# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/61 "2011-02-21T10:58:06Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > For example, in “Where Were You Last Pluterday” by Paul van Herck, a regular schlub discovers that rich people have something poor people do not even know about: Pluterday, an extra day of the week they have all to themselves. No lines at the ski lifts, tables in all the best restaurants to be had by walking in, deserted beaches where crowds normally fill the sands, etc. etc. I haven’t read the story but I’d love to know whether it addresses the question “If only rich people know of this day, who’s waiting tables and running the ski lifts?” ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/62 "2011-02-21T11:09:08Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > 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. Reminds me of [Jack-Jack](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxd7W7q-THw) of The Incredibles. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/63 "2011-02-21T15:43:59Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Furniture that sheds on itself? I think not! 😃 Imagine the fun of watching the dog try to jump on itself. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/64 "2011-02-21T17:54:42Z")
David Brins _Kiln People_ has a lot of clever ideas extending from the central technology: artificial temporary copies that people can make of themselves that allow them to engage in many different activities at once. Some of the interesting applications are things like: A porn star can make a copy of herself to be a hooker for clients. No worries about her personal safety and the john gets to screw porn queen of his dreams. Other uses include being able to send a copy out shopping or do other chores while you lounge, the absolute best janitor in the world making a hundred copies of himself to service many buildings every night, gladitorial matches between copies, etc… ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/65 "2011-02-21T18:00:03Z")
I think that the most important idea in Kiln People is the idea of one consciousness in several bodies. However, I must admit that I’d like the ability to have a clone do all the studying for me, and then transfer the memories into my rig (original) brain. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/66 "2011-02-21T18:45:50Z")
My ditto would yell at me for making it do all the work. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/67 "2011-02-21T19:04:49Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > So, what was the Bloater Drive? What made it a Nifty Idea? I don’t remember seeing any explanation of it. I don’t think it’s been explained yet. In the bloater drive, everything in the spaceship, along with the sip itself, exp[ands to enormous size and low density, becoming many times larger than the solar system, or the distances between them. Then you shrink back down to your original size, but you do so in a different place than where you started out. Harrison had his tongue firmly in cheek in coming up with that, as with everything else in the book. ---
**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 21, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/68 "2011-02-21T20:20:58Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I don’t think it’s been explained yet. In the bloater drive, everything in the spaceship, along with the sip itself, exp[ands to enormous size and low density, becoming many times larger than the solar system, or the distances between them. Then you shrink back down to your original size, but you do so in a different place than where you started out. > Harrison had his tongue firmly in cheek in coming up with that, as with everything else in the book. Yes, it was explained. I wrote a story a few years ago that I never was able to sell … it was called “Fatter than Light” and played with relativity in a similar way … as you approached the speed of light, you and everything on the ship got fatter and fatter. Also, once you exceeded the speed of light, if you moved at all, you were moving faster than light. So one of the characters in the story voyuerized another crew member by going to the shower well after they finished showering, and watching them shower as the light finally caught up to them. I actually had some humorless troll of an assistant editor write me to tell me that relativity didn’t work like that. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/69 "2011-02-22T02:00:41Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > My ditto would yell at me for making it do all the work. One of the nice things about “Kiln People” is that it shows a realistically wide range of response to the availability of dittos, including ones that run off to play instead of staying home to vacuum and work on the taxes. ---
**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 22, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/70 "2011-02-22T04:47:27Z")
Have always wondered where I read this, but in a SF short story from the 60s, there was an alien race that came to earth. The human protagonist has an alien ask him how we can live without knowing where each other are. The aliens have a sense that keeps track of everyone else. I must spend a lot of my time wondering where my wife/friends/coworkers are, because I think of this “sense” a lot. It’d be handy. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/71 "2011-02-22T05:07:22Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Have always wondered where I read this, but in a SF short story from the 60s, there was an alien race that came to earth. The human protagonist has an alien ask him how we can live without knowing where each other are. The aliens have a sense that keeps track of everyone else. > > I must spend a lot of my time wondering where my wife/friends/coworkers are, because I think of this “sense” a lot. It’d be handy. One of Asimov’s stories had something like that in it. Seems like those aliens did not get cancer, either, and that we did was some kind of problem. Hopes this helps others pin it down . . . ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/72 "2011-02-22T05:58:32Z")
I don’t recall the name of the Asimov story, but this is the one where humanity meets several alien races - of which humans are unusual, for being the only intelligent carnivores/omnivores, the only ones that fight wars, have missing persons, and get cancer. It turns out that humans get cancer and have caused a new disease (maybe cancer?) to appear on alien worlds, and this is all because humans are host to some sort of malevolent parasites which we have accidentally introduced to the rest of the galaxy. ---
**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 22, 2011, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/73 "2011-02-22T06:12:22Z")
I recall a short story where a scientist discovered that there was an entirely unknown family or animal life, one which had remained undetected by evolving perfect transparency; in other words, it was invisible. He became rather creeped out when it occurred to him how implausible it was that no scientist had previously discovered this and publicized it…unless of course they were _prevented_ from doing so. By, say, some species of this unknown class of animals that was intelligent, kept tabs on scientists who might stumble upon them, arranged for “accidents” to happen to scientists who did…and was probably right there in the room with him, reading his notes over his shoulder as he wrote them… ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Aruns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Lars\_Aruns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lars_Aruns)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/74 "2011-02-22T09:36:30Z")
> [@wevets](#): > > I don’t recall the name of the Asimov story, but this is the one where humanity meets several alien races - of which humans are unusual, for being the only intelligent carnivores/omnivores, the only ones that fight wars, have missing persons, and get cancer. > > It turns out that humans get cancer and have caused a new disease (maybe cancer?) to appear on alien worlds, and this is all because humans are host to some sort of malevolent parasites which we have accidentally introduced to the rest of the galaxy. I remember that story, it’s _Hostess_. It then turns out that humans and their unknown parasites might actually be in a symbiotic relationship, so it might not be possible to exterminate the parasites without exterminating humans. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/75 "2011-02-23T01:34:35Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I recall a short story where a scientist discovered that there was an entirely unknown family or animal life, one which had remained undetected by evolving perfect transparency; in other words, it was invisible. He became rather creeped out when it occurred to him how implausible it was that no scientist had previously discovered this and publicized it…unless of course they were _prevented_ from doing so. By, say, some species of this unknown class of animals that was intelligent, kept tabs on scientists who might stumble upon them, arranged for “accidents” to happen to scientists who did…and was probably right there in the room with him, reading his notes over his shoulder as he wrote them… I read that one within the last year or two; I wish I could remember who wrote it. ---
**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 23, 2011, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/76 "2011-02-23T03:32:41Z")
I think I remember that “Hostess” story… Did it also have the alien mentioning how much he liked Earthly ketchup? ---
**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 23, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/77 "2011-02-23T03:49:29Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I recall a short story where a scientist discovered that there was an entirely unknown family or animal life, one which had remained undetected by evolving perfect transparency; in other words, it was invisible. He became rather creeped out when it occurred to him how implausible it was that no scientist had previously discovered this and publicized it…unless of course they were _prevented_ from doing so. By, say, some species of this unknown class of animals that was intelligent, kept tabs on scientists who might stumble upon them, arranged for “accidents” to happen to scientists who did…and was probably right there in the room with him, reading his notes over his shoulder as he wrote them… Reminds me of the Vitons from Sinister Barrier … invisible kinda floating psychic vampires that fed on psychic energy aroused by strong emotions. Damn that was a fine read! Scary as hell, the first time I read it. You could only see them with special glasses developed by the protagonist. “They Live” clearly borrowed THAT idea. (Not saying this was the story, “Sinister Barrier” was a full fledged novel and I’m not sure the Vitons were all that smart. ---
**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 23, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/78 "2011-02-23T04:01:03Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Reminds me of the Vitons from Sinister Barrier … invisible kinda floating psychic vampires that fed on psychic energy aroused by strong emotions. Damn that was a fine read! Scary as hell, the first time I read it. You could only see them with special glasses developed by the protagonist. “They Live” clearly borrowed THAT idea. (Not saying this was the story, “Sinister Barrier” was a full fledged novel and I’m not sure the Vitons were all that smart. Oh and instead of being invaders or superantural, like the invisible beings Der Trihs describes, they were a natural species of Earth, just unknown because invisible. Which is why it reminded me of Der Trihs’ beings. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/79 "2011-02-23T05:55:17Z")
Nobody’s mentioned the Orgasmatron yet. ---
**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 23, 2011, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797/80 "2011-02-23T07:43:52Z")
In a story called _Vacuum States_ (I think), there was an interesting idea. The scientists in the story had tried the same particle accelerator experiment again and again, but no matter how careful they were or how unlikely it was, something would always go wrong, preventing them from carrying through. One of them finally figured out that what they had actually done was provide evidence of two interesting scientific ideas; that we live in a [false vacuum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum), and that the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is true. Because he reasoned what was happening is that every time the experiment was performed successfully, it destabilized the false vacuum, producing a sphere of true vacuum that would expand at lightspeed, consuming the Earth and eventually the universe. In other words, if the experiment works, everyone dies - so the experiment _can’t_ work from our perspective, because only universes where it doesn’t work still contain anyone alive to consider the matter. And this also means that a near infinity of possible universes perished every time they tried the experiment, since the chance of it _not_ working were so low. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-nifty-ideas-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy/571797.md?page=5)