# Sci-fi inventions the world is better off without
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 22, 2005, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815 "2005-12-22T16:55:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/1 "2005-12-22T16:55:27Z")
I don’t mean doomsday devices, like star-exploding device the evil computer Hactar devises in the _Hitchhiker_ novels; rather, I’m looking for superficially-innocuous devices which, nevertheless, would probably leave society utterly FUBARed if they were real and easily accessible.
The number one candidate, of course, is the Star Trek holodeck.
Next?
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/2 "2005-12-22T16:59:58Z")
Devices for looking back in time. A number of stories (Karres’ **E for Effort** , Asimov’s **Fishbowl** ) have pointed out that this means the complete end of privacy, and all that goes with that.
Bester’s **The Stars My Destination** points out that teleportation means that theives can easily break into your house, and can keep moving away from the law. His **Demolished Man** shows the effects of telepathy. On the whiole, I think I’d rather not have either if the ramifications are as negative as these books suggest.
And I know I sure as heck don’t want **flying cars** – I don’t need to weorry about inexperienced and drunk drivers crashing through the roof of my house.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/3 "2005-12-22T17:00:07Z")
The time machine. People would be traveling back and changing all kinds of things that would result in completely different timelines. You wouldn’t know from one day to the next what kind of world you were living in.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/4 "2005-12-22T17:01:22Z")
The disintegrator ray. Just imagine kids breaking into the gun cabinet and eliminating all traces that somebody they were mad at had ever existed.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/5 "2005-12-22T17:10:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The time machine. People would be traveling back and changing all kinds of things that would result in completely different timelines. You wouldn’t know from one day to the next what kind of world you were living in.
Time machines don’t particularly scare me. The damage always undoes itself; time travel never accomplishes anything other than putting the travellers in danger. And the changes in history are only perceptible to the traveller, in most cases.
The time VIEWER, on the other hand, is a horrible, horrible idea, and if I discovered someone had just finished the first working model I’d have to kill 'em.
> [@ElvisL1ves](#):
>
> The disintegrator ray. Just imagine kids breaking into the gun cabinet and eliminating all traces that somebody they were mad at had ever existed.
I don’t think disintegrattor rays qualify as “superficially innocuous” though. :dubious:
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/6 "2005-12-22T17:22:54Z")
Teleporters. Niven wrote a short story a while back about flash mobs, caused by people seeing a breaking news story and teleporting across the country so they could see it first-hand.
Fusion power. Again, Niven, with the Kzinti Lesson: A fusion drive is efficient as a weapon in direct proportion to its efficiency as a drive.
Organlegging. Wow. Niven’s got a pretty creepy mind, doesn’t he?
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/7 "2005-12-22T17:29:53Z")
Flying cars. I’ve seen what you people do on roads!
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/8 "2005-12-22T17:31:03Z")
Shoot. Sorry, **Cal]**, I missed your last line.
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### Author:  [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/9 "2005-12-22T17:37:51Z")
Goin’ 'way back to the Gaslight Era: food pills. They’d be cool for disaster situations, or for convenience on those days when you’re too busy to stop for lunch, but imagine what it would be like if food pills displaced _actual food_! How awful!
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### Author:  [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/10 "2005-12-22T17:45:22Z")
Hey, wouldn’t a police car that could do police work without human control be cool?
No - Zelazny _Auto-de-Fe_ - (hope I’m remembering the plot correctly).
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/11 "2005-12-22T17:50:53Z")
> [@Papermache Prince](#):
>
> Hey, wouldn’t a police car that could do police work without human control be cool?
> No - Zelazny _Auto-de-Fe_ - (hope I’m remembering the plot correctly).
Also Robocop–the ED-209…
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/12 "2005-12-22T18:00:29Z")
Replicators, as seen in Star Trek. We are led to believe that, because of this technology, nobody has to work anymore. But think about that for a minute. What would you do with your life if you didn’t have to work anymore? You might enjoy hiking in the woods, but would you really want to spend every day doing that? You might enjoy travelling, but after a couple of years of constant travel, wouldn’t the places all start to look the same? It seems to me that life would get to be pretty boring and unsatisfying. I know that many people who retire find that they hate it, and get a part-time job at Wal-Mart or something just because they can’t stand sitting around the house all day.
Life in the Federation must be a constant stuggle to fend off boredom in any way possible.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/13 "2005-12-22T18:15:32Z")
The 1920’s-style … Sorry. Never mind. The 1980’s-style one was much better anyway.
Suspended animation. Everybody would want to put off dealing with their lives as is, and instead get frozen until a better world came along, in a few centuries or so. But nobody would be left walking around to \*create \* a better world. If the privilege were limited to only a few people, there’d be riots, leading to the destruction of the sarcophagi of the frozen few.
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/14 "2005-12-22T18:38:40Z")
The Suicide Booth, as seen on the first episode of Futurama.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/15 "2005-12-22T18:40:33Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Hey, wouldn’t a police car that could do police work without human control be cool?
> No - Zelazny Auto-de-Fe - (hope I’m remembering the plot correctly).
“Killbird” by the recently deceased Robert Sheckley.
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### Author:  [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/16 "2005-12-22T18:41:15Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> Teleporters. Niven wrote a short story a while back about flash mobs, caused by people seeing a breaking news story and teleporting across the country so they could see it first-hand.
>
> Fusion power. Again, Niven, with the Kzinti Lesson: A fusion drive is efficient as a weapon in direct proportion to its efficiency as a drive.
>
> Organlegging. Wow. Niven’s got a pretty creepy mind, doesn’t he?
What is organlegging?
I’d choose any type of cloning. Too many problems, even just for David
Brin’s **Kiln People**.
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### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/17 "2005-12-22T18:44:37Z")
> [@Love Rhombus](#):
>
> What is organlegging?
>
> I’d choose any type of cloning. Too many problems, even just for David
> Brin’s **Kiln People**.
Trading unlawfully in human organs for transplant surgery. And getting hold of the organs in the first place, usually by making sure the original owner has no further use for them. :eek:
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/18 "2005-12-22T18:44:59Z")
> [@Diceman](#):
>
> Replicators, as seen in Star Trek.
I express my confusion and disdain in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6927221#post6927221) thread.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/19 "2005-12-22T18:47:33Z")
> [@Love Rhombus](#):
>
> What is organlegging?
I think it’s stealing and selling organs for profit.
> [@](#):
>
> I’d choose any type of cloning. Too many problems, even just for David
> Brin’s **Kiln People**.
What inherent or inevitable problems do you see in cloning? What of, for instance, we learned to clone specific needed organs–a liver or kidney, say–rather thanthe entire organism? For that matter, what problem do you have with cloning animals, assuming we can get the bugs out of the process?
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### Author:  [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/20 "2005-12-22T18:56:16Z")
> [@Diceman](#):
>
> Life in the Federation must be a constant stuggle to fend off boredom in any way possible.
Hence, the holodeck.
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