strangest, or most exotic tech..

adam warlock · Post by **adam warlock** » 2002-07-12 11:53pm

so whats the most strangest piece of equipment or tech (strange via its operation, or mechanism by which it "seems" to operates) in star wars, star trek, b5,.. and other universes..

my list are

star wars:
lightsabers
slave i mines
count dookus sail ship

star trek:
hm...
replicators
phasers

b5:
first ones related: nanobot plague
thirdspace jumpgate
technomage ability to generate matter (for weapons or defense)

none first ones related
soul hunters tech to acquire souls

stargate:
the star gates themselves
asguard ships weapons..

Enlightenment · Post by **Enlightenment** » 2002-07-13 12:36am

TV scifi doesn't do strange--TV people just don't have the imagination. For the really strange stuff, one must look to printed SF.

Infinite Improbabiltiy Drive
The Way
The Little Doctor
Tweakers/Bell Continuum/Noach
Gravetic tech in Earth
Heechee ship controls
Trek Universal Translator (communicator-integrated version)
Quarx
Vinge's Zones.
2001 monolith/wormhole

Anarchist Bunny · Post by **Anarchist Bunny** » 2002-07-13 01:06am

That thing from lexx that licks your ass after you take a shit.

Needa · Post by **Needa** » 2002-07-13 01:51am

Probably the Skrill in Earth Final Conflict, this little bug who live on your arm and suck your energy each time you use it to shot on something.

After like 10 shots you are so tired you can barely keep on your feets. Very useful in combat situation, if you asked me

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2002-07-13 01:58am

Silly putty

adam warlock · Post by **adam warlock** » 2002-07-13 04:39am

i suppose i shouldve reworded it to say.. strangest tech as in what it does, or accomplishes, .makes it easier to list things.

but

TV scifi doesn't do strange--TV people just don't have the imagination. For the really strange stuff, one must look to printed SF.

yeah i agree.. one only needs to scan through ian m bank,s culture related novels,

Silly putty

the green blob stuff from flubber?..

IDMR · Post by **IDMR** » 2002-07-13 09:52am

The probabilty manipulation device used by Quark in DS9. Mentioned something about particle spin. Probably because I spent a considerable amount of time on statistics.

adam warlock · Post by **adam warlock** » 2002-07-13 01:05pm

The probabilty manipulation device used by Quark in DS9. Mentioned something about particle spin. Probably because I spent a considerable amount of time on statistics.

yeah.. i kinda remember that episode, and quark mentioning the mechanism relyingon particle spin..
which is weird considering that, as shown by the stern gerlach experiment, that (upon application of a magnetic field) the presence of intrinsic particle (electron) spin is what degenerates particle states (angular momentums) into discrete quantizations, rather than a continuous spread of values..
it doesnt however make one, or two of the revealed states, more likely than the others, which is kinda what the ds9 device was doing on a macroscopic scale on far more complicated particle systems.

IDMR · Post by **IDMR** » 2002-07-17 11:05am

adam warlock wrote:
The probabilty manipulation device used by Quark in DS9. Mentioned something about particle spin. Probably because I spent a considerable amount of time on statistics.
yeah.. i kinda remember that episode, and quark mentioning the mechanism relyingon particle spin..
which is weird considering that, as shown by the stern gerlach experiment, that (upon application of a magnetic field) the presence of intrinsic particle (electron) spin is what degenerates particle states (angular momentums) into discrete quantizations, rather than a continuous spread of values..
it doesnt however make one, or two of the revealed states, more likely than the others, which is kinda what the ds9 device was doing on a macroscopic scale on far more complicated particle systems.

That wasn't even my biggest concern. The very concept of this device is androcentric to the extreme - I remember a scene in which O'Brien was able to hit a squash ball without even trying in all sorts of odd angles. Just *try* describing that event with a statistical model.

Anyway, probability is a little like units of measurement, something we determine after observing a larger number of samples, a mathematically defined concept, so how does one go about changing it anyway?

adam warlock · Post by **adam warlock** » 2002-07-18 07:47pm

That wasn't even my biggest concern. The very concept of this device is androcentric to the extreme - I remember a scene in which O'Brien was able to hit a squash ball without even trying in all sorts of odd angles. Just *try* describing that event with a statistical model.

oh that scene.. that was kinda funky..

Anyway, probability is a little like units of measurement, something we determine after observing a larger number of samples, a mathematically defined concept, so how does one go about changing it anyway?

the histograms, or data from which we get our statistics, cannot be changed of course, unless theres a temporal element somewhere.. or that device somehow managed to get hold of statistics on even such mundane things as obrien's squash playing... and started influencing outcomes DIRECTLY to reflect the opposite of previous historical outcomes... but that isnt going against probability, but using it.

IDMR · Post by **IDMR** » 2002-07-18 09:22pm

adam warlock wrote:the histograms, or data from which we get our statistics, cannot be changed of course, unless theres a temporal element somewhere.. or that device somehow managed to get hold of statistics on even such mundane things as obrien's squash playing... and started influencing outcomes DIRECTLY to reflect the opposite of previous historical outcomes... but that isnt going against probability, but using it.

For the said statistics to be actually a discreet set in the physical world...

The implications...

If not, then that little thing has more processing power, AI, temporal scanning capability *and* an unknown mechanism with which to influence almost everything...

Tebrak'aun · Post by **Tebrak'aun** » 2002-08-02 06:01pm

the shells in the toilet from demolition man..... still keeps me awake at night, what the?

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2002-08-03 01:04pm

The "flayer" weapons used by Necrons in WH40K. they basically strip your atoms away layer by layer until there's nothing left.

That weird drive from Event Horizon.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2002-08-03 01:11pm

Philote Theory and the accompanying technologies.

It's from Xenocide and Children Of The Mind. Basically, you can actually step Outside of the normal dimensional set, into the space that never formed into a Universe. Once there, the unformed reality... Called Aiwa or something... Tends to congeal into what the mind envisions. It's desperate for a shape, so it plucks one out of your head.

A cripple who ventured Outside had his body, unharmed, formed.. And his spirit shifted from the broken body to the new. The broken body, deprived of it's essense and form, turned to dust. Ender, the Xenocide, created his two siblings.. Only his essense had to power them all(What happened? I can't tell you! That'd be a major spoiler!). A doctor, holding the exact image of a cure for a disease ravaging the world hte heros are on, formed the cure out of literal Nothing.

And, of course, there's the Little Doctor missile that nearly created infinite copies of itself....

Raxmei · Post by **Raxmei** » 2002-08-03 03:34pm

The Lazy Gun from Against A Dark Background by Iain M Banks. Get a target in your sights, pull the trigger, it dies. That in itself isn't that exotic. What is exotic is how it does the killing. The best explanation researchers were able to come up with is that the gun searches through a whole bunch of parallel universes, finds the most amusing/ironic means of destruction, and summons it onto the target. I can't find the book at the moment, so I am unable to provide specific examples.