Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

[Steve]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

In making a super-genius on the scale of Reed Richards or Lex Luthor useful to the world at large, the most difficult aspect for me has been thinking through the changes to the world and the public's reaction to each new addition of technology.

 

More than one supervillain might be created by the resistance of the public or corporations to accepting new things.

 

1) Fools! They're afraid of my mini-fusion generators? I'll destroy every power generator in the country and then offer it again. Maybe after a few days of sitting in the dark and cold, they'll be more willing to accept.

 

2) Morons! My androids will free mankind from the necessity of work, but those idiot politicians blather on about unemployment. I'll create an army of androids and take over the country. Then things will change.

 

Etc...

[megaplayboy]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

Unfortunately, there are far too many short-sighted corporate types who would happily replace their entire work force with cheap, loyal android labor, without even considering the possibility they are getting rid of all the people who might buy what they make/the service they provide.

[Clonus]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

In making a super-genius on the scale of Reed Richards or Lex Luthor useful to the world at large, the most difficult aspect for me has been thinking through the changes to the world and the public's reaction to each new addition of technology.

 

More than one supervillain might be created by the resistance of the public or corporations to accepting new things.

 

1) Fools! They're afraid of my mini-fusion generators? I'll destroy every power generator in the country and then offer it again. Maybe after a few days of sitting in the dark and cold, they'll be more willing to accept.

 

2) Morons! My androids will free mankind from the necessity of work, but those idiot politicians blather on about unemployment. I'll create an army of androids and take over the country. Then things will change.

 

Etc...

 

One thing that's worth mentioning is that that super technology has relatively poor safety track record, particularly in the hands of people who don't understand it.

[megaplayboy]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

One thing that's worth mentioning is that that super technology has relatively poor safety track record' date=' particularly in the hands of people who don't understand it.[/quote']

 

Well, it's certainly true that a GM can find plenty of reasons to slow the implentation of new tech advances. The trickier part is figuring out how something would change the world. Smaller, more efficient cell phones probably won't change the world much, but smart phones with built in "universal translator" functions(that effectively work instantly and permit anyone in the world to communicate understandably with anyone else) would change things a great deal.

[Folded]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

Here's one.

 

Step 1: Launch a few dozen satellites which collectively provide global coverage for broadband quality wireless internet connections (say, 1Gb/s up and down for every user). Offer access to this service for free to anyone who wants it.

 

Step 2: Patent the technology necessary to access your network. This will be something equivalent to a modern ethernet card. License this patent for royalties to anyone who wants to produce compatible hardware.

 

Step 3: Advertise.

 

Step 4: Massive profit, and the social good of providing reliable internet access to anyone, anywhere on the planet, who can get their hands on an enabled device.

 

Prediction: Initially, low acceptance, followed by an ever-steepening curve resulting in your tech being the only way anyone connects to the internet within ten years time (possibly less).

 

Step 5: Begin taking over the internet backbone (providing servers, routers and other necessary tech to the appropriate agencies for free). Add orbital backbone elements.

 

Step 6: In 20 years, you are the internet. Do with it what you will.

[Steve]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

Here's one.

 

Step 1: Launch a few dozen satellites which collectively provide global coverage for broadband quality wireless internet connections (say, 1Gb/s up and down for every user). Offer access to this service for free to anyone who wants it.

 

Step 2: Patent the technology necessary to access your network. This will be something equivalent to a modern ethernet card. License this patent for royalties to anyone who wants to produce compatible hardware.

 

Step 3: Advertise.

 

Step 4: Massive profit, and the social good of providing reliable internet access to anyone, anywhere on the planet, who can get their hands on an enabled device.

 

Prediction: Initially, low acceptance, followed by an ever-steepening curve resulting in your tech being the only way anyone connects to the internet within ten years time (possibly less).

 

Step 5: Begin taking over the internet backbone (providing servers, routers and other necessary tech to the appropriate agencies for free). Add orbital backbone elements.

 

Step 6: In 20 years, you are the internet. Do with it what you will.

 

An excellent idea. Rep to you.

[Ravor]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

You know, it seems to me that with the various supertech that has been suggested the "population bomb" caused by smarter/healther/longer lived humans doesn't have to be a bad thing, for starters, Earth has alot more room once the bottom of the Oceans become colonized, and mankind will reach for the stars once we actually outgrow Sol III.

 

"Go west young man." was the motto of the past, the settlers of the future will say things like "Mars or bust!", and "The roads of Tae Ceta are paved with gold."

[Markdoc]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

Well, there are ways to do it: let's say that, due to the biotech revolution, the annual global death rate drops to 50 million a year. That means you could have a stable population if your birthrates are around 50 million a year as well. So the UN prints up 50 million "licenses" and puts them in a "lottery", assigned to applicants by random determination. If someone wants to have kids and doesn't have a license, they can bargain with a license-holder for one. Alternatively, the licenses are randomly determined but the license recipients are crossed off the list for the following years. This means that, sooner or later, everyone is likely to get a license. There could also be a 50 or 100 year exception--if you haven't received a license in the past 50-100 years, you get one via waiver. If someone wants more than one child within a short time frame, most likely they'll have to trade for it.

The alternative is watching non-participating countries breed themselves to the brink of extinction before clueing in.

 

But they'd do it. I was at a meeting with two patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension recently. They both desperately want to get pregnant -and are trying to do so - despite the fact that no woman with PAH has ever survived pregnancy. If they get pregnant and survive so long, the doctors will be cutting a premature baby out of their corpses. To me, that's insane (and kind of horrible), but some people are truly driven to have kids. They are not going to rational about it.

 

cheers, Mark

[phoenix240]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

The drive to reproduce is truly remarkable (and as this example shows, a little frightening).

[megaplayboy]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

Well, unfortunately, I don't see how a technologically advanced species would implement a major extension of human lifespan without adopting a level of social control we're mostly unaccustomed to. The universe is not actually big enough, or resourceful enough to support an infinite number of people--let alone our little blue-green world. We probably couldn't support more than 1-3 more doublings on Earth alone, even with breakthroughs in food, energy and water production. If you erected a Dyson Sphere around every star system in the universe, you still couldn't support more than a hundred, hundred twenty doublings at most. If people are having kids at any rate faster than replacement, population will eventually expand to overwhelm available space and resources. Math is ruthless and remorseless that way.

[phoenix240]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

I don't think it would be possible but its going to take awhile, maybe quite awhile. You would be working against millennia of instinct and centuries of social conditioning. That's not something that could undone over night.

[Ravor]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

I have to once again disagree, you are assuming that in the long, long term humanity is unable or unwilling to adapt to the new population norms, remember that it really wasn't that long ago where it was considered normal for a family to have five or more children with the expectation of a couple of them surviving to adulthood, I could've swore that I heard somewhere that some of the First World Countries would actually have some small population decline sans immigration (As a disclaimier I've never fact checked that statement myself so YMMV.). The tech being discussed isn't the fountain of youth, at it's core it simply doubles the human lifespan which is something that has happened in the last century, and last time I checked, the dire warnings of the population bomb destroying us all before the year 2000 has simply been wrong.

 

Now to take us back into a more comic book feel, for a moment lets assume that a longer life does turn mankind into a mindless locus swarm that devours the entire universe, well, once we've outgrown Universe 001 then we turn our eye towards Universe 002 and let the invasion begin, I'm sure that a campaign or two could be wrangled out of that concept.

[phoenix240]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

I have to once again disagree' date=' you are assuming that in the [b']long, long[/b] term humanity is unable or unwilling to adapt to the new population norms,.

 

I said it would be possible but it would probably take awhile.

[Steve]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

I have to once again disagree' date=' you are assuming that in the [b']long, long[/b] term humanity is unable or unwilling to adapt to the new population norms, remember that it really wasn't that long ago where it was considered normal for a family to have five or more children with the expectation of a couple of them surviving to adulthood, I could've swore that I heard somewhere that some of the First World Countries would actually have some small population decline sans immigration (As a disclaimier I've never fact checked that statement myself so YMMV.). The tech being discussed isn't the fountain of youth, at it's core it simply doubles the human lifespan which is something that has happened in the last century, and last time I checked, the dire warnings of the population bomb destroying us all before the year 2000 has simply been wrong.

 

Now to take us back into a more comic book feel, for a moment lets assume that a longer life does turn mankind into a mindless locus swarm that devours the entire universe, well, once we've outgrown Universe 001 then we turn our eye towards Universe 002 and let the invasion begin, I'm sure that a campaign or two could be wrangled out of that concept.

 

Actually, that raises another possible use of comic book technology, transport to alternate earths. What would the public reaction be to some superhuman making the offer to give any interested group their own Earth, nearly identical to our own but uninhabited by mankind. You could take all of your stuff, and the group could choose to remain in contact with Earth Prime or sever all ties.

 

Who would accept this inter-dimensional land grab? How might governments react to a mass exodus of people leaving for another world?

[phoenix240]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

Actually, that raises another possible use of comic book technology, transport to alternate earths. What would the public reaction be to some superhuman making the offer to give any interested group their own Earth, nearly identical to our own but uninhabited by mankind. You could take all of your stuff, and the group could choose to remain in contact with Earth Prime or sever all ties.

 

Who would accept this inter-dimensional land grab? How might governments react to a mass exodus of people leaving for another world?

 

Groups and individuals with extreme political, ethical or spiritual views might leap at the chance to completely get away from this world. Anarchists, Liberareans, fundamentalists of all stripes, extreme enviornmentalists, etc. The latter might also oppose this sort of thing too, seeing it as spreading the contamination of humanity to a "pure" Earth.

 

Governments might be eager to take up the offer too and get access to a planet's worth of untapped resources...

[Ravor]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

True, but where we disagree is that I don't consider a mere generation or two as being a long time even when those generations are measured as a century or so, remember that human lifespan has already been extended by at least two fold and our mortality rate has been vastly decreased just an eye blink in the past. And as a result of those changes our civilization has voluntarily changed our repoductive habits, no oppressive Big Brother goverment program necessary or wanted. Remember that many of the same predictions people are making on these boards were made in real life just a handful of decades ago, they were wrong then and would be wrong again.

 

 

Hmm, the public reasction to trans-dimensional transport, well I think it largely depends on whether or not if return trips are possible and how hard it is to make the journey.

[phoenix240]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

I have to once again disagree' date=' .[/quote']

 

Once again?

[Steve]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

Groups and individuals with extreme political, ethical or spiritual views might leap at the chance to completely get away from this world. Anarchists, Liberareans, fundamentalists of all stripes, extreme enviornmentalists, etc. The latter might also oppose this sort of thing too, seeing it as spreading the contamination of humanity to a "pure" Earth.

 

Governments might be eager to take up the offer too and get access to a planet's worth of untapped resources...

 

Inter-dimensional travel raises interesting possibilities. Here are some further thoughts I had on this. The technology I had in mind works something like a mix between Sliders and Stargate.

 

1) Each world has a unique quantum code that can be "dialed up" for transit, but opening a gate without a gate in existence on the other side requires waiting for a window of opportunity when the two worlds align enough.

2) The window of opportunity has a regular cycle measured in weeks between occurrences once a world has been found, but the number of weeks can vary. Daily travel is not possible unless a gate is in existence on both worlds.

3) If a gate system is running on both sides, each world can be accessed without waiting for a window of opportunity.

 

A couple of possible alternate Earths.

 

1) This dimension never formed an Earth, so the gate forms into empty space. Possibly useful for toxic and radioactive waste disposal.

2) A world where the dinosaurs never died out but didn't evolve into sentience either.

[phoenix240]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

A smaller scale but potentially profitable operation for a person with access to many alternate Earths could involve getting custom items that "never were". Alien with the original ending Sigourney Weaver wanted, Michael Jackson's "lost" songs (made after he died in our world) and other unusual or impossible variants from Alternate histories.

[sinanju]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

Let's not forget, also, that "we" may not always have unfettered access to any given alternate Earth. Once there are enough people there (immigrants or new native-born citizens), odds are that they'll decide that they'd rather exploit said world for their own benefit, not ours. At which point, they cut off contact entirely, or severely limit it, and enact immigration controls.

 

Which means, in the end, that colonizing alternate earths, while useful and profitable, isn't going to be any sort of panacea for population pressure in the long run. It's simply going to mean a LOT of worlds with growing populations instead of just one.

[Steve]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

A smaller scale but potentially profitable operation for a person with access to many alternate Earths could involve getting custom items that "never were". Alien with the original ending Sigourney Weaver wanted' date=' Michael Jackson's "lost" songs (made after he died in our world) and other unusual or impossible variants from Alternate histories.[/quote']

 

If this was done on a version of Champions Earth, you could have such dimensional tech being monitored by UNTIL.

 

The trading idea reminds me of GURPS Alternate Earths supplement and White Star Trading.

[megaplayboy]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

A smaller scale but potentially profitable operation for a person with access to many alternate Earths could involve getting custom items that "never were". Alien with the original ending Sigourney Weaver wanted' date=' Michael Jackson's "lost" songs (made after he died in our world) and other unusual or impossible variants from Alternate histories.[/quote']

 

Jimi Hendrix' albums and live performance recordings from 1971 onward; Bruce Lee's movies and martial arts instruction videos from 1974 onward; the Beatles' albums from 1971 onward; Einstein's complete unified field theory(which works, at least in the alternate Earth where he completed it); documents from the never-destroyed Library of Alexandria; and, of course, a whole bunch of videos from that world where prOn and mainstream film/tv became essentially one and the same(and therefore every famous actor/actress in that world are recorded for posterity as such).

 

Incidentally, celebrity right of privacy would likely take a heckuva beating in a world where shapechangers existed. Could you really pass a law saying that a shapechanger couldn't change their features to look exactly like, say, Jennifer Aniston(so long as they didn't do anything otherwise to pass themselves off as her, and or made clear in some way they weren't her)? Hyperadvanced digital imaging would largely have the same effect.

[sinanju]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

Jimi Hendrix' albums and live performance recordings from 1971 onward; Bruce Lee's movies and martial arts instruction videos from 1974 onward; the Beatles' albums from 1971 onward; Einstein's complete unified field theory(which works' date=' at least in the alternate Earth where he completed it); documents from the never-destroyed Library of Alexandria; and, of course, a whole bunch of videos from that world where prOn and mainstream film/tv became essentially one and the same(and therefore every famous actor/actress in that world are recorded for posterity as such). [/quote']

 

The complete seven-season run of Firefly (or the tragically short-lived series of your choice)....

 

Incidentally, celebrity right of privacy would likely take a heckuva beating in a world where shapechangers existed. Could you really pass a law saying that a shapechanger couldn't change their features to look exactly like, say, Jennifer Aniston(so long as they didn't do anything otherwise to pass themselves off as her, and or made clear in some way they weren't her)? Hyperadvanced digital imaging would largely have the same effect.

 

"Would" have? It WILL have. If I'm not mistaken, there have already been lawsuits (or at least rumblings) about the use of the images of dead actors in commercials and the like.

[Folded]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

Incidentally' date=' celebrity right of privacy would likely take a heckuva beating in a world where shapechangers existed. Could you really pass a law saying that a shapechanger couldn't change their features to look exactly like, say, Jennifer Aniston(so long as they didn't do anything otherwise to pass themselves off as her, and or made clear in some way they weren't her)? Hyperadvanced digital imaging would largely have the same effect.[/quote']

 

Eventually, it'll turn full circle. "Why would you want her, dude? She's just real!"

[Steve]

Re: Repercussions of mass-producing comic book technology

 

The comment about hyper-advanced digital recording reminded me of the movie Looker.

 

The idea of alternate worlds opens up an entire campaign's worth of dramatic possibilities. It could be that the sudden increase in dimensional travel attracts attention from other earths where such travel is common. Imagine a union of alternate Earths that works something like Star Trek's UFP, sharing information and technology and protecting each other.