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October 11, 2015 at 8:50 am #6460
Here’s a fun topic. π What type of weapons do you think we’ll be using around 200 years in the future? Set aside for the moment ideas of weapons of mass destruction and all, right now I’m trying to think of personal weapons and weapons an oppressive government might use against rebels.
Currently, both sides carry a mix of what we’d consider regular weapons with ‘hard’ ammo (though they are faster and stronger) and laser guns (which really are a thing nowadays…in my book they are better and more expensive than the other weapons). I’ve abandoned the idea of plasma guns, because they aren’t realistic, but do you have any other ideas or suggestions?
Also, if you think of any other kind of futuristic technology (or food, or living conditions, or transport…) I’l love to hear about it.
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
October 11, 2015 at 12:18 pm #6461Okay, when I read ‘if you think of any other kind of futuristic technology’ I got this crazy image of us all walking around with shock-collars on and some sadistic governmental committee hovering over a glowing panel of instruments and monitoring our every move… which is weird, since I’m not a conspiracy theorist.
But let’s not pursue that line of thought. π
Hm… I’m not much good at all when it comes to technology, but a few ideas came to mind. First of all, self driving cars. Scary, but they’ve been on the news. Mostly for all the accidents they caused, but sshh! we’re not suppose to think about that.
Personal weapons? I’m getting images of mini-light sabers, ultraviolet ray guns… a few things like personal energy shields whose generators are hidden in stocking caps and tennis shoes and watches.
Brain chips you can pay to have surgically inserted and that warn you whenever anyone with sinister intent comes within a three mile radius of you. Hm… that could be a slight inconvenience if you lived in Chicago…
Or we could take this a step further and say these brain chips could communicate selectively with one another via waves of energy, or even high pitched sonar inaudible to the human ear. Hey… that’s cool. I like that. Imagine a society where everyone had these brain chips— everyone could intercept everyone’s thoughts, and no one would have any secrets, unless you were brave enough to not have the chips inserted, in which case you would be in constant peril of your life, because 200 years from now I’m guessing there’s probably going to be a kind of… hm… dystopian culture, and if you don’t know when someone’s coming to get you…Yikes. I’m scaring myself. I’d better stop before my imagination entirely runs away with me.
October 11, 2015 at 1:13 pm #6463I only include things I can explain, or are somewhat based on present technology. Actually, a couple of my things I’ve actually seen as “Possible future inventions” in popular mechanics. AFTER I WROTE THEM. I was freaking out.
My big technology leap was robotic suits with gadgets outfitted for the military. It’s still a prototype, so there are a lot of different kinds in this one squadron. One shoots liquid nitrogen stuff from a tank, another shoots lava. One makes you go fast, another is experimenting with the science of invisibility.Yeah, it’s fun. π
October 11, 2015 at 8:25 pm #6468Well of course we’ll all have time sabers by then – but no really.
First lasers: Of course we have them but will we ever have laser guns? I doubt it. Laser guns shoot a block of laser beam. That means you need to flash the laser extremely fast, almost at the speed of light. We are already starting to use lasers as weapons but they aren’t cheap and they have one major problem. How to get it to stop. If you turn on a really powerful (as in burst through brick walls) laser, you are going to kill and destroy everything in its path for miles (Which has its obvious problems). Now light sabers I could see being a thing, but at the same time I wouldn’t be surprised if they never were invented. Even if they are, I don’t think they will be able to deflect lasers.
There’s also the idea of robots. Many people are paranoid about robots becoming more powerful than humans and taking over the world. I don’t fall into that category. Humans are wwwaaayyyy better than people think. You can’t reproduce the eye. You can’t reproduce reason. You can’t, you can’t, you can’t. Robots can be amazing but humans are so much better. I think atheism has had much to do with lowering peoples views of their amazingness. The fact is though, robots are very useful and (the most important thing) they are dispensable. In the future, Humans and robots will work together more, but the fact is humans will always be the most important figures. Drones will become more common. Bots will be used for spying (after all a bot spy can can always self destruct. They do have some advantages). They will be used for situations where there is moral uncertainty about placing a human in. They will even be used in combat.
EMPs will also be pursued more. They are less of a threat than some people think, but perhaps they will be improved or a strategy may be devised which might magnify their affect.
I could see little chips being implanted in people. They’re already doing that really. I think they would be used more like phones though. Less to control people and more for people to control their own lives. They would have to have security issues of course, but it wouldn’t be some dystopian control the world nightmare
At the same time, defense systems will increase. Nuclear defense systems will be improved (and they need to). Perhaps we will have laser proof shields.
It is good to remember that weapons are two sided. What I mean is that the weapon that makes you strong also makes you weak because you have more dependencies. If what you depend on is taken out, you are a sitting duck. Even guns are were that way in the early days and I’m sure they still are. They were obviously better than bows and swords but they relied on saltpeter which was very hard to come by until WWII when a german figured out how to make it easily and abundantly.
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October 12, 2015 at 12:22 pm #6476I see people making better space ships, Because they are sooooooo into finding alien life, and their trying to get people to mars. Oh and hover cars.
I like the idea of phasers (the Star Trek Original kind). light weight and has different settings, so you can keep yourself safe but not have to kill anyone. The communicators in Star Trek: Next Generation are really useful, and with how small technology is getting I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened. (Yes I am a Star Trek fan)
Although speaking of chips, there is a book that I have read that has people with chips in their heads. And the chips are connected to this main stream that has all the info that they need, and they can talk to other chipped people through it. Its kinda like having email and google in your head. But a whole lot cooler.
October 12, 2015 at 1:13 pm #6477Militaristic space stations. Lots of them, and fighting between them. Ooohh, fun.
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October 12, 2015 at 1:25 pm #6478Another way I could see the chips used is for tracking.
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October 12, 2015 at 5:24 pm #6483@kate-flournoy, @a-knight-of-the-prince Self-driving/hover cars, already done. π I call them Trans or P-Trans (short for Personal Transport). They all contain chips that interconnect with all the other Trans and so prevent accidents (normally). They hover using magnetic technology and so there are rails embedded into the road. Which makes it interesting because only some cars have wheels now and so they can go places other Trans can’t. But enough on them. π
I also have tiny camera bot type things that can be used to spy, as well as an upgraded version of the internet and holographic screens (instead of tablets). I’ve not done much with chips though. And I have drones that deliver a meal to your door within fifteen minutes of ordering it (but no humanoid type drones).
@a-knight-of-the-prince I like the idea of phasers, but do you know/have any theories about the science behind them? I’m not getting into the science of my weapons in my books, but at the same time I want there there be some foundation in what could really happen.
@Daeus Light sabers are probably too sifi for this book, though they are cool. And I’ll have to keep in mind what you said about weapons being double-sided. The rebels will probably be able to take advantage of that sometimes, because the enemy won’t expect their old-fashion approach, weapons, etc.About laser guns…There really are such weapons in experimental stages, or at least according to some articles I’ve read. And one advantage (again, so I’ve read…and for a fiction set 200 years in the future, it is plausible enough) is that the laser levels can be adjusted so it can either be lethal, or just painful. I wonder…would there be any way to program the laser to cut off abruptly at such and such a distance (that could make for interesting complications when using such guns). Don’t laugh too much at my ignorance in how lasers work…I’m just brainstorming here.
- This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by Hope Ann.
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
October 12, 2015 at 6:11 pm #6485And holographic screens (instead of tablets)
I forgot about that. Holograms. Now here’s something interesting. We already have a kind of hologram fake thing, but I have a friend (very honest) who told me his aunt created a real working hologram that actually projects a 3d light image in mid air (Speaking of limiting light to a certain space, this might be the next step towards light sabers). I have a lot of trust in this guy so I’m going to go ahead and assume that holograms (real holograms) can actually be made. What then? Very simple. They will develop a way to have the hologram image display up to a few feet away from its actual source. What will then happen is the hologram projector will be formed into a belt buckle with a computer attached and implanted into the rest of the belt. Upon voice command, the computer will turn on and the “screen” will appear at about an arm’s length from the person’s face. There will also be a highly sensitive hand sensing radar device (they have already invented this) that will sense fine hand movements which will register as controls and allow the person to operate the hologram computer with just hand signals and voice command. The “screen” will of course stay in the same position relative to the viewer as the viewer moves about.
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October 12, 2015 at 6:41 pm #6487They hover using magnetic technology…
You could also get the same result using cats with pieces of buttered bread tied to their backs. Since buttered bread always lands butter side down, and cats always land on their feet, the two opposing forces would create a single hovering entity, each force struggling for the mastery, and each unable to cancel the power of the other.
Good ideas, everyone! Y’all guys are waaaaaay ahead of me on technology. I think I’ll just sit back and enjoy the ride. I may interject a few…hm… bright ideas now and then, though.
October 12, 2015 at 7:05 pm #6489Currently, both sides carry a mix of what weβd consider regular weapons with βhardβ ammo (though they are faster and stronger) and laser guns (which really are a thing nowadaysβ¦in my book they are better and more expensive than the other weapons). Iβve abandoned the idea of plasma guns, because they arenβt realistic, but do you have any other ideas or suggestions?
*Heddesk* There is a gun that the government was testing during WWII I think where the bullet could go faster then the speed of sound for quite an impressive distance, basicly you take a big thing and hit a smaller thing that hits…. and on and on to however small you want to go, the bigger the first thing an the smaller he lat thing, the faster it would go. It was abandoned for obvious reasons. Perhaps the people in your story could have figured out what we were missing.
I forgot about that. Holograms. Now hereβs something interesting. We already have a kind of hologram fake thing, but I have a friend (very honest) who told me his aunt created a real working hologram that actually projects a 3d light image in mid air (Speaking of limiting light to a certain space, this might be the next step towards light sabers). I have a lot of trust in this guy so Iβm going to go ahead and assume that holograms (real holograms) can actually be made. What then? Very simple. They will develop a way to have the hologram image display up to a few feet away from its actual source. What will then happen is the hologram projector will be formed into a belt buckle with a computer attached and implanted into the rest of the belt. Upon voice command, the computer will turn on and the βscreenβ will appear at about an armβs length from the personβs face. There will also be a highly sensitive hand sensing radar device (they have already invented this) that will sense fine hand movements which will register as controls and allow the person to operate the hologram computer with just hand signals and voice command. The βscreenβ will of course stay in the same position relative to the viewer as the viewer moves about.
Holograms are a thing, just finicky and glchy and problematic.
October 12, 2015 at 7:52 pm #6491I really don’t know how phasers work, alot like the lazer guns you talked about I guess.
October 12, 2015 at 8:38 pm #6493Hey Mark,
I understand we already have holograms of a sort, but it is my understanding that these are actually two dimensional even though they look three dimensional and look just like they would in real life no matter which angle you are looking at them. This new hologram however is actually 3d. It is also very advanced from what I heard. My friend said his aunt brought up a detailed image of a bug on it and was able to zoom in on certain portions and then zoom back out. I think she even spun the image around. It is basically a star wars hologram. Need I say this need to be on the next iPhone?
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October 13, 2015 at 9:54 am #6499I know, that is what I was talking about.
October 13, 2015 at 3:20 pm #6513So…any comments about how realistic it would be for a laser weapon with a certain range; where it is lethal inside that range but evaporates or something once it reaches a preset distance?
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
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