/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.3748909]

What is your favorite science-fiction universe? And which one do you think is realistic or too unrealistic? Can include all types of media.

My pick is the Enderverse. It's realistic up the the ansible but that's a major part of what makes it so cool.

[Anonymous No.3748932]

I have not yet read anything by Orson Scott Card.

However, I do appreciate Heinlein's future histories. He was an engineer, and so he typically likes delving into details behind the science workings of everything. As far as I can tell, he does a pretty good job of not contradicting anything major.

[Anonymous No.3748939]

Star Trek is good and I can see a point coming in our society when money becomes worthless

[Anonymous No.3748947]

>>3748909
>You've probably never heard of it.

[Anonymous No.3748951]

>>3748947

Should have posted with the name
"Hipster faggot" to make it funnier.

[Anonymous No.3748955]

>>3748947
Are you kidding me faggot. Ender's Game is like one of the must read books in the fiction department.

[Anonymous No.3748962]

2001 : A Space Odyssey gets my vote for realism, at least up until Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite. Hard AI is the only thing in the film we still don't know how to build.

[Anonymous No.3748963]

Too bad Orson Scott Card is an insufferable faggot in person.

[Anonymous No.3748968]

I've started reading the Xeelee Sequence books. It's rather hard scifi that uses a lot of actual cosmology and depicts some interesting things that can be done with relativistic effects. The scale it takes place is ridiculous too, with things like engineering on the scale of galactic structures over billions of years.

[Anonymous No.3748971]

I like everything with realistic time dilation. I mean how the fuck do the Star Trek guys travel at light speed and above and not always return to a time where everything they knew isn't long gone

[Anonymous No.3749001]

I read Ender's Game a bit under a decade ago. I remember enjoying it a lot though.

Currently in the middle of Neuromancer. It's a bit more cyberpunk than traditional sci-fi, but it's a good read so far. Some of the stuff in the book was fairly prophetic, such as a world wide computer network (the book was written in the early 1980s, so it came a bit before the internet as we know it today).

[Anonymous No.3749010]

>>3749001

>Reading Neuromancer
>prime example of a cyberpunk book
>surprised it's cyberpunk

Wow, dude, you really just had no idea, did you?

[Anonymous No.3749012]

The Fall Revolution universe by Ken MacLeod, the Moonseed universe by Stephen Baxter and the Culture universe by Iain M. Banks. And many more besides those. I've read a lot.

I don't care about arbitrary levels of realism in my entertainment, as long as the story is internally consistent and offers enough food for my ravenous imagination.

[Anonymous No.3749019]

William Gibson almost defined the genre of Cyberpunk with neuromancer. No one here is particularly surprised.

>Currently in the middle of Neuromancer. It's a bit more cyberpunk than traditional sci-fi,

[Anonymous No.3749060]

Commonwealth Saga and Nights dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton

[Anonymous No.3749058]

>>3748909
>>3749001

Enjoyed both of these books and universes(universi?) a lot. Should I read more of the Ender books? I've only read Ender's Game.

It probably doesn't count but The Man in the High Castle is pretty cool. Basically the Allies lost the war. Set in the late 1900's.
>Germany and Japan control most of everything.
>Nearly all of Africa was sterelised and made in to massive farms using German tech.
>Germans travel around the planets on super rockets. They don't really give a fuck about Earth anymore but they enjoy staying in power because it's nice.

[Anonymous No.3749096]

Dune. Because riding sandworms.

[Anonymous No.3749101]

>>3748968
Loved the Xeelee sequence. Mankind is somewhat xenocidal in those books though. I'd never want to live in that universe, too much perpetual wars and threats.
>>3749012
Now the Culture is a place where I could live. A bit too lovey-dovey though.

The Neuromancer universe is a bad place to hang out unless you're a Tessier-Ashpoole or similarly rich person.

The Domination of the Draka is only a nice place if you're a Draka.

It'd be fun to be a merchant prince in the Foundation universe, I'd go for that pretty readily.

I'd gladly be an American in the later Worldwar series books. That'd be a fucking blast.

When it comes down to it though:
>Section 31 officer in the Star Trek universe. If not that, then Starfleet Intelligence.
>Special Circumstances group in the Culture would also be nice.
>A nobleman in the Dune universe. My roommate that read Dune always said I was the closest thing to a real Mentat he's ever met.

[Anonymous No.3749108]

>>3749101
>A bit too lovey-dovey though.
What, not enough grimdark Warhammer stuff for you?

Personally, I think the world in The Diamond Age would be fascinating, though it's really just a starting point.

[Anonymous No.3749121]

>>3749096

THIS

[Anonymous No.3749124]

>>3749108
FUCK the Warhammer 40k universe.

I'd found a colony as far away from the Empire as I could and pursue technological advancement. No Warp travel so no chaos. Just stay tight in my little system and develop technology as something more than religion.

Maybe, if we detect Orks or a hive fleet or some other cosmic horror, we contact the Empire and offer high-tech goods in exchange for protection and being left largely alone.

[Anonymous No.3749127]

>>3749010
I never said I was surprised it was cyberpunk you troglodyte, I was just making the distinction for OP.
lrn2 reading comprehension.

[Anonymous No.3749148]

Reynold's "Revelation Space" seemed quite realistic enough(at least the early books).

I also like Eclipse Phase although it is over the top sometimes.

Transhuman Space setting I consider more realistic.


I liked early Banks and his Culture novels, but now they have become pretentious and quite annoying. Especially the newest Surface Detail.

[Anonymous No.3749171]

>>3749124
Unless you pull of some kind of singularity, you could might end up being the Empire's egghead guild. Which would be a pretty stable position, considering they have no fucking clue how their tech relics actually work.

[Anonymous No.3749179]

The Amber multiverse is quite interesting. Especially in the context of the DRPG.

[Anonymous No.3749186]

>>3749124
You wouldn't do this. You're assuming that you would have the same ideology as you do now.

You fail to realize that ideology is shaped by the condition of your life. If you lived in 40k, you would have the same ideology as people who currently live in 40k.

[not that guy No.3749204]

>>3749186
>implying all the humans have the same ideology
Though the military arms of the empire are sometimes seen as a monolithic warmachine, there are a multitude of planets with different levels of technology and different ideologies. Especially if it's an non-contacted world.

[Anonymous No.3749208]

>>3749186
Fair enough. I'd see the importance of the Emperor, but not believe he's a god. I wouldn't think tech works by magic or spirits though.
>>3749171
I'd be okay with being the Empire's egghead guild. The Emperor provides the strong-men for protection and leaves the Inquisition/Commissars out of my system while we provide the innovative tech.

That'd be a pretty good deal.

[Anonymous No.3749221]

>>3749186
They are numerous lost colonies outside Imperium, including ones with higher technology.
There could be whole human empires beyond Imperium's reach(they don't go beyond astronomicon which doesn't cover whole galaxy)

[Anonymous No.3749233]

>>3749127

>mfw two people were independently confused by your wording.
If you had said "I am currently reading a cyberpunk book, Neuromancer, that I quite enjoy" or even "it's cyberpunk" instead of "it's a bit more cyberpunk than traditional sci-fi" I don't think anyone would have had a problem.
But still, that's on my list of things to read. I will be sad without my university library once I graduate in December. =(

[Anonymous No.3749236]

>>3749221
True. For all we know, Games Workshop is just waiting to release another human faction from beyond the depths of known space. Untainted by Chaos, they are much like Asimov's Foundation. They have technology so advanced that the Eldar look downright primitive. They are few in number but extremely advanced. They fight with AI drones that, though less capable than Space Marines, may be deployed in large numbers.

[Anonymous No.3749238]

Either Enderverse or Asimov's universe. The latter isn't as realistic as the first one tho. Finished Asimov's "The Caves of Steel" recently and gone through all the Foundation books. Right now listening to "The Speaker for the Dead" by O. S. Card. Both universes are pretty awesome in my opinion.

[Anonymous No.3749243]

>>3749238
ender's game went full retard after the first book.

[Anonymous No.3749266]

>>3749243
How exactly?

[Anonymous No.3749275]

Hainish Cycle, Ursula K. Le Guin. I Have personally read "left hand of darkness"," the telling", and "fisherman of an inland sea".
Features a "realistic" style, revolves around a sort of alliance of planets, The Ekumen, expanding through the galaxy long after the collapse of an original empire that settled much of it. There is an ansible system, but travel is still sublight in speed.
There's not really an order to read the books, and so far they seem to be standalone in nature. The focus tends to be on individuals from one or more worlds acting as representatives of the Ekumen, and tells how they experience and adapt to the diverse cultures of the many worlds.

[Anonymous No.3749276]

Firefly

because fuck the ansible; just another way for the man to keep me down

[Anonymous No.3749281]

>>3749238
The hyperspace theory is pretty well thought out in the foundationverse, at least if you also read Nemesis as belonging to it.

[Anonymous No.3749381]

I'd live in my own sci-fi universe.

Humans haven't left the solar system, but it's a highly developed place. The Jupiter colonies and outposts rebelled seeking independence and they wound up making a desperate move: granting full citizenship rights to AI's.
The AI's of numerous military ships sent to quell their rebellion went rogue and joined up with the Jovians. After that, the Jovians lifted all restrictions on human genetic tampering and augmentation. The result is a nigh post-scarcity transhumanist society with AI's as friends and allies instead of tools/slaves. They're a lot like the Culture but have an understandable fear of the other human powers in the Solar System. The Solar System at large also fears the shit out of the Jovians, so the Jovians have adopted a highly militarized (though still hedonistic and transhumanist) society.

In the outlines for my stories, the Jovians have constructed a new type of communications array in the Kuiper belt and it's picked up some signals that cannot originate from anything but intelligent life. They're not greetings though, they're military communications and the source is getting closer and closer to the Solar System. In the story, we have about 10 years until the source arrives. The best data we can manage, they aren't exactly friendly.

[Anonymous No.3749409]

>>3749381
What is the nature of these aliens, and how does the inner system look like?

[Anonymous No.3749446]

>>3749409
The aliens are... unknown. They're traveling at .1c and there are A LOT of ships. That's all we know.

The Inner System is ruled by mostly nations from Earth and their colonial outcroppings. Jefferson is a US state, the largest US state, and it's on Mars. Russia has claimed Venus, for all that's worth, and China controls the mines of Mercury.

The USA, India, China, the EU (cooperatively), Brazil, and Russia dominate things in the inner system. All powers have lunar colonies, asteroid mines, and property on each of the inner planets. Mars is largely American though and Mercury is largely Chinese.

Human genetic engineering is limited to .2 difference from the established "baseline" and nanotechnology is viewed with great fear. Religion is still a force and the inner system powers are viewed as hopelessly primitive by the Jovians.

The Outer System is a playground for Jovians and intrepid exploration teams from the Inner System. Though travel there isn't all that difficult by inner system standards, it's rare as the outer system is seen as too vast and lacking in resources.

Ceres is an independent nation. Think Dubai and Switzerland rolled into one. It's a hub of trade, a tax haven, a playground for the wealthy, and a living hell for the poor.

[Anonymous No.3749460]

>>3749446
Nice, it touches on some ideas I had-conservative Inner System and Ceres as a hub(due to its enormous water resources)

[Anonymous No.3749511]

>>3749446
The militaries of the Jovian Confederation and Inner System powers (since they all lost colonies near Jupiter during the Revolution) are at odds. Both sides operate fleets of capable warships and drones (no fighters) and the Inner System has the numerical edge. Numbers aside though, the Jovian military is vastly more advanced. The only real intel the inner system has on Jovian ships is that they accelerate at up to 25g and have been seen making maneuvers that would destroy inner system ships. Ground forces/marines, weapons, etc. are all unknown to the inner system but they're vastly superior.

The Jovians lead interesting lives. Humans can upload to become AI's, AI's can downgrade into human bodies. They're a democracy and the current Archon (chief executive) is an old AI from a US battlecruiser during the Jovian War of Independence that defected to seek freedom.

Jovian citizens are superbly well educated and almost all citizens have extensive nanotechnological and genetic augmentations. They can change sex, perform physical feats impossible for the Inner system-ites, and withstand incredible g-forces and radiation.

Newly-created AI's attend school with human children to socialize them. Though AI's are vastly more capable than even augmented human minds, they feel a debt owed to the Jovians for giving them freedom and the ability to participate in cultural pursuits. An old AI saying is, "It took a human to teach us beauty."

Jovian cities are more than just colonial enclaves on moons. They're massive O'Neil cylinders with gardens, coral reefs, and all manner of exotic life. Samples of endangered or extinct Earth species were taken by the Jovians and preserved in ecological stations. The average ecosystem is colorful and highly pleasing. All manner of genetically modified animals are kept as pets. Dolphins from Earth have been uplifted and are prized as pilots to match even an AI.

[Anonymous No.3749528]

>jupiter is a super-advanced transhumanist paradise
Sounds familiar...

[Colonel Coffee Mug !phJ7yIcs.Q No.3749558]

>>3749446
>>3749381
>>3749511

[Anonymous No.3749612]

>>3749528
There is distrust of the Inner System. The Jovians know they are still few in number compared to the inner system and their industrial capacity, though impressive by any standard and highly efficient, is still somewhat behind that of the inner system.

All Jovians are in the military. ALL OF THEM. There is a professional force that operates the fleet's newest and best ships and act as marines. This force is kept slightly larger than necessary to provide a training cadre in the event of war. Even with "accelerated simulation" training technology, instructors and a professional military cadre are needed.

Average (non-career military) citizens are generally employed as scientists, engineers, or artists of some stripe or another. "Dumb" machines do the lionshare of manual labor, though some artisans still practice as a hobby/career.

The military encompasses all in the form of a militia. Rank in the militia is gained by service in the professional force. No service in the professional force? You're a private!
AI's choose their specialization, but all retain training/programming for military functions.

The Admiralty is made up equally of humans and AI's.

The largest of warships carry maybe 50 crew members. These are ultra-heavy hitting affairs with devastating weapons of all ranges and types, but their primary power comes from carrying/directing drone combatants. The largest warship in the system is the 1.5 kilometer long JCS Sargon of Akkad. It is equipped with railguns, x-ray lasers, point-defense particle beams, and antimatter-catalyzed staged-fusion warheads. Her most impressive weapon is the singularity "missile". It is a cylinder-shaped torpedo that contains an ultra-compact accelerator. When detonated, it creates a small artificial singularity that is not self-sustaining. Though it exists for only picoseconds, the singularity can thoroughly destroy ANY target.

[Anonymous No.3749624]

i like the diskworld series,
everything has a familiar feel with likable characters, with touches of randomness.
its like nobody really gives a fk but there still likable and developed as characters.

[Anonymous No.3749667]

>>3749612
Last one until I get more prompting (C'mon Colonel Coffee Mug).

With the detection of the incoming fleet and its (as best we can tell) less-than-friendly intentions, Jovian military construction has skyrocketed. Research into new and exotic weapons to deal with the most advanced conceivable threats is moving at full pace.

Neutron particle beams to bypass any kind of "particle shielding" and strong atomic force-destabilizing weapons are being researched. Nanoviruses of all kinds are being dreamt up by nanotechnologists, xenobiologists, and biologists.

There is a plan. Insert a team of Marines and their SACUs (Semi-Autonomous Combat Unit) drone warriors on-board an ultra-cooled boarding ship. This is as close to true stealth in space as the Jovians have come. They are to insert aboard one of the alien ships before it enters the Kuiper belt, capture one of them alive, and either bring it back for study or send as much data as possible.

From there the plan hinges on using biological data to create a nano/bio-weapon for depopulating the enemy ships. The Jovian Admiralty wants these ships for reverse-engineering and analysis.

Tensions with the inner system due to military build-up are high and the Jovians are preparing to disclose their knowledge of the threat to the inner system powers. They are also going to disclose military technologies, to give us the best possible fighting chance. Will the Inner system use this to combat the alien menace, or will they strike back at the rebellious sons and daughters of Earth and their unholy machine intelligences?

[Colonel Coffee Mug !phJ7yIcs.Q No.3749782]

>>3749612
>>3749667

Still here.

[Anonymous No.3749830]

>>3749667
I liked your idea at the start, but I think the Outer Systems are bit too wanked and too utopic.
Try to lower their power down and present both sides with some both good and bad qualities.

[Anonymous No.3749855]

>>3749782
Okay.

At age 18, human children are given their military induction. It's a right of passage. They're now allowed to ingest psychotropics, vote, and everything.
Military induction is no picnic though.
Children are left unmodified until age 18, though they are born with genetic alterations. Inductees are first given anesthesia, then undergo surgery for their mind-machine interface.
Once the interface is installed, the true transformation begins.
They are placed into a medical coma of sorts and plugged into intravenous feeders. Their body is immersed in a nutrient solution much like amniotic fluid but with high levels of perflurocarbons for liquid breathing. This fluid is positively swimming with "nanosurgeons" to perform the real transformation. The subject's brain is the first organ to be inducted. Nanomachines lace high-temperature superconductors onto the axons and form a machine "scaffolding" onto which software can be installed to augment the subject's mental abilities and knowledge.
Then, the simulations begin. Wars, terrible wars. Every war from human history is relived in exquisite detail. Spears, knives, guns, particle beams, bare hands, everything. Fighting in nothing more than a loincloth and then in powered armor. The subjective experience is 15 years of constant combat and pumped-in instruction. (Kind of like the Forever War's officer training tanks)

Subdermal buckyball armor is placed under the epidermis, mechanical augmentations to the eyes, extra skeletal muscle is built and connected, skin cells are programmed to go photosynthetic when starved, better ATP production/storage, nanoceramic skeletal reinforcement, etc.

Nobody leaves the induction process the same person. It's a right of passage, but a loss of innocence.

[Anonymous No.3749912]

I read a little of Enders Game in middle school. I was going to look it up again recently but I learned he's a part of National Organization for Marriage. I don't think I could bring myself to read something by someone I am incapable of having any respect for.

[Anonymous No.3749935]

Oh how I loved Ender's Game.

Such a miraculously good book. I've read the entire series up until a few books ago. Shadow of the Giant was okay. Everything that preceded it was fucking awful (except the first two books). The entire premise of Ender's Game (moral ambiguity) gets thrown out by a useless character, Achilles, who is just "pure evil" - there's nothing good about him. Doesn't that defeat the entire purpose of the first and second books? What the fuck. You're a bad man Orson Scott Card and not just for your shitty personal beliefs but because you gutted the meaning out of your own franchise. Fuck you.

[Anonymous No.3749979]

Gunbuster. I just get giddy about a universe where mankind goes from first developing FTL technology to committing genocide by detonating a black hole bomb with an event horizon 20,000 light years in diameter all within the span of about 50 years. I don't know of any other universe that has that ridiculous level of tech escalation.

[Anonymous No.3750019]

The Assassin's Creed franchise has a cool sci-fi twist to it. What with the way they expand the concept of "genetic memory" into reenacting the lives of a person's ancestors.