# Which fictional technologies do you wish existed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [January 2, 2026, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276 "2026-01-02T16:34:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [January 3, 2026, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/41 "2026-01-03T20:55:52Z")
I try not to oversell! ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/42 "2026-01-03T21:02:07Z")
If I had an Omega 13 device, I would have worn that sucker out. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/43 "2026-01-03T21:15:51Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > As for holodecks - I’m already a VR nut. I can lose myself in fake worlds for hours if they’re compelling enough. That’s genuinely the way I’d like to spend my time if I ever end up needing to be in some sort of assisted-living situation. Just hook me up to the Matrix, poke me occasionally so I can take care of various bodily needs, and let me go somewhere interesting. Same here. I’ve been saying for many years that hyper-real VR will be disruptive to the extent that most people will spend most of their time there. You want to spend your work, private and leisure time in whatever little buildings you / businesses can afford to build, maintain etc? Or the best possible worlds that human minds and AI collectively can conceive of? It would be an easy sell even without the \< cough \> obvious, function of a holodeck with touch. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/44 "2026-01-03T22:35:57Z")
_Gay Deceiver_ ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/45 "2026-01-03T23:34:06Z")
I vote FLT drive. And if we’re dreaming, affordable, everyone can have a ship, FTL travel. I want to see the galaxy, or even the planets. Using FTL just to go to Jupiter is OK, too. And a light sabre. I’m sure I’d cut my own arm or leg off, but…coolness! ---
**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:** [January 3, 2026, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/46 "2026-01-03T23:47:37Z")
I’ve sometimes wondered how it would work out if we had FTL but otherwise no improvements on the chemical rockets we possess today. No synthetic gravity, no reactionless drive, not even a fusion rocket. If it was harder to get off the Earth’s surface than to go light-years. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/47 "2026-01-03T23:55:24Z")
Some sort of device that forces people to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but that also has an inherent limitation that it will only work on people running for public office and the people appointed by elected officials, and only to questions regarding their duties as public officials. ETA: And one additional limitation. If it is to be used on someone, the first question has to be “do you have any plans to try to make any changes in the manufacturing of this device that will break any of the above limitations?” ---
**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:** [January 4, 2026, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/48 "2026-01-04T00:23:18Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Some sort of device that forces people to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but that also has an inherent limitation that it will only work on people running for public office and the people appointed by elected officials, and only to questions regarding their duties as public officials. I can’t help but think that would result in dictatorships becoming the norm due to a complete unwillingness of anyone to run for office, or to get elected if they do. I can’t see the public accepting truth, and I doubt many people would want to run for office if it meant getting interrogated like that. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/49 "2026-01-04T06:28:40Z")
Well, these days I think about a Non-Scammy Dating Site. But Time Travel would be okay, too. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/50 "2026-01-04T13:15:11Z")
[quote=“Lumpy, post:46, topic:1026276”] I’ve sometimes wondered how it would work out if we had FTL but otherwise no improvements on the chemical rockets we possess today. [/quote] The Road Not Taken-one of my favorite stories. Explores this very question. > **[The Road Not Taken (short story)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Not_Taken_(short_story))** > > "The Road Not Taken" is a science fiction short story by American writer Harry Turtledove about the first encounter between humanity and an alien race, the Roxolani. It is a prequel to another Turtledove short story entitled "Herbig-Haro". > The story is told through limited third person point of view, with most of the story concerning a single Roxolani captain, Togram. During a routine journey of conquest, they happen upon Earth. The Roxolani anticipate a simple and rewarding campaign, as they de... ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/51 "2026-01-04T13:41:54Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I can’t help but think that would result in dictatorships becoming the norm due to a complete unwillingness of anyone to run for office, or to get elected if they do. I can’t see the public accepting truth, and I doubt many people would want to run for office if it meant getting interrogated like that. Even if the questions were limited only to matters of how they would act in their official capacity? I can see people balking if they were to be asked about cheating on their spouse or other such personal matters. But it seems like a low bar if the only questions allowed would be regarding how they would govern. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/52 "2026-01-04T14:01:43Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > But it seems like a low bar if the only questions allowed would be regarding how they would govern. “I will do all I can to further the interests of my coporate donors, including making sure the working and middle classes don’t get wage increases or health care assistance that would cost said donors money.” I don’t think they will want to answer those questions honestly either. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/53 "2026-01-04T14:11:39Z")
I would take a single Mind from the Iain Banks Culture series. > **[Culture series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series)** > > The Culture series is a science fiction series written by Scottish author Iain M. Banks and released from 1987 until 2012. The stories centre on The Culture, a utopian, post-scarcity space society of humanoid aliens and advanced superintelligent artificial intelligences living in artificial habitats spread across the Milky Way galaxy. The main themes of the series are the dilemmas that an idealistic, more-advanced civilization faces in dealing with smaller, less-advanced civilizations that do... The Minds are hyperintelligent AIs that regard humanity with a certain amused fondness and provide for all our needs because it’s no big thang to do so. They also inhabit and operate behemoth spacecraft. A single Mind would suffice to jumpstart the Culture, a post-scarcity anarchic state where the only law seems to be that if you get out of hand and murder someone (or do something similarly reprehensible), you get assigned a Slap Drone–a drone that follows you around and keeps you from doing anything like that again. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/54 "2026-01-04T14:28:23Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > “I will do all I can to further the interests of my coporate donors, including making sure the working and middle classes don’t get wage increases or health care assistance that would cost said donors money.” > > I don’t think they will want to answer those questions honestly either. The point is that not all of them are like that. And with that kind of technology it would be trivial to know which one’s were which. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/55 "2026-01-04T16:06:38Z")
Robert Heinlein once said that if you genuinely believe that honesty is always the best policy, try telling your friends the unvarnished truth about what you think of their offspring. 😁 Replicators might cause disruptions, but I think thermodynamics will place some limits on what can be replicated, how often you can replicate things, how much energy you have to spend to replicate things, etc. I don’t think the Universe will allow a post-scarcity economy. Even if the replicators do work as advertised, it will be the replicator repairmen who get all the hot chicks. The rest of us will still be spending too much time in the holodeck. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/56 "2026-01-04T16:08:25Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I would take a single Mind from the Iain Banks Culture series. That would be useful (I mentioned “at least weakly-godlike AI” in my wish list. A top-class Mind fits that description.). I would need somewhere to store it, though. I’m thinking a Plate-Class GSV. ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/57 "2026-01-04T16:09:49Z")
FTL 🚀 ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/58 "2026-01-04T17:23:10Z")
# [Which fictional technologies do you wish existed?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276) Prayer Dan ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/59 "2026-01-04T17:24:45Z")
Nice! ---
**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:** [January 4, 2026, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276/60 "2026-01-04T17:38:07Z")
Unfortunately that otherwise excellent story isn’t an example of what I was postulating, because in addition to FTL travel the protagonists explicitly have artificial gravity and reactionless propulsion. I was thinking more of the conundrum of having the potential ability to travel to other stars, only we can barely get into low Earth orbit. If FTL required getting further out from the Earth’s or the Sun’s gravity wells for example. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-technologies-do-you-wish-existed/1026276.md?page=4)