Most momentous technology

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » 2003-07-13 08:55pm

Which technology, if introduced into our society, do you think would have the greatest impact? These are the only ones I can think of so far.

Mitth`raw`nuruodo · Post by **Mitth`raw`nuruodo** » 2003-07-13 08:58pm

good thread!

I'm going for advanced power generation. it will free up land (less power plants), as well as giving us extra power for anything we need it for.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » 2003-07-13 09:07pm

My money's on Repulsorlift. It would instantly solve the problem with air pollution (replace all the ground cars with landspeeders that don't touch the ground).

Of course, you'd have to have a way to power them. I'd be curious to know much power a repulsorlift requires, but that's another thread.

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2003-07-13 09:10pm

Hyperdrive. Crossing the galaxy in weeks (early years) or days (recent) had huge advantages in every facet of the galaxy.

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2003-07-13 09:11pm

Hyperdrive, assuming we wiggle out of advanced power generation be required to use it in the first place.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-07-13 09:58pm

Hyperdrive.

The development of a new method of transportation has always been very, very good for everything.

Crazy Goji · Post by **Crazy Goji** » 2003-07-13 10:04pm

Advanced generators. Without them, we probably couldn't power hyperdrive. Hyperdrive is great and all, but you need something to power it.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2003-07-13 10:23pm

Power generation, but it only beats hyperdrive because we would have no way of applying an FTL drive in a useful manner, not for a very long time. But SW power, at least compared to modern, is godlike.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2003-07-13 11:00pm

Almost all of the above requires Power Generation. SW hypermatter has to come from advanced sources like stellar corpses (black holes, neutron stars, etc) where very large quantities of energy from various methods could be more easily concentrated into the energy-dense form of hypermatter.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-07-13 11:36pm

Hyperdrive, assuming it comes with sufficient power generation to let us use it. The massive increase in available resources would let us generate more power and have better transportation. We could also invest in more R&D and improve existing robotics.

Otherwsie, power generation. The secondary reactors for an ISD turbolaser mount could probably power the Earth.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-07-14 12:01am

Power generation. No more pollution, intrasteller travel becomes feasable, the entire face of civilization on this planet would change.

Repulsorlifts would reduce road wear, but they'd still be powered by gas.

Hyperdrive would have no effect right now even if we did have the power generation tech, because nobody has the money nor the inclination to do anything more than explore.

AI would have a big impact, but for the most part it wouldn't make a massive difference. Our current programs are smart enough, and mechanically a robot simply isn't feasable right now.

Kerneth · Post by **Kerneth** » 2003-07-14 01:10am

And with all the bad press AI gets in the movies I think most people would be seriously leery of a true Artificial Intelligence.

Admiral Johnason · Post by **Admiral Johnason** » 2003-07-14 02:33am

Advanced power would end a lot of strife by cutting down of hositilties between nations. Also, the enviroment would be in better shape.

Darth Garden Gnome · Post by **Darth Garden Gnome** » 2003-07-14 03:23am

Power generation.

Plug a hypermatter reactor into a lightbulb, and the world'll shine. Okay, the ligthbulb would explode, but you get the idea.

Lord of the Farce · Post by **Lord of the Farce** » 2003-07-14 06:57am

Admiral Johnason wrote:Advanced power would end a lot of strife by cutting down of hositilties between nations.

Or it could start a whole new era of WMD race.

Post by **AdmiralKanos** » 2003-07-15 05:10am

Hyperdrive without huge power generation would only allow us to push microscopic objects to FTL velocities.

Repulsorlift would be more useful, since it would eliminate the need for paved roads and revolutionize travel and air safety. Best of all, it seems to be an extremely low-power technology and may actually be capable of reducing its requirements to near the level required by raw thermodynamics (speeders can hover indefinitely).

However, power generation is still the winner. With their reactor power densities, we could theoretically run the whole fucking planet off a single small power plant (although power transmission requirements obviously mean that we would realistically use tiny power plants scattered all over the place). We could also build useful spacecraft with powered re-entry capability, etc., and tactical lasers would become realistic.

Of course, the side-effect is that national economies which are based on oil would pretty much collapse and become irrelevant over the long term, so we'll eventually see the Middle East economy go down the shitter, followed by Texas in the US and Alberta in Canada. Not that I would have a problem with that, quite frankly. The environment would be greatly improved, among other benefits.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-07-15 05:52am

OK, so we have Power generation as the winner, but what kind of power generation system from SW would be the most beneficial to our society?

They have their large hypermatter reactors which put out incredible amounts of energies.
And they have regular fusion reactors that are no larger than your fist that they use to power small droids and such(see SW:ICS2, Zam's droid).
They also have high density power cells and energy storage equipment, though this is not really power generation.

Darth Garden Gnome · Post by **Darth Garden Gnome** » 2003-07-15 05:57am

Obviously we'd want hypermatter generators. If, in one hyperspace jump, an ISD generates more energy than some WORLDS do in their lifetimes the SW universe, think what it could do for us. A virtually unlimited source of energy forever.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-07-15 06:09am

Hypermatter reactors give more power yes, but they are large, you wouldn't be able to say fit hypermatter reactors in cars, and without the power-cell technology of SW, electric cars aren't really anymore usefull than before, with small fusion reactors you could put a fusion reactor in every car, you could put them in space shuttles and other spacecraft and such, I doubt we'd be able to build large enough space-vehicles and such to take advantage of hypermatter reactors.

Hypermatter reactos would essentially allow us to scrap our current day powerplants and give us cheap, cheap electricity for the rest of our lives.
But I don't see any reusable space vehicles or electric cars, tactical lasers or anything like that coming from them, we need smaller portable power sources for that.

All in all, I see alot more possibility for quick radical changes in the world with smaller fusion reactors than with bigass hypermatter reactors.

With say cheap and small portable fist-sized powerplants would be alot more usefull, everyone could power their own house and/or summerhouse with their own reactor, massively decentralizing our power grid and making us alot more resistant to damage.
Also, fusion reactors not only in new cars, but in tanks and planes and whatnot.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-07-15 07:07am

AdmiralKanos wrote:
However, power generation is still the winner. With their reactor power densities, we could theoretically run the whole fucking planet off a single small power plant (although power transmission requirements obviously mean that we would realistically use tiny power plants scattered all over the place).

Not if we place the Congo in charge of things.

Hypermatter reactors give more power yes, but they are large, you wouldn't be able to say fit hypermatter reactors in cars, and without the power-cell technology of SW, electric cars aren't really anymore usefull than before,

Well we could use the surplus electrical power to create hydrogen to run fuel cells off of. Same goes for many other things, though I don’t know about spacecraft since weight is a huge limitation.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2003-07-15 11:35am

Kaminoan-style hydrogen fusion cores. Direct from seawater. Supplies the energy needs of a SW scale multi-kilometer diameter complex.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-07-15 07:52pm

His Divine Shadow wrote:All in all, I see alot more possibility for quick radical changes in the world with smaller fusion reactors than with bigass hypermatter reactors.

Don't we get both if we vote for that option?

Post by **Beowulf** » 2003-07-15 07:57pm

There are other uses of oil than to burn it...

Reducing our dependence on foreign oil supplies would be wonderful though.

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2003-07-17 07:06pm

Power. The other techs, if possible, can be developed later but power is the prerequisite. Besides, cheap electricity will be really nice.

Eframepilot · Post by **Eframepilot** » 2003-07-17 07:56pm

I see I'm the only one who voted for artificial intelligence. Hmm.

My reasoning:

Advanced Power Generation would really lower pollution and make it much easier to make cheap hydrogen cell-powered or electric cars, but this would not have a tremendous impact on our society as a whole. So electric bills drop to near zero. So what?

Repulsorlifts would revolutionize transportation, making aerial vehicles far cheaper and more advanced. However, I doubt we would all be driving flying cars as it would be far too dangerous. Can you imagine the insurance premiums for a flying car? Confinement to some sort of aerial highways would be necessary. The actual impact on society would not be too large.

Hyperdrive would change our perspective on the universe and allow the exploration and even colonization of other planets. Also our own solar system would be much more accessible. But the expense of getting ships into orbit would still exist (unless we got repulsorlifts too), and most people wealthy enough to go to space are comfortable enough on Earth to want to stay here. In a few centuries our society would be changed immeasurably, especially if we found extraterrestrial life, but I still think hyperdrive takes second place.

Artificial intelligence would revolutionize our society instantly. Presto, humans are basically obsolete. We would have a new species capable of becoming our superior. Though I don't expect that programmers would be stupid enough to allow AI to rebel, its mere existence would mean a fundamental change in our lives. People would really lose their jobs to computers, for one. There would likely be a movement on the left to give AI full rights, and a movement on the right to destroy it as an abomination. I give AI first place as it would bring the greatest changes at the fastest pace, IMHO.

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Most momentous technology

RepulsorliftsWhich technology, if introduced into our society, do you think would have the greatest impact?

Most momentous technology