# Sci-fi/action movie tech that is worse than our current tech--and STUPID! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 18, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293 "2017-06-18T15:29:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/101 "2017-06-21T02:10:26Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > I’m not sure there is any actually reason for high tech in Harry Potter? > Muggles have the standard muggle tech for 1992 Dudley has a playstation. > > What special tech might you envision? > Magic which is some innate natural power does not exactly exude future tech. > And since that community remains pretty cloistered, and has no real need for a lot of technological wonders, it is not terribly odd that they don’t have a lot of dealings with them. > And keeping somewhat isolated as they are, they would be more inclined to hold on to tradition and such, look at the Amish and the like for a real life example. > > Why invent a better car for example, when you’ve no real use of a car at all. > Great thing about magic is it requires no high tech, and actually tends to work better with out it. It’s not so much a question of what tech are they choosing not to use… it’s that Mr. Weasley, an extremely well-educated graduate of Hogwarts, working for the Ministry as a researcher into the nature of muggle artifacts, who was also, by the way, born and raised in 20th-century England, didn’t know what a fucking rubber duck was for. ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/102 "2017-06-21T02:51:53Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Starship Troopers the movie. Basically, those were the stupidest and worst tactics fighting anything that wasn’t a troop of girl scouts, let alone bug like aliens that are super hard to kill and have spaceship tech. You don’t send unarmored and unsupported infantry into something like that and expect them to live. It was just a bad movie and really, really stupid tech that’s worse than our tech today. To be fair, it is a massive parody of Heinlein’s 1950s (?) Cold War-vibe novel. In the novel, infantry are supported by orbiting spaceships. I personally both love (for the sheer intentional piss-take dickery - apologies for the lapse into the Australian vernacular) and hate (because I loved the novel as a kid) that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/103 "2017-06-21T03:08:36Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > The MA5B combat rifle in Halo is an assault rifle that is completely inaccurate and very low powered despite the fact it fires 7.62x51mm bullets, and despite having a computerized ammo counter and compass built into the weapon HUD it also still uses basic iron sights. It loses all accuracy at about 40 meters, and for comparison the basic pistol will both do more damage per shot and also be far far more accurate. This in a gun that was created 500 years from now and yet rifles from the 1950’s using the exact same rounds are much more accurate to a much greater range. My favorite is from _Gears of War_. Set centuries in the future, after humanity has started colonizing other planets, their go-to infantry weapon for killing people at long range… is a single-shot, bolt-action rifle. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/104 "2017-06-21T03:20:53Z")
In the original _Star Trek_ role-playing game, the phaser rifle had a shorter range than a bow & arrow. And in _TNG,_ they didn’t have _sights._ ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/105 "2017-06-21T03:24:41Z")
> [@TYphoonSignal8](#): > > To be fair, it is a massive parody of Heinlein’s 1950s (?) Cold War-vibe novel. In the novel, infantry are supported by orbiting spaceships. > > I personally both love (for the sheer intentional piss-take dickery - apologies for the lapse into the Australian vernacular) and hate (because I loved the novel as a kid) that movie. That’s not entirely accurate. It’s not meant to be a parody of the book - Paul Verhoeven was already working on a movie (_Assault on Outpost 13_, IIRC) that was meant to be a parody of sci-fi war movies in general. The studio had previously optioned the rights to Heinlein’s novel, and were going to lose them if they didn’t do something with them, so they made Verhoeven rewrite his idea with some of the names and a loose outline of the plot from the book. Verhoeven, reportedly, had never heard of Robert Heinlein before that, and read less than half the book before he started filming his movie. ---
**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:** [June 21, 2017, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/106 "2017-06-21T05:08:55Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > In the original _Star Trek_ role-playing game, the phaser rifle had a shorter range than a bow & arrow. And in _TNG,_ they didn’t have _sights._ Generally, Starfleet/Federation infantry equipment—at least in the DS9 era, which is when we saw the most outright fighting and warfare—sucks pretty badly. Along with tactics. You can explain this in a couple of ways, I think. An “in-universe” way (the UFP, generally both peaceful and married to the strength and mythos of their capital ships being the backbone of their defense, is caught woefully off-guard on a doctrinal and cultural level when it comes to other forms of combat), and the “offscreen” way…the creative team deciding to write gritty war stories in a fashion that, perhaps, isn’t what the established setting was designed to support, aesthetically or logically. That last bit is probably a bit more caustic than is deserved. I think maybe I’m just still bitter about the lack of razor wire at AR-558. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/107 "2017-06-21T05:23:40Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > In the original _Star Trek_ role-playing game, the phaser rifle had a shorter range than a bow & arrow. And in _TNG,_ they didn’t have _sights._ Hand-held phasers seem to be all-around crummy weapons. It seems like the majority of enemies in the shows can shrug off phaser fire. ---
**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:** [June 21, 2017, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/108 "2017-06-21T11:47:45Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Starship Troopers the movie. Basically, those were the stupidest and worst tactics fighting anything that wasn’t a troop of girl scouts, let alone bug like aliens that are super hard to kill and have spaceship tech. You don’t send unarmored and unsupported infantry into something like that and expect them to live. It was just a bad movie and really, really stupid tech that’s worse than our tech today. I’ve criticized the film many times on this Board, and I fully agree. My favorite stupidity – if it even makes sense to have such a thing – is the way the soldiers would surround a Bug and then all fire at it in a circle. I’m sure nothing bad can happen to soldiers getting around something in a circle and firing at it. ---
**Author:** ![Marci\_Al](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Marci\_Al](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marci_Al)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/109 "2017-06-21T23:36:55Z")
Who said Harry Potter’s magic world doesn’t have technology? Technology could be just in one’s mind, in the way you do or make things. It doesn’t have as a pre-requisite complicated hardware that operate following muggles’ natural laws. How come not everyone can make deathly hallows, or even a goblet of fire? How come goblins can monopolize banking and fine crafts? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/110 "2017-06-22T00:56:28Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > Hand-held phasers seem to be all-around crummy weapons. It seems like the majority of enemies in the shows can shrug off phaser fire. Well, they are defensive weapons… which reminds me of something I loved about the guns in Babylon 5. NOT stun guns. You get shot with one of those suckers, you were _dead._ ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/111 "2017-06-22T01:10:32Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Nope, it’s impossible. > > Computers don’t have midichlorians. > > _…quickly runs away_ jedibot.py import midiclorians; UseTheForce = TRUE; done! ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/112 "2017-06-22T01:31:04Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > It’s not so much a question of what tech are they choosing not to use… it’s that Mr. Weasley, an extremely well-educated graduate of Hogwarts, working for the Ministry as a researcher into the nature of muggle artifacts, who was also, by the way, born and raised in 20th-century England, didn’t know what a fucking rubber duck was for. There are real people who are very smart, born and raised in 21st century where ever that are the same, i find nothing abnormal there. ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/113 "2017-06-22T01:31:33Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That’s not entirely accurate. It’s not meant to be a parody of the book - Paul Verhoeven was already working on a movie (_Assault on Outpost 13_, IIRC) that was meant to be a parody of sci-fi war movies in general. The studio had previously optioned the rights to Heinlein’s novel, and were going to lose them if they didn’t do something with them, so they made Verhoeven rewrite his idea with some of the names and a loose outline of the plot from the book. Verhoeven, reportedly, had never heard of Robert Heinlein before that, and read less than half the book before he started filming his movie. Aha. Thanks for this recalibration of my understanding. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/114 "2017-06-22T21:10:11Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Well, they are defensive weapons… which reminds me of something I loved about the guns in Babylon 5. NOT stun guns. You get shot with one of those suckers, you were _dead._ IIRC, the PPG was designed to put holes in people but not station hulls and bulkheads. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/115 "2017-06-22T21:26:24Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That’s not entirely accurate. It’s not meant to be a parody of the book - Paul Verhoeven was already working on a movie (_Assault on Outpost 13_, IIRC) that was meant to be a parody of sci-fi war movies in general. The studio had previously optioned the rights to Heinlein’s novel, and were going to lose them if they didn’t do something with them, so they made Verhoeven rewrite his idea with some of the names and a loose outline of the plot from the book. Verhoeven, reportedly, had never heard of Robert Heinlein before that, and read less than half the book before he started filming his movie. I find it interesting how the movie still manages to be a rebuttal to the book. The movie heavily implies that humans are the aggressors in the conflict (I believe the book is silent on this matter). In order to keep military service necessary for citizenship, they need to keep the military relevant. They also want to keep it difficult and/or dangerous to earn citizenship. They use bad tactics _by design_. Those who make it through the meat grinder alive appear braver, more heroic, and more exceptional than they would if the war had had minimal casualties (even if their survival is mostly a matter of luck). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/116 "2017-06-22T22:44:58Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > My favorite is from _Gears of War_. Set centuries in the future, after humanity has started colonizing other planets, their go-to infantry weapon for killing people at long range… is a single-shot, bolt-action rifle. If you’re talking video games, _Homefront: the Revolution_ deserves a mention. In this alternate-history shooter, North Korea becomes a technological powerhouse. They become the main supplier of high tech infantry weapons to the US and then take over the US by basically turning all of our rifles off and walking on in. In the game itself, the excuse for why you can’t just pick up some dead N. Korean occupier’s rifle is because they’re biometrically locked. But the fact that N. Korea could turn them all off presumably means the biometric data isn’t stored in the weapon itself like “This is Joe’s rifle” but rather there has to be some main server that the rifles have to constantly communicate with to say “Yeah, this is Joe’s finger on the trigger”. Imagine having all your infantry weapons be dependent on a solid wireless internet connection. Even if it was stored locally in the weapon, what happens if you need to pick up your buddy’s gun? Plus, it doesn’t even really matter anyway because everyone in the resistance just, you know, builds their own guns. I mean, if the AK47 came out of a need for cheap mass-produced guns to become the world’s most common rifle, then what made the Koreans think this would work? Heck, you can even use the ammo out of their guns, just not the guns themselves. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/117 "2017-06-22T23:29:34Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Was it Cardassian or Jem’Hadar? Cardassians being a 1984 society would have cams everywhere. Jem’hadar (since they don’t even have view screens for whatever reason) would seem like the kind of society that wouldn’t have cameras. Again dont ask me why. Maybe Jem’hadar see monitors like an old camera saw TVs. > > Regardless, I would assume Damar had help or edited the tapes. It was an episode from the last season of _DS9_ when Cardassia and the Dominion were allied. I believe The Dominion were in control fo Cardassia at that time. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/118 "2017-06-23T08:53:58Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > There are real people who are very smart, born and raised in 21st century where ever that are the same, i find nothing abnormal there. My New Newphew, upon encountering five rubber duckies for the first time at the advanced age of 2 years and 5 months, knew perfectly well what is it they were for. I’m now known to my family as “Aunt Nava Duckies”, because he took to exclaiming “duckies!” every time he heard my name. Anyone who needs an explanation of what rubber duckies are for has serious cognitive issues. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/119 "2017-06-23T11:47:13Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > I find it interesting how the movie still manages to be a rebuttal to the book. Just not a good one. Or a coherent one. Or an intelligent one. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293/120 "2017-06-23T12:06:12Z")
Sorry, but ST is one of my favorite Good Bad Movies. Me, I just marveled at the bugs ability to shoot a rock across 40,000 light years or so with such precision and timing… literally _astronomical_ precision and timing… that they were able to target a specific spot on a rotating globe that itself is circling a star. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-action-movie-tech-that-is-worse-than-our-current-tech-and-stupid/789293.md?page=7)