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Post by mizzy on Jul 15, 2008 10:37:57 GMT -5
Shields now? This is beginning to sound more like science fiction even for science fiction, what with Gundam reject flying space mechs and suits made of God and all that... Actually it's not completely science fiction. It's got a basis in science. And it has a very necessary purpose. The ship's hull needs to be protected from the radiation produced by the raw energy of the sun, and it has been speculated that forming a cloud of plasma around a ship could block the radiation from say, killing crew or deteriorating the hull over time. Most, if not all space orbits to date have stayed in the relative safety of the dark side of the Earth, so protection from radiation hasn't been much of a problem. But for a ship to venture beyond into unknown reaches of space it needs to have some sort of protection. Also, I hated that Gundam show. I like real science and massive robotic things was just so beyond the realm of possibility and practicality that it hurt my brain.
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Post by Shani on Jul 15, 2008 17:20:59 GMT -5
I hated the Gundam shows too. If there are massive robots in a sci-fi setting, I'd like them to be slow and bulky, since that's how they'd be like in real life physics. XP
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Post by mizzy on Jul 15, 2008 17:27:12 GMT -5
I'm just wondering. Is anything actively being done behind this forum to work towards getting the RP started again? Because I'd really like to join soon. ^_^; I've got my character drawn out and I'm working up a bio sheet.
I can settle for discussing relevant technology that would actually be mentioned in-story, but it'd be nice if something could happen soon.
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Post by Tropico on Jul 15, 2008 17:44:49 GMT -5
Shields now? This is beginning to sound more like science fiction even for science fiction, what with Gundam reject flying space mechs and suits made of God and all that... You've apparently never seen some Star Treck... well, maybe you have, but shields are possible..... weak as hell... but possible. ...and I still think our technology should not be very far advanced from what it is today... since the RP year not far off from the R-L year... or Was our good Captain a loon and changed the date while I wasn't looking?
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Post by Shani on Jul 15, 2008 18:07:17 GMT -5
He didn't change the date, Tropi. But the technology really is advanced for its time:
As for getting the RP going again, I'm not fully sure what the problem is. We don't have the posting order anymore, so anyone is free to continue.
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Post by mizzy on Jul 15, 2008 18:31:44 GMT -5
As for getting the RP going again, I'm not fully sure what the problem is. We don't have the posting order anymore, so anyone is free to continue. So, in other words, the RP is just sitting still until people feel like posting again? How many people in this forum even want to continue playing? I think that should be figured out, because otherwise there could be inactive characters taking up crew positions people interested in playing might want. I'll probably start posting once my bio is completed and approved, but until then is no one else going to continue? I wonder if maybe the biggest issue with posting order is the medium used for this RP. Forums, from my experience, don't make the best roleplay hosts. Yahoo! Groups had the best idea, allowing for both individually labeled sub-plots, a list of messages and ability to respond directly to particular posts. Forums have it to a degree, but I think the most important missing feature is the listing. It made each post look like a separate 'thread'. But in a forum all the posts are crammed into a single or multiple threads and it gets confusing pretty quickly. (one of the reasons forum RPs never interested me) Granted, the problem with Yahoo! Groups, is it's more of graveyard group now. RPs are hard to find and decent ones are nearly impossible to find. Regardless though, I think this group would probably stand a better chance there. At least in terms of maintaining -my- interest, but I don't know what everyone else's preferences are. It would be helpful if more people participated in this discussion, for one. >.>
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Post by Darfix on Jul 16, 2008 13:58:32 GMT -5
Shields now? This is beginning to sound more like science fiction even for science fiction, what with Gundam reject flying space mechs and suits made of God and all that... Actually it's not completely science fiction. It's got a basis in science. And it has a very necessary purpose. The ship's hull needs to be protected from the radiation produced by the raw energy of the sun, and it has been speculated that forming a cloud of plasma around a ship could block the radiation from say, killing crew or deteriorating the hull over time. Most, if not all space orbits to date have stayed in the relative safety of the dark side of the Earth, so protection from radiation hasn't been much of a problem. But for a ship to venture beyond into unknown reaches of space it needs to have some sort of protection. Also, I hated that Gundam show. I like real science and massive robotic things was just so beyond the realm of possibility and practicality that it hurt my brain. Problem is, Keppy is suggesting that we'll be capable of producing small atmospheres around our ships in 100 years which is lol. Shields now? This is beginning to sound more like science fiction even for science fiction, what with Gundam reject flying space mechs and suits made of God and all that... You've apparently never seen some Star Treck... well, maybe you have, but shields are possible..... weak as hell... but possible. ...and I still think our technology should not be very far advanced from what it is today... since the RP year not far off from the R-L year... or Was our good Captain a loon and changed the date while I wasn't looking? Seen Star Trek, love the uber realistic fight scenes and awesome acting. But yeah, Star Trek would be around the year 3500 or so, not 2100.
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Post by Kepora on Jul 16, 2008 14:43:33 GMT -5
Well Darfix, technology can advance a lot over just a decade, so in a century they could create plasma, and plasma is just super-excited gas molecules, and plasma does follow magneticcurrents, as seen by the arcs on th surface of the sun. Once cold plasma technology comes abot, they could use it to create doorways that could open in space wihtout stuff getting sucked out, but solid objects would be able to pass freely, and woud also have the bonus of deflecting unwanted magnetic, electrical, and radiological interference.
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Post by Darfix on Jul 16, 2008 19:39:32 GMT -5
The theory part of technology is exceptionally easy to create. Being able to develop these technologies with current resources and speaking out of practicality is something totally different.
I'd bet you everything I own now that we won't have plasma weapons and death stars by 2100, even though such a bet would be pointless due to the fact that we'll both probably be very much dead by that time--unless our geneticists figure out how to isolate and manipulate that gene in the human body that controls relative life span.
Just because I have a theory for a cream that when rubbed on my body makes me the most potent and desirable man on the planet doesn't make me an inventor.
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Post by Kepora on Jul 17, 2008 15:46:45 GMT -5
Well look at it this way: back in the early 1900s, we communicated by paper letters, newspape,r adn word of mouth,and barely had electricity and the works; in less than a hundred years we've got super-fast computers, a woldwide network that can connect you to virtually anyone in the world at the click of a mouse, from clunky old cars with wind-up ignitions to super-sleek electrics. Now that the world's "connected" in a sense, ideas can go around the world faster and become actual products and technologies at an exponentially higher rate than in, say, the 60's or 70's, just a couple of decades ago. Take in that and the doubling time of computers, and you're going to have one heck of a high-tech society.
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Post by Darfix on Jul 17, 2008 18:41:34 GMT -5
If you say so. Like I said, you need the resources and most importantly the money to research and develop these things. Also, the early 1900s - 1980s had some great thinkers. As our society keeps getting lazy we'll keep getting dumber and less enthusiastic about inventing.
To top it off, if we keep flushing money down the toilet for these stupid, meaningless wars, soon there won't be an economy left in which to gain money for research. Like my astronomy professor said, it wouldn't take too great of a force to totally decimate the world's economy and set us back a couple hundred years or so. He knew his stuff and if I had the time to go into insane detail and explain it I surely would.
Trust me, we won't have death stars and planet destroying weapons by 2100. I doubt we'll even have the technology to settle other planets. I know we'll have a very primitive base on the moon by this time, assuming NASA doesn't get more fund cuts. We'll have a new telescope to replace the Hubble and surely we'll have landed on Mars by that time, but I still think we're being overly optimistic about technological progression over 100 years.
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Post by mizzy on Jul 17, 2008 19:29:01 GMT -5
So technically, the whole Harbinger Expedition is beyond predicted technological levels a hundred years from now. Because if we just made it to Mars by then, then an exploratory mission beyond that would still be a good 2-3 hundred years away.
The flaw, I believe lies in the projected date for the Expedition taking place. The only way it could make sense is by the Alexandrian Libraries not being destroyed and all those other significant historical changes including less wars and more word wide cooperation. Otherwise the entire idea is moot.
Based on Darfix's logic that is.
Personally, I believe computer technology's purported exponential growth does not affect other areas in science. However, what I do believe is that certain technologies key to space travel will very likely be a high focus in coming years. Particularly such things as plasma weapons. Why? Because of the military. And of course, their experiments in plasma will likely branch out. The greatest possibility, is that in a hundred years there'll be a hundred new ways to kill people. We may even abandon space travel for our own petty disputes. Greed being what it is, and all.
That's just me, though. And I'm referring to the human race. A race of animals could be completely the same, different, or worse. It's all theoretical. And arguing over the appropriate time-line for certain sciences is pointless. How about we actually do something about it?
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Post by Darfix on Jul 17, 2008 22:34:13 GMT -5
Space exploration is already taking a massive back seat to our disputes and over seas interests wars. NASA is being underfunded and the occupation of Iraq is already putting us in such a deficit that our education system isn't even receiving government funding anymore. If the education system isn't being funded what makes you think NASA is?
Not only that, the Taliban is starting to fight back in Afghanistan with a new slew of fighters and foreign fanatics, so chances are we'll be spending even more money soon.
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Post by mizzy on Jul 17, 2008 23:33:20 GMT -5
Which is why I'm so glad I'm Canadian. While the US goes broke mayhaps we'll start our own decent space program. Or steal the US one. Whichever comes first. Seriously though, the States is running itself into the ground with that stupid 'war'.
Also, try not to think of the US as the -only- place developing technology. Canada, Russia, Japan and others do the science thing to. So if the states doesn't think of it first, others surely will. Japan most likely first. =P
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Post by Shani on Jul 18, 2008 6:42:40 GMT -5
Well, the Alexandrian Libraries weren't destroyed in this version of the world, if that helps the technology along. But maybe we shouldn't have a projected date and instead plan out the exact technology HE should have and what has been accomplished, first, and then give the RP an appropriate year.
However, being the Neutral that I am, I'd have to say that wars aren't all bad; a lot of technology was developed because of them. In the desire to defeat their opponent, people strive to make better, faster, stronger weaponry and pay engineers and scientists to put theories into practice. An utterly peaceful world would grow lazy and stop advancing since all we need to survive and communicate world-wide is already there. So there'd be no experiments in plasma for another 1000 years.
BTW, according to Keppy, there are also humans in this world. I don't remember whether we decided to keep them or not. They just make things more confusing than they need to be.
Now that you mention Japan taking lead in inventions and science, it would be a good explanation as to why Em joined Kirisawa and not some other company to work for =P
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