Help needed with technology design...

[thogmaster]

I'm trying to design a "Multi-Dimensional Communications System"--basically, something akin to Holographic communications (i.e. Star Wars), except more interactive. Unfortunately... I'm not a huge technology guy... I can come up with something once in a while, but I'm drawing a pretty bad blank on this. Any ideas?

[metalikhan]

Well, defining what you want it to do is a good start. You can check that task off your list.

Are you trying to design how the physical system (the console, the components, etc) would look? Or find some science/physics theory to back the idea? Or both?

[morganlbusse]

Thog, I wish I could help, but I am the last one to figure out technology. I love reading and watching sci-fi, but not so much on figuring it out (however... I have a steampunk setting starting to simmer in the back of my mind... lol).

[J Jack]

Holographs were supposed to be intersecting laser beams that created an image I believe, so something more interactive...you could do a cross between that and include some sort of mental energy, the person puts themself in the lasers to some extent and can move and be moved in the area they are communicating to. But that comes with threats, putting mental energy out there could backlash and it's a complex procedure. It's like a thought projection of yourself portrayed by some machinery.

That's the only thing I can think of, hope it helps

[thogmaster]

@ Metalikhan:
I'm pretty much trying to design everything... I'm still somewhat fuzzy on what exactly I want it to be able to do. I think the best description... well, kind of what I'm picturing is being able to enter a room, sit down at a table, and pretty much have a conference meeting with a bunch of other people all at the same time. That's kind of what's lurking in the back of my mind at the moment.

@ Morwena:
I'm still stuck at the figuring out stage, in my opinion! Hehe...

@ Sabre:
Holograms are made by intersecting laser beams forming an image. By more interactive--image described above to Metalikhan is about the most accurate I have right now. I'm at the stage of knowing, "Okay, I want something that has this sort of concept" but not exactly knowing how to put it into words...

[J Jack]

Kinda like resident evil? They had a hologram conference meeting in one of the movies between underground labs and so on.

[thogmaster]

Uh... Resident Evil? Drawing a blank... sorry!!

[J Jack]

Heh, umm the movie trilogy. Basically they had several labs spread out over the world and the heads of these underground facilities couldn't go above ground for fear of the zombies (yes, weird, I know) so they held conferences by hologram in their conference rooms. But in each lab the person was actually present in their own conference room (each was identical) so they appeared to be sitting at the same seat in the same room as each of the others. But only one person was real while the others were all holographic images that were being relayed.

[newburydave]

Thogmaster;

I just finished a collection of one of my favorite Space Opera authors from the golden age of SciFi back in the 1960's.

The collection editor put in an analytical article at the end of book #2 in which he tried to analyze why this author (since deceased) was such a captivating writer. (the editor is another of my all time favorite authors).

One of the principles he elucidated was the author never described how his technology worked, he just had his POV characters use it. It was enough that they knew how to use it. The editor's view was that explaining how Tech works just slows down the story and distracts from the storyline.

Unless this tech is breakthrough stuff that will change the worlds in which it is used, and that change is part of your storyline, then just show your characters using it and get on with the action. Sort of like how we use a telephone. You don't worry about how it works you just pick it up and make a call.

IMHO that is the best way to do it. Just describe what the characters are able to do with it.

One of the Gaffes and Tropes in the Turkey City lexicon is "the Steam Grommet Factory". That comes from a very forgettable mid 19th century sciFi story where the author spent an entire short story describing how a "futuristic" automated, steam powered factory made grommets. Avoid that temptation, is my advice. Just use the grommets to make sails and sail the ship to far horizons.

SGD

dave

[metalikhan]

Jul 4, 2010 18:43:50 GMT -5 newburydave said:

Thogmaster;


IMHO that is the best way to do it. Just describe what the characters are able to do with it.

One of the Gaffes and Tropes in the Turkey City lexicon is "the Steam Grommet Factory". That comes from a very forgettable mid 19th century sciFi story where the author spent an entire short story describing how a "futuristic" automated, steam powered factory made grommets. Avoid that temptation, is my advice. Just use the grommets to make sails and sail the ship to far horizons.

LOL! I missed that story, doggonit! It doesn't sound like much by way of plot; but it appeals to the machinist side of me. ;D

This is excellent advice. If you include too many specification details about how a machine or instrument works, you wind up with a tech manual rather than a story.

[Spokane Flyboy]

I think not explaining the technology in detail is realistic anyway. I drive a car, but don't really know exactly how the thing actually does what it does. I watch TV, but I don't even have a clue how they get an image into a signal and then make the TV put that signal back into meaningful images. And heck, I can build computers, but I don't have a clue how RAM stores memory or the CPU runs calculations, or even really how an unfathomable number of switches in the space of my thumbnail allows for complex games to function.

With all that said, it doesn't hurt to think of how the technology works so you can describe how it's used, but it doesn't need to be put in the story. Perhaps gloves with sensors similar to those used for live-motion capturing for video games, only more refined and miniaturized in the future.

[newburydave]

I think that the point the editor of this anthology was trying to make was the the successful writer needs to create an atmosphere of "accessibility" (at least I think that's what he called it).

His point was that the writer wants the reader to feel totally identified with the main POV or POVs such that we (the readers) can slip into the POV's persona in the story world and live the adventure with the characters. The technology of our story world is totally familiar to the POVs, it's part of the background of their lives just as the internet and cable TV is part of the background of our lives.

Further the POV of an Sf story had better know how to use the tech in her world or something is kind of strange (unless the POV is a primitive, say from 21st century earth, who has been transplanted into the futuristic hi-tech society. In which case part of the dramatic tension can be how the POV learns to cope with the new tech [and the bad guys who know how to use it]).

So, back to the original question:

Thogmaster, what I would recommend is to spec out the basic operation of your Comm system in terms of how a user operates it, it's strengths and limitations, (ie. it can't transmit successfully through highly stressed space time around a super nova, red dwarf, black hole or other spacial anomaly [no human tech can overcome all difficulties in this created universe after all]) and if it can be successfully hacked or subverted.

If you want to make up some theory of operation and some of the nuts and bolts do it, but bear in mind that this kind of tech manual stuff is for your own use to help you keep the "use" of your Comm system real. Unless part of your dramatic tension is a breakdown of the system at a critical time such that your POV has to "fix it with the proverbial hat pin and thinfoil to get a critical message out to the cavalry"; I wouldn't bring any of the tech manual stuff into your story. Deep tech usually puts readers to sleep and makes the skip ahead . Well at least that's how I deal with it and I'm kind of a techie gear head.

Write on Bro.

Are we going to see some of your draft work on this over in the Sandbox for critique? (I hope, I hope, I hope. . . sounds interesting. Sounds like some good space opera. )

SGD
dave

[thogmaster]

Hi all,
Sorry I haven't been able to reply... I've been pretty busy. @ Dave: I am planning on working on critting and getting some more drafts in the Sandbox as soon as possible... I've got a county fair in two days, and I'm scrambling to prepare for it. So... I'll prolly get to replying to all the input next Monday or so. I'll try to get to it by then! Thanks for all the input, everyone! Later!!