Technology is the usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or serve some purpose.
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Is it possible to print humans? [migrated]
According to this news, scientist can use stem cells to print objects. So says theoretically, is there any possibility to print human beings?
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2answers
114 views
Fictional origins of touch and gesture technology
Where do you think the first vision of touch technology comes from? All I come up with are from film and t.v. shows, for example tablets the earliest I can think of is Star Trek The Next Generation. ...
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4answers
566 views
What are the machines in the Matrix doing?
In The Matrix, the machines won the war against humans. They have incredibly efficient production and lots of energy. What are they doing in the meantime? What purpose do these machines have?
I could ...
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0answers
104 views
Is respawning technologically feasible in Pandora? [closed]
In the world of Pandora, in the game Borderlands 1 & 2, there are machines called "Fast-Travel" stations that can respawn the character. Dying seems to transmit your data through some sort of ...
5
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1answer
147 views
Is The Doctor (EMH Mark I) technologically similar to the holodeck?
The creator of the Emergency Medical Hologram - EMH (beginning with Mark I), Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, was the 'Director of Holographic Imaging and Programming' at Jupiter Station. It can be expected his ...
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1answer
172 views
Why aren't “life support belts” used elsewhere in the Trek universe?
"Life support belts" have only ever been seen in the animated series (and apparently a non-canon video game as well). Is there any explanation for why?
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2answers
166 views
Do “life support belts” exist outside of ST:TAS?
In the first episode of the animated Star Trek series, Beyond the Farthest Star, an away-team investigates an alien ship using "life support belts," which appear to protect the wearer with a ...
2
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1answer
180 views
How much power the powercell of a lightsaber could deliver to the blade?
Lightsabers are extraordinary weapons, they could cut almost anything and reflect blaster bolt, but one of theirs must amazing feat is the quantity of energy they could deliver. I particularly ...
8
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1answer
280 views
What is Lando Calrissian wearing on his Wrist?
Again, when I visited the Star-Wars exposition this summer, I took a photo of Lando Calrissian's costume.
I noticed the nice wrist device and made a close up of it :
Unitl now, I tough it was ...
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3answers
295 views
How is faeces processed in stillsuits?
Kynes studied the underarm seals, adjusted one. “Motions of the body, especially breathing,” he said, “and some osmotic action provide the pumping force.” He loosened the chest fit slightly. ...
7
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1answer
199 views
Is inconsistent Inertial Dampener performance ever explained?
According to Tom Paris, the Inertial Dampeners are the only thing keeping the crew from becoming "stains on the back wall" when the ship accelerates to super-luminal speeds.
If the Inertial Dampeners ...
10
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1answer
416 views
Why don't Starfleet Officers wear protective gear when going abroad?
So I've watched pretty much all the Star Treks and from what I've seen, Star Trek officers don't wear any protective gear! Why don't they wear any kind of armor like the Klingons? Is it because the ...
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1answer
618 views
Exhaust fed into fuel fill spout?
In the movie Looper, it looked like the pick-up trucks that Joe and Sara drove had their muffler exhausts fed into the fuel fill spout. What might the purpose of that be?
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2answers
858 views
Are there things a Replicator cannot replicate?
As John O commented here on "How did Voyager replace its photon torpedoes?"
What is special about a photon torpedo that would make them unmanufacturable without specialized tools that Voyager did ...
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0answers
131 views
Why do Star Trek ships have weapons when there are better means to destroy enemy ships? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why can't transporter technology be used as a weapon?
Why does the transporter technology not make "conventional" weapons (beam weapons and missiles) completely ...
11
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2answers
265 views
What work of SciFi or Fantasy was the first to depict small scale removable computer data storage media?
Star Trek TOS was using single handed removable read/write memory media (like the kind William Windom is holding below) before the floppy disk was even invented. Was Star Trek the first, or was a ...
13
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1answer
542 views
Why do people step to positions to be transported, even if there isn't a transporter pad?
After watching (I'm sure quite too) many Star Trek episodes, I've noticed a number of occasions where the characters seem to step away or onto a more specific location to get transported, even if they ...
2
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2answers
218 views
Do the paradox-self-resolving time spheres work by the same principles as the Professor's forward-in-time machine?
The Professor (and by extension the writers!) invented the very first time travel machine that convincingly avoids paradoxes by design (S07E07) -- limited to the fictional universes I know of.
It ...
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4answers
388 views
Do the Machines in “The Matrix” Adhere to the Three Laws of Robotics?
In the "real world" of the Matrix, do the machines follow Asimov's Three Rules? Were they even programmed with them?
EDIT: I realize that killing people goes against the 1st law, but by keeping ...
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2answers
1k views
Would it be possible to (re)build a Mass Relay?
Spoilers warning: I'll be spoiler tagging any Mass Effect 3 spoilers, but anything from ME/ME2 won't be spoiler tagged. You've been warned.
In the Mass Effect universe, the primary means of ...
8
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2answers
302 views
Why does the Batmobile have a changing seat?
In the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy, the Batmobile has the driver's seat change between driving and attack modes. Is there an explanation for this? It seems like the "attack" mode would be hard on ...
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2answers
234 views
No longer sci-fi technology? [closed]
After watching Promethius the other day, and noting that much of the human technology seemed like stuff we have today, or could obtained quite soon. Except interstellar travel and maybe the hovering ...
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1answer
151 views
How did Fry knock out the Single Female Lawyer broadcast?
One day in the 1990's, Fry delivered some pizza to a local Fox affiliate. He joined an employee there in watching an episode of the hit Fox dramedy Single Female Lawyer, and proceeded to spill fluid ...
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2answers
206 views
In the Fahrenheit 451˚ universe, how can they maintain 20th century technology?
20th century technology needs a lot of maintenance from educated people. If a society becomes less educated, and even illiterate by banning books, how can they maintain that level of technology, and ...
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1answer
134 views
At what distance could we spot a fleet of flying saucers? [closed]
Scenario:
In the autumn of 1988, a fleet of flying saucers approaches Earth from the outer solar system, coasting at a few tens of kilometers per second, with the intent of hitting atmosphere over ...
7
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2answers
980 views
How did Thor and Loki Return to Asgard?
At the end of Avenger's Assembled, Thor takes Loki back to Asgard.
He uses some device we don't see before that, which works with the tesseract. Does this mean that the Asgardians have their own ...
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0answers
150 views
Do all terminators have to travel back in time naked? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Nude time travel in Terminator Universe
In the first Terminator film, the T-800 travels back in time completely naked. See Nude time travel in Terminator Universe for ...
15
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1answer
1k views
Are HYDRA's weapons related to Iron Man's repulsors?
Speaking from the recent Marvel movies... I just watched Captain America last night (only missing the Hulk's individual movie now). I noticed that the HYDRA weapons made the same little "whine" before ...
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1answer
51 views
Why did the Gnurrs come from the Voodverk Out? [closed]
Please identify the name of the main character and how the brought the Gnurrs from the Voodverk out and with what instrument?
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0answers
106 views
I have a slight need to discuss my latest work … [closed]
http://www.nicholaslawson.com is a place where my latest science fiction piece has been posted. If it is within the scope of this forum I want to share my work with you otherwise please down vote the ...
10
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1answer
608 views
How can Geordi see screens?
Geordi La Forge's visor can be used to see different electromagnetic fields. This lets him see people as glowing fields, as well as other fields. How can he see monitors and other interfaces? A screen ...
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2answers
566 views
Kinetic Barriers in Mass effect
Prevalant in the Mass Effect Universe are the kinetic shields. These are able to protect the wearer by absorbing the damage caused by high velocity particles from lets say, an assault rifle for a ...
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8answers
1k views
Why would a slug thrower be more effective against a lightsaber/Jedi than a blaster?
From this question about gunpowder in the Star Wars universe it is quoted that the shot from a slug thrower is not completely deflectable by a lightsaber. This seems to be listed as an advantage ...
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1answer
520 views
Why don't they use gunpowder in the Star Wars universe?
Especially in the Republic era when the use of the lightsaber was more common, why didn't anybody use chemical propellants (real life modern guns)? A modern-day assault rifle has at least 10 times the ...
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2answers
133 views
How did the return “mirror switch” work in the episode Mirror Mirror?
In the episode Mirror Mirror the landing party get sent to a mirror universe during a transporter malfunction while beaming back to the Enterprise. They conclude that they must have switched places ...
7
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2answers
353 views
Have any of Heinlein's (then) fictional inventions been developed into actual ones?
I'm not a smoker, but I thought that Heinlein's self-lighting cigarette idea is a darn good one. Are any of his fictional inventions actually being produced or researched in the real world?
5
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1answer
276 views
What functionality does a tricorder have?
I've gleaned from a previous answer that a tricorder is named such due to it's three main scanning functions:
The word "tricorder" is a portmanteau of "tri-" and "recorder", referring to the ...
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5answers
314 views
Concept of Invisibility [closed]
From the various sci-fi movies & games, Are there any logical theories for the concept of invisibilty?
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82 views
Films featuring dysfunctional technology? [closed]
After watching the film Brazil (1985) I realized that there are not many movies that portraying technology in a unsuccessful way, specially Psy-fi movies, where most of the time technology dominates ...
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1answer
318 views
In the Alien franchise is there ever an explanation for the simplicity of the computers?
Beyond the limits of the technology of the real-world at the time the first film was made, has the seemingly low complexity of the computer interfaces ever been effectively retconned?
For example, in ...
17
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4answers
1k views
Why Were the Weapons in Middle Earth So Rudimentary?
Again, I'm re-reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy and am still on book one, so my question is going to refer to the movies.
During the time The Lord of the Rings stories take place, Middle Earth is ...
4
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1answer
200 views
Could Star Wars deflector shields prevent non-weaponized energy signals?
Star Destroyers do have deflector shields. The "ray shield" deflector types are designed to prevent energy based attacks, such as blaster or laser cannon fire. But what about other types of energy ...
9
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2answers
287 views
How long do naquadah generators last?
In Stargate Atlantis, the naquadah generators power parts of the city under (what assume is) a constant and heavy load. They would have to last at least a few months, if not longer. Is there any ...
3
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3answers
306 views
How are Aluminium objects made in the first Mistborn Trilogy?
In the third mistborn book the main characters get their hands on some Aluminium from a set of cutlery from a noble's house.
It is stated that is is incredibly rare and valuable, much more so than ...
29
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3answers
4k views
How long did it take for the Death Star (1) to reload?
In the battle of Yavin, the Empire wants to destroy a moon that is hidden behind the planet Yavin. They circle around the planet because the moon is hidden. Again: They are on a space station that can ...
3
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1answer
98 views
In “They Live”, could the human collaborators see through the illusions?
In They Live, the world is filled with hidden messages, as well as aliens and alien technology hidden from normal human sight. The rebels had "Hofmann lenses" available as sunglasses and contact ...
5
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1answer
256 views
Identify this movie - a robot with a hypodermic needle that causes hallucinations
I am looking for the name of a movie. One of the scenes involves a robot that possesses a kind of hypodermic needle, which injects a substance that causes very intense hallucinations, eventually ...
9
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2answers
520 views
Is There Any Science Behind the Magic in Harry Potter?
Hearing a friend recently mention Clarke's Third Law (Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.) and me thinking about how portkeys seem to act like opening possible ...
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3answers
1k views
Why doesn't technology advance in fantasy settings?
In High Fantasy settings it always seems like centuries and sometimes millennia go by with no technological advancement. Is there any reason why?
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5answers
347 views
What is the earliest instance of a SciFi work describing a massive universal database of knowledge?
What is the earliest instance of a SciFi work describing a system satisfying the following criteria (basically a massive computer database coupled with the networking system to access it available to ...
