# Ideas for Sci-fi/Sci-Fantasy technology and devices.



## Stormcat (Feb 21, 2018)

An Engineer, I am not.

This may explain why I'm having trouble coming up with gadgets and tech for my science-fantasy story. It seems like everything I've created for it is just a re-skin of an existing technology. Even as I go about my daily life, I'm having trouble recognizing situations in where a fictional device might improve it.

This lack of new tech ideas is starting to really frustrate me. It doesn't have to be anything spectacular like a spaceship that can generate wormholes and appear anywhere in the universe at any given time, I just need some help bringing more "fantasy" into my science-fantasy.


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## Theglasshouse (Feb 21, 2018)

You need some scientific journals to get a grasp of what is current technology. It then helps to extrapolate if helpful. Some can be pretty expensive. Nature is a known journal. Just aim for a journal with a decent reputation and not expensive. I wish I could be more of help, such as what topics the journal must carry but I am afraid you will have to do research on that. It still is something you must research, what technology is useful in a science fiction story. But if you go by any science that isn't too difficult maybe you can find some inspiration. Science news journal, brain, and mind are other options but some of these are pricey. I am pretty sure someone will most likely come up with better suggestions than me.


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## moderan (Feb 21, 2018)

You're going about it backward.
Invent the McGuffin first, and then the story is people's reactions to the thing, or to the changes the thing causes.
Then you develop a coherent set of tech devices from extrapolating that, or ruminating on the ways that people might misuse your tech.
In one of my stories, a man invents a drug that enables users to see five seconds into their future. Any further and there are too many branches.
What kind of disasters could you avoid with five seconds' warning? What then happens if more and more people use the drug? Doesn't that negate the advantage? Or does it make things easier...does everyone see the same set of possibilities?
What if you develop an indestructible material? How would you cut it to fit? 
And so on. It takes a while, but you can develop a facility for coming up with such stuff. "Gadgets and tech" is superficial pulpy junk. "Slow Glass" or "Ice-9" are the real thing. Robert Heinlein came up with 'waldoes" to handle radioactive material.
Nowadays you can probably have spray-on skin to do that job. 
I have a better mousetrap. His name is Tyke. His first cousin is a Roomba.
Use your imagination. Make it believable.


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## RhythmOvPain (Feb 21, 2018)

Google is your friend. Whatever the technology you intend to create, there's foundations in similar technologies already available. Since you can't re-envision the technology, focus on what you already have in mind and expand on it.

Wikipedia ftfw.

Otherwise, you CAN develop technology of your own design. Just focus on what it does instead of how whenever possible and make shit up the rest of the way.


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## bdcharles (Feb 22, 2018)

Stormcat said:


> An Engineer, I am not.
> 
> This may explain why I'm having trouble coming up with gadgets and tech for my science-fantasy story. It seems like everything I've created for it is just a re-skin of an existing technology. Even as I go about my daily life, I'm having trouble recognizing situations in where a fictional device might improve it.
> 
> This lack of new tech ideas is starting to really frustrate me. It doesn't have to be anything spectacular like a spaceship that can generate wormholes and appear anywhere in the universe at any given time, I just need some help bringing more "fantasy" into my science-fantasy.





moderan said:


> You're going about it backward.
> Invent the McGuffin first, and then the story is people's reactions to the thing, or to the changes the thing causes.
> Then you develop a coherent set of tech devices from extrapolating that,  or ruminating on the ways that people might misuse your tech.





RhythmOvPain said:


> Otherwise, you CAN develop technology of your own design. Just focus on  what it does instead of how whenever possible and make shit up the rest  of the way.



Great advice above. While you might need a rudimentary grasp of physics and maybe a few bits of research to prop the business up, in the main let your imagination suggest stuff. If you need the whys and wherefores about it, simply handwavium up a new chemical element or mutter some arcana about how "The Old Ones decreed it so" and deal with it in a later book if your research doesn't cover everything.


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## Theglasshouse (Feb 22, 2018)

Or he could imagine if that helps a technology with research applications being made possible in the future(androids still don't exist but writers write about them in theory and intelligent robots like Issac Asimov in fiction (artificial blood doesn't exist and has not been invented and androids need them; look up artificial blood but it's a current scientific work in progress), where it has evolved several years from what we have now. Just like the research that is trying to find out new ways to make the impossible possible. Right now they are unsure singularity exists, yet people write about it as if it existed. Just so you know if they have a goal in mind in researching it, in your story the impossible is made possible. Just look for citations of papers, that indicate the research.

I think for example fungus, for example, I have been researching and bacteria, there doing a genome project to remap their genes as an example. To make them do things to solve human problems. I did this research a while back. 

Last example: telepathic communication was something being developed, which might one day exist written about 50 years ago, in the novel that won the first Hugo award. The demolished man, by Alfred Bester. It was a theory and they are still trying to develop it (telepathic communication by people called psychics). It was some scientific background just need to look everywhere on the internet so that you can find promising research that is possible(that could be possible). It could be a breakthrough is not yet found, or the technology hasn't been massively adopted. I hope this helps. Imagine a breakthrough today if you will that is released 20 years after or you imagine that breakthrough in the story's fictional world. Sometimes scientists extrapolate in this way. But have scientific research that suggests it won't happen for decades if you want to make more of an easy to understand the possibility for readers who like science fiction.


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## moderan (Feb 22, 2018)

bdcharles said:


> Great advice above. While you might need a rudimentary grasp of physics and maybe a few bits of research to prop the business up, in the main let your imagination suggest stuff. If you need the whys and wherefores about it, simply handwavium up a new chemical element or mutter some arcana about how "The Old Ones decreed it so" and deal with it in a later book if your research doesn't cover everything.



I disagree. If you're gonna science, do it right. FTL/Time travel are acceptable handwavium (to most) but the idea is to understand _yourself_ how the device works, but not to explain it. That way the understanding will inform the text rather than detract from the story.
90% of story is research. Imo there's no substitute, and, as always, no shortcuts. If you wanna convince people of your lies, make them solid enough to feel.


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## Ralph Rotten (Feb 22, 2018)

Personally I come up with the story and invent gadgets needed to help me tell the story.  I don't write the story around the technology, I invent technology to fill the gaps in my storytelling.


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## moderan (Feb 23, 2018)

I find that approach makes the tech disconnected and seems superficial. Clearly ymmv. Mine is more a hard-sf approach -- it's what I started out writing and am more comfortable with. So perhaps you might be a better source for the OP. How does one go about developing the imaginative facility to do that successfully?


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## Ralph Rotten (Feb 24, 2018)

"How does one go about developing the imaginative facility to do that successfully?"

I read a ton of non-fiction including Scientific American, lots of technical manuals...
Although I am a news junkie, I also like to follow science news.
And I am an avid history fan, because many historical patterns are repeated.


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## Bodes (May 21, 2018)

My advice, for what it's worth, would be to try and reverse engineer your story. For example, find out what is driving your plot. Are your characters on an aline planet? What problems might they run into. Oh, they probably need a way to communicate with one another. Bam, now you've invented a device that allows for two different races to communicate with ease without learning each others language. Perhaps somewhere else in your plot your character needs to send notes to someone who is located far away or otherwise inaccessible. This is essential to your plot because the notes reveal [inset problem]. Good thing your protagonist has access to a tablet that transcribed written words to voice messages.

Basically: write your plot first and figure out what technologies need to exist to make it happen.


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## Renaissance Man (May 23, 2018)

Rattling off ideas inspired by modern science, there are the following.

Anti-matter rockets. NASA's working on this concept.
Drone cameras capable of following a target, remotely, flying through the air. They really exist.
Genetically Engineered Humans. Gene alterations are being used in modern medicine. Not on my life will they be messing with *my* genes, but the technology exists.
Surgical robots that can use GPS to map out your blood stream.
Life like robots that are very close to the legendary android Data.
Holographic technology is bringing dead singers back to the stage for live concerts.
I think I've given you a few suggestions. Hope this helps.


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## Stormcat (May 23, 2018)

I have my plot, I even have a few devices that are key to the plot.

However, I need "cow tools". Technologies and whatnot that don't directly influence the plot, but liven up the setting and exist as props for various scenes.


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## Rhymetravilla (May 26, 2018)

What about trying out a matter teleporter, or a repulsor shield of some sort. or a seed that can grow planets.


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## Fine_Man42 (May 26, 2018)

I suggest zeroing in your setting and really think about what sort of technology they would use or even what might be era appropriate considering the time period. Then after that, come up with a bunch of ideas, like twists on common utilities for example.  If this is your preference, try to think of how your characters might inhabit this world you've created. How would _you_ live in this world with all the fictional technology you create? Does your society make sense with its technological capabilities (this can be a big issue, trust me)? 

Understanding different sciences is important as well. Power sources in particular are vital, and understanding that can really help you better understand how your world operates and functions. 

Like what everyone else said, a cursory knowledge of modern science is recommended, but it also falls to what you want to do with the story


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## Stormcat (May 27, 2018)

Rhymetravilla said:


> What about trying out a matter teleporter, or a repulsor shield of some sort. or a seed that can grow planets.



That's a little too advanced for this story. These are not a space-exploring people.


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## Rhymetravilla (May 27, 2018)

You could try to read some good old school sci fi for ideas. It always helps to think about what it is your characters need and create things to provide for that need. One of my stories features a character who is a self away space navigation program called the mentally advanced visualization unit or Mavis for short. I knew my characters needed a good interface, so I thought how better than to make the ship a character.


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## Rhymetravilla (May 27, 2018)

what type of people are they? What level of technology do they exhibit?


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## Stormcat (May 27, 2018)

Rhymetravilla said:


> what type of people are they? What level of technology do they exhibit?



Sort of Steam era, but with the capacity for advanced robotics via a world-specific plebotenum I haven't yet created.


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## Rhymetravilla (May 27, 2018)

Maybe experiment with AI. Or a steam roller android? Maybe an advanced rapid transit.


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## scarab (Jun 23, 2018)

Have you thought about a magic carpet?

I mean: it could be sufficient to describe what it does, how people use it, rather than how it works.


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## Stormcat (Jun 24, 2018)

scarab said:


> Have you thought about a magic carpet?
> 
> I mean: it could be sufficient to describe what it does, how people use it, rather than how it works.



I'd rather not try to focus on transportation methods, there's already a wealth of transportation technologies both fictional and real that could be used in a story.





I do however have a request for a technology...

I need a theoretical device that could be used to share memories between people. Person A would record their memory of an incident as they remember it, and it could then be viewed by persons B,C,D,E,F and all the way to Z. Person A would not lose their memory, they would merely have it recorded for others to view.


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## Pallandozi (Sep 8, 2020)

Stormcat said:


> Sort of Steam era, but with the capacity for advanced robotics via a world-specific plebotenum I haven't yet created.



Try http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/steam-tech/


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