# 3 SF inventions you would like to see come true?



## Serendipity (Dec 27, 2015)

I'm having one of this 'insane' moments, when I somehow overcome my usual shyness... 

What are the three inventions in science fiction you would like to see come true?

My three are:

1) Travelling Faster Than the Speed of Light
2) Teleportation over planet-wide distances
3) Universal kitchen that does all the necessary housework

Over to you chaps and chapesses...


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## psikeyhackr (Dec 27, 2015)

1) true Artificial Intelligence
2) computerized education probably using AI
3) health/life extension, 300 year life spans

psik


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## Ray McCarthy (Dec 27, 2015)

1) Interstellar Drive. (Without breaking Relativity or Causality, as I don't believe in Perpetual Motion Machines or Free Energy either)
2) Affordable economic Fusion power (it sort of is now if you use the neutrons to irradiate waste from a regular Nuclear power station).
3) A range of genetically engineered bacteriophages each to kill only specific harmful bacteria.

I don't wish for true A.I., as that isn't needed and less believable than anything in SF. It's identical to a magician making clockwork be sentient.


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## J-Sun (Dec 28, 2015)

Like real estate, I'd say FTL, FTL, FTL. But to have three different ones, I'd go for much of the previous posters' stuff.

FTL (I don't care if it's "real" FTL that requires junking Einstein alongside Ptolemy or a "virtual" FTL of any kind. As long as it doesn't entail time travel.)
Asimovian Robots
The Techno-Fountain of Youth.

Probably think of something else later but those jump out. (Oddly, while I wouldn't refuse a jetpack or flying car, they aren't high on the list and no one else has mentioned them either. )

Oh yeah:



Serendipity said:


> I'm having one of this 'insane' moments, when I somehow overcome my usual shyness...



Don't be shy - it's a great question. Post more.


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## psikeyhackr (Dec 28, 2015)

Even if some form of effective FTL travel is developed how many people can go? 

Even if we sent 70,000 people what percentage of Earth's population is that?  Mercury astronauts were supposed to have IQs of 130 or higher so who is going to qualify?  

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-350/ch-8-2.html

I have serious doubts about True AI, but Simulated Intelligence would still be really useful.  And how cheap would it be in 20 years?  So it would have a huge pervasive effect.

psik


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## TheDustyZebra (Dec 28, 2015)

I would like the rejuvenation treatments that Heinlein had in the Lazarus Long, etc. books. Teleportation. And, of course, a TARDIS.


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## Nick B (Dec 28, 2015)

Large scale (ftl) interstellar travel.
Life and health extension.
Massive scale space stations, with artificial gravity et al.

Thats a really good question.


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## Ray McCarthy (Dec 28, 2015)

psikeyhackr said:


> Simulated Intelligence would still be really useful.


Yes, it could be and if we knew how to do it, it would be cheap next year. Computer power and storage isn't the issue.



psikeyhackr said:


> Even if some form of effective FTL travel is developed how many people can go?


Some sums and honest reflection show that even if Intersteller travel itself was free, it's of little value for trade, conquering the galaxy or evacuating a planet (would be nearly impossible unless only a tiny proportion of people left after an apocolypse). It's useful for knowledge and if there are other people, sharing ideas. Even colonisation is unlikely because if somewhere was absolutely already suitable, you'd need Earth plants etc (or people would have amino acid and vitamin deficiencies) and the odds are it would be already occupied.


psikeyhackr said:


> Mercury astronauts were supposed to have IQs of 130 or higher so who is going to qualify?


Well, the qualifications for crew and passengers are not the same. But I agree, unless there are interstellar portals on railway lines, Interstellar (better name than FTL as even if you get their faster than light can, it's not going to be actually by TRAVELLING faster than light) travel will never be mass market.


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## psikeyhackr (Dec 28, 2015)

Ray McCarthy said:


> Yes, it could be and if we knew how to do it, it would be cheap next year. Computer power and storage isn't the issue.



You don't think the Watson software that won Jeopardy qualifies?

But that is the funny thing about this society.  We could have had a National Recommended Reading List for kids decades before we had cheap computers.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Omnilingual, by H. Beam Piper

Worlds Within Worlds: The Story of Nuclear Energy, Volume 1 (of 3) by Isaac Asimov

psik


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## psikeyhackr (Dec 28, 2015)

TheDustyZebra said:


> I would like the rejuvenation treatments that Heinlein had in the Lazarus Long, etc. books. Teleportation. And, of course, a TARDIS.



Anti-ageing pill pushed as bona fide drug


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## Ray McCarthy (Dec 28, 2015)

psikeyhackr said:


> You don't think the Watson software that won Jeopardy qualifies?


No, it's just a database with slightly enhanced search compared to the 1990s. The growth of web sites in last 20 years allows it to perform better. It obviously has a better search interface than  Google exposes publicly. There isn't even pseudo or simulated AI involved.
(Disclaimer, I've been working with Database design and search interface to them since early 1980s and attended my first Uni Lectures in AI in mid 80s and kept up with the literature since then)


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## Ray McCarthy (Dec 28, 2015)

Quellist said:


> Life and health extension.





TheDustyZebra said:


> I would like the rejuvenation treatments





J-Sun said:


> The Techno-Fountain of Youth.





psikeyhackr said:


> health/life extension, 300 year life spans



I've thought about this since 1970s.
1) What about people that insist on bad diet?
2) What about people that take zero exercise?
3) What about people that smoke or take too much Alcohol?
4) What about people that have good diet, avoid damaging drugs or too much alcohol but eat far to much?
5) Retirement Age / Promotions for younger folk (dead person's shoes) / Pension costs?

Perhaps perfect health and youth-like skin, bone, muscles and intellect for those that eat and exercise within certain limits? Otherwise you'll have 30% to 70% of people in richer west looking like 30 year old underweight suma wrestlers by age 70? What about the rest of the world?  Already 16% of people use nearly 75% of world resources of food or energy. Western Europe, esp. UK & Ireland seem determined to catch up with USA. There is plenty of food and resources and wealth for the next 100 to 400 years if shared fairly:


Ray McCarthy said:


> 1) Interstellar Drive. (Without breaking Relativity or Causality, as I don't believe in Perpetual Motion Machines or Free Energy either)


So maybe till we learn to treat each other fairly we should hold off on my #1 and the Life/Health/Youth magic? As my #1 and the Life/Health/Youth magic might easily only be for the 5% most wealthy folk world wide?

Happy New Year.

P.S.


Serendipity said:


> 'm having one of this 'insane' moments, when I somehow overcome my usual shyness...


I think it's great and better than New Year Resolutions. They seem to be bigger fantasy than the SF New Year Wish list.  Glad you posted


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## psikeyhackr (Dec 28, 2015)

Ray McCarthy said:


> No, it's just a database with slightly enhanced search compared to the 1990s. The growth of web sites in last 20 years allows it to perform better. It obviously has a better search interface than  Google exposes publicly. There isn't even pseudo or simulated AI involved.
> (Disclaimer, I've been working with Database design and search interface to them since early 1980s and attended my first Uni Lectures in AI in mid 80s and kept up with the literature since then)



What about the semantic analysis required to sort relevant word matches from irrelevant ones?

psik


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## Nick B (Dec 28, 2015)

Ray McCarthy said:


> I've thought about this since 1970s.
> 1) What about people that insist on bad diet?
> 2) What about people that take zero exercise?
> 3) What about people that smoke or take too much Alcohol?
> ...



The people who insist on being unhealthy will still be unhealthy and die earlier, I guess, but 'earlier' might be at a century or two.
Retirement may just never happen. Or we may only be working if we choose to anyway, automation may be covering most stuff, we may be working a day a week each.


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## Ray McCarthy (Dec 28, 2015)

psikeyhackr said:


> What about the semantic analysis required to sort relevant word matches from irrelevant ones?


Parsing, semantics, context, grammar etc: Yes, you need that for good ad hoc natural language queries. Simulated A.I. of some specialised kind would be good. We have made so little progress on that in 60 years that Google translate abandoned almost all the previous work on that (needed for translation as well as database queries) and instead uses a "rosetta stone" brute force pattern matching. Google started with the fact that EU legal texts etc say the same in all the European languages. They expanded from that, building a database of known matching phrases. They use user feedback.  No A.I. in the real sense in Google Translate or Watson. It's brute force pattern matching.


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## Harpo (Dec 31, 2015)

Space firm creates ArcaBoard - a 'real hoverboard' - BBC News


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## Ray McCarthy (Dec 31, 2015)

Needs a skirt. It's a badly designed hovercraft. Someone worked out that with a skirt it might be able to use about 1/5th of power, not as many fans needed.


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## Cat's Cradle (Dec 31, 2015)

In honor of Ms. Zebedee, has anyone mentioned sexy space pilots?? (We have astronauts today, and cosmonauts, but I've never heard them labelled 'space pilots'.)


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## Deep Space Nina (Jan 1, 2016)

Definitly hypo-sprays, like in Star Trek. I am so afraid of needles! - In fact I saw on TV that this is already existing (and a children´s doctor tested it on himself - he longs for that as well, as his patients are very often not cooperative ...), but this is years ago and there is still no possibility to benefit from this.


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## Ray McCarthy (Jan 1, 2016)

Deep Space Nina said:


> Definitly hypo-sprays, like in Star Trek. I am so afraid of needles!


Those have existed for ages. But no use for anything needing direct injection to blood stream.


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## Deep Space Nina (Jan 1, 2016)

But there are possibilities like vaccinations that are just under the skin. But noone offers if. I have seen that in the US flue shots were made by nose spray, but here is also no sight of them.


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## hardsciencefanagain (Jan 1, 2016)

the light that starts blinking to tell you politicians have started lying.
My very own novel:_*The Truth is Out There *_


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## Ray McCarthy (Jan 1, 2016)

hardsciencefanagain said:


> the light that starts blinking to tell you politicians have started lying.


I have one that always blinks, it's right most of the time


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## Serendipity (Jan 9, 2016)

Ray McCarthy said:


> 1) Interstellar Drive. (Without breaking Relativity or Causality, as I don't believe in Perpetual Motion Machines or Free Energy either)
> 2) Affordable economic Fusion power (it sort of is now if you use the neutrons to irradiate waste from a regular Nuclear power station).
> 3) A range of genetically engineered bacteriophages each to kill only specific harmful bacteria.
> 
> I don't wish for true A.I., as that isn't needed and less believable than anything in SF. It's identical to a magician making clockwork be sentient.



The nuclear fusion without having to use neutrons (which makes things awkward) should be with us within twenty years on an industrial scale. However, the success of this invention will not be an excuse to go and settle permanently on the Moon in its own right (i.e. to collect Helium three). 

Interstellar flight is being studied. Initial details can be found here Interstellar Flight: An Update on Progress and Developments, and Scenario Analysis for this Century

I'm not a biologist, so can't comment on the bacteriophages...


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## Serendipity (Jan 16, 2016)

There is an interesting article about faster than light travel in science fiction over at the guardian - link is It's about time: how sci-fi has described Einstein's universe - enjoy!

[Note to self - really must write some SF about my my pet ftl theory...]


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