Real-Life Future Techs

[Petek]

Just got a newsletter from the Berkeley Labs. One article describes a roadmap for laboratory science into the next decade. Some of the research sounds like it could be "future techs" from SMACX:

* Nanoscience, the building of structures atom-by-atom. Includes the "Molecular Foundry". A new SP?

* Quantitative biology, which concerns the mechanisms of life and the microbial world.

* Ultrafast science, which includes the use of x-rays to help understand dynamic biological and physical events.

* Neutrino science, to help understand the particles emitted by the sun.

Pretty cool stuff! Real world science is catching up with, and even passing, SMACX.

[SynthetGod8]

passing? I dont know about that. we're Tier 3 at best. barely Tier 1 is being realistic.
But I can wait for Clinical Immortality to be finished. Poor brains in a vat watching commericals all day.
Frankly, nanoscience sounds like the most useful (and is one of the most dangerous) of all the new techs I can imagine. I mean, imagine the day when tiny AI robots traveling through your blood stream repairing damage, distributing medicine, even improving waste management and reflexes. All you'd need is a tiny (big enough to stick a small nozzel into) implant to maintain them, if that.
I do not doubt that one day the human race will be immortal. Well, maybe not all at once. I'm sure that if only rich people and employees of super-corperations got the Longevity Treatment that there'd be plenty of civil unrest around the world. Even wars.

[Chaos Theory]

Immortality for the rich, as well as other futuristic science, is covered to some extent in Kim Stanley Robinson's Red/Green/Blue Mars series.

[swillwater]

I've seen some complaints that the alpha centauri techs are too- erm, abstract for lack of a better word. That is, they are too technical, and thus people couldn't relate to them.
Now maybe it's because I'm a sci-fi buff, and a mathematician, but I really didn't notice that. Do others here feel that the techs are too technical?

As far as real life goes, I eagerly await the arrival of temporal mechanics

[gwillybj]

When the last Dreamer dies, the Dark Ages return.

swillwater, I think I'm on your page, for similar reasons. I've been reading sci-fi and dabbling in maths and science as far back as I can remember. I have no problem believing all of the SMAC/X techs will eventually be reality. Too abstract? Bah! How about Calculus, Imaginary Numbers, Theoretical Physics, and Infinity?
Did you know a copy of Archimedes' "The Method" was found? When they get done translating it, I expect more than a few big new things. Info here: NOVA | Infinite Secrets | PBS, and see this link there: NOVA | Infinite Secrets | The Archimedes Palimpsest | PBS. Neat stuff!

[Sarxis]

I didn't have a problem with the setting and techs of AC either. They all seemed reasonable.

[Nubclear]

" " " " " " " " " " " " ". " " " ".

[JMarshFox]

In fact, even one of the secret projects (The Human Genome Project) has already been made! I don't think that any of the technologies are too far off... well, you know what I mean.

[Petek]

Originally posted by JMarshFox
In fact, even one of the secret projects (The Human Genome Project) has already been made!

And this thread describes the imminent building of the Universal Translator:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=96588

[TimeTraveler]

I'm fairly sure that in the real world we have Gene Splicing, Automation, Doctrine: Flexibility, and possibly Ecological Engineering recently. However, we don't seem to have much else beyond level 1, and synth armor and laser rifles have yet to be prototyped.
I would say that we have about 15 or 16% of the technology in SMAC

[gwillybj]

Sci-Fi Weapons Closer Than Most Think

Laser "Rifles" are coming soon. Read the full story at SPACE.com

Sci-Fi Weapons Closer Than Most Think
By Spc. Bill Putnam
Army News Service
posted: 02:20 pm ET
21 October 2003
WASHINGTON (Army News Service) -- The technology behind space ship lasers and force fields is a lot closer to reality than many think.
Although those lasers and force fields won't be fielded for a few more years, Gus Khalil, an engineer at the Army's Tank and Automotive Command in Dearborn, Mich., said the Army has identified what they want for the Army's Future Combat System.
...
Khalil said tests have shown that 600-volts to 10,000-volts weapons are possible. And that's what they're forecasting to be in the FCS, Khalil said.

Compare that to this entry in the SMAC flavor.txt

#LASER
Active medium: Diode
Type: Fiber-coupled
Pulse duration: 5 nsec
Wavelength: 193 nm
Peak power: .84 gw
Burn rate (1m steel): .76 sec

How do they relate, and to what can they be compared?
Start with the basic formula Watts = Volts * Amps.
1 gigawatt (gw) = 1*10^9 watts, so 0.84gw = 840,000,000 watts. To obtain this output at 600 volts requires 1,400,000 amps; at 10,000 volts would require 84,000 amps. That's a pretty big transformer.
Standard house wiring in the U.S. is 120volt (220 for major appliances), with 20amp circuit breakers or fuses, giving only 2,400 watts per circuit.
That has to be multiplied by 350,000 to get the 0.84gw laser in SMAC.
I hope your head doesn't hurt too much

P.S. Synthmetal Armor is extra-thick reactive armor, not vastly different from what is currently used on the American Abrams, the German Leopard, and the Israeli Merkava. I'm not sure about any comparison to the newest armor in the Russian T-series.

#SYNTHMETAL ARMOR
Type: Chobham (modified)
Tensile strength: Base
Density: 2.3 kg\l
Thickness: 250mm

[SynthetGod8]

For one, the AC techs are supposed to be somewhat abstract because different factions put them to different uses. I've always thought it would have been cool to have a customized city-view like in Civ2, to show what different factions' facilities looked like. But I can see how that would have taken a lot of work.

But that's the reason why the techs aren't always very specific. It's how the different factions apply the technology that counts. It requires some imagination, yes, but isn't that what brings the world of AC to life?

I hope that there's and AC2 someday. But it'll probably never be the same. Although if that sequel took the current AC, added more story, more factions, overhauled all the graphics, added the city-view, added additional gameplay features (which are detailed in some of the articles on this site), and improved the AI so that they take advantage of all the features (how many times have the shot down a pile of AI jets who refused to attack me?), then I'd still buy it.
Oops, that was horribly off topic.

Why wouldn't future techs be somewhat technical? The idea of harnessing the power of the atom is technical, but it's so commonplace now that no one really cares.