02-02-2023, 01:33 AM | #1 |
Join Date: May 2009
Location: In Rio de Janeiro, where it was cyberpunk before it was cool.
|
What is our TL?
With the breakthroughts in fusion, the possibility of a primitive form of FTL comms due to quantum entanglement, DNA editing, nascent brain chips, AI starting to get useful, multi-use complex robots for personal use on the near horizon and so many other things, where are we compared to what we were when 4e was released? Sometimes the world feels very cyberpunkish already...
|
02-02-2023, 02:09 AM | #2 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
|
Re: What is our TL?
Quote:
DNA editing technologies are really cool and are in serious use, but are usually not the actual barrier for biotech advances. Recent developments in AI are interesting, but I'm not sure they touch on anything that's specified to a TL.
__________________
I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
|
02-02-2023, 03:49 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Jan 2023
|
Re: What is our TL?
I would say mature TL 8 verging on TL 9.
|
02-02-2023, 04:46 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Oct 2022
|
Re: What is our TL?
Pyramid 4/6: Sci-fi/Tech II includes an article by Kromm entitled "Today's Tomorrow, Tomorrow's Yesterday" in which he breaks down this question in quite a bit of detail.
|
02-02-2023, 05:54 AM | #5 | |||||
Join Date: Oct 2007
|
Re: What is our TL?
The overall process is still energy negative. Creating the fusion pellets takes more energy than the process releases and the process itself is barely at the point where it is energy neutral (ie. it releases as much energy as is put into starting the process). Useable fusion power may happen in our lifetimes, but I wouldn't put money down on it happening within the next couple of decades.
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
In general, the main reason we've been hearing about these things lately is researchers wanting more funding for their research. And the easiest way to do that is to have some interesting fact or piece of research data that can be spun into an attention grabbing headline. |
|||||
02-02-2023, 06:18 AM | #6 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
|
Re: What is our TL?
Quote:
I doubt there are any real-world applications. Quantum entanglement, as I understand it, has to do with the fact that certain unobserved attributes of the pair wind up matching when you observe them... but we have no way to manipulate these attributes, and if we develop a way to do so, I strongly suspect doing so will disentangle the pair. But it would be fascinating to be proven wrong.
__________________
GURPS Overhaul |
|
02-02-2023, 08:37 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: May 2009
Location: In Rio de Janeiro, where it was cyberpunk before it was cool.
|
Re: What is our TL?
Quote:
|
|
02-02-2023, 09:12 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Sep 2007
|
Re: What is our TL?
Correct.
The short form is that Alice and Bob can go off and measure their set of entangled particles, but both Alice and Bob are just going to see a string of random numbers. The only way to detect the entanglement is for Alice to send Bob her string of numbers so that they realize they match -- and that communication is STL. You also have the problem that Alice can't impose a state on her end of each entangled pair -- that is, set the string of entangled bits to some specific message. That is, Alice can do that, but that breaks the correlation of the pair. Bob still gets a random result if he makes a random measurement of the particle on his end, no longer correlated with Alice's. If our pair know they have a matched, ordered set of particles are entangled -- say, Alice and Bob have divided up the matching pairs when they produce them together, and Bob wanders away somewhere else -- the best they can do is produce a matching random number on both ends. Neither end can impose a state, but they can each read a string of random 1s and 0s. That's useful for key sharing (usually called "quantum cryptography", even though that key-sharing alone isn't actually encrypting anything yet), but that doesn't tell Bob anything that Alice knew that he might want to know. You then have to use that key in some sort of boring old non-quantum STL cryptographic system to transfer any actual information. (And don't forget that "Bob wandered away" -- which wandering is of course STL, as in the first paragraph.) Useful, but not an ansible or subspace radio. Last edited by Anaraxes; 02-02-2023 at 11:20 AM. |
02-02-2023, 09:32 AM | #9 | |
☣
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
|
Re: What is our TL?
Quote:
But two caveats: a) entanglements are much more complex than that, so rather than two possible messages, it's millions, and b) if you think you understand quantum mechanics, they change to ensure you are wrong.
__________________
RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
|
02-02-2023, 09:47 AM | #10 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
|
Re: What is our TL?
The key here is Cutting Edge and even theoretical vs. mature widespread tech.
None of those are widespread and broad enough to bump our TL. Even gene editing is too narrow to count as a full TL upgrade just for the biology or medical field. Most of that list are just not practical yet and the few that do are not in wide use or too niche. SO like others I rate us as upper TL overall and would allow the Cutting Edge perk for some things, especially in a cinematic campaign.
__________________
My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more! My GURPS fan contribution and blog: REFPLace GURPS Landing Page My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items) My GURPS Wiki entries |
|
|