humanoid forms upwards of 30ft, and watch over humanity by protecting it from outside threats. On occasion, a...
This is an edited hopefully more focused version of a question I asked a while ago. I made the mistake of asking too many questions the first time so I'll try and be a bit more focused here. I d...
On Earth, our atmosphere contains 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, on average around 1% water vapor at sea level, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. Looking through...
If the outer ring of a rotating space station was producing the equivalent to 1G, but a higher G was needed could in small modules, could a bolo-like attachment be included with the ring to accompl...
