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Henry Taylor

 Discussion on question by user31646: …

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Henry Taylor
Nov 26, 2021 20:49
@AdrianColomitchi, That doesn't seem logical. Let's start with a cloud of cosmic dust and debris in the moments before it starts to coalesce around a small gravity well. This is about as high an entropy level as I can imagine. Then slowly the particles converge, each obtaining higher order as they take their place in the core of the soon to be planet or star. Skip ahead a few millennia to the lifeless planet with barren land and empty oceans. Random purposeless particles everywhere. Then another leap to today... seems like higher order with every leap.
Henry Taylor
Nov 26, 2021 20:49
Life accelerates entropy? Isn't evolution anti-entropic? Human beings are definitely more orderly than the primordial slime from which we evolved. Now our toys such as bombs, lasers, and two-party politics... these things definitely accelerate entropy... but people themselves struggle throughout their lives to minimize the unexpected and chaotic.
 

 Discussion on question by Cobbington:…

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Henry Taylor
Jul 21, 2021 17:11
In Douglas Preston's book, Blasphemy, the entire universe in all its infinite scale and infinitesimal detail is described as a machine working across all time to calculate an answer to a singular question. It is suggested that the universe is perfectly designed to be the minimum mechanism capable of calculating the answer and as such, one can understand the scope of the question by coming to understanding the universe which is trying to solve it, but not the other way around. This isn't really relevant here, but it is cool and always worth mentioning when the word "omnipresence" comes up.
 

 Discussion on question by Artem: What…

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Henry Taylor
Jul 16, 2021 02:41
In some speculative fiction, the term "technology" describes techniques that work by scientifically understood principles and "magic" describes techniques whose underlying mechanism in not scientifically understood. Those two options form a binary set with no room for other answers. The margin between them offers two small possible answers but neither of them would help in this case. At the margin, there are supposed magics which can be scientifically explained but we don't yet know that, and supposed technologies which really don't work they way we think they do.
 

 Discussion on question by Santiago: H…

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Henry Taylor
Apr 11, 2021 19:11
This tunneling time article might give you a good starting point. I won't be surprised when any of the names mentioned in that article appear on the Tesla board of directors list. Tempest Fugit, but not necessarily in a straight line.
Henry Taylor
Apr 11, 2021 19:11
I'm concerned about the science-based tag and the list item asking for no pseudoscience. As far as I know, all of the gravity-based and FTL time travel methods are very much speculation. I think there have been a few tachyon experiments which have supported the possibility of negative time information transfer but still nothing replicate-able. As for the hard science tag for this question, I think that will guarantee zero answers. If anyone has enough expertise in time travel to meet the hard science requirements, they won't be in here. They will be back in the past buying tesla at $5.00.
 

 Discussion on question by Daron: What…

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Henry Taylor
Mar 27, 2021 17:01
Well the good news is that zombies, droids and terminators all hate water. So as long as the edge of the city is also a small fishing harbor or better yet a sailing yacht club, you are all set. Let them eat fish!
 

 Discussion on question by chasly - su…

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Henry Taylor
Oct 2, 2020 22:05
This comment will be my usual complaint against opinion based question closures because any question requesting speculative science is by definition going to produce unsubstantiated, opinion -based answers. In this particular case, I don't think my answer differed in quality from an answer listing specific facts and citations. Just because an idea comes from one's imagination rather than a text book doesn't make it worthless. This should especially be true on a site dedicated to world building which is an endeavor well beyond our current scientific abilities.
 

 Discussion on question by FrogOfJuly:…

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Henry Taylor
Aug 17, 2020 13:22
@AlexP, Thank you as always for keeping me honest. I answer to the best of my ability, but that ability is limited by only college level coursework and thirty years of knowledge advancement since I finished those studies.
Henry Taylor
Aug 17, 2020 13:22
This defies your hard-science request, so I'm listing it as a comment. Imagine a process which transforms matter at the sub-subatomic level, removing the Higgs bosons from the subatomic particles and replaces it with an artificial construct which serves the same sub-subatomic structural role. Matter processed in this way would have fewer (or theoretically no) Higgs bosons within it, and would therefore interact with the fabric of gravity less than normal matter.. Of course, we know nothing about HB's sub-subatomic structural role right now, so we can't even guess what could replace it.
 

 Discussion on question by Michael Sta…

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Henry Taylor
Dec 13, 2019 12:24
@armb, Wonderful! Build-Your-Own-Adventure books comes to Broadway. That is a great idea. Audience participation decides which ending they will receive. I'd buy a ticket for that!
Henry Taylor
Dec 13, 2019 12:24
@Matthew, so does American Gods, Xanth and a number of other wonderful worlds. Tinkerbell was just the oldest example that I can think of right now.
Henry Taylor
Dec 13, 2019 12:24
No your creation is your own. Maybe not unique across all of fiction, but definitely usable by you without any threat of plagiarism accusations. Tinkerbell is a character in a book and several movies called "Peter Pan" and at one point in the movie version, she is about to die unless she gets cured by the magical power of belief. The other characters on the screen beg the audience to believe in Tinkerbell and moments later she is revived and healthy again. It is a wonderful moment for young viewers who actually believe that they are participating in her healing. Your system is similar.
Henry Taylor
Dec 13, 2019 12:24
This is the Tinkerbell magic system! I believe it is one of the best soft magic systems available!
 

 Discussion on question by Cee Mon: Ma…

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Henry Taylor
Nov 15, 2019 02:18
If you have a chapter the plays counterpoint to your main theme (maybe just before the climax) and therefore need a quote that is the opposite of the ones you are looking for, then consider Dean Koontz (20th Century quote) "When Tempest Tossed, Embrace Chaos"
 

 Discussion on question by DT Cooper: …

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Henry Taylor
Oct 15, 2019 21:13
<changing this into an answer>
 

 Discussion on question by Henry Taylo…

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Henry Taylor
Jul 22, 2019 18:52
@StephenG, I am planning to make the K2 civilization's battle with the insects part of the back story. They have already tried all reasonable solutions (both peaceful or militant) and failed. The insects are as big, numerous and prolific as they need to be to totally dominate a K2 civilization. Earth is just an after dinner mint for these monsters. Even the hiding of the Earth will be backstory; something that is already complete when my stories begin. Trying for the syfy in fantasy clothing ruse like what McAffrey pulled off in Dragon Riders.
Henry Taylor
Jul 22, 2019 18:52
@SRM, focusing the light into a single direction has interesting implications for the later stories... If the beam is sent off a direction exactly opposite the direction that the insects are coming in from, it would buy the planet time, but once the swarm was beyond the planet, some of the bugs might turn around and notice that they missed one. Interesting! Please do provide an answer with such a feature if you can figure out how to make it work!
Henry Taylor
Jul 22, 2019 18:52
@Cyn. I have added the stars tag. I have stumbled over the hard-science tag so often in my answers that I wanted to introduce an alternative, more speculation-friendly version. I considered calling "Sciency" or maybe "Specultive-Science-Welcome". I will take it to meta when I get a chance. Maybe get the members to agree to a tag with such a purpose.
 

 Discussion on answer by Starfish Prim…

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Henry Taylor
Jul 22, 2019 18:52
Your last point is one that I have to seriously consider. I can write around your earlier issues just by making the insects phototropism instinctive rather than intellectual. Once the light is gone, so is their attraction to it. Similar to what happens when you cut the juice to a bug zapper. The bugs stop landing on it even though it is now a perfectly safe (if dark) perch. On your "things easier to do..." point, I will definitely give that some thought. I have accused other authors of that sin often enough and I don't want to be a hypocrite. Thanks! +1
 

 Discussion on question by James: How …

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Henry Taylor
Feb 11, 2019 03:59
I think you are underestimating the challenge facing us in colonizing other planets. No believable amount of climate change would make living on Earth more difficult than living anywhere else in the known universe. It is far easier to build and survive in a hurricane proof/flood proof/blizzard proof bunker here on Earth where water and oxygen are abundant. Nuclear and/or biological warfare can make elsewhere more appealing than here, but climate change alone will never be able to do that.
 

 Discussion on question by Rona Mach'V…

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Henry Taylor
Oct 15, 2018 18:50
@RonaMach'Valli, it sounds like you have an interesting creation on your hands. Clean up the question by removing the hard-science tag and try to focus it on something more specific that you want us to help with. Meanwhile, I will go have a Guinness lunch in your honor and eventually return to answer your improved question.
Henry Taylor
Oct 15, 2018 18:50
Did these aliens evolve with this particular diet or is it a genetic adaptation to make star travel easier. Juices can be very concentrated and water can be reused, so not having to eat solid food would probably help a lot during the early years of a space program.
 

 Discussion on answer by Henry Taylor:…

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Henry Taylor
Oct 11, 2018 00:05
@MonicaCellio, please do remove it. I offered it as a simple bit of humor and it has developed a life of its own. There is no need to edit it because other answers on this page have already thoroughly answered the OP's question. I would delete it myself, but I don't want to be the bad guy. A lot of other members seem to be enjoying bickering about it. Feel free to moderate it out of here. No hard feelings on my part.
Henry Taylor
Oct 11, 2018 00:05
@Ray, I'm the author of this funny one-liner and I actually agree with you. It is sort of weird that an off the cuff humorous remark has become my 5th. most up-voted answer. I've put real effort into this forum and I think a lot of my answers have provided real value, but looking through them, I see a disturbing trend of humor outperforming creativity and helpfulness. I would hope that everyone who laughed at my joke and gave me a vote also gave BladeWraith a vote as well, but it appears that they have not. That is a shame, but I lack any effective solution for it.
 

 Discussion on question by JBH: Condit…

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Henry Taylor
Aug 1, 2018 15:51
No, I was really suggesting a rogue star, not a rogue planet. A big ball of burning gases hurtling through space at a speed which keeps everything caught by its gravity trailing along behind. I don't have the science to know if such things are possible but it seems to me that for as long as that racing star was the biggest gravity well in the area, objects and gases would accumulate behind it rather than dissipate off into empty space. The result might look something like what you are looking for.
Henry Taylor
Aug 1, 2018 15:51
I don't have the necessary physics, but couldn't the asteroids and atmosphere (gas cloud) be the tail of a rogue star which for some reason is hurtling through space at the same speed as these tail materials are falling towards it?
Henry Taylor
Aug 1, 2018 15:51
Sorry to disappoint your tumbleweed dreams, but check out Larry Niven's Integral Trees which replaces your asteroids with an atmosphere replenishing tree of astronomical scale, but which is otherwise very similar to your unconventional world.
 

 Discussion on question by theGarz: Wh…

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Henry Taylor
Jul 24, 2018 08:33
Does Central Europe have Goodyear Blimps?
 

 Discussion on question by Robert Paul…

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Henry Taylor
Jul 9, 2018 21:31
@RobertPaul, that is as much of the answer as I could fit in a comment. There is an obvious downside to making your superheroes radioactive. See Dr. Manhattan of the Watchmen for more details. But if all you want is to track them, and you don't care about the consequences to their social life...
Henry Taylor
Jul 9, 2018 21:31
The forum police shut down your question while I was typing the following answer... You could preemptively feed your regenerating characters something radioactive enough to be detected from space, then keep track of where they are all using a comprehensive satellite network. The satellites might not be able to see all the way down to the bottom of the trench but if they were constantly watching his radioactive signature, they could tell you where he went off the grid. "Logan was last seen at 2000 meters below sea level, above the trench but heading straight down."
 

 Discussion on question by aphid: What…

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Henry Taylor
Jun 26, 2018 03:25
Even if the planet and population survives, the wizard will loose all of his gold in wrongful death lawsuits because of the millions of people he squished with his cube. Even if he has any gold left after those lawsuits, he will spend the rest of his life in jail for the grandest of all grand thefts. Some of that gold belonged to people so he had no right to magically take it.
 

 Discussion on answer by TCAT117: How …

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Henry Taylor
Apr 18, 2018 03:18
+1 Excellent Answer! I especially like the irony of our returning to Eden and going extinct because we are not "the fittest" for life there. 1 minute after you, I posted an answer which agrees strongly with your first paragraph, but I'm going to delete it now because your supporting second paragraph is much better than mine. Thanks for a great read!
 

 Discussion on question by taylor swif…

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Henry Taylor
Jan 9, 2018 18:34
I see no close votes now, so I am posting my answer.
Henry Taylor
Jan 9, 2018 18:34
Okay, In accords with what we have previously discussed, I will hold off on providing an answer for now. I will wait to see if the consensus agrees that this should be closed. If it does though, I will feel sorry for future visitors who come looking for the relationship of government form to technological development rate.
Henry Taylor
Jan 9, 2018 18:34
@sphennings, I'm not so sure that this is about game mechanics. It seems to focus on the technological development rate of different forms of government, which to me sounds very much like a world building question. Rephrase the question's concept as "If I want my world's populace to attain space flight as quickly as possible, what form of government should they live under?" That is most definitely a world builder question because its answers can be supported by facts, exploring what influences the technological development of a created world.
 

 Discussion on answer by Henry Taylor:…

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Henry Taylor
Oct 31, 2017 02:52
@EdmundReed, quite the contrary. There is no reason to believe clothes (which are much simpler and less-fragile than living tissue) would be destroyed by a process which flesh survived. As for not assuming additional fiction, I suggest you spend a little more time reading world-builder answers. I am not the only participant who embellishes the available information on my way to offering a solution. More often than not, those additions illuminate other options for the OP, providing them with a variety of solutions to choose from.
Henry Taylor
Oct 31, 2017 02:52
@Valthek, thanks for getting my idea back in accords with the Hague and Geneva Conventions! I will put all of the wereRex's on a civilian-free diet for the remainder of the exercise.
Henry Taylor
Oct 31, 2017 02:52
Who is to say that the clothing doesn't transform with the wearer? Current trope fiction on the subject goes both ways and the OP didn't specify.
 

 Discussion on question by Pleiades: I…

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Henry Taylor
Oct 23, 2017 11:58
@Molot, the issue of writing in seclusion (so that you know that your ideas are your own) vs. immersing yourself in the works of other authors (at the risk of being "sued" for plagiarism) is not that cut and dry. There is almost no chance that the OP's story would mirror the story in Arrival close enough to lead to a lawsuit; but if it did, claiming to have never seen the movie would hardly be considered a solid defense. I personally believe that the OP is able to avoid plagiarism only if they know what has already been written.
Henry Taylor
Oct 23, 2017 11:58
The movie Arrival makes use of such writing as a major (if slightly bizarre) plot point. Since any world which you create may need to share space with this movie in your readers' minds, you should probably be familiar with it.
 

 Discussion on answer by JBH: Alternat…

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Henry Taylor
Sep 25, 2017 21:51
+1 - Just finished reading the thermalelectric generator link. Interesting possibilities if we can find a common/cheap element or alloy that can do the trick!
 

 Discussion on question by Mea quidem …

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Henry Taylor
May 17, 2017 13:23
Is your society in control of the whole planet or are there other nations vying for territories and resources? What is your world post-scarcity or is there still a need to distribute limited supplies across a large demand? Technocracies clearly define who get to make decisions. But what flaws will be revealed by such leadership selection has more to do with the kinds of decisions they will have to make, than with how they acquired their office.
 

 Discussion on question by Deomachus: …

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Henry Taylor
Feb 12, 2017 16:57
Read anything by David Brin.
 

 Discussion on question by Tiny TrEs-2…

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Henry Taylor
Jan 16, 2017 17:39
...or a shift in the sun's color, since handwavium burns hotter than hydrogen.
 

 Discussion on question by Sky: Advant…

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Henry Taylor
Aug 18, 2016 02:00
@Simpa, Touche'. I spend too much time at my writing desk and have forgotten the natural order of the world. ...and its a comment, so I can't even fix it.
Henry Taylor
Aug 18, 2016 02:00
@Simba, Apologies! I accidentally butchered your username. No offense intended. I really hate that comments are only editable for 5 minutes.
Henry Taylor
Aug 18, 2016 02:00
The Thumper Legion was a mighty force with more than a thousand cobby bucks, standing tall with their energized swords crackling in the air and shedding sparks. All through the summer, they ruled the meadow, defeating all who would stand against them. ...then came the spring rains...
 

 Discussion on answer by Henry Taylor:…

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Henry Taylor
Aug 14, 2016 04:56
@imallett, I hope so!
Henry Taylor
Aug 14, 2016 04:56
@Shane, the question asked, "Surely, they would bring that technology back in time to let the people of the past use it?". Not, "would they come back to our time to fix our mistakes?"