# Sci-fi inventions the world is better off without **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/21 "2005-12-22T19:02:30Z")
Robots/androids to do all the nonintellectual work, for the same reasons **Diceman** mentioned regarding replicators. The boredom for many people with nothing to do would be stifling. Besides, they’d have to have some sort of rudimentary intelligence, and what if they somehow developed self-awareness and a sense of enslavement? Nobody needs another Cylon War. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/22 "2005-12-22T19:02:56Z")
I realize these already exist to a certain extent, but I hope they never become the norm: the videophone. The last thing I want is to have to get dressed to answer the telephone, and I like the option of telling the caller that I’m really busy, just walking out the door, have something on the stove, etc. if I’m done talking. Videophones would also make the “tell im I’m not here” game more difficult if you’re visible in the background. Maybe video would be a nice option, like a webcam, but I never want it to be automatic. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/23 "2005-12-22T19:09:42Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > 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. There are far, FAR, more frightening possibilities for replicators than boredom. Replicator technology is based off of matter-energy conversion. In this case converting energy into matter based off of patterns programmed into the replicator. Since matter is essentially structured energy all you have to know is the structure of the energy which makes up a particular item of matter and have a way to manipulate energy into that structure. In transporter technology for Star Trek they say this is a “pattern” held in a “pattern buffer”. Replicators, which typically produce products far less complex than fully functional human beings, have stored “patterns” for a variety of items. In general science fiction writers, in particular writers of Star Trek, have avoided the implications of energy to matter conversion and matter to energy conversion. Essentially you could take a Kilo of dirt and transform it into a Kilo of gold. There would be some loss because the conversion is probably not perfect, but if I can trade my Kilo of dirt in for .998 Kilo of gold I’d still do it. Of course replicators are capable of doing more than basic conversions like this. We’ve seen them produce complex machines like spare parts or med kits. They are capable of replicating organic matter, and in the case of transporters, living organic matter. The only requirements are a pattern and energy. If you stored someone’s “pattern” and pumped in energy from the warp core you could use the energy to replicate people. This was done in Star Trek to create Thomas Riker, an alternate version of William Riker. Now imagine the implications in the real world. I once spoke with a history professor who said he believed Einstein was not far from figuring out how to convert matter to energy and vice versa. We talked about the implications if Hitler, or some other aggressive individual, had this technology. Instead of Jews being killed and buried they would be converted into energy and the energy used to power a replicator to make bombs, tanks, fuel, ammunition, or even other soldiers. Anyone with this technology on their side would have a devestating advantage. The first thing you could do is replicate parts for more replicators. Like the “Mr. Fusion” in “Back to the Future” you could use pretty much any everyday junk as fuel. The possibilities are even more baffling if you use replicators/transporters and manipulate the patterns directly. Diseases could be cured by scanning a pattern for all the instances of an HIV virus and when you re-construct the individual, just don’t re-construct those bits of matter. Convert those molecules into saline water or something harmless. 0.00000001 kilos of virus become 0.00000001 kilos of saline water in your veins instead. Voila! Magic cure. Nose jobs? Boob jobs? Pattern hacking to create entirely new things? All possible with matter-energy-matter conversion, which is exactly what transporter technology is. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/24 "2005-12-22T19:10:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Devices for looking back in time. A number of stories (Karres’ **E for Effort** , Asimov’s **Fishbowl** )… Nitpick: Actually the Asimov story is “The Dead Past”. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/25 "2005-12-22T19:30:53Z")
> [@](#): > > There are far, FAR, more frightening possibilities for replicators than boredom. See George O. Smith’s book **Venus Equilateral** , where they invent first teleportation, then replicators. It transforms society. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/26 "2005-12-22T20:34:02Z")
The most dangerous of all: Immortality. Social stagnation. Famine. Breakdown of family structures as unlimited numbers of children are born, become Immortal, and are forgotten by their kindred, lost in the sheer size of the family. Violence from overcrowding becoming the norm. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/27 "2005-12-22T20:54:25Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > In general science fiction writers, in particular writers of Star Trek, have avoided the implications of energy to matter conversion and matter to energy conversion. Essentially you could take a Kilo of dirt and transform it into a Kilo of gold. There would be some loss because the conversion is probably not perfect, but if I can trade my Kilo of dirt in for .998 Kilo of gold I’d still do it. Um…no you wouldn’t. Because, you see, under the circumstances you describe, gold is no longer valuable as a medium of exchange. And Star Trek writers haven’t ignored this aspect, since in the time of TNG, gold, silver, and jewels were no longer used as money. (They did have “gold-pressed latinum,” but in that case gold was used to contain the precious material, latinum, which was precious because it couldn’t be replicated for some technobabble reason. [quote] Now imagine the implications in the real world. I once spoke with a history professor who said he believed Einstein was not far from figuring out how to convert matter to energy and vice versa. [\quote] Maybe you should talk to an engineering or physics professor instead, dude. We’ve had devices capable of converting matter to energy for decades; they’re called “nuclear bombs” or “nuclear reactors.” What we don’t have is a device capable of ST-type magic, with limitless energy reserves making possible magical effects, like artifacts and food from thin air. If your professor thought Einstein was anywhere near to an application that could do that, he must have been riding the short bus. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/28 "2005-12-22T21:01:08Z")
“Warning: Do not aim Amaz’n Lazer at the President.” ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/29 "2005-12-22T21:52:34Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > 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? Animals, I have no proble with, assuming the people doing it are not idiots (see Jurassic Park). Actually, now that you mention it, I wouldn’t have any problem, assuming that it’s done humanely and the clones/cloning are used for benevolent purposes, as opposed to, say, mass producing disposable people for dirty work. In other words, as long as intelligent, empathetic people are doing it, it’s cool in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/30 "2005-12-22T23:57:37Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > Um…no you wouldn’t. Because, you see, under the circumstances you describe, gold is no longer valuable as a medium of exchange. Sure I would. I’ve always wanted to pave a patio with gold bricks. I wouldn’t need to use the gold for a medium of exchange(as you seem to assume would be my purpose), but it still looks pretty, prettier than dirt. > [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > Maybe you should talk to an engineering or physics professor instead, dude. We’ve had devices capable of converting matter to energy for decades; they’re called “nuclear bombs” or “nuclear reactors.” What we don’t have is a device capable of ST-type magic, with limitless energy reserves making possible magical effects, like artifacts and food from thin air. If your professor thought Einstein was anywhere near to an application that could do that, he must have been riding the short bus. Fission and fusion convert very tiny amounts of matter into energy, about 0.1% in the case of fission. A conversion process which results in 99.9% of the input being waste and 0.1% being the product you were wanting to convert to is not much of a conversion process in my mind. Fusion is better, but still the vast majority of the reactants end up in secondary states which are still matter instead of being converted to energy. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/31 "2005-12-23T00:06:18Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > 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. I suppose I would have to just join Starfleet. And visit the holodeck a lot. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/32 "2005-12-23T00:22:20Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > Sure I would. I’ve always wanted to pave a patio with gold bricks. I wouldn’t need to use the gold for a medium of exchange(as you seem to assume would be my purpose), but it still looks pretty, prettier than dirt.Fission and fusion convert very tiny amounts of matter into energy, about 0.1% in the case of fission. A conversion process which results in 99.9% of the input being waste and 0.1% being the product you were wanting to convert to is not much of a conversion process in my mind. Fusion is better, but still the vast majority of the reactants end up in secondary states which are still matter instead of being converted to energy. > > Enjoy, > Steven I was obviously unclear. I meant that you should consult a physics or engineering professor rather than a history professor if you believe Albert Einstein was anywhere near devising a method of achieving ST-type, magical, matter-energy transformations. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/33 "2005-12-23T00:31:53Z")
🆒 > [@Mtgman](#): > > Sure I would. I’ve always wanted to pave a patio with gold bricks. I wouldn’t need to use the gold for a medium of exchange(as you seem to assume would be my purpose), but it still looks pretty, prettier than dirt I assumed that would be your purpose because the purpose of the thread is to discuss sci-fi inventions that seem innocuous but are actually destructive. You discussed using replicators to transform dirt into gold in support of that, implying that Star Trek writers have ignored the economic devastation that might cause. But, since the medium of exchange in the trek universe IS NOT GOLD, then the fact that gold is easily available via replicators would not lead to devastation in that universe; and, in fact, I think it wouldn’t necessarily lead to economic chaos in our world either, as long as there was some commodity the replicator could not feasibly make create in bulk. I agree with several of the other posters’ suggestion–immortality, videophones, the time viewer–but I don’t think a replicator is necessarily a bad idea. (Just an impossible one. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/34 "2005-12-23T00:32:45Z")
Another Niven one; _wireheading_ - you have a wire inserted into the ‘pleasure centre’ of your brain and you become a current addict; you die from starvation or dehydration, but still smiling. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/35 "2005-12-23T02:34:46Z")
I was just thinking today about Leinster’s (spelled poorly - my apologies) _A Logic Named Joe_ and how close we’ve come to that with PCs and the Internet. But at least your PC doesn’t figure out all the possible ways you could get caught and only choose the method of murder described on the internet that won’t let them ever figure it out. So I’m gonna go with superhuman AI. BTW, Niven’s organlegging and wireheading - is that from a story called _Gil the ARM_ or something like that? I loved that story. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/36 "2005-12-23T02:52:04Z")
I’d hate to have to deal with a Shrike. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/37 "2005-12-23T03:09:48Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > I was obviously unclear. I meant that you should consult a physics or engineering professor rather than a history professor if you believe Albert Einstein was anywhere near devising a method of achieving ST-type, magical, matter-energy transformations. I hold two degrees in hard sciences and am less than a semester’s worth of credit hours from both a third and fourth(BS in math and physics respectively). I know very well what the state of the art is. I said nothing about what I believe, only what a history professor once said **he** believed. > [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > I assumed that would be your purpose because the purpose of the thread is to discuss sci-fi inventions that seem innocuous but are actually destructive. You discussed using replicators to transform dirt into gold in support of that, implying that Star Trek writers have ignored the economic devastation that might cause. But, since the medium of exchange in the trek universe IS NOT GOLD, then the fact that gold is easily available via replicators would not lead to devastation in that universe; and, in fact, I think it wouldn’t necessarily lead to economic chaos in our world either, as long as there was some commodity the replicator could not feasibly make create in bulk. Other writers have touched on what happens with an energy based economy. Matter to convert into energy becomes harder and harder to find and assuming a galactic civilization you would need to convert entire worlds to provide power and goods such as food, building materials, ships, etc. I’d certainly consider that destructive. That’s best case scenario. Worst case scenario is what I was getting at originally. Someone develops matter-energy-matter conversion and uses it to crank out weapons, fanatically loyal troops, etc, and ends up ruling the world. Anyone who protests goes into the disintegrator to become converted into food/weapons/women for my minions, umm, I mean this hypothetical evil dictator’s minions of course. Enjoy, Steven ---
**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:** [December 23, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/38 "2005-12-23T04:16:15Z")
I’ve noticed that pretty much _any_ sci-fi-ish technology that’s shown being publicly introduced to an otherwise “normal” fictional world tends to make things end badly. No matter how benevolent they’re intended to be. Some kind of Ned Ludd/Victor Frankenstein cultural undercurrent, or somethin’. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/39 "2005-12-23T04:59:26Z")
My vote is for those automagical bone-knitting devices and tissue repairererer thingies the Star Trek doctors always have. Wave a blue glowie over a patient and their bones are healed and their extravasations and aneurysms are fixed. It seems to me that having magical medicine along these lines would encourage people to be _much much more_ self-destructive and dangerous than they really are. You’d damn well _have_ to invent transporters once you had the medical jobbies. People would do all kinds of stupid-ass things, and since the hospital has the technology to absolutely repair just about anything you can do to yourself, the patients (or the deceased patients’ relations) would whine and complain and file lawsuits if they couldn’t be saved. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815/40 "2005-12-23T05:24:08Z")
Woody Allen’s Orgasmatron. Not that I wouldn’t give my left hand to own one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-inventions-the-world-is-better-off-without/336815.md?page=3)