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Old 11-06-2018, 05:26 AM   #1
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Sufficiently Advanced Technology

As the old saying goes, it is impossible to distinguish a sufficient advanced technology from magic, but how does that work in your games exactly? When we look at the past thousand years, a scholar in 1018 AD would have never been able to predict our scientific and technological progress, and our communications technology and our medicine especially would have seemed like magic to him or her. Why should we expect that the scientific and technological progress of the next 1,000 years should be any less remarkable?

GURPS tends to have a rather conservative view of future technology, the realistic technology of the future is based off the assumption that a TL 8 civilization understands everything about the Universe. The history of science and technology though shows that people are particularly bad at predicting scientific progress and technological change, so the predictions of GURPS will probably be no more accurate than the predictions of any other futurist. There are many possible ways that a realistic setting could differ from the predictions of GURPS.

For example, a realistic setting could have a TL12 society where the infusion of nanotechnology and the availability of microscopic fusion reactors that use helium-3 throughout every cubic meter of the Earth would give a magical element to existence. By undergoing the correct training, humans could learn to direct the nanotechnology and could develop 'spells' that would produce 'magical' effects. In GURPS terms, a low energy version could resemble energy accumulating Path/Book Magic, as the 'rituals' learnt could accelerate healing, control the weather, or summon 'spirits', which would be the distributed computer intelligences that guide the microscopic machines. If the technology is self-sufficient enough, humans would eventually forget that it was technology and would only recognize it as magic.
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Old 11-06-2018, 06:10 AM   #2
Varyon
 
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Default Re: Sufficiently Advanced Technology

GURPS has a category for sufficiently advanced technology - it’s called superscience. As for your nanotech magic idea, I’m afraid the Xeno- series of games (Xenogears, Xenosaga, Xenoblade) sort of have you beat there, as that’s pretty much what Ether is in those settings. Another series that could be technology masquerading as magic would be Destiny. You can probably find plenty of others - IIRC, in the Panzer Dragoon series the dragons and enemies are all descended from bioengineered weapons.

Interestingly, this sort of thing seems more common in video games than elsewhere.
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Old 11-06-2018, 06:30 AM   #3
ericthered
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Default Re: Sufficiently Advanced Technology

I usually like to run things the other way around, treating magic as a form of technology.



If you're running around a virtual world, a lot of what happens is going to look a good deal like magic.



"sufficiently advanced technology" being indistinguishable from magic isn't about technology eventually looking like classical magic. Its about how technology appears to someone who doesn't understand it.
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Old 11-06-2018, 11:11 AM   #4
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Default Re: Sufficiently Advanced Technology

Never liked that saying, more like Sufficiently soft science is indistinguishable from magic. And nano technology doing whatever the creators fancies in a lot of comics/books/games are just another example of that. Not that I mind settings with soft science per se, it's people pretending that it's realistic that annoy me.
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Old 11-06-2018, 11:23 AM   #5
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Default Re: Sufficiently Advanced Technology

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
GURPS tends to have a rather conservative view of future technology, the realistic technology of the future is based off the assumption that a TL 8 civilization understands everything about the Universe.
It's more the other way round- GURPS maps what we understand about the universe to TL's as far as 12. If we don't understand it at TL8, it is by definition a superscience (as Varyon said). The conservative view is what I've elsewhere seen called the "default future", which is a reasonable place to start for a generic system. If you're venturing on your own worldbuilding exercise, then of course you can create your own tech-paths that pay no heed to the GURPS program.
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Old 11-06-2018, 01:03 PM   #6
doctorevilbrain
 
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Default Re: Sufficiently Advanced Technology

Superscience means technology that violates all known rules of science.
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Old 11-06-2018, 01:21 PM   #7
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Default Re: Sufficiently Advanced Technology

Quote:
Originally Posted by doctorevilbrain View Post
Superscience means technology that violates all known rules of science.
While I could debate the pedantic details, I agree that superscience is indeed the kind of phenomenon where some bystander shouts about such things as "all known rules of science." The phrase has the right feeling.
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Old 11-06-2018, 04:23 PM   #8
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Default Re: Sufficiently Advanced Technology

What are talking about?
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Old 11-06-2018, 08:47 PM   #9
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Default Re: Sufficiently Advanced Technology

So, if a tech only violates two or three known rules of science, it's not superscience?
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Old 11-06-2018, 08:50 PM   #10
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Default Re: Sufficiently Advanced Technology

I'm just telling you what the rulebook says.
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