Harabeck

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Discussion on question by Mox: Is the…

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Harabeck

Jan 20, 2022 09:00

I can't see how there'd be a single term, only group negation. A human would say "non-humans", a dwarf would say "non-dwarves" (or "non-dwarfs"), etc.

Harabeck

Jan 20, 2022 09:00

I'm not clear on why you would expect this to exist as a general word applying to the genre as a whole. I think you're only going to find examples of specific universes where one group has their own term for this, like your xenos example. Even that's pretty rare. More commonly you'll find derogatory terms for specific races, like "knife-ears" or something.

Discussion on question by Aragorn Ele…

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Harabeck

Aug 24, 2021 21:44

The accepted answer of this related question seems relevant.

Discussion on question by John O: Cor…

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Harabeck

Aug 18, 2021 19:37

Inserting random "'" characters into names is a technique used in fiction, and authors creating fictional names have no obligation to follow formal English style guidelines. If the author intends it to be a stand-in for some other character that cannot properly be represented in unicode, it is up to them to clarify that within the text

Harabeck

Aug 18, 2021 19:13

With regards to, "he did not have the correct one to use", there is no other symbol unless the author made that symbol up. So if the author used an apostrophe, then that is the correct symbol.

Harabeck

Aug 18, 2021 19:13

Please calm down and try to clarify question. The more you explain your position, the more confused I am. The correct character for the apostrophe is... the apostrophe. On what grounds is using the apostrophe the author themselves used "clearly wrong"? It's more than not understanding question, I don't understand the framework within which you're trying to pose the question.

Harabeck

Aug 18, 2021 19:13

@JohnO I say it seems like a writing question because you seem to be asking about writing conventions. That you happen to be asking about existing fantasy and scifi works isn't really relevant. Fictional names can be anything the authors want. I could have someone with a weird name in a present-day setting.

Harabeck

Aug 18, 2021 19:13

Seems like a writing question? Although I wouldn't expect there to be any sort of answer for this. There are no hard rules for fictional names, they're fictional. Why would Star Wars alien names have a common convention with Star Trek alien names?

Discussion on question by DanielSank:…

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Harabeck

Jun 15, 2021 23:26

For an example of a writer falling into patterns, see "braid tugging" and "skirt smoothing" in reference to Wheel of Time.

Harabeck

Jun 15, 2021 23:26

@DanielSank Yeah, I don't buy your conspiracy with the article, that's called confirmation bias. As for using it across shows, they shared, writers, or the writers worked together, or the writers were inspired by watching the previous work. I might be on purpose, but it doesn't have to be, and it's an awfully subtle in-joke if it is on purpose.

Harabeck

Jun 15, 2021 23:26

That a phrase is used often is no indication that the use is deliberate. Writers are quite capable of falling into patterns and using standard phrases for certain situations.

Discussion on answer by Dragongeek: W…

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Harabeck

Mar 8, 2021 13:40

"Success" means different things for unmanned prototypes than it does for finished products.

Discussion on answer by Harabeck: Was…

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Harabeck

Jan 19, 2021 20:13

@mikem “Various reports are indicating the same type of approach at the Capitol with confirmed antifa "members" present and raising the temperature.” The only "reports" I've seen to this effect are presented by Trump apologists with no evidence. If there is a solid reason to believe this is true, then please present it as an answer. This whole situation was caused by Trump and his allies simply lying. Please don't contribute that effort.

Discussion on question by Sagierian: …

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Harabeck

Jan 16, 2021 23:30

@Sagierian If you simply search something like "gop lawmakers claim capitol riot blm antifa" on google, you'll find articles quoting various people making similar which would qualify as notable. Perhaps find one that most matches your friend's claim?

Discussion on answer by Nihar Karve: …

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Harabeck

Jan 13, 2021 18:58

@undefined When not using the minus sign, they're talking about the number of zeroes, or the number of times you would have to repeat the setup. 1 x 10^-3 is 0.001. To fill up a 1 liter container 0.001 liters at a time, I would have to fill it 1000 (or 1 x 10^3) times.

Discussion on answer by Machavity: Wh…

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Harabeck

Jun 22, 2020 15:18

@Yehuda I'm highly skeptical. This wouldn't be the first app that promises nonsense. See Tellspec and SCiO, both scams.

Discussion on answer by Oddthinking: …

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Harabeck

May 2, 2020 11:05

@dan-klasson There were claims of anomalous radar readings, but that's not something we can examine, and I've not seen anyone claim to correlate the exact the behavior and timing of the radar contacts with the videos. The videos are the only thing we can actually examine, and they can easily be explained as observations of normal objects. Claims of other strange occurrences that don't change that. If I show you a blurry picture of a deer through the trees and tell you about how big foot rummaged around my campsite, that picture shouldn't lend credence to the big foot story.

Discussion on answer by Philipp Flenk…

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Harabeck

Mar 5, 2020 23:14

This answer only confirms the existence of Tuesday. =P

Discussion on answer by Morris The Ca…

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Harabeck

Dec 24, 2019 11:57

@MorrisTheCat A hundred foot tall humanoid robot would make sense if you build it purely for the cool factor. So the army wouldn't build it, but the competitors in Mecha Fighting League? Race cars aren't great for actually traveling on a road, so who knows what we'll do in the name of sports in a few centuries?

Discussion on question by Stephen: Do…

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Harabeck

Dec 20, 2019 07:31

If you just want mecha because they're cool, but spend tons of time worrying about the chemistry of their skeleton, it's just going to call more attention to the fact that you haven't justified their use in the first place. There is simply no reason to prefer that your giant war machine be in a humanoid shape. Maybe an advanced civilization would make them for combat sporting events though.

Discussion on question by Incognito: …

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Harabeck

Dec 13, 2019 11:29

I point you to the historical documentary, Robot Jox.

Discussion on answer by L.Dutch - Rei…

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Harabeck

Nov 11, 2019 01:39

@Matthew A satellite is small enough that an occlusion event would be hard to distinguish from atmospheric turbulence (the usual "twinkling" of stars).

Discussion on question by AsDuskFalls…

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Harabeck

Oct 21, 2019 22:56

@AsDuskFalls I'm certainly not saying you should abandon the idea, I'm just pointing out that more details on why the system is used might help us answer how feasible it is, instead of focusing on why historical methods are superior.

Harabeck

Oct 21, 2019 22:56

@AsDuskFalls Before considering feasibility, answer this question: why? (We have plenty of history of sailing but no system like this, why?) It seems unlikely that ships would happen on each other at night on the "high seas". Is the shipping traffic concentrated for some reason? And a ship sailing at night is already going to have lights on it for the crew. Does adding a few more really make a difference? Would lights attract monsters? Even the ships would meet a night, for what reason would they do anything other than avoid each other?

Harabeck

Oct 21, 2019 22:56

If the concern is for identification at night, is there any reason not to use a series of lights either in a certain pattern or a sequence?

Discussion on question by user2741831…

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Harabeck

Oct 16, 2019 08:54

While not a realistic look at such a scenario, you may be interested Dr. Stone.

Discussion on question by Finn E: Sci…

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Harabeck

Aug 3, 2019 09:24

How far in the future are we talking here? Are we far enough that anti-matter is in the running, for instance?

Discussion on question by MPIchael: I…

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Harabeck

Jul 20, 2019 15:45

Are any of your examples actually "arms research"? There are plenty of civilian applications for radar. Fusion has many beneficial applications for power generation. Los Alamos may have its roots in nuclear weapons, but these days it does plenty of research that is not directly applicable to warfare. It sounds like you've spooked yourself over nothing to me.

Discussion on question by Beefster: H…

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Harabeck

May 31, 2019 09:20

Humans can't even standardize as a species. I've even seen companies that had trouble standardizing coordinate systems between mapping software that they created and had to talk to each other. I see the idea of us standardizing with an aliens species (who may have completely different thought processes as us) as highly unlikely.

Discussion on answer by Aegon: Why di…

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Harabeck

May 21, 2019 15:18

I think 8 might be the serious answer, actually. The dragons haven't been shown to be particularly clever. Such an event would have made way more sense if we had a narrator or the dragons perspective in a novel to explain for us, but at this point, I don't trust the writers to have come up with a better alternative or a good way to show it if they were checking story points off an outline Martin gave them.

Discussion on answer by alephzero: Wh…

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Harabeck

Apr 26, 2019 16:02

@Aaron To make a "correct" flat earth model (and damn the complexity!) you'd have to get into some pretty extreme distorting of space or something. The existing "models" you'll find won't even come close to explaining all observable phenomena and typically fail to even explain the one thing they focus (usually the movement of the Sun). But I guess my point is that scientific models are better as they are more useful at producing correct predictions. Producing satisfying explanations might be a side-effect, but is not guaranteed. And, simplified classroom explanations are just that, simplified.

Harabeck

Apr 26, 2019 16:02

@Aaron You could create a geocentric model that accurately predicts the movement of the planets, but the necessary calculations would be absurdly complex compared to the heliocentric model. The planets would be moving in weird loops, but you could do it if you really wanted to. In a way, the correctness of heliocentrism is simply based on utility.

Discussion on answer by JBH: Is it po…

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Harabeck

Sep 10, 2018 05:13

@JBH I would argue that humans would tend not respect an authority so distant. Why care about such an old proclamation? And remember, comments here are about improving answers. I feel your answer does not address this aspect of human nature. By all means, if you think divine devotion, semi-autonomous sub-units etc would help, then I encourage you to add them to your answer.

Harabeck

Sep 10, 2018 05:13

I can't help but think that galactic scales of time/space are inherently different. Your examples could not quickly communicate or transport, but they could do those in a fraction of a human lifetime. On a galactic scale, merely promulgating a new law could take tens of thousands of years. How do you keep a people unified when your laws are 50,000 years out of date by the time your subjects receive them?

Discussion on question by Ash: Worse …

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Harabeck

Aug 8, 2018 09:46

I'd rather fight zombies than a mob of normal people that want to kill me. The regular humans are far more dangerous.

Discussion on answer by L.Dutch: Rail…

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Harabeck

May 25, 2018 16:39

@WayneConrad Irrelevant. Railguns would subject orders of magnitude more force on the projectile. That's kinda the whole point of them.

Discussion on question by norlin: Wha…

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Harabeck

May 18, 2018 16:09

"Imagine a high-fantasy magic world where magic has the place of a science." Then it's not magic. Your world just has a different science than our own. Calling it magic then is either 4th wall breaking (because it's magic to the reader but not the inhabitants of your setting) or just a really weird coincidence of vocabulary that these fantasy people call their science "magic". Either way, it seems weird from the perspective in internal consistency.

Discussion on question by scohe001: H…

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Harabeck

May 7, 2018 18:20

100 individuals is probably below the minimum viable population for a human population, so they must have had contact with outside civilization over those thousands of years. The nature of that contact, may help inform their new occupation. worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/3/…

Discussion on question by colmde: How…

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Harabeck

May 6, 2018 02:31

Why are the crime rates low if not because of a good police force? The answer to that could easily inform the way the government reacts to the agitators.

Discussion on answer by James: Delete…

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Harabeck

May 4, 2018 11:26

If the stress is work related, and it's affecting job performance, then discussing that stress with your manager is something you should absolutely do. If your manager doesn't care about how stressed you are, and there is a genuine problem, it's probably time to move on to a new company.

Discussion on answer by Graham: When …

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Harabeck

Jan 28, 2018 00:37

"NASA deliberately destroyed all plans for the Atlas rockets" What? Atlas rockets are still built to this day. Did you mean Saturn rockets? I'm gonna need a citation on that if so...