One Sci-Fi Universe To Become Real

[amigocabal]

I would pick the RoboCop franchise. The world would be familiar, and if for some reason I break my neck, I would not necessarily be condemned to a lifetime of paralysis.

[Havok]

Uh, you can break your neck now and not necessarily be condemned to a lifetime or paralysis, and not have mega greedy mega corps running cities.

P.S. No killer robots/cyborgs either.

[Chirios]

Are we allowed to pick time periods? Because if so, I choose Mass Effect just after we discover the relic on Mars.

[Havok]

Oh good right before the Reapers show up and start killing everyone.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Personally I'd go for Stargate-verse post-Atlantis finale. Earth is the strongest force in the Galaxy (a point can be made about being the strongest in TWO galaxies) and thus is safer than we would be in other universes. Plus we already know what it would be like to mix it with Modern Earth since SG is set in Modern (circa 1998-2010) Earth.

Plus when they actually get around to disclosure and spreading the tech around we have A LOT of cool sci-fi gadgets to use.

[Lonestar]

Doesn't matter, we don't really have the power projection capability(starship hulls) to be "the strongest power"...especially when wraith ships can go toe-to-toe with us, upgraded Go'auld Motherships(Lucien Alliance), Ori Toilet ships, etc. Apollo, Odyssey, Daedalus, Hammond are it, plus possibly the Sun Tzu. The "Season 6" Atlantis books make it clear that the 2008 financial crisis has brought new ship construction to a halt for the US, and that there might be a European ship in the pipeline but the Euros are actually keeping that close to their chests and didn't pass that info to the IOA.

So, 4 hulls, maybe one Chinese one, and maybe a European one in a year or two. Earth is like the Asgard pre-Anubis, they simple don't have the numbers to provide a persistent influence in either the Milky Way or Pegasus Galaxy.

[Skywalker_T-65]

I haven't read any of the books, so I'm going off of how it was at the end of Atlantis. That being said, let me re-phrase that:

We have the potential to be the most powerful. Wraith ships can (unless the books change things) only stand up to our ships when using ZPM's. The Lucian ships are the odd one out there...there is no reason to assume that they could survive, unless the Hammond didn't have working beams (which is a possibility...wasn't the mission to Icarus its first mission?) Ori ships aren't a big threat except in big numbers. More importantly, they have no reason to attack Earth any more, post-Ark of Truth.

(at least not to Asgard-beam equipped ships)

EDIT: Oh, and Hive's can take down a 304 if they can ambush it in sufficient numbers (see the Phoenix). But otherwise a 304 eats them alive.

[Simon_Jester]

I don't think transhumanist/post-scarcity/singularity societies remove ambition, heroism, or meaning from human lives. Almost all of the Culture novels focus on humans, doing things that are heroic, in one fashion or another. Are the actions of a Mind in a GCV more "meaningful"? Maybe, but that doesn't mean the actions of the humans in the story aren't meaningful.

As for "the most depressing fact about human existence today," I'd say that "some people starve for no good reason," "some people die of treatable preventable diseases for no good reason," "some people are killed over scraps of metal and plastic," and, really, "people die," are much more depressing facts than "I don't feel like my life has meaning!"

Talk about first-world privilege.

Most of the 'human future' settings I'm thinking of are just about as effective at getting rid of starvation, disease, and so on. Poverty can be solved by technology without us needing computer superbrains to do it, and post-scarcity isn't the same as post-Singularity.

And the rest- well, it's a philosophical thing, really; it speaks more to my taste in fiction than my ideas about reality. I don't just want to be part of society, I want to be a useful, non-superfluous part. I don't just want others to do my thinking for me, until I've exhausted the possibilities of my own thought- which are far from exhausted in civilization as we know it; there's a lot we could do with purely human wisdom, knowledge, and decency if only things were organized a bit differently. I don't just want to be cared for in my society, I want to be responsible for the fact that I'm cared for- to be good for something that justifies my having a place in it.

All this has been around as a human impulse for a long time, it's not purely a 'first world' idea that being a pampered pet is in some way inferior, even if feeding pets is cheap. And I think that impulse is better satisfied by a human-directed human future than out of an AI-directed human future.

Sometimes I think all this talk about how we need a post-scarcity Singularitarian future to fix the world's problems is a sort of abdication of the responsibility of citizenship. We're saying, in essence, "this is too hard, if we could do it it would already be done, so we'll wait for god to fix it, and if god doesn't come along we'll build one to fix it."

I don't feel so comfortable with that. I prefer the idea of us having to work out how to solve our human-created problems before we can transcend to a higher level of development. We have to solve the troubles and fears of childhood, or learn to ignore them, before we can become adults. Shouldn't we have to solve the troubles and fears of being 'half ape and half angel' before we can mature away from the ape?

As a prediction about our future, maybe that's not true. But I like it, at least thematically.

[Formless]

As for "the most depressing fact about human existence today," I'd say that "some people starve for no good reason," "some people die of treatable preventable diseases for no good reason," "some people are killed over scraps of metal and plastic," and, really, "people die," are much more depressing facts than "I don't feel like my life has meaning!"

Talk about first-world privilege.

Its depressing not being able to do anything about those things, idiot. What kind of accomplishments do you think I was talking about? Getting the most blowjobs in the universe?

Singularity-fiction is pretty much the definition of first-world delusion; no, don't think about poverty, pollution, and war, we'll just wait for super-technology and vaporware to solve all our problems!

[Borgholio]

I'd have to pick either Star Wars or Babylon 5. I'd want a universe where there's an entire galaxy to explore, full of strange and neat things. At the same time, SW and B5 are more realistic in terms of things like prejudice, politics, war, etc...

Yeah, they are realistic. So, how about something that doesn't eat us for breakfast?

I doubt we'd do all that poorly in either SW or B5. Worlds like Naboo with no army and practically no real space force managed to do quite well. I think we'd be considered a backwater world but that's about it. With our larger population and abundant natural resources, we might even have the ability to trade for some common tech such as repulsors, fusion generators, small turbolasers, basic hyperdrives, etc... We'd probably fit right in as just another over-populated human world.

In B5, well, Earth is a major galactic power...only the Minbari managed to "eat us for breakfast". So our overall standing in the grand scheme of things would be even higher than in SW.

[Lonestar]

I haven't read any of the books, so I'm going off of how it was at the end of Atlantis. That being said, let me re-phrase that:

We have the potential to be the most powerful. Wraith ships can (unless the books change things) only stand up to our ships when using ZPM's.

Uh, Wraith Hive ships could always cause a danger to Daedalus class BCs, even with Asgard beams. And there are many, many more Hive ships than Earthican BCs.

The Lucian ships are the odd one out there...there is no reason to assume that they could survive, unless the Hammond didn't have working beams (which is a possibility...wasn't the mission to Icarus its first mission?)

Lucien Alliance Hataks have upgraded weapons compared to old Goauld and Jaffa models. I believe Joe Mallozi mentioned it in one of his blog posts as to why three Hataks could pose a serious danger to the Hammond over Icarus Base.

Ori ships aren't a big threat except in big numbers.

Three of them managed to damn near kill the Odyssey in the SG1 Series finale. And there are many more Ori ships than Earthican ships.

More importantly, they have no reason to attack Earth any more, post-Ark of Truth.

Yes, now the Priors are guys who had everything they believed in ripped away. And they are a bunch of dudes who still have warships more powerful than (nearly) anything in the Milky Way. I'm sure the Tauri can safely assume that every single on of them is gonna go back to the Ori Galaxy and became Pacifists.

Or, alternatively, at least some are gonna be assholes and try to carve out their own empires.

EDIT: Oh, and Hive's can take down a 304 if they can ambush it in sufficient numbers (see the Phoenix). But otherwise a 304 eats them alive.

The Phoenix was corralled by three Wraith Hive ships and destroyed. 3 to 1 odds means the Wraith would win any war of attrition with the Tauri, especially playing the home field advantage in the Pegasus Galaxy, or somehow even figuring out how to get to the Milky Way.

I'd add that in that same alt future you referenced Michael's Wraith were winning 30-40 years in the future and were operating in the Milky Way. Presumably Tauri tech has advanced or important areas has caught up to better utilize Asgard Tech by then, as well.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Question...

So if we "Make a sic-fi universe real" And we pick Stargate, How much does it fuck over our own world?
Do we basically get merged into the stargate world? Does all history as we know it suddenly become re-written?
Do all the events of the show become real as far as we know?

[Skywalker_T-65]

Uh, Wraith Hive ships could always cause a danger to Daedalus class BCs, even with Asgard beams. And there are many, many more Hive ships than Earthican BCs.

Really? My memory may be faulty here, but the Phoenix episode is the only one I remember where 304's with Asgard Beams took on regular hives. And it took them down in 3 or 4 shots (other than the ambush Hives anyway). But if my memory is faulty I'll concede that point (and I'm not even going to argue the numbers)

Lucien Alliance Hataks have upgraded weapons compared to old Goauld and Jaffa models. I believe Joe Mallozi mentioned it in one of his blog posts as to why three Hataks could pose a serious danger to the Hammond over Icarus Base.

If that's the case I'll also concede there. Haven't read the blogs.

Three of them managed to damn near kill the Odyssey in the SG1 Series finale. And there are many more Ori ships than Earthican ships.

Well I did say in 'greater numbers'. One on one, a 304 with beams will take down a toilet-bowl. Similar to the situation with the Hives really. And really, we don't know just HOW many Ori ships are left. Assuming that they have the same amount in both galaxies...at least 6 (three in the Ori Galaxy in Ark of Truth). With how much they mow through anything that isn't Asgard/Earth made, it wouldn't take many more than 3 to stomp all over the Milky Way. But I don't think we ever got a definite number.

Yes, now the Priors are guys who had everything they believed in ripped away. And they are a bunch of dudes who still have warships more powerful than (nearly) anything in the Milky Way. I'm sure the Tauri can safely assume that every single on of them is gonna go back to the Ori Galaxy and became Pacifists.

Or, alternatively, at least some are gonna be assholes and try to carve out their own empires.

Point taken.

The Phoenix was corralled by three Wraith Hive ships and destroyed. 3 to 1 odds means the Wraith would win any war of attrition with the Tauri, especially playing the home field advantage in the Pegasus Galaxy, or somehow even figuring out how to get to the Milky Way.

I'd add that in that same alt future you referenced Michael's Wraith were winning 30-40 years in the future and were operating in the Milky Way. Presumably Tauri tech has advanced or important areas has caught up to better utilize Asgard Tech by then, as well.

Michael's wraith are odd though. They seem to be more advanced (building Hive's at a rate normal Wraith would need a ZPM for). Current Wraith aren't quite at that level. But they still have the numbers advantage, which I won't try and argue. That's why I changed my point to 'potentially' more powerful. Or rather...more advanced, since we have the combined knowledge of the Asgard/Lanteans on hand.

Incidentally, I was going off the show on how we built ships. If you go off of that, we built 6 304's in 4 years. We go from just the Daedalus at the end of SGA's first season, to the Daedalus, Odyssey, Korolev (destroyed or not), Apollo, Hammond, and Sun Tzu.

That being said, I concede that I was in the wrong there. Learn something new everyday.

[Chirios]

Oh good right before the Reapers show up and start killing everyone.

You're right actually. For some reason I had it in my head that we had a couple of centuries before the reapers.

[Havok]

Question...

So if we "Make a sic-fi universe real" And we pick Stargate, How much does it fuck over our own world?
Do we basically get merged into the stargate world? Does all history as we know it suddenly become re-written?
Do all the events of the show become real as far as we know?

Basically it becomes a combination of both. Significance in the Sci-Fi world takes precedence, but otherwise the real world does.

So like President jerk face that is randomly mentioned would be replaced by President Obama.
If there is a real military position in the sci-fi world of importance that has a real world counterpart, say the chief of the joint chiefs, the sci-fi guy would take precedence.
Obviously, some history would have to change to accommodate the events that allow the sci-fi world to be a sci-fi world.

Also as to the time, you pick the universe and you get it where the most current source is at.
So ME is after Space Jesus saves us from the Reapers. Star Trek is where the last official source ended, so the last TNG movie. 09Trek is at the end of that movie. Stargate is at the end of Universe. NBSG would be at present day Earth.

If there are official EU sources, then the furthest along in the timeline would apply. Star Wars would be at the end of the Legacy comics, or where ever they are at now.

[SAMAS]

Personally, I think the key is to pick a world where:

A: You can potentially get involved or at least directly enjoy the cool stuff.

B: Should that fail for any reason, you wouldn't mind actually living there.

IOW:

[Xavier Onassiss]

Of all the stories I've read and shows/movies I've watched, there's only one sane answer to this question:

The Culture wins. No contest.

[Formless]

Clearly, someone can't read or else he would know that 1) the culture has already been contested by two different people as unable to actually address certain human issues (precisely because they are human issues) while otherwise offering nothing that you can't get from Star Trek 2) the OP asked for people to explain their choices, not throw crap onto the fire and expect nodding agreement from the circlejerk.

Jerk.

[Irbis]

I doubt we'd do all that poorly in either SW or B5. Worlds like Naboo with no army and practically no real space force managed to do quite well. I think we'd be considered a backwater world but that's about it. With our larger population and abundant natural resources, we might even have the ability to trade for some common tech such as repulsors, fusion generators, small turbolasers, basic hyperdrives, etc... We'd probably fit right in as just another over-populated human world.

Except, Naboo is like Luxemburg or Holland to other planets being France or USA - small, but still with high national income and well developed industry/technology (capable of producing starfighters, at least). Earth? We would be so hopelessly backward it isn't even funny - not even Nigeria compared to others. It would be like tribe of Neanderthals asking you how many flint axes you want for your laptop.

Turbolasers? If even multiple-system spanning Hapes Empire struggled with production of obsolete turbolaser model, chances of us being able to understand, much less produce the device, are pretty much zero.

In B5, well, Earth is a major galactic power...only the Minbari managed to "eat us for breakfast". So our overall standing in the grand scheme of things would be even higher than in SW.

Dosn't B5 sequel, Excalibur, have Earth terror-bombed with WMDs and our plucky protagonists struggling to find remedy before humanity becomes extinct? Do not want.

Also, what about Centauri? They almost occupied and enslaved Earth considerably more powerful than today's, in fact, given the number of aggressive species, if we show up in B5 without Sheridan's Death-Star-sized plot armour, we're completely toast.

Uh, you can break your neck now and not necessarily be condemned to a lifetime or paralysis, and not have mega greedy mega corps running cities.

P.S. No killer robots/cyborgs either.

You were saying?

[Cykeisme]

Just clarifying why Havok stated that Star Wars wouldn't make any difference if it was rolled into our reality:

Star Wars takes place "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away", thus even if it wasn't that long ago, it's probably in a galaxy at the far end of our supercluster at the very least. Thus, if our reality was rolled in with theirs, we wouldn't even notice because we're too far away and we have no spatial overlap with them. They wouldn't notice us either.

If the OP premise was modified such that after the reality merge, our solar system ends up being in the Star Wars galaxy all along, then yeah, Star Wars would be pretty awesome (I'd aim for the Galactic Republic era, say, a century or two before Episode I).
Of course, it's a RAR of sorts, but I should point out that as it stands, our galaxy certainly is not the Star Wars galaxy because we the Milky Way doesn't have two satellite dwarf galaxies (one of which contains the "Rishi Maze" or something).

[Eternal_Freedom]

Just clarifying why Havok stated that Star Wars wouldn't make any difference if it was rolled into our reality:

Star Wars takes place "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away", thus even if it wasn't that long ago, it's probably in a galaxy at the far end of our supercluster at the very least. Thus, if our reality was rolled in with theirs, we wouldn't even notice because we're too far away and we have no spatial overlap with them. They wouldn't notice us either.

If the OP premise was modified such that after the reality merge, our solar system ends up being in the Star Wars galaxy all along, then yeah, Star Wars would be pretty awesome (I'd aim for the Galactic Republic era, say, a century or two before Episode I).
Of course, it's a RAR of sorts, but I should point out that as it stands, our galaxy certainly is not the Star Wars galaxy because we the Milky Way doesn't have two satellite dwarf galaxies (one of which contains the "Rishi Maze" or something).

Actually, we have a whole bunch of satellite galaxies I did some looking at galaxy maps and based upon the descriptions given in various SW works, the SW galaxy can't be anywhere within about a hundred million odd light years of the Milky WAy.

[Borgholio]

Except, Naboo is like Luxemburg or Holland to other planets being France or USA - small, but still with high national income and well developed industry/technology (capable of producing starfighters, at least). Earth? We would be so hopelessly backward it isn't even funny - not even Nigeria compared to others. It would be like tribe of Neanderthals asking you how many flint axes you want for your laptop.

Well yeah we'd be backward...not saying we could produce a starfighter immediately. Point is though that we would be able to buy for some kind of low-end tech and the training to use it, then work from there. The rest of the galaxy wouldn't care much about us.

Turbolasers? If even multiple-system spanning Hapes Empire struggled with production of obsolete turbolaser model, chances of us being able to understand, much less produce the device, are pretty much zero.

Well that was just an example...naturally we wouldn't have the biggest and best weapons, but I'm sure a small trading company might be ok with giving us some old, used surplus tech in exchange for mining rights or something.

Dosn't B5 sequel, Excalibur, have Earth terror-bombed with WMDs and our plucky protagonists struggling to find remedy before humanity becomes extinct? Do not want.

Well they DID find a cure...so no worry anymore.

Also, what about Centauri? They almost occupied and enslaved Earth considerably more powerful than today's, in fact, given the number of aggressive species, if we show up in B5 without Sheridan's Death-Star-sized plot armour, we're completely toast.

The Centauri? You sure you're thinking of the right species? Plus there aren't really all THAT many aggressive species, at least in our immediate neighborhood.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Actually, Hapes only struggled with the (at the time) recently developed quick-recharge turbolasers. They worked around it with the Battle Dragon design and combat tactics to compensate.

And for reference, Naboo only assembled the fighters. The sublight engines and hyperdrive came from contractors on other worlds.

[Scrib]

I don't care one iota about humanity mattering. We already live in a society where the individual human being matters little to nothing to society as a whole, except for a select few. Going transhuman only means more of that, but so does every large society for more and more people.

Put this way.

For me it's about the idea that there is heroism somewhere out there: ambition, courage, the virtues and vices of our society matter. Being the right kind of people (tolerant and flexible, intelligent and bold) matters, producing the right kind of people matters. Even if the average person is not themself operating on the heroic level, there is a heroic level, and it's something normal people can aspire to and use to illuminate their lives.

This may be an American thing, but think of all the kids who grew up wanting to be astronauts. Who would grow up wanting to be an AI god?

IMO ambition is good for our little species because it drives us to be better, to eliminate pain or need where we can and so help ourselves. For me personally, if the need to eliminate need or scarcity disappeared I'd see no reason to be ambitious beyond romanticism.

I don't think you would need to have something to inspire you when you can have the rest of your life to do what you want. Let's be honest, even modern life is about either putting up with shit to get to the good parts or (if you're lucky) turning said shit into something you enjoy. Would I need to see larger than life heroes with simple acts of heroism to inspire me if my life wasn't always going to be an endless trudge to gather enough resources to not starve or miss out on the things I like while acknowledging that it was all so difficult to judge and that right and wrong are very hard things to parse?

Yeah, I'm going with The Culture. And if I can't have them the SW galaxy (I'd have to look for the longest period of peace).

I would pick Doctor Who but there are too many ways to die a terrible death in that universe.

Talk about first-world privilege.

You run into this whenever someone talks about how life was much "simpler" or how it doesn't have value without suffering or heroism isn't possible when everyone is fat and lazy. I really don't give a fuck. At worst everyone would be fat and lazy. the idea that suffering is good is downright insulting.

[Darth Nostril]

I second the Whoverse.
We can feed the fuckwits transhumanists to the Cybermen.