JDługosz‭

In this question I asked about the possibilities of what a boundary might be like, with emphasis on the storytelling. Now I'd like to investigate what a hard boundary would mean in quantum mechani...

1 answer  ·  posted 11y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  edited 6y ago by HDE 226868‭

I've mentioned in earlier posts that it will be much cheaper to build immense space-based observatory instruments than to even come close to launching an interstellar expedition. There are several...

2 answers  ·  posted 10y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 7y ago by JDługosz‭

I love the idea of competing moon gods! The people might not grasp the relationship between the moons and tides but might if the cycle was apparent. On an island in a global ocean with no girdli...

posted 11y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 11y ago by JDługosz‭

Certainly. I've even seen a product in different colors, powered by tritium. At the very least, you can use common florescent pigments (available in many glo-colors) and mix with UV-producing radi...

posted 10y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 10y ago by JDługosz‭

Silicon is often brought up in science fiction as being very similar to carbon, just below it on the periodic table. The silicon-based "organic" molecules are more tightly bound and thus would fin...

4 answers  ·  posted 10y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 10y ago by JDługosz‭

I saw this old closed question on Physics.SE and thought it would be perfect for here. The original author is long gone, so I thought I'll just have to post it myself. We can consider factors of p...

5 answers  ·  posted 10y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 9y ago by JDługosz‭

I was reading more Laundry stories and just went through Equoid. The humorous "Procurement Specification" got me thinking. In a rational SF approach (as opposed to magic), imagine a civilization d...

2 answers  ·  posted 10y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 10y ago by JDługosz‭

Suppose technology becomes available that allows bad people to be "cured". Instead of going to prison for decades or being executed, for example, a murderer has his brain adjusted. Now cured, there...

10 answers  ·  posted 10y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 10y ago by JDługosz‭

I know, it sounds like a geek swearing at Windows 8 on his work-owned computer. But actually I was just reading Peter Clines (Fold and then had to order 14 for instant delivery), and when I got to...

1 answer  ·  posted 10y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 10y ago by JDługosz‭

A targeted hard-science spin-off from this question: In a tidally-locked planet that rotates about a barycentric point that's located outside of its own sphere, what would the coriolis forces be l...

3 answers  ·  posted 10y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 9y ago by JDługosz‭

One answer to the question of "Why don't we see any aliens?" prompted me to consider: The computer was a comparatively simple design, what the natives would call "single core" Von Neumann arch...

9 answers  ·  posted 11y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 9y ago by JDługosz‭

When I was a kid, I read an essay by Asimov describing an inside-out asteroid: (summary from Wikipedia) The Bubbleworld or Inside/Outside concept was originated by Dandridge M. Cole in 1964....

4 answers  ·  posted 11y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 9y ago by JDługosz‭

There are lots of posts speculating about a planet (or whatever) where life evolves intelligence and goes on to produce technology, under different differences lacking something or another that is ...

5 answers  ·  posted 11y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 11y ago by JDługosz‭

In an earlier question I shared the idea of Bill, the stranded alien that has a challenge getting the attention of local humans because he's the size of a mosquito. He needs to re-establish contac...

3 answers  ·  posted 11y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 9y ago by JDługosz‭

An earlier question here concerning a cube-shaped planet got me thinking. Suppose an artificial world-sized engineering project as described in this answer The K-II civilization that built it ...

3 answers  ·  posted 11y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 10y ago by JDługosz‭