Super Tech And Its Impact On Society: Dimensional Compression Capsules (DCCs)

[Marcus Impudite]

Dimensional Compression Capsules (DCCs for short) are pocket-sized devices that have within them a compressed dimension that the owner can use for storage of personal possessions, weapons, clothing, vehicles, supplies of food and drink, etc. The storage capacity of these capsules varies, with the cheaper capsules having only a very small amount of space (roughly the equivalent of a closet) and the more expensive capsules having nearly unlimited space. For reasons the manufacturer has not fully disclosed, all DCCs come with a warning printed on the packaging stating that, "Placing living things into the compressed space is not recommended and will void your warranty." There are a number of urban legends as to the reason for the warning label, but no one outside the company knows the full truth.

 

How would society change if such devices became commercially available?

[BoloOfEarth]

Can one DCC be put into another DCC without causing an implosion of time and space?  (Because if so, you know someone would figure out a way to weaponize them.)

 

On the darker side, I'd think the mob would use DCCs for disposing of bodies and the like.

 

On the brighter side, the government might use DCCs to dispose of toxic wastes and maybe get rid of landfills altogether (unless the cost is too prohibitive for DCCs with nearly unlimited space). 

 

Given the ease with which weapons could be hidden within them, I'd expect DCCs might be treated as potential weapons.  And in the US, since the DCCs themselves aren't actual weapons, they could be heavily regulated without triggering 2nd amendment arguments.  Could lead to some interesting (and complex) legal arguments.

[steriaca]

Someone has been watching there Dragon Ball. 

 

Anyways,  the human race becomes more mobile.  I mean,  you can store homes inside the darn things. So it might be common to now have homes without basements and foundation. You want to move and own your own home,  you compress your home into a capsule and find a new clearing to put your home in. 

[Marcus Impudite]

A person could probably bring their basement with them too, they'd just need to excavate a large enough hole in the ground before unpacking it. They're probably carrying a backhoe in a capsule for that purpose. ;)

[Sundog]

This would end sea transport of goods.

We use transport ships for all sorts of bulk materials transport. Ships can carry massively more than aircraft, but we pay the price of longer transport times and the requirement to maintain specialized ports to support them. But with this technology we can transport anything from anywhere to anywhere a plane can reach - ports cease to be of value trade wise, and long range shipping ceases to need to be available to the sea.

[Marcus Impudite]

Parking lots would either become a thing of the past or at least wouldn't be used as much, since you can drive to wherever you're going and then put your car into a capsule and put it in your pocket. Parking meters would also be pointless.

[BoloOfEarth]

8 hours ago, steriaca said:

Anyways,  the human race becomes more mobile.  I mean,  you can store homes inside the darn things. So it might be common to now have homes without basements and foundation. You want to move and own your own home,  you compress your home into a capsule and find a new clearing to put your home in. 

 

Hope you bring your electric and water hookups with you as well. 

[steriaca]

3 hours ago, BoloOfEarth said:

 

Hope you bring your electric and water hookups with you as well. 

There is probably tech in the house which can pull water from air.  As for electronic,  that is what solar panels are for. 

[DShomshak]

On ‎4‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 5:24 AM, steriaca said:

Someone has been watching there Dragon Ball. 

 

Anyways,  the human race becomes more mobile.  I mean,  you can store homes inside the darn things. So it might be common to now have homes without basements and foundation. You want to move and own your own home,  you compress your home into a capsule and find a new clearing to put your home in. 

Technical query: Can the capsule's aperture stretch wide enough to hold large objects, or is the aperture fixed and anything placed in the capsule must be narrow enough to fit through the opening?

 

Dean Shomshak

[steriaca]

2 minutes ago, DShomshak said:

Technical query: Can the capsule's aperture stretch wide enough to hold large objects, or is the aperture fixed and anything placed in the capsule must be narrow enough to fit through the opening?

 

Dean Shomshak

I believe it is like Dragon Ball/Z/Super/GT. The objects shrink/fold up into the capsule, and grow/unfolds out of it.

 

Or, that's the way I see it. In Dragon Ball series, the technology just works, nobody ponders why or how.

[freakboy6117]

After the highly publicized capture of Hugh Coffer the Nowhere Man a prolific serial killer who was only discovered when he attempted to kidnap a victim with a previously unknown mutant power . the Horror show of his DCC filled with artfully arranged mutilated corpses caused a mass panic about what people where storing in their DCC. followed by it being a major plot point on TV shows until it becomes a worn out trope.

 

the war on drugs is essentially lost over night when anyone can walk over a border with a metric tonne of drugs in their pocket.

 

DCC are banned on all federally regulated transporty methods after the first incident when soem oen accidentally opens one on a plane fortunatly they where storing a motorcycle not a back hoe.

 

bank robberies and terrorist attacks where a full arsenal can be easily smuggled into a secure compound for that matter DCC as terrorist weapon fill a large capacity DCC with Water or sand etc and empty it in a confined space .

 

i imagine the manufacturers would be required either to provide a means of detection or to very strictly license sales

[BoloOfEarth]

Excellent points by freakboy6117.

 

The federal government preemptively classifies DCCs' extra-dimensional space as "public spaces," making DCCs subject to immediate police / FBI / TSA search without need for a warrant.  During the inevitable legal challenge to this, the government attorney "accidentally" opens a DCC containing enough water to fill the courtroom to the depth of 4 feet, thus illustrating the goverment's case and ensuring the legal challenge is shot down (or sunk, as the case may be).

[BoloOfEarth]

On 4/21/2018 at 4:40 PM, Marcus Impudite said:

Parking lots would either become a thing of the past or at least wouldn't be used as much, since you can drive to wherever you're going and then put your car into a capsule and put it in your pocket. Parking meters would also be pointless.

 

And thus, Ann Arbor, Michigan becomes someplace to which you can actually commute.

 

(The joke I heard is that the city of Ann Arbor once had a raffle.  Second prize was a new car.  First prize was a parking space.)

[freakboy6117]

the military applications are pretty terrifying beyond the obvious logistics benefits IE a courier could carry the supplies for an entire battalion or carrier battle group in their pocket hugely increased operational time for spec ops etc.

 

the possibilities for asymmetric warfare are impressive if a DCC can be opened remotely you could destroy a building with one guy a kite and a few metric tonnes of rocks. 99 red balloons drifting over a city each releasing a few tonnes each would be like an artillery barrage or start a fire storm with gasoline. the together you can get the unit the more devastating the impact imagine a high altitude weather balloon dropping I beams from the edge of space .

 

on the other hand the environmental possibilities are equally good landfills become a thing of the past just dump your waste in  DCC until it can be recycled. the  costs of shipping drop nearly exponentially and pollution from cargo ships basically disappear even if it was illegal to transfer DCC by air high speed ocean ships could transport a world of supplies in a fraction of the time of their gigantic brethren. big rigs and cargo trains also vanish replaced with motor bike/cycle couriors. pipe line/tankers spills are also basically eradicated the possibilities for Carbon sequestration are interesting also