Activity for chasly from UK
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Could an octopus ride a bicycle? I'm imagining a scenario where there is a conflict between humans and intelligent octopuses. The humans' main mode of transport is the bicycle. The octopuses decide to stage a night raid whereby they will steal the humans' bicycles and dispose of them at the bottom of the sea. The pr... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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The One-Electron Universe postulate is true - what simple change can I make to change the whole universe? The one-electron universe postulate, proposed by John Wheeler in a telephone call to Richard Feynman in the spring of 1940, hypothesises that all electrons and positrons are actually manifestations of a single entity moving backwards and forwards in time. According to Feynman: " I rec... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Wormholes as Weapons of Mass Destruction A wormhole (or Einstein"“Rosen bridge) is a speculative structure linking disparate points in spacetime, and is based on a special solution of the Einstein field equations solved using a Jacobian matrix and determinant. A wormhole can be visualized as a tunnel with two ends, each at separa... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Hermit living down a well. How deep can he safely go? A holy man lives down a cylindrical well that is 2 metres in diameter. There is no water in the bottom and all the walls are of solid impermeable rock. He is protected from rain by a roof on supports. He is kept alive by the locals who believe his prayers are necessary for their well-being. They ass... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Preventing the Big Bang I travel back in time to the Big Bang in my time machine. I am equipped with all the present day equipment I need. I locate the infinitesimal 'point' where the Universe would come into existence and bombard it with elementary particles so as to prevent the random singularity that was the Big Bang fr... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Focused Earthquake by Remote Jumping up and down - Destroy the Palace! This question draws on an old idea but it is different. The original question is, "If everyone in the world jumps at the same time, will the Earth move?" My question is,"If everyone in one hemisphere jumps repeatedly in synch, will the Earth vibrate and, if so can it create a targeted earthquake o... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Could flying insects re-enter the Earth's atmosphere from space without burning up? Huge numbers of genetically modified flying insects (purpose not disclosed here but it relates to affecting the whole of humanity) are to be dropped into the Earth's atmosphere from space so that they spread far and wide. The insects are not in any kind of container whilst falling. Once dropped, the... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Designing the most boring planet ever discovered. Part 1: planetary surface @Gryphon has made me aware of this The Least Interesting Substance It is very close but I need a planet that can form naturally. Would any of the substances mentioned in answers to that question be realistic for a planetary body that had formed naturally? The Planet Boros I wish to create an incre... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Splitting the atom with a hammer In a world of superheroes the job of blacksmith is given to the very strongest of them. Question Is splitting an atom in a human-scale piece of work by using a human-scale tool even theoretically possible? If so and a superhero blacksmith struck his work with such superhuman strength that he rando... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Art Critics in the Stone Age In the stone-age world that I am building, I don't just want one-dimensional characters who are either hunters or gatherers. I want a great quantity of people including those who would have become art critics if born in recent times. Here is some output from an art critic: In Sebastian Gögel's ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Anal Retentiveness in a tribal nomadic society - why would it be advantageous? Please note: This has no relation to any real persons on this site or elsewhere and should not be taken to be such. In my world there is a human nomadic desert tribe. They have a long-standing custom of refraining from defecating on their journeys. They wait until they reach an oasis. This is impo... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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What will it cost me to travel through Time? (Part 1: Travelling forwards in Time - Time Dilation) There are many questions on Worldbuilding about what item(s) a time traveller should take back in time in order to alter past events or even simply to survive. There has never as far as I know been any mention of the amount of energy needed for time travel or any explanation of the size or quantity ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Beer Goggles in the Antarctic Background A large colony lives in the Antarctic in a network of bases. They have so far evaded the dreadful worldwide plague. When they venture outside their base they don their climate-proof clothing and their goggles. These goggles have liquid lenses. Transmissive liquid lenses use two imm... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Separating light gases from heavy without chemistry How do steampunk civilizations get lifting gas? Inspired by the above question I was tempted to suggest collecting the gases rising from public toilets. I know that human gaseous emissions contain varying proportions of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane. https://en.wikipedia.... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Can-and-String Telecommunications Network - Repeaters and Amplifiers Background We know about the can-and-string telephone. There are various claims about the maximum distance over which this is effective. Let's say 100 feet is possible without too much loss and distortion as hinted at here. https://science.howstuffworks.com/question410.htm A widespread and long-... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A Decoy Planet made of expanded polystyrene. How big can I make it? Note: This is different from the previous question Building a full-sized Lego Earth - what would it look like at various levels?. In that case it was about making a solid full-size Earth from Lego and whether it would have a liquid core. This question is asking How big can a (non-Earth) planet realis... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Russian Dolls - How do they reproduce? Warning picture showing dissected Russian Doll My theory I believe that Russian Dolls reproduce asexually. They are born pregnant. At the time of birth, the outer doll dies. What is now the outer doll grows until it reaches full size at which point it gives birth and dies. The birth process ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Anatomically correct Pushmi-pullu from Dr. Dolittle Note - I'm primarily interested in the beast from the original Dr Dolittle books by Hugh Lofting rather than the movie version. The Pushmi-pullyu The pushmi-pullyu (pronounced "push-me"”pull-you") is a "gazelle/unicorn cross" with two heads (one of each) at opposite ends of its body. In The ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Aliens selectively breed humans to be bigger. How big could they get and still look human? Can we go from this: to this: Suppose over millennia (or as long as it takes) humans on Earth are artificially selected by aliens to be big and healthy. Is there any theoretical reason that they couldn't grow to be as tall as large dinosaurs? If the proportions (thickness of bones etc.) had t... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How difficult would it be to turn the Asteroid Belt into a single body? What's the best method? The Emperor (may he live forever) plans to visit the Solar System on a rare royal visit in ten years' time. The Bureau for Interplanetary Tidying have decided that the Asteroid Belt is an eyesore that shouldn't sully the eyes of His Mightiness and needs to be cleaned up. The obvious way to do this is... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Counteracting Perverse Incentive effects in 1902 Hanoi rat population A perverse incentive is a reward system that has the opposite effect to the one intended. In Hanoi, under French colonial rule, a program paying people a bounty for each rat tail handed in was intended to exterminate rats. Instead, it led to the farming of rats. https://en.wikipedia.org/wik... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How can a planet full of zombies reproduce and maintain its population? How can we have a world that is inhabited only by zombies and yet continues to be populated? For the purposes of this question, I envisage the type of zombie that has been infected by a virus, is clinically dead, yet still able to move around, is compelled to seek out non-infected living people, an... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Building a full-sized Lego Earth - what would it look like at various levels? Lego representations of Earth have been made at various scales, for example this one: Suppose Slartibartfast made a full-size Earth from Lego (including the oceans being represented as solid blocks. It is made inside his huge cavern inside Magarathea. Magrathea is an ancient planet located in ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A reverse centaur walks into a bar - Why the long face? A centaur as we all know is a horse with a human head (and torso). I would like to consider a reverse centaur, which, for the purposes of this question, I will define to be a human with a horse's head as shown below: Although the creature (Bojack Horseman) in the picture is completely fictional, ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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In theory, could all mammals be wiped out by a single pathogen? Pathogen Note: For the purpose of this question I define a pathogen to include viruses and/or bacteria. Edit: I don't exclude other biological agents such as fungi that might have the same effect. Pathogen A pathogen or infectious agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illnes... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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The Galaxy has been colonised but why the big feet? Far, far into the future, pretty much the entire Milky Way has been colonised by humans. The thing is that now the Empire has fallen, the technology of FTL travel has been lost in most places. Those who still have it are too busy fighting a war amongst themselves to be concerned with far-flung outpos... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A proposed method of flying for superheroes I can understand Super-beings' great strength and some of their other powers, but flying is hard to justify. I want to consider only superheroes that can actually fly rather than merely jump tall buildings. My theory is that their body hair can be controlled like so many cilia on a microorganism. T... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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The Stone-age Limbo People - How do they hunt wild boar? The Limbo People (who are hominids with intelligence somewhere between chimpanzees and humans) have long survived by hunting wild boar. They use spears with wooden hafts and flint tips. They are a stone-age people. They don't have fire. The boars live in the forest which covers the whole world (as f... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Never-ending string kebab for a dystopian future For a Matrix-type future I want to feed people via solid food. This is to keep all their internal organs working properly. The idea is to feed them an endless kebab that is held together along its length with a string. They aren't aware of this as they are living in a fantasy simulated world. There... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Riding a push-bike up the sides of buildings Without going into great details for the reasons behind it, people in The City travel everywhere by bicycle. There are no stairs or lifts (elevators) in high rise buildings and no safe parking spaces for bikes at ground level. To reach their home or office in a high-rise building, cyclists must cyc... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Storing people in space In the future, personal Cryonics (in the hope of cure or immortality on re-awakening)) have become enormously popular. However there is a storage problem. There just isn't enough space for all the bodies. Also the equipment that keeps them cool itself generates heat and requires enormous amounts of e... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Could humanoids without a skeleton be viable? It's tempting to think that anything with the outer shape of a human would simply collapse in a heap if its skeleton were not there. That is surely true if the internal structure was the same as ours but with the bones simply non-existent. However the human tongue, the elephant's trunk and the octop... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Designing the Scipmylo - The Low-jump This is a follow-up to The running-backwards Olympics The designer of the backwards Olympics (aka The Scipmylo) is making good progress but there are some difficulties with the Low-jump. To be a valid event it must have a measurable element of jumping, so the limbo is not suitable. At the moment th... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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One finger, one thumb, one arm, one leg, one nod of the head One finger, one thumb, one arm, one leg, one nod of the head, sit down, stand up, keep moving We'll all be merry and bright https://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/o113.html I want a creature that literally has one of everything. All of the above plus: One eye, One nostril, One nipple, One foo... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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The running-backwards Olympics In a future world that is obsessed by not repeating the so-called errors of their fathers, there is a backwards Olympics, or Scipmylo. All the usual disciplines are featured in reverse where it is possible to do so. Examples Catching the discus. Dodging the javelin. Low jump. The easiest to mea... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Can magnetism be what causes my flat Earth to accelerate? It has been determined by observation of the stars that the gravity on Flat Earth is due to it accelerating upwards at 1G. This is what holds people and objects to the surface. It has also been determined that items do not experience any mutual attraction due to 'gravity'. The problem is that the en... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Worms that create wormholes - can we find and track them underground? In a future Earth it has been discovered that earthworms can actually create wormholes. There is a lot more to this and I will be asking other questions, however at this point I just want to know if worms can be detected and tracked underground by any means. For example they could have a miniature... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Can I make the carbon cycle shorter - by metamorphosis from plant to animal and vice-versa EDITED to address the above suggestion. See below. Most animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon-dioxide. Most plants take in carbon-dioxide and release oxygen. Waste products from animals fertilise the soil and enable plants to grow. Plants are eaten by herbivores. I'm looking to cr... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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What is the natural shape of the atmosphere on a Niven ringworld? Assuming the atmosphere on a Niven ringworld is retained by gravity, what shape would it be? Full details of Ringworld http://larryniven.wikia.com/wiki/Ringworld As I understand it, Niven proposed walls on either edge that would form a sort of trough for the atmosphere to sit in to avoid it lea... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Visual Cortex, superficial Brain Implant - Biological feasibility In another question Everybody has a brain implant. What measures can a criminal take to escape justice? I assumed that a brain implant would be possible in the future for surveillance. In this question I would like to explore the actual feasibility of such an implant from a biological stance. My pl... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Would experiencing Groundhog Day prove that life was a simulation just for you alone? There are other Groundhog Day questions and other Simulation questions. I believe this differs from all the others. [This movie features a] ...TV weatherman who, during an assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day event, is caught in a time loop, repeating the same day ... [over and over].... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A huge transparent wall permanently separates two civilisations - what can it be made of? I'd like two medieval societies to be separated from one another by a huge vertical wall. The wall is so high that no-one has succeeded in shooting an arrow (or anything else) over it. It disappears up into perpetual mist. This wall bridges a pass in the middle of a mountain range that no-one has ma... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Near spherical alien species - How can they move? The setting On an Earth-like planet but with completely different flora and fauna there is the Great Plain. It is similar in size to the Serengeti National Park on Earth. The Plain is surrounded by high mountains on all sides except where it meets the ocean. Creatures who live there have been isolat... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Planetary cave: Gravity inside a non-concentric shell There are several previous questions concerning concentric shells. I won't reference them here because this is different. I understand that there is no gravitational effect inside a concentric shell. But what about a non-concentric one? Research I've looked online and found nothing. Maybe I'm ju... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Always a full Moon for the Emperor - Can this be achieved with solar panels and LEDs? The Emperor of the World wants there always to be a full moon. His Scientific Advisor (the SA) comes up with a plan. He plans to cost out the venture, hand it over to the Keeper of the Treasury who then has the unpleasant job of explaining to the Emperor how much it will cost. The SA's plan is to t... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How much energy did it take for God to part the Red Sea? EDIT Why this is a world-building query. If I had framed this as, "In my world where magic requires the expenditure of energy, a powerful wizard decides to open a path through a large lake,etc. The world I am supposing is that God himself can create and destroy energy (or has an infinite supply) but... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Scale model solar system in interstellar space - will it work? Now that FTL travel is here there are all sorts of family outings we can go on. One of these is a scale model solar system lovingly made by hobbyist Barty Slartfast. In full scale Sedna is three times farther away from Earth than Pluto, making it the most distant observable object known in the so... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Greenhouse Planet Terraforming - Will a balloon jacket self-stabilise? Most of what follows is scientifically dubious. I'm looking to clarify one aspect and one aspect alone. A small planet is being terraformed by an alien race who have been doing this for millennia. They proceed by wrapping the planetoid at ground level in non-permeable, initially flexible, transparen... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Software that shows space travel accurately in 3d from a physics point of view An answer to the following question mentions a free online calculator for long-distance space travel. Software to ease my interstellar travel calculations I'm looking for a 3d simulator that accurately and visually shows transition from orbit and other aspects of interplanetary (rather than inters... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Would a Moon made of water pose a threat to Earth during eclipses? Is a moon made entirely of water possible? Could a planet made completely of water exist? I was inspired by the above questions to ask the following: Assume that our current Moon is replaced instantaneously by a moon made entirely of water but of identical mass. This is carried out by an incredibl... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |