| Bad Tech |
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Originally Posted By: Ken "Wirehead" Wronkiewicz and Marshall Motley ([email protected])
Unless you want to use magic or a magical force, you need to be careful about what technologies you want to include in your universe. Forcefields, Antigrav, Shields and similar creations are difficult to explain without magic. Transporters don't require magic, but the level of technology required is near magic. Robots are dangerous to use in a story. They are too difficult to kill. Remotely controlled robots are possible and slightly safer. Computer chips will eventually become intelligent enough to give us a fully automated security robot. However, guards are cheaper than an advanced robot. Bionics are difficult. Plugs built into the skin create a hygiene problem. Connections via induction are also difficult, because it will microwave your skin. The brain is different in each person, and it may be difficult to rubber- stamp the brain. Nerves are fragile and don't like to be tortured. Completely internal implants with no exposure are okay, however. Huge cyborg suits require too much power. A fully immersive cyberspace with neural links is debatable. Researchers have experimented on blind people and have enabled them to see points of light through electric stimulus. Other groups have simulated crude hearing and touch. Thus, a neural jack is possible, if a little difficult. However, the thinking parts of the brain are unknown to science. You only gain the ability to immerse yourself in the net, not join your mind to the net. Supersharp ceramic knives are bad technology. They are not as hard as carbide blades. The thickness prevents deep cuts. The same goes for monomolecular whips. In fact, monomolecular lines are not like what most CyberPunk writers have envisioned. It is not the ultra-thin, super-strong line that people think it is. Hovercraft will never replace cars. They lack sideways control. However, for amphibious usage or sport usage, they have their uses. Wheels are still better. Jet cars are not good technology. Vertical Take Off and Landing aircraft are more efficient. Helicopters are more maneuverable and are also efficient. Tilting engine aircraft show much promise. Theoretically, they would beat out VTOL aircraft, but not helicopters. Note that Harrier jets and other vertical take-off aircraft do not always work as promised. They can only take off vertically if they are lightly loaded. If you are packing a good combat load, you will need a runway, albeit shorter than any other jet fighter. They are not very stable while hovering. Many other aircraft are taking on Harrier technologies. Sweden's Air Force is designed to be dispersed throughout the country and take off on short strips of highway. A VTOL aircraft has a lot of extra weight it must carry. A fighter designed to take off in a short distance isn't. Don't assume that technology will always work. Smart Bombs still hit civilians, they just hit less of them. Computers go haywire. Advanced technologies may be unable to withstand field conditions. Avoid using too powerful of technologies. Many CyberPunk writers believe that the era of CyberPunk has already begun. It has a limited lifetime. After a while, a new era will replace the times of CyberPunk. This may make arcologies and space colonies implausible, depending on how you construct your timeline. Don't feel like you need to follow the same footsteps as Gibson, Sterling,
and Stephenson did in their novels. They have many developments of technology
down pat, but some of their ideas are dead wrong.
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