Sf Definition and 42 Threads

I just saw this trailer and got a bit excited :smile:. It is an upcoming tv series based on a novel I had never heard about, and I have no idea about the plot. But there is some Contact feeling in it, and it also seems there is a voiceover of Carl Sagan in the trailer. According to the trailer...

Having read a fair bit of SF down the years, and now pondering the likely future direction(s) of the smartphone, I do wonder about the practicalities of the oft-cited videophone. Yes, the advantages are clear in domestic settings; that's to say using fixed screens on to which relay video images...

I am writing a military SF, and wonder, what could be the most realistic things, that are close to the old SF concept of energy shields. So far, i wrote that a small mecha uses a handheld plasma shield against an incoming missile. Like explosive reactive armor, it meant to shatter the...

Trolling for more reading material, my list: Alastair Reynolds: Pushing Ice, House of Suns Neal Stephenson: Seveneves Peter Hamilton: Commonwealth Saga Cixin Liu: Three Body Problem

Here's a nice video which is a size comparion of a great number of fictional structures from science fiction novels, movies and games. The video is called "FICTIONAL STARSHIPS Size COMPARISON" but it includes some structures I personally wouldn't call starships, but anyway... Enjoy...

After i read about RSA encoding, it looks like as if one need an alternate history universe to justify that in the not so far (cyberpunk) future the coded message of an important person involved in shady business can be cracked in reasonable time, let alone during a single night. I read that...

What could be the things closest to a SF energy shield? Even the strongest known materials couldn't stop shrapnels hit with 100 km/s. On the other hand, whipple shields are pretty efficient against high speed/low mass threats, the first armor plating disperse the micrometeor, then the second...

Hi, and welcome to the Physics Forums favorite movies poll 2! (the first poll is here) Rules and notes: Please vote here for your 5 favorite movies in the categories Science Fiction, Fantasy, Comedy & Western. Please note that this is a multiple votes poll, and that your votes should reflect...

Hi I live in the Santa Clara bay area in the Silicon Valley, I want to see anyone here that are living close by that are into high end audiophile stuffs particular designing and building audio electronics. It's hard to find anyone that is into this, it would be nice to find people to share this...

Grew up reading Larry Niven and a host of other legit SF writers that all incorporated some form of FTL travel in their books, then Alistair Reynolds came along and wrote even more interesting interstellar SF without any violations of relativity, now that seems to be a trend. Anyone know of...

Hello I'm in the process of writing a novel and there is one specific event that I need help nailing down. The story is very much fantasy / science fiction, so reality is no barrier, however I want to stay as true as possible to laws of physics. Skipping background details, imagine a mini...

Does anyone know of any night B.S. Physics programs in the SF Bay Area? I can't switch jobs or stop working full time. I don't have the luxury to go back to school full time, nor extra financial support. I want to go back to school for a completely different career path. I currently have a...

.. and done by a Chinese author: Liu Cixin. Here are some reviews: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20518872-the-three-body-problem. So: What do you know about the general three-body problem and would you like a story set in a solar system with three suns?

I wondered, whether anyone in the past had written a story, that gave at least a good approximation of our present?

Ok, the next Star Wars, Episode 8, is named "The Last Jedi" and here is a brand new teaser, the first I think. "Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Arriving in your galaxy December 15."

I think about a far future story with a good amount of battles. Futuristic battletech i can imagine would involve things like deploy nanobot clouds that jam and damage sensors and everything vulnerable, powered battle armors of course, drones, probably some meelee solution for bunker combat...

People are free to post here their ideas and watched scenes involving SF actions, whether they can be realistic or not.

Thought I'd share this in the SF forum... What interests me regarding this movie is that language seems to be an important theme in the story and that the director also directed Sicario, which I liked. Trailer 1: Trailer 2:

What do you think of the following scenario*? Aliens are future humans who discovered faster than light travel. They propagated throughout the universe. In so doing they traveled back in time, to our time, or even earlier times. *I read this in a popular space opera novel. It may have been...

At the end of the movie about a robot boy who sleeps a long time under water ("AI"? by Spielberg?), sentient beings seemingly made of light appear. That's what I remember anyway. Is that within the possibilities of known science? Can light particles behave as organized matter in and of...

I think that many SF books and films focus on big battles, or a great discovery, but care less about, how everyday life could change? In a not so near future, (that is fictional, but meant to be rather hard, realistic) could people have a life similar to ours, with all the recent developments...

Setting: generic, mildly futuristic, nothing that would put you in awe. I rather want to discuss in general terms how get in near future SF correctly usage of self driving cars right with technologies that should realistically accompany them. And get right any social consequences. Thanks to...

I wonder, could they be employed in hard SF, if yes, how? If one intends to capture a planet (example: Mars with a few cities, capital on south pole) the defenders only doomed if big ships can reach low orbit and burn them with lasers. Big surface lasers can easily outpower even the biggest...

A common trope in pop SF. But can they be realistic in a hard SF, no FTL, no hide in space? I have collected a few counterarguments (C:), and my justifications (A:) to overcome them, but i'd like to see other opinions as well, whether my answers has great flaws or not, maybe advices, good...

While I enjoy space opera (Star Trek, Star Wars, etc) my favorite fictional genre is the rarer hard science fiction, stories that involve science and engineering which doesn’t yet exist, but, unlike soft SF and fantasy, don’t can be rigorously explained as possible by present-day science, making...

I'm curious which simple devices in your opinion: - do not violate any law of physics; ;) - seem easy and inexpensive to fabricate; - would be quite practical; - would not shock you if were being produced in next few decades; - but unfortunately are neglected in SF movies/stories/films/games...

Hello. I just joined this wonderful community, so excuse me if I'm doing something wrong. I'm new to using forums. Anyway, I had a question. SF usually features 'phasers' as weapons, but from what I hear it doesn't sound too realistic. I thought maybe lasers would be better weapons, say if...

Firstly, it's darn hard work, and any notion I had about overtaking Crawford's, Lights Out, have been dealt a painful blow. He became a multimillionaire in the time it takes the photons leaving your monitor to pass the end of your nose. Well, so it's said. I talked at length to Richard...

Here's a petition trying to get the USPS to run a stamp series honoring SF/Horror writers, editors and artists. It sure beats the hell out of another series of flowers...

From time to time I try to get an overview regarding the current status of LQG. Unfortunately there seem to be a lot of interesting ideas and new proposals, but I am missing a summary paper which addresses and summarizes both main achievements and main open issues. What about status of...

I am working on a novel that uses 'gates' that for lack of space here let’s just call worm holes (any excuse works for this question). But these gates cannot bridge to each other if located in a region of space that is warped too much. So I'm looking for a proportional answer, not a calculated...

I think it's the first 1000 digits. wish I could have been there https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iALEU1dD1A

I'm working on a sci-fi / noir / mystery novel for my thesis, and I've endowed my femme fatale heroine with the ability to conjure traversable wormholes. It's important that she be able to do this without the aid of any machine or finite quantity of exotic matter that she would have to...

Smolin makes the case that GR is the Equation of State of a given region's geometry considered as a thermodynamic system whose microscopic degrees of freedom are those of Spin Foam QG. In short: GR=EoS of SF The paper is here: http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.5529 General relativity as the equation...

There's a new paper dealing with constraint algebra and Gupta-Bleuler quantization in LQG and SF models. http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.1738 Complex Ashtekar variables and reality conditions for Holst's action Authors: Wolfgang Wieland (Submitted on 8 Dec 2010) Abstract: From the Holst action...

I am a sciencefiction writer who specializes in military science fiction. I have a question dealing with the affects of high speed targeting. Take two ships traveling on a recropical course. Each is seeking to target the other with weapons that can accelerate to close to C. Make one going at...

Hello all - once again! I am an aspiring SF writer currently in the process of writing a book. I am looking for ideas (go nuts!) for different types of spaceship fuels. The idea is that the fuel has to be something that exists in abundance (preferably naturally occurring), and...

Homework Statement My problem is with the number of significant figures I have to carry forward in intermediate calculations. I know that if the given data has a minimum of n sf, then the final ans should be to n+1 sf. But then should the intermediate answers be to n+2 sf?? Homework...

For some reason I cannot get this.

New SF book with "Brasil" in the title... ... written by Ian Mc[can't remember full last name]. Was recently reviewed in the NYT Sunday Book Review (this past weekend). Anybody got a clue?

Is this all that LQG, SF is, kicking tyres and adding saw dust to differentials, putting some pluss gas in your engine, to keep it running, how about giving the buyer some grantee.

Okay, Its been a week since I posted my SF quiz, and it looks like its run its course. So for all of you who are dying to know, here are the answers. For those of you who still wish to play, go to : https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=28103 and then come back here to see...