how many unrealistic technologies can you list

Many...

- Universal Translator; think real hard about this one, comprehensive intelligence relies on senses & not from simple deduction.

- Good & Evil; i doubt space faring civilizations would even bother declaring a any sort of behavior to any ET-Phone-Homes they'd ever met out there. I don't see any other reasons to GO in space than having a blast and gathering precious resources at all cost.

- Force Fields (and all type of armors); Seriously? Just knowing how molecular integrity under certain conditions can vary with such simple things as anti-matter focused boost, anything standing between space and objects is bound to fall very easily. Shield, hulls, thick walls, name it.

- Beyond Mortality; freaky as it sounds, i will certainly die some day - and i have absolutely no idea what comes next. Any hypothesis is, in fact, personal opisions and wild guesses based on many concepts - including religion. If GOD (or whatever suits your definition) may be in space, show me!

And, finally...

- All and any Governments; Omnipotent space bound civilizations would NOT have any centralistic power of decision. It's a Free for all situation. Pirates and looters. Call the police.

--Doubled-post deleted--

But, i hate typos... soooo;

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Many...

- Universal Translator; think real hard about this one, comprehensive intelligence relies on senses & not from simple deduction.

- Good & Evil; i doubt space faring civilizations would even bother declaring any sort of behavior to all ET-Phone-Homes they'd ever met out there. I don't see many other reasons to GO in space than having a blast and gathering precious resources at all cost.

- Force Fields (and all type of armors); Seriously? Just knowing how molecular integrity under certain conditions can vary with such simple things as anti-matter focused boost, anything standing between space and objects is bound to fall very easily. Shield, hulls, thick walls, name it.

- Beyond Mortality; freaky as it sounds, i will certainly die some day - and i have absolutely no idea what comes next. Any hypothesis is, in fact, personal opisions and wild guesses based on many concepts - including religion. If GOD (or whatever suits your definition) may be in space, show me!

And, finally...

- All and any Governments; Omnipotent space bound civilizations would NOT have any centralistic power of decision. It's a Free for all situation. Pirates and looters. Call the police.

Sorry, but when you base advances on what we currently have (Which your doing), and try to base that on the future, you PHAIL.

Go back in time 100 years. How many would be like you on computers, cars, cell phones?

Go back and tell them that metal that can compute advanced mathemtics would rule the world. How many would think your crazy and lock you up?

Actually, Universal Translators and Beyond Mortality are the two techs that I could imagine.

Artificial intelligence is a subject that is very well funded. Take a look at the current translation tools (not the free ones, but the ones that cost a hefty sum of money), add a few hundred years of advance in computer hardware (neural networks, quantum computing, ...) and it's entirely plausible that we'll have translation software or dedicated hardware that is fully capable of translating everything. It might not be instant universal, but maybe rather like in Star Trek where when meeting a new species they had to wait until their translators had analysed the speech patterns properly.

There also was a study a while back that if we take the recent advances in medicine and biology (gene-mapping and nano technology as well) that humans may become virtually immortal within the century. Slowing down the ageing process, conquering the last fatal diseases, cryostasis... Personally, since I'm a computer guy, not as easy to imagine as a Universal Translator, but still possible.

Somehow, I have doubts about this.

When the tech first comes out, of course, only the relatively rich will be able to afford the constant gene replenshing appointments, etc., etc. If someone opts to do this to try and live forever, a poor person might become super jealous, or a Christian nut case who couldn't stand the thought of someone being able to escape hellfire and damnation while still masturbating everyday would come along and murder this person.

So, ironically, by opting to do this, the poor and unfortunate de-gene-erets or whatever will murder you out of jealousy and your life span will actually be much shorter!!! Afterall, why make yourself such a target for jealousy and hatred forever! And besides, just because you are born rich, that gives you the right to live forever??

Afterall, just watch GATTACA. There is no gene for the human spirit.

Bingo. I don't agree with this post either. Go back to even just 45 years before the first A bomb went off in 1945, and talk to a bunch of sheep herders in 1900 about atomic weaponry and they will decry impossible. Afterall, I am sure back then, the idea of a single bomb destroying an entire city would be just as crazy as a universal translator that converts thoughts and any other language into english like in Star Trek.

I read somewhere where people in 1850 or so were asked what they thought the world would be like in 1950. Everybody was concerned that there would be so many horses and horse crap everywhere!!! O my gosh what will we do with all the horse dung in 1950!!! Current tech applied to the future = Fail (correct spelling... wtf is PHAIL??)

When computers first came out in the 1950s and 1960s, people then thought they would just be collosial giants with vaccumme tubes everywhere. The computers would be so huge and expensive that only super powers would have them. Boy they were wrong.

Oh yeah, weren't we supposed to have flying cars by now?? No one would have dreamed in 1950 we would still be using gasaline driven cars...

Clearly, we humans FAIL when it comes to predicting the future of tech.

Once again, assumptions, assumptions, assumptions. The trick to traveling faster than light might not be to actually travel faster than light in this universe, but to travel in another universe, or dimension (aka hyperspace) then pop out in our universe at a different point. Perhaps in hyper space, traveling 100mph is the equivalent of traveling 10 times the speed of light in our universe?

PHAIL is just the internet term for Fail   

About Universal Translator; the tech itself is relevant in a sense but...

I was more after the fact that IF sentient beings do have the incredible knowledge of gapping the vast distances between them and anybody else, you'd think that they could also have skills such as ESP or better yet, developped organic hereditory senses which would allow them to communicate directly with alien brains (as much variable as this could be defined, btw).
Thus, translating is unnecessary simply because comprehension is somehow an automated principle based on natural features of the transmitting end. Receiving dialogues on the other hand becomes a matter of sharing the techno, if you like; as a result, the Universal terminology in question is obviously good.

I'd say that nearly 99% of the contacts which would (in theory) occur in a space faring era would certainly involve hugely advanced forms of communications mostly relying on 6th. sense type of skills. Conclusion; the analogy of UT isn't valid (or even, ahead enough) to fill the technicalities gap, IMHO. Making it, unrealistic - somehow.

Bingo! Again.

Actually, I think extreme longevity can be accomplished within the framework of even today's society. Thinking that the poor would murder out of jealousy isn't as much of a threat as you might think. There are rich people now. Some have excellent medical service that has extended their lives by a great deal. They're not being murdered on a grand scale simply because of that wealth or longevity.

Let's take emotion and ethics out of our way for a second. The trick to virtually stopping the murders would be to crush all hope in those who would do the killing. The downtrodden don't revolt until the glimmer of hope rears its ugly head. This is true on any scale, even down to when people leave a particular job out of dissatisfaction. If it weren't for hope, they would stay and never speak of leaving. Given an eternity, it seems that the well off would be able to sufficiently kill any hope that might get in the way. There would be plenty of time. With enough money, there would also be enough mercenaries and hitmen to take care of any setbacks.



This is the natural order of things in our current society. Just switch the word "right" to "ability" and you'll be there. Just because someone disagrees with it, that doesn't make it any less real.

Absolutely! Even the theoretical "warp bubble" would allow us to reach great distances before light could travel there just by compressing and expanding space as a ship travelled though it. Physical law would be preserved while an apparent faster than light journey occurred. I'm sure the brains of the future will be able to come up with much more exotic ways of travelling than we can imagine now.

I'd say that there would be almost nothing impossible for technology, given enough time and the right circumstances. We might eventually need to collapse a star or destroy a few galaxies for our power requirements, but those are the breaks.

As difficult as it may be for some of us to admit ... there are indeed some things that are impossible for science to overcome. In the protesting words of Star Trek's Scotty, "I cannot change the laws of physics!" Of course, once we get into *metaphysics* the rules change, but I think the OP was speaking from a purely physical point of view, in which case we need to fall back on the "fiction" part of "science fiction" for a lot of the content of the GalCiv universe. Enjoy it for what it is, but don't confuse the GalCiv tech tree for the Periodic Chart of the Elements.

Yes, but Scotty was a fictional character.

Hehe. Sorry, I'm not behaving very well. I just couldn't resist.   

I completely agree. Just because we cant imagine how a certain technology could be invented/discovered now, doesnt make it impossible. The references that were made to what people thought decades or centuries ago is quite analogous to our opinions today. If I were to tell someone from 1608 that I could fly through the air in a metal vehicle faster than the swiftest bird, I'd have been declared insane, locked up, or burned as a warlock. Present-day ignorance is not accurately indicative of our future capabilities, or lack of them.



No, but there are surely many laws of physics that we have not yet discovered, some of which will probably radically change how we understand the universe.

I think the most likely advance that we will make that was deemed impossible in the OP is Beyond Mortality. We already have the ability to clone a human (we've done it with many different animals already), which is really the first step. I imagine that sometime in the next few decades, people will begin to have banks of their own cloned vital organs, so when one fails it can be easily replaced. It's genetically identical to you, so no compatibility problems. The main hurdle to overcoming mortality is not the degradation of the physical body, because I think we will be able to cure this in the somewhat near future, but the decrease in brain function that inevitably happens as people age (some of which is of course directly linked to the physical degradation). Once those issues are solved, then we've got it.

Sentient species taste better...

I would disagree in principle. Go back 100 years and the people saying we would have mounds of horse crap say so casue they don't know any better. They had no understanding of the technologies and principles of 100 years ago. Thusly, they weren't qualified to make a judgement and are irrelevant.

The majority of people today have little to no understanding of the technologies used today. How can they say what we could or could not do when they can't even validate the existence of their own microwaves and tv's?

The technologies of teh future are being researched today or were researched years ago. It takes time for the theory to develope into a useful product. By analyzing the practical aspects of a theory and looking at commerical and societal trends, one can have reasonable sucess looking at near future technological development and application. The problem is that it requires extensive knowledge and understanding of both past and present trends in scientific theory and social consumerism.

As you increase time, it becomes more vague, as you would need to take that technological trend and then factor in research and events that are not completely predictable (natural disaster, revolution).

100 years ago, the modern computer? obviosly not. But electric automated mathematic machines? Of course. It wasn't a far fetch for mathmaticians and engineers to forsee more and more complex and powerful machines, like the ones being developed 10-20 years later. Especially considering the large amount of social upheaval at the time (industrial revolution - imperial era), it would be hard to predict trends as society was radically changing.

Genetic technology is inherently cheap (once you get to the stage of being able to do the kind of thing we're discussing).

It's like information technology only you don't have the expense of building fabrication plants.

most of them! ---but that's the way it's supposed to be

-Dave

I was wondering if you could explain this.

I used to work in a lab doing genetic research and I can tell you first hand Genetic Technology is anything but cheap!

Simple Primer (20bp) - $200 for 2 miroliters, even more if you increase length.
Genomic DNA - $100's - $1000's based on species
Thermalcycler - $1000's depending on your model
Capillary electrophoresis system - $10,000's
Polymerase - Varies w/brand

Various Buffer's, Minerals, bp solutions - not cheap, can't remember prices off hand.
Agarose Gel - well that's cheap
Ethidium Bromide - not cheap
Gel Imaging station - $1000's
Markers - $100's

Ok, you gotten to the point where you can take a peice of DNA and make a copy of it!
This doesn't even scratch LB, plates, hosts, etc that are needed to actually do anything w/your copied DNA, Let alone verify that you successfully made an accurate copy...

Of course, like with all technology, the price will drop as methodology and manufacturing are fine tuned, but that won't be for a great while. If you are speaking of the final mass produced genetically engineered product, it would be priced to be competitive with competing products. Bt Corn is not much more expensive than normal corn, however its development was quite expensive and is reflected in its price. It just so happens that the volume is so large that the extra cost can be spread around more.

That would be the key to inexpensive genetic treatments - Mass productin/volume. Hence either Everyone would need it (required) or it is so benificial (compared to competing medical techniques) that everyone would be willing to pay for it.

Technically faster then light speed technology is possible its just we dont have it yet.

I think terraforming III is an unrealistic tech!

Stan: Hey, Bob, check this $%#! out. I did some research and I figured out a way to make terraforming EVEN BETTER!!

Bob: Fo' real? Stopping lying...

Stan: No seriously. We are going to build something called an "orbital terraformer". It will be a galactic achievement!

BoB: What the hell does an "orbital terraformer" do??

Stan: Well, we'll build it here on Earth, and all of our colonizes hundreds and thousands of light-years away will all of sudden have these HUGE green squares that cover thousands of kilometers...INSTANTLY!

Bob: SO?

Stan: Well, so, now we can build stuff on all those huge green squares that we couldnt build on yesterday.

BoB: How the hell did you figure that one out??

Stan: I dont know, in a dream or something I guess. Know whats really F'ed up? If we had been neutral engineers, and not evil ones, we wouldn't have even had to build this stupid terraforming thing. It would have been FREE!

This seems entirely plausible and rational to me.  :LOL: 

Sentient species taste better...

Eh, I have to stop looking things up before I open my mouth (or in this case, post on the internet). I wanted to spout off about the guy in the 1800's that wanted to close the patent office since "everything that could be invented has been invented". Sadly, that is a horrid misquote and now my dreams are shattered.

So...that post being destroyed. I only can say that, without being able to see the end of the human species (or sentient life in general) we cannot even wrap our brains around what could be possible.

Perhaps a Dr Evil in future will be able to get sharks with frickin' laser beams...

I think the only prediction I can make is that as long as living beings have free will, there will not be peace.

Here's somethin' else i found real odd while playing.

- Whatever technology you're able to reach first, it can't stay yours only for long, or in a period wide enough to truly enjoy any advantage(s) you may need or want to exploit!

Thus, galactic_size knowledge becomes a matter of accurate managing of gameplay features rather than tactical planning, kindof.
Sure, the context itself is made such as to provide competitive endeavor towards specific pathways by anybody... but, in all seriousness, who would really keep tab on race X or Y progress unless it suddendly would give 'hem a clear shot at some Victory condition?

As a result, the Human player has full (well, almost!) control over WHAT gets effective or not;

- Weapons & Defenses are both a simple choice that either a) Balances itself out IF monitoring task do allow for quick reaction or b) Enforces domination - indirectly.

- Diplomacy, Construction (planet surfaces and starbases, etc), Trading, Espionage -- (name it)... which ALL have a gobble point where, constantly, everyone meets eventually. The slight mis-alignment of steps may just be enough to stage a tricky 'conquering' pattern even for_by high-level-skilled AIs, but in the mid-long-term perspective any Scientific edge is bound to be common.

Yet, TA will have unique tech paths for 'variable' impacts on this issue. A most welcomed type of complexity if you ask me, in fact.

Now, you may say, what's this got to do with Unrealistic technos?

Everything and much more!