# Little Known Nifty Ideas From Science Fiction and Fantasy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 18, 2011, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797 "2011-02-18T08:55:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![fighting\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ac8455/32.png) [@fighting\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fighting_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/41 "2011-02-19T12:16:17Z")
Creeepy!! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/42 "2011-02-19T20:05:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So who staffs the restaurants that the rich eat at on Pluterday? Is that ever addressed in the story? I’m not sure, to tell the truth. it’s been a long time since I read the book, just that central idea stuck with me. > [@](#): > > Me, I’m going to nominate “Time Considered as a Helix of Semiprecious Stones”. The way holographic memory storage is alleged to work is just silly, and the depiction of underworld passwords is absurd, but that’s all redeemed by the Singers. Apparently Singers are just something that spontaneously emerge whenever population density gets too high: Occasionally (there’s only about a dozen in the whole world), someone will just start singing, usually for no apparent reason, but in a way that just resonates perfectly with those around them. There’s no official recognition that makes someone a Singer; it’s just something that everyone recognizes and agrees on. Nobody would ever even think of recording a Singer, since the song would lose all its meaning outside of its immediate context, and Singers never sing on demand, just when the time is right (something that only the Singer can recognize). All the best high-end parties are judged by the number of Singers attending, just in case they should happen to start Singing. Well, the Singers are exactly the sort of nifty idea I was thinking about. A writer takes a twist on an idea and creates something surprising that has a logic all its own, based on the central theme. So … win! A vaguely group mind kind of thing with the Singers manifesting some sort of zeitgeist through their singing that is instinctively recognized by others who share the zeitgeist. Has a kind of authentic feel of its own. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/43 "2011-02-19T20:08:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > That smiley underneath might be absolving this, but Ray Harryhausen is the animator. > Harry Harrison, in _Bill the Galactic Hero_, is the one who came up with the Bloater Drive. So, what was the Bloater Drive? What made it a Nifty Idea? I don’t remember seeing any explanation of it. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/44 "2011-02-19T20:10:16Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I always liked chairdogs and beddogs from **Frank Herbert** ’s Dune and a few of his other novels. I always try and lay on my dog, but he of course hates being squished, and a warm cozy animal dedicated to the task seems neat. Furniture that sheds on itself? I think not! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/45 "2011-02-19T20:15:27Z")
Another one I thought of was an aspect of Larry Niven’s kzinti who show up in several of his novels. The kzin themselves, large aggressive catlike alients, are a Big Idea I think, I’ve noticed a lot of copies of them in SF. But the nifty touch is that among the kzinti, those who serve as ambassadors to other intelligent races are not important, respected kzin, but low status, bedraggled, dare I say, mangy individuals. Their title among the kzinti explains it all: “Speaker to Animals.” The kzinti regard all other races as lesser beings (even humans who have kicked their asses thoroughly in several wars … especially humans, actually). But to the kzinti the low status of aliens is attached to those who deal with them, hence, “Speaker to Animals.” Nifty touch! ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/46 "2011-02-19T21:01:52Z")
When I was like 12 or something, I used to get my hands on old copies of that magazine by Isaac Asimov. In those magazines (Sci-Fi and Fantasy? Something like that) he would write articles about his conjectures about various sci-fi topics. The one that blew me away was his idea of hyperspace. For us, it takes a lot of energy to get to light speed. The closer we get, the more energy we use. However, if we could ever achieve it, we would enter another dimension where the laws of physics were reversed. In this other dimension, it takes a lot of energy to slow down to light speed, and traveling long distances takes less energy. Therefore, with a powerful enough energy source, we could enter hyperspace, speed to our destination, and re-emerge a very far distance from where we started. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/47 "2011-02-19T23:20:35Z")
In _Redshift Rendezvous_, they have a cool FTL drive. The spherical ship exists in several layers of hyperspace which have a much lower speed of light than normal space, but at the same time hyperspace is much “smaller” than normal space; a meter traveled _there_ is a great distance traveled _here_. So they travel faster than light between stars by traveling extremely slowly in hyperspace. As a bonus, relativistic effects are easily noticeable onboard the ship, increasing as you go farther inside it (and deeper into hyperspace). So, for example, far enough towards the center of the ship throwing a punch will cause your fist to flatten as it approaches lightspeed, and if you run no one can see you coming because you arrive just behind the light of your image. Plus of course there’s all sorts of visual effects like redshift and blueshift. Timoty Zahn’s _Cascade Point_ had an interesting FTL drive that involved travel into “cascade points” where you would see lines of of images of yourself extending out into the distance in different directions. Each slightly different, the differences increasing the farther they get from you - they are actually images of you as you are in alternate universes. So you can see other versions of yourself where you made different choices - or gaps in the array of images where you died. > [@Simplicio](#): > > I read a short story a long time ago, I think it was by Stephen King. But anyways, scientists come up with a way to genetically engineer cats so that they stay adorable kittens for their entire lifetimes. People buy them for the cuteness factor. > > But it turns out that cats learn much faster when they’re kittens, so that they can learn skills like hunting and such when they’re young and then use those skills when they mature. For the eternal-kittens, though, they never stop learning at an accelerated rate. So as the story goes on, the kitten in question becomes more and more intelligent, eventually setting up traps for the dog and his owners. I recall that one; specifically, the scene where the protagonist found that the cats were “playing with mice” like normal cats, except that they’d built a miniature set of medieval-style torture equipment to do so. > [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Zelazny has about twenty awesome ideas in _Creatures of Light and Darkness_; maybe my favorite is the description of duels between time-travelers: first there are the two facing off against each other, then they flicker and it’s a fight between two sets of twins; then they flicker again, and again, and it’s 19 versions of Set vs. 21 of the Iron General; then again and again with the numbers increasing geometrically. _\_ STEEL General! But yeah, that’s a great scene. And in the meantime, the “horse” Bronze is striking the ground with its hooves, each blow doubling in strength…until the blows are laying waste to the planet. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/48 "2011-02-20T05:55:59Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > “Slow glass” was featured in stories by SF writer Bob Shaw… always seemed neat to me and I think about it from time to time. Everyone should read his short story _ **Light of Other Days** _. Beautiful story, and the slow glass makes it work. I hosted a short story party back in the 70s, where friends would sip wine and take turns reading a favorite story in front of the fire. While some people felt they had to read a literary work, I usually read a quirky story. This was the favorite (esp. with non-Sci Fi fans) from that winter. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/49 "2011-02-20T06:13:12Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > (Unlike the currently-considerred possibility of radio communication, as in another thread. Radio communicatiojn might be reasonable for life in some very specific situations, but seems improbable in a world like ours.) Sorry. I haven’t read the whole thread yet-- so pardon the repeat (if this one). I thought we \*did \*communicate by radio communication. We encode signals in our brains, then with our voice box generate modulated vibrations–which are signals on the EM spectrum–those signals travel through the air, and then are picked up by any properly tuned receivers (ears) that are in range of the signal. And then it’s decoded in a human brain. Isn’t that radio communication? (I admit I don’t know if ‘radio’ only refers to a certain band of frequencies on the EM spectrum–so I could be totally off.) ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/50 "2011-02-20T07:47:02Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Sorry. I haven’t read the whole thread yet-- so pardon the repeat (if this one). > > I thought we \*did \*communicate by radio communication. We encode signals in our brains, then with our voice box generate modulated vibrations–which are signals on the EM spectrum–those signals travel through the air, and then are picked up by any properly tuned receivers (ears) that are in range of the signal. And then it’s decoded in a human brain. > > Isn’t that radio communication? (I admit I don’t know if ‘radio’ only refers to a certain band of frequencies on the EM spectrum–so I could be totally off.) No, sound is not a signal on the EM spectrum, it is a completely distinct phenomenon. Sound is an example of a [Mechanical wave](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_wave). Though EM phenomena are also described as waves, that doesn’t mean that they’re the same thing as mechanical waves either - you could think of sound as being waves of matter, specifically air, while radio or other EM signals are waves of energy. Radio waves can move through the air, but they’re not waves of air as they can also be broadcast where there is no air. Does that make sense? Of course, we do have organs that can send and receive EM signals. The receiving organs are very sophisticated, known as eyes, while the sending organs such as the skin are relatively much cruder. They’re not as high-bandwidth a method of communication between people as sound is, but some people think very highly of this ‘body language’ stuff. But the eyes do work on a very different EM frequency from radio, which is a vague term referring to reasonably long-wavelength signals. Does that clear anything up? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/51 "2011-02-20T14:08:20Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Wow. I’m amazed that anyone knows that novel. I happened to pick it up cheap a few months ago and was intrigued by the idea, but I had never heard of it. My eyes bugged out when I saw it too. I read it in elementary school, and other than the central premise I don’t remember a thing about it. I think it’s a sort of romance? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/52 "2011-02-20T15:16:56Z")
> [@Tahssa](#): > > Me four. Me five, please. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/53 "2011-02-20T17:11:13Z")
Incidentally, about that “smell-vision” idea, there’s a satellite called [IBEX](http://ibex.swri.edu/) that uses basically that principle to map out the composition and magnetic fields at the edge of the Solar System. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/54 "2011-02-20T20:55:27Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Me five, please. The spoiler was posted back on page 1. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/55 "2011-02-20T21:50:04Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > The spoiler was posted back on page 1. We’ve had the ability to set the default page length to 200 posts for about five years. Why are people still stuck at 50? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/56 "2011-02-20T22:09:06Z")
> [@](#): > > We’ve had the ability to set the default page length to 200 posts for about five years. Why are people still stuck at 50? Because some folks prefer it that way? I’d rather not look through hundreds of posts to try to figure out where I left off in a thread. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/57 "2011-02-20T22:25:49Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > So, what was the Bloater Drive? What made it a Nifty Idea? I don’t remember seeing any explanation of it. As I recall, the Bloater Drive made the spaceship and it’s contents and occupants enormously larger. Once the ship was how ever many light years across it needed to be to encompass the destination planet, it shrunk again, only this time it shrunk down to the spot the crew wanted to land on the destination planet. Neat idea if someone could get it to work. (no offense to the Dune fans, but I think this is more plausible than Spice) 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/58 "2011-02-21T01:43:57Z")
In Larry Niven’s _World out of Time_, the hero encounters some rather sophisticated teleportation technology. It has the obvious applications for transportation, of course. It has less-obvious applications for medicine. (Removing poisons from the inside of your body’s cells.) And on a completely mundane level, it provides for a waterless toilet, with a self-cleaning backside-wiper. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/59 "2011-02-21T05:16:33Z")
I’ve always liked the concept of baby-magic from Robin McKinley’s Spindle’s End. Baby-magic is the wild, uncontrollable magic that very small children (I believe under the age of five) might have if they’re going to be powerful when they’re older. So, since most people have no idea what to do when their toddler-to-preschooler starts doing magic, they send the child off to a witch who can help them learn how to control themselves. Despite there being a lot of stories about people who have had magic since birth, it’s the first story I’ve read that actually touches on the difficulties that would exist if tiny children could do magic. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/60 "2011-02-21T10:19:07Z")
I recall a short sci-fi story named _The Forest of Time_. In it, it turns out that alternate universes are not only real, not only is it possible to travel to them. but that everyone and everything _does_ drift between alternate universes, constantly. Paradoxes, contradictions are not allowed, so you never actually _see_ any provable differences; but that limit only goes as far as the precision of whatever is making the observation. So if you film or photograph something you won’t notice any changes or contradictions no matter how closely you examine the picture; but human perception and memory isn’t nearly that precise. Can’t find your car keys? Maybe you forgot where they were; or maybe you or they or both are no longer in the same universe anymore, and they are where an alternate version of you left them. Misremembered what your wife asked you to buy at the store? Maybe you didn’t remember right, or maybe that isn’t exactly the same woman you kissed goodbye this morning. And maybe your high school buddy whom you’ve just met again at the reunion really did have green eyes like you remember and not blue ones like the guy in front of you… > [@elfkin477](#): > > They send the child off to a witch who can help them learn how to control themselves. Despite there being a lot of stories about people who have had magic since birth, it’s the first story I’ve read that actually touches on the difficulties that would exist if tiny children could do magic. There’s [It’s a Good Life](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Good_Life). Which could be considered an example of why you _really, really_ want to have those people who can teach them to control themselves… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797.md?page=4)