Good Science and Bad Science And Lack Thereof In Science Fiction Films and TV Series

Don't get me started on shrinking machines. If you're not going to lose complexity, ie. keep the same number of cells and therefore molecules, then you are going to have to somehow persuade atoms to get smaller. Yeah like that's going to happen. And if you do lose molecules/cells and so dodge the smaller atoms issue then good luck with any intelligence!

Which brings to mind the movie Fantastic Voyage.:D
 
Don't get me started on shrinking machines. If you're not going to lose complexity, ie. keep the same number of cells and therefore molecules, then you are going to have to somehow persuade atoms to get smaller. Yeah like that's going to happen. And if you do lose molecules/cells and so dodge the smaller atoms issue then good luck with any intelligence!
Not if the reality or universe that the drama is set is in some kind of simulation, a simulation that allows such scaling. ;) :)

Hey it could be that our universe is such a simulation, just that the size factor is a fixed constant in the code...
 
it could be that our universe is such a simulation, just that the size factor is a fixed constant in the code...

But surely you can't have both sizes existing together in the same universe? If based upon fixed constants, then the constants are fixed even if they are different. You still can't have men the size of another man's thumbnail existing together. And while this sounds like a philosophical question, it is rather a question of science - the physical size and shape of atoms and molecules determines their chemistry - their solubility, their diffusion rates, and the strength of materials -which all have a bearing on their biology and biochemistry. So, a man from one universe could not survive if he was transplanted into another universe i.e. Land of the Giants.
 
But surely you can't have both sizes existing together in the same universe? If based upon fixed constants, then the constants are fixed even if they are different. You still can't have men the size of another man's thumbnail existing together. And while this sounds like a philosophical question, it is rather a question of science - the physical size and shape of atoms and molecules determines their chemistry - their solubility, their diffusion rates, and the strength of materials -which all have a bearing on their biology and biochemistry. So, a man from one universe could not survive if he was transplanted into another universe i.e. Land of the Giants.
Hey, I can alter my shape and size in Skyrim. And still interact. :)

Whose to say all this talk about atoms is purely just macguffin hardcoded into our forms so that we can't see the real reality.

(P.s. I'm not really being serious, just thinking of an alternative reality where such shrinkage might be possible! :giggle:)
 
We can't get into that one; the list would be far too long! :D

Okay Vertigo , fair enough .:)

I still love that movie, also seem to recall a certain DS9 epside where a runabout got miniaturized. :D

By the way, any thoughts on The Neptune Factor and its secret ocean with giant fishy's and coral ! :D
 
Hey, I can alter my shape and size in Skyrim. And still interact. :)

Whose to say all this talk about atoms is purely just macguffin hardcoded into our forms so that we can't see the real reality.

(P.s. I'm not really being serious, just thinking of an alternative reality where such shrinkage might be possible! :giggle:)
I thought you were pitching for the fourth instalment of The Matrix.
 
I've not seen The Neptune Factor. However, I'd very much doubt there are any more large sea creatures we haven't yet discovered. Nor any underwater civilisations such as in Aquaman or Stingray. And men and mermaids having children? Which I guess leads on to the other thing never discussed but very common, especially in Star Trek - men and Vulcans, men and Klingons, men and Betazoids, men and just about anything that moves...
 
I've not seen The Neptune Factor. However, I'd very much doubt there are any more large sea creatures we haven't yet discovered. Nor any underwater civilisations such as in Aquaman or Stingray. And men and mermaids having children? Which I guess leads on to the other thing never discussed but very common, especially in Star Trek - men and Vulcans, men and Klingons, men and Betazoids, men and just about anything that moves...

A few years ago, they did pseudo documentary show, in which the populated that one brach of the hominids that gave rise to mankind went into the to sea and evolved into a race of Merfolk.
 
I've not seen The Neptune Factor. However, I'd very much doubt there are any more large sea creatures we haven't yet discovered. Nor any underwater civilisations such as in Aquaman or Stingray. And men and mermaids having children? Which I guess leads on to the other thing never discussed but very common, especially in Star Trek - men and Vulcans, men and Klingons, men and Betazoids, men and just about anything that moves...

It's a pretty silly film with very cheesy special effects but, it does have entertainment value. :D
 
When Words Collide The survivors from planet Earth end up on the smaller od the two world, the One took earths placentae solar system . Its become inhabitable again. The planet called Bronson Beta in the Novel and Zyra in the movie, is earth-like but, it has no moon. That a problem because a moon keeps our axis stable. Without a moon the climate and season become unpredictable and unstable which would make life as we know it impossible and the planet uninhabitable. My guess is that when the original book and its sequel After World Collide were written in the 1930's ,this wasn't known to science and probably not in 1951 when the book was made into a film.
 
I recall Bladerunner 2049 made me laugh. There's a scene in a cockpit where an alarm is raised by the presence of tritum in the atmosphere. Tritium is a low energy soft beta emitter and although it tends to settle in the gastro-intestinal tract and has a biologoical half life of just over ten days (radiological half life of just over ten years). It can be quickly flushed out of a person's system simply by drinking copious amounts of fluid. Although it can be an internal hazard, because of its low energy betas, is probably one of the least harmful radio-isotopes and even can occur naturally. It was a very bad choice when there are so many other much more harmful isotopes that could have been used. Why don't these writers do their research? They could easily find all this in a few seconds if they googled it.
 
@Foxbat ;

If you mean this:
badger.gif


That was in Dr. Badger's shop where he scanned the wooden horse and from that determined it had come from Las Vegas. He was so unconcerned by it that he (Dr. Badger) raised it to his nose and stated that it 'smelled like old dirt, but was not old' or something to that effect.

K2
 
Hey, I can alter my shape and size in Skyrim. And still interact. :)

Whose to say all this talk about atoms is purely just macguffin hardcoded into our forms so that we can't see the real reality.

(P.s. I'm not really being serious, just thinking of an alternative reality where such shrinkage might be possible! :giggle:)
I think it would still need to obey its own internal logic. For example: In skyrim there's no mechanism for breathing. If there was and you shrank all the O2 molecules would be too big for your longs (past a certain point) and you'd suffocate. So it's not a case of 'what does the sim specifically prohibit' but more 'what does the sim specifically include a mechanism to allow'?
 
I think it would still need to obey its own internal logic. For example: In skyrim there's no mechanism for breathing. If there was and you shrank all the O2 molecules would be too big for your longs (past a certain point) and you'd suffocate. So it's not a case of 'what does the sim specifically prohibit' but more 'what does the sim specifically include a mechanism to allow'?

Erm... yeah, the reason you can resize in Skyrim is because of the internal logic of the program that runs it.

Which was my (flippant? Covered in emojis? Not too serious?) point.

I mischievously suggested that perhaps we really have completely misunderstood the real 'internal logic' of our universe and all sorts of wondrous things may be possible in future that seem impossible today.

However, as I have inflicted on the world a very dull Physics PhD thesis, I am well aware that empirical evidence is king.
 
Erm... yeah, the reason you can resize in Skyrim is because of the internal logic of the program that runs it.

Which was my (flippant? Covered in emojis? Not too serious?) point.

I mischievously suggested that perhaps we really have completely misunderstood the real 'internal logic' of our universe and all sorts of wondrous things may be possible in future that seem impossible today.

However, as I have inflicted on the world a very dull Physics PhD thesis, I am well aware that empirical evidence is king.

Really? How do you resize yourself in Skyrim?! Is there a mod for it? My point is that to do that there's presumably some mechanism that either allows you to, or allows you adjust the code to allow you to. OK, I thought you were more asking 'if we do live in a simulation can we do apparently impossible things if we understand the programming and logic well enough'. But re our universe: Even if we've misunderstood the internal logic (and we might have IMHO) better grasping it won't let us break any big rules unless we can access a mechanism to write code, so to speak. Better understanding might lead us to new loopholes, like there're ways to get certain items in skyrim that are meant to be mutually exclusive by exploiting bugs in the game. But you can't start the game as a dragon, or replace every tree with a portal to Oblivion, or drop that bloody ice troll with one shot, not unless you can get at the code and do a heavy duty rewrite.

Sorry, I tend to be a bit literal when communicating in text... but I do really find the question interesting, meant flippantly orin earnest!
 
Really? How do you resize yourself in Skyrim?!
Well, it's pretty easy to scale every character that you look at, to make them huge. Or tiny if that's your thing. How to do it to your first person character may be technically challenging, neigh impossible, for the engine.

But then that's making you either tiny, or very large compared to everything else innit! :giggle:
 
I stand corrected. I can in fact do that in our universe, although my wife does get annoyed when I alternately crawl across the floor and stiltwalk at gatherings. :D
 

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