The Factory Floor

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Green

13:33

@JasonClyde Only way I can think of is to keep the maximum size of hammerspace really small OR to limit how fast objects can exit hammerspace. Explosions are a matter of how fast a chemical reaction takes place. If the volumes of air are kept low or the speed of exit is kept low then explosions should happen.

Jason Clyde

@Green Yeah, this is what I was picturing:

*Terrorist gets hammerspace power
*Terrorist stuffs it to the brim with knives and road spikes and ball bearings and the like
*Terrorist encases himself in something air-tight, like maybe dumping cement over a steel box.
*Terrorist kills himself, prompting the hammerspace to try and force all of the things he stuffed in his hammerspace into the tiny air-tight cement prison.
*The stuff has to leave the hammerspace, so it eventually applies enough pressure to make the cemented box explode massively.

Now, that's okay if we're talking something like Hammergate, which is only 147 cubic feet. But if I want to make any larger hammerspace things, like a sort of portable house or something, then the explosions those could make would probably be so huge that anyone willing to use them, especially if they don't even require the owner's death, would be able to wreak unimaginable damage.

Green

@JasonClyde The same scenario could describe a hero trying to break open a concrete tunnel that's entrapping all their friends.

Jason Clyde

True, doesn't have to be a bad guy, but this the method of bomb-weaponization I was talking about.

Green

You question could be easily framed in terms of "How do I stop people from doing evil things?" which is really hard. TNT is used to kill people but also to mine for iron ore. TNT is just a tool. Hammerspace is also just a tool. Screwdrivers are tools of construction as well as weapons of death.

Jason Clyde

Granted, but like I said, my concern is that if I ever make a large pocket dimension, it would be way, way way more powerful than its actual intended purpose, to a story-breaking degree.

Green

13:44

@JasonClyde .....so, set the size of the hammerspace as some ratio of the internal volume of the user; say 1.1 or 1.2. Really huge men would have larger hammerspaces.

And the exact ratio has a little bit of randomness in it. Say, 65% have 1.1. the next ~30% have about 1.2. The next 4.5% have 1.4 and the last 0.5% have 1.6.

If you want to go really crazy, make one person how is that 0.00000001% of the population who has a 10.0 multiplier on their hammerspace.

Nex Terren

14:00

@Green Seems like an easy fit for a normal curve.

Green

@NexTerren yep!

AndyD273

14:25

@James, saw this, thought it was really interesting information:

Donald Trump did the RIGHT thing on pulling out of Paris Accords

►

I want to do stuff to actually help the environment, not just put money in the pockets of people who don't actually care about the environment.

2 hours later…

James

16:01

@AndyD273 I'll give it a listen

AndyD273

16:30

Also, anyone that buys beach front property after telling the world that sea levels are going to rise and cover the land is not actually serious about what they are saying.

Green

17:24

@AndyD273 Or they're speculating that they can sell it to some other sucker just before the land becomes completely unusable.

AndyD273

@Green It's possible... So they are either dishonest about their predictions, or dishonest in their business practices.

Green

@AndyD273 yep!

Nex Terren

17:42

Or they just really want to become a mermaid and just decided to full-commit to the idea. The possibilities are endless!

3 hours later…

AndyD273

20:25

@NexTerren Middle child would do that if she could... This is why we don't let children make life altering decisions.

Nex Terren

@AndyD273 Yeah, because given a few years they'd be merregrets.

Bellerophon

20:47

Got to make these kind of bold decisions if we want to evolve.

2 hours later…

Worldbuilding Meta

22:34

Q: Moderator resignation

The past several days have been turbulent across the Stack Exchange network, to say the least. In fact, more so than what has been the usual case even lately. The immediate situation came to a head for myself, as well as many others, when Monica Cellio was, effectively, summarily dismissed as a ...

Feeds

22:47

A: Sandbox for Proposed Questions

How can my hammerspace safely "decompress"? My story has magic, and some of that magic involves manipulating pocket dimensions, hammerspace, whatever you'd like to call it. Whether it be a portal to a closet you can access with a thought, or the ability to make objects disappear and make them re...

Jason Clyde

@AndyD273 @Green I made a sandbox for that hammerspace question if you're interested in giving it a look. I did my best to explain what the issue is and what I need to work out.

Green

23:24

@JasonClyde the section starting with As I see it, this can have two outcomes" seems unnecessary as you are asking for methods to make it "safe" but constrain the responder to one or your two options.

I also don't understand what's wrong with exploding hammerspaces. In real life, people can make pretty potent explosives with common chemicals.

Or, you can just write a story where a hammer bomb never happens because the circumstances never bring it about or no one ever thinks of it.

The Chinese had gun powder for a really long time but didn't come up with firearms. The mayans never invented the wheel.

Shalvenay

hey there @Green

@Green yeah, the Chinese preferred self-propelled projectiles, and the Mayans AIUI were in an environment where wheels weren't very useful because there wasn't an obvious way to make a wheeled thing fit

Jason Clyde

@Green Oh, I'm not saying those are the only outcomes, I'm saying those are the only ones that immediately come to mind.

And as for hammerspace bombs being acceptable due to bombs being easy to make... point taken. I guess I'm more concerned about the limitations it puts on how much hammerspace I can have a power produce because making a pressure bomb out of it could level a whole city block or something.

One power idea involves making a pocket dimension the size of a football field, and that is raising some serious red flags for me.

Gryphon

23:44

@JasonClyde I could go to a dozen stores tomorrow (spread it out enough to make it look less suspicious) and pick up enough stuff to destroy an apartment building off the top of my head. It'd probably take me a few weeks to be able to take down an entire city block.

It's really not that hard if you have a way to smuggle that much stuff into buildings and are willing to go to prison for the rest of your life.

Jason Clyde

Touche.

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