the most usefull invention in siencefiction.

[Peter the Dane]

I dont think in: scotty "beam me up" even that specially that invention would come in handy ;D<br /><br />arthur c clarke invented the communication sattelite, he did it in a not much noted novel years before they send up sputnik.<br /><br />I guess the forum useres have read allmost anny sience-fiction novel around. why not try to exstract the knowlegde, here you can tell the engineer the easy way out.<br /><br />a disney cartoon inspired a easy way to salvage ships, fill it up with small balls filled with air....<br /><br />my surgestion are from a old novel, I have forgot most of the real story but from childhood I recall this, a giant plant are living in a moon crater, it have covered the crater and created a atmospher inside. now this plant need to have the air and to seal leakage it have leaves. that in case of a leak are sucked in to the hole, filling the hole and sealing it. <br />why not fill pieces of fiber covered with welcro in to the walls of a space modul. if hit from a micro meteorite the vessle will not lose pressure just seal it self. to make it 100% air proff spay a paint or coating on top the fibers.<br /><br />Peter Gotthardsen<br />

 

[kelle]

I like the device they invent in Clarke & Baxter's book The Light of Other Days. Wormholes that let you look instantly over distances of millions of light years, and it also let's you look back in time. Would have been fun to have.<br /><br />Also wormholes that let you cross light years instantly, known from countless science fiction books, would have been nice.<br /><br />Though such wormhole stuff might be theoretically impossible, but who knows what the future might bring?

 

[elguapoguano]

IHMO the most important invention in SciFi is FTL travel. I mean all the shows have it, sure it's described differently. You've got Worm Holes, Jump Gates, StarGates, Warp Drives, SlipStream drives, Hyper Drives, you name it. <br /><br />SciFi wouldn't be too interesting if it still took years to get anywhere.... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#ff0000"><u><em>Don't let your sig line incite a gay thread ;>)</em></u></font> </div>

 

[nacnud]

I dunno I like the sf with no FTL drives... so how about cryo-sleep as an sf invention. Was it clark again with 2001?

 

[odysseus145]

I liked the FTL communication like the ansible in Ender's Game. <br /><br />The food replicators in Star Trek: TNG were good too. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[kdavis007]

I have to agree with you on that one...

 

[jmilsom]

Bitek and Neural Nanonics in Peter F. Hamilton's work! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[5stone10]

Corbomite - used in the Corbomite Maneuver !

 

[Leovinus]

In one of the early scenes in 2010 - Odyssey 2, Heywood Floyd is shown using a laptop computer. Such PCs didn't exist then (1984). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[spayss]

Re the laptop.<br /><br /> I'm always of two minds when I read about some author's insight into the future because they bring up some device that superficially resembles a technology later developed.<br /><br /> Dick Tracy used a watch phone ....Verne's 'rockets' to the Moon, etc. I'm not knocking these authors or their imaginations but sometimes do we give them too much credit?<br /><br /> It's not so hard to use a device 'watch phone' or 'wormhole', etc. What's hard is to base it on actual science and technology...not to ignore the laws of physics with empty-scienticically-sounding explanations.<br /><br /> So if tomorrow we find some device to manipulate a couple of subatomic particles to flow back and forth in time will that mean that HG Wells had some amazing insight, ahead of his time, about Time travel? I don't think so.<br /><br /> Back to the questin:<br /><br /> The most amazing invention is any device to overcome gravity...other than 99% of planets either being the exact size of Earth or, as more common, just ignored.<br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />