# Mundane uses for sci-fi tech **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 10, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088 "2008-11-10T19:41:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/21 "2008-11-11T01:16:15Z")
A time machine to go back slightly more than 5 minutes and correct my SDMB typos. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/22 "2008-11-11T01:32:55Z")
> [@Tristan](#): > > I think Niven extrapolated the ultimate transporter usage… > > A wealthy character had a giant vat of mixed cocktails somewhere in his gigantic home. His glasses had sensors in them, and in the base was a small transporter. > > When your glass reaches a certain point of emptiness, it refills itself. I love this idea. > > My liver does not. The character in question is named Elephant ( a nickname ); he owns the patent for teleporters, which would be like owning the patent for the wheel in the real world. So, yeah, he’s quite rich. And the transporter was hidden in the base of the glass, which was crafted so the light distortion of the glass made it invisible. And the protagonist did comment that the technology had “probably seduced a lot of good men into alcoholism”. > [@Szlater](#): > > That’s silly. If you have transporter technology, then you also have replicator technology, so there’s no need to have a giant vat of anything anywhere. You just have to fit your replicator with a transporter and you can have your unending drinks without the need to bulk buy, and if you fitted a communicator into your glass you could change your drink order (and clean the glass in between drinks too). Niven’s transfer technology doesn’t work like that; it turns an object into an exotic, complex particle and transmits it whole; it doesn’t disassemble stuff Star Trek transporter style. I recall an old story, from the 50’s or 60’s I think. The main character was a Housewife of the Future, whose new black hole powered lamp broke ( mundane use number # 1 ). It was a protective metal cage with the hole hovering inside ( this was before Hawking radiation and such was thought of ). She tried fiddling with it, and the hole ate whatever she poked in the cage. She got curious enough that she bent back the wire of the cage and tried feeding ever larger objects into the hole, which it all ate with no effect. She contemplated this for a while - and went into the garbage disposal business. Mundane use # 2. I recall a Star Trek novel where a variation of the transporter that allowed interdimensional transport was used to dispose of pollution. The result was a world free of pollution, but is on the verge of ecological collapse because so many important elements and compounds have been taken right out of the world over the centuries; and a parallel world which is on the verge of death because it’s filled with pollution that appears out of nowhere; even their technology breaks down faster because pollution appears **inside** it. T-1000 polymorphic metal could be used for the creation of such things as tools and furniture and buildings that change shape and appearance on demand. Or even clothing; you wouldn’t notice any extra weight from it being metal, as long as it was a continuous unit it could support it’s own weight. I recall a scientist used a curved mirror to focus the light of a nuclear blast to light a cigarette. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/23 "2008-11-11T01:38:59Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Use the transporters for waste disposal of all sorts. No more trash bins, garbage collectors or sewers. In Star Trek, the Replicator system is used for that. When you discard something, or use the bathroom, the waste is disassembled, and the resultant undifferentiated mass added to the replicator reservoir to be recycled into new replicated goods. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/24 "2008-11-11T02:20:01Z")
Niven came up with a lot of mundane uses for advanced tech. Forcefields/antigravity provided the ultimate matress, including a configuration option for couples: Separate vs. Snuggle. And stasis boxes, with zero time inside when they’re closed, proved handy for cooking food in years-supply batches and then just opening a box whenever you wanted a hot fresh meal. The selective ability to phase through matter would make traffic jams a thing of the past. The ability to “bank” time would be invaluable. Save up all the time you waste waiting and have it available when you could use some extra time. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/25 "2008-11-11T02:32:26Z")
Holographic reprocessing of classic films…anyone want to see Karloff’s Frankenstein, in 3D IMAX? Or…_Bound_? Much easier song identification. “Computer! I heard a snippet of a song the other day that went like ‘do-do-DO-do-do-do-DOdoDooo…’ Search the entire database of every song ever written for matches; arrange results by relevance, and date.” For that matter…AI assisted searching. Even something that’s not a sentient “true” AI, like the Enterprise-D computer, would be heaven. Cyborg animals. Anything from simple veterinary care for pets (you might never have to lose a dog again, unless something happens to the brain), to actual enhancements of normal beasts (bulletproof horses; Super K-9 units; swarms of piranha linked together into a cybernetic hive mind, etc). Slight downside: some asshole outfitting stray cats with opposable thumbs. They’d be worse than racoons, or those drink-stealing green monkeys on St. Kitts. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/26 "2008-11-11T02:53:25Z")
**Der Trihs** , I remember reading that one. I seem to think it was a Bester, but I wouldn’t put any money on it. (Yeah… I had to stop saying “Elephant rich” when folks asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up… they looked at me weird.) ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/27 "2008-11-11T03:46:57Z")
> [@LiveOnAPlane](#): > > Time travel – Let’s go back a little bit and catch a lot of endangered species and use them to repopulate today. No dinosaurs, I’m thinking rhinos, tigers, even dodos and Tasmanian tigers/wolfs. Which, ironically, turns out to be the reason they became endangered in the past/present. Mini light sabers to slice and toast a loaf of bread at the same time. Shows up in the HHGTTG movie. Having world spanning computer networks that make more information than has ever existed available at your finger tips and using it to look at pictures of naked people. Oh, wait… ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/28 "2008-11-11T04:14:30Z")
A couple of redneck Jedi jokes have this idea as a basis. You might be a redneck Jedi if: You have ever used your light saber to open a bottle of Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill. You have ever had your R-2 unit use its self-defense electro-shock thingy to get the barbecue grill to light. You use your light saber as a bug zapper. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/29 "2008-11-11T05:03:30Z")
Lasers are used to check out groceries. What would Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers have said?! Got a death ray? Not a blaster, a **death** ray? One that can actually stop things from living without doing any other visible damage, like a neutron bomb? Use it to exterminate rats and termites. (From Heinlein’s _Sixth Column)_ ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/30 "2008-11-11T05:10:43Z")
> [@LiveOnAPlane](#): > > Holodeck tech–Open up your own bordello. Want to get it on with Susannah York? Or a young Merle Oberon? No problem! Although, I’m sure someone would find a way to make it illegal eventually. Dennis Miller once said something like, “When an unemployed steel worker can sit in his recliner with a beer in one hand and the clicker in the other with a perfect simulation of sex with Claudia Schiffer running, it’ll make crack cocaine look like Sanka.” Personally, I’ve always wanted some sort of blaster just to properly punctuate sentences. “You should clean up this mess.” _vaporizes the janitor’s Big Gulp_ “You should do it now.” ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/31 "2008-11-11T07:12:56Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Dr Crusher has shown the ability to erase recent memories. I see this as being very useful > > “Doc! I walked in on my parents doing it!” > > “Doc! Somebody spoiled the ending of this book I’m reading” Along the same lines, what about the neuralizers from the **Men in Black** movies? (Although there were some lines in the first movie about how such a device could be easily abused.) “About that $100 you loaned me yesterday, I’ll get it back to you real soon. Oh, and would you mind looking into the red light?” “Honey, I know this looks like you caught me sleeping with your sister but I assure you there’s a perfectly innocent explanation. Just look into the red light…” ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/32 "2008-11-11T08:21:58Z")
The Harry Potter novels are filled with mundane uses of ‘tech’ (any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic). The uses they miss are mainly sexual, but fanfic takes care of that oversight. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/33 "2008-11-11T09:46:44Z")
I have also thought there ought to be lasers on doorways and windows to zap any insects that fly or scamper in. And I’ve also wondered what ecological impact that would have. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/34 "2008-11-11T10:21:35Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I have also thought there ought to be lasers on doorways and windows to zap any insects that fly or scamper in. > > And I’ve also wondered what ecological impact that would have. Hehe.. along the same lines, a picnic point defence system, no more wasps, bees or ants spoiling your afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/35 "2008-11-11T11:02:15Z")
Incidentally, HoloBrothel has already been covered by Star Trek itself. On Deep Space Nine, Quark’s Holosuite can handle anything ranging from a simulation of the Battle of Britain to “Vulcan Love Slave” How about HoloDistance Education? Wouldn’t you love to attend the Harvard Law School HoloCampus? Instant teleportation devices: you could also use it for point-to-point transport within the ship itself, sending missiles directly from their magazines deep within the ship to their launchers, or cargo from loading points to cargo holds inside the ship (this assumes, of course, that it’s not practical to just transport directly from the warehouse into the ship). Similarly, StarGate SG1 and Atlantis have used the trick of transporting nuclear warheads directly inside of enemy ships on a couple of occasions, allowing one smallish human cruiser to take out two large enemy motherships in seconds. Long-range wireless communicators: Use them to call someone on their day off to tell them they have to go to work (It happened in Star Trek V, but since that movie doesn’t happen, it doesn’t count.) Bright flashy beam weaponry. Use it as a signal flare in the event of emergency. Just mind to aim it _away_ from the rescue plane. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/36 "2008-11-11T16:37:08Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Lasers are used to check out groceries. What would Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers have said?! > > Got a death ray? Not a blaster, a **death** ray? One that can actually stop things from living without doing any other visible damage, like a neutron bomb? Use it to exterminate rats and termites. (From Heinlein’s _Sixth Column)_ Build it to look like a tommy gun (or a buck rogers style blaster) then you can have your very own 1920’s style death ray. ---
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/37 "2008-11-11T17:30:39Z")
My favorite mundane high-tech device is the Penfield Mood Organ from Philip K. Dick’s _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_ You know how you always promise yourself you’ll go to the gym and exercise, but you just can’t motivate yourself to get off the couch and do it? Well, if you had a Penfield Mood Organ, you could just look up the code for “strong desire for physical activity” and you’d be motivated instantly! Don’t want to go to work this morning? Now you do! Of course, you’ve got to make sure your spouse isn’t dialing your emotions; Deckard dialed the code for “wife acknowledges husband’s superior wisdom in all things” once. ---
**Author:** ![Caveat\_lector\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/38 "2008-11-11T18:09:50Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I recall an old story, from the 50’s or 60’s I think. The main character was a Housewife of the Future, whose new black hole powered lamp broke ( mundane use number # 1 ). It was a protective metal cage with the hole hovering inside ( this was before Hawking radiation and such was thought of ). She tried fiddling with it, and the hole ate whatever she poked in the cage. She got curious enough that she bent back the wire of the cage and tried feeding ever larger objects into the hole, which it all ate with no effect. She contemplated this for a while - and went into the garbage disposal business. Mundane use # 2. The story is _The Nothing Spot_ by Dian Girard ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/39 "2008-11-11T18:19:08Z")
> [@runcible\_spoon](#): > > I was in the train station the other day, and the more-or-less disgusting conditions got me thinking. One of the staples of science fiction (at least in movies) is that everything is really, really clean. And then it hit me - you set up a forcefield over the entire floor - make it maybe half a millimeter higher. Then, at the end of the day, you just lay down some paper, turn off the forcefield, and dump the whole thing! Bam! Instant future-clean floors! \*\* Now, granted, you’re gonna have to make sure there’s decent friction on the forcefield\*\*, but other than that - even in a power failure, people would just fall a tiny amount, not enough to be a big deal. > > And that got me thinking - there are a lot of nifty technologies in science fiction, but often they’re just used for really flash-bang effects, not for the boring stuff. So, what sorts of really cool, useful on a day-to-day basis things would you do with some of the technology from science fiction? Any source is fair game, but please describe the tech, and what it’s used for in the original source. The part I bolded is a feature, not a bug. If you’re able to control the friction, then you’d definitely want to do so so as to avoid slips & falls. ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088/40 "2008-11-11T18:33:05Z")
On the other hand, if you can make sure there **isn’t** friction, that has a lot of potential too. You could set up a really easy maglev alternative - no need to levitate if you can just slide your train through a frictionless tube. Plus, underneath the forcefield you can lay down sand or gravel or something, so in case of a power failure, the train automatically stops. It’d make one hell of a nonstick pan, too, if you could keep the generator from frying. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-uses-for-sci-fi-tech/472088.md?page=3)