It occurred to me that something like the “Universal Translator” of Star Trek could be constructed without very advanced technology. I call my more primitive device a “Drongo.” If you have two technologically advanced races, and they meet, there is a need to construct a basic vocabulary quickly. One can sit in a room, point [...]
Categories: Programming, future, science fiction
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I often hear that sf should be about people, not technology. And I don’t disagree. There’s nothing worse than reading page after page of technobable (or watching Trek characters spout it for minutes on end). After all, future technology is really nonsense. But sf/fantasy is not just a story about people with a strange backdrop. [...]
Categories: science fiction
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Recent pictures of Orion with the Spitzer Telescope are telling us more about the science of star formation. I think a region of active star formation might have interesting story possibilities. Imagine two similar star systems, formed at about the same time, from similar materials — possessing a common seed of life carried in the [...]
Categories: science fiction
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This article from PhysOrg says that brown dwarfs may be like light houses, emitting beacons of strong radio pulses. An appropriately advanced civilization might be able to manipulate such an object (if it were within its solar system) to send a “we are here” message, getting a tremendous boost in signal strength from such a [...]
Categories: science fiction
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The first two Matrix movies were quite fun — despite the rather strange and improbable premise that humans make good batteries. However the third movie was quite disappointing. In the software development world, the process of revising your software to make it better is sometimes called “refactoring.” This suggests to me the title of a [...]
Categories: movies, science fiction
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This link is a little gem that any science fiction writer should hold on to. It tells you what color the plants should be in an extra-solar system. The logic seems to be simply that plants absorb the light that is most readily abundant, and chlorophyll reflects green because there is less of it (after [...]
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Astrobio.net has an article on what it calls “nano-nauts” — small partiles that can maneuver in swirling wind by simply changing their surface texture between rough and smooth. Apparently these particles can steer their way through rough winds while flying in formation (“I am a leaf on the wind…”). These bots can communicate using wireless, [...]
Categories: science fiction
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Most stories consist of the gradual unfolding of information, the asking of questions and answering them. Each set of story ideas and characters have their own inner logic that must be first explained, then followed to a satisfying conclusion. Given this state of affairs, it is almost irresistable to the writer of sci-fi or fantasy [...]
Categories: science fiction
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I recently came across the statistic that there are only 3 billion bits of information in DNA. This is a rather shockingly small number. If we factor out the “junk” (viruses, non-coding regions, etc.) that leaves about 300 million bits of information or about 40 mega bytes. This means that you can probably squeeze nearly [...]
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There is the basis for an interesting sci fi story here… Genetic switches could, perhaps, trigger some remarkable ability such as extra sensory perception. Perhaps they could be artificially introduced to hide a trait. Share on Facebook
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