06-23-2022, 09:10 PM | #21 |
Join Date: Dec 2017
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Re: Different TLs in different fields
I'm working on a tale on AlternateHistory.com that is dealing with just that situation.
In 1876, Lincoln, New Hampshire was struck by a meteorite, leaving a crater a mile and a half across, blown out of New Hampshire Granite (and making a part of New Hampshire the lowest point of land in the western hemisphere.) The rest of the world finds this interesting, but the USA has become very intrested in space--the incoming rock's trail was seen over most of the East Coast, including Boston and New York. The result, as of 1878, is telescope technology improving, but computational technology is approaching TL 5+1--mechanical computers. Also, other areas are pushing the edge of early TL 6--people are experimenting with rockets, with the long term goal of being able to go Up There and do something about an incoming rock, nce the astronomers have found and computed its course. Various factors--like some near misses that have been documented--will keep ti going. I'm working on how far things can go, and what other fields get dragged along over the next few decades. The research is backed by Uncle Sam in a big way. (The main character has expressed concern that they might not have a satellite in orbit by the end of the century.) Once I get the timeline to ~ 1900, I'll post it here. |
06-24-2022, 02:04 AM | #22 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: Different TLs in different fields
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Advanced biotech/medicine implies a roughly similar TL for agriculture, chemistry, materials science, and possibly related fields like power generation. A hive mind society might effectively have high TL in certain areas, like information technology, due to innate traits rather than technology, however. |
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06-24-2022, 02:12 AM | #23 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: Different TLs in different fields
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That's why the High TL advantage and related Perks might exist in realistic games. |
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06-24-2022, 05:31 AM | #24 | ||
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Brazil
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Re: Different TLs in different fields
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I did try a mental experience for such a case thou... I was thinking into the two most important things for OUR own technological development, and how we wouldnt have any without them: metals and wood. Wood has been a massive stroke of luck. There's no other way to describe. A type of organical matter that is easily combustable under the conditions of our atmosphere? That's just so damn luck that the theory of the "Rare Earth" to why we dont see aliens around might just be spot on (and I never subscribed to it, but Im beggining to change my mind). There's no particular reason to believe that the evolutive history of another planet would produce something as useful as wood; there was no particular reason for it to have happened here - well, that's debatable. Plants were competing for the Sun's light, and for that they needed a strong structure to sustain their bigger bodies, and it just so happens that structures made of Carbon are incredible resistant, and Carbon is very very common - a lot more than Calcium for instance, which could've been an alternative. Anyway, despite the advantages of Carbon structres, it's still not too far fetched to imagine a world without "threes" (alien ones), or more precisely without wood. Maybe the first highly intelligent species of that world developed really quickly, before plants-alike were really into the business of having to heavily compete for the Sun (so they are still pretty much only grass and tiny soft bushes). Or a more unlikely option perhaps, the big plants could have used something alternative to high energy carbon structures - like Calcium for example, if said world had a Calcium rich soil (unlikely? Perhaps) Anyway, for whatever reason, there's no wood-like organic structures. So, there's no fire. The other point crucial for our technological development were metals. However, without fire, there's no metallurgy. So I imagined a society that developed agriculture... That tammed the animals... That developed medicine... And that mastered the ability to pile up rocks so that their descendants can claim it was made by extraterrestrials. Ok, that's all fair and good but... No fire. No metals. So I was thinking, selective breeding, obviously, it would be the thing that would follow them around for thousands, tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. Organic manipulation would be their ONLY possible tech. In such a case, it isnt so far fateched to imagine those people creating a TL 12 fully biotech civilization. They could even have "computers", but those would be massive "brain bugs". The great leap here would be to go from selective breeding to actual genetic manipulation. The Evolution Theory and the Theory on Hereditarity, those are easy. The real hard part is learning to manipulate genes (or an alien equivalent), but since such civilization would be forced to advance a lot into chemistry and biology, not totally impossible. Given enough time, even trial and mistake could achieve that. One thing is that many modern materials are organic in origin, such as plastic or kevlar. So, the idea of a TL 12 in biotech and TL 0 in the rest (or at most TL 12 in BIOcomputers for example, but 0 in any non-biotech) aint so impossible as it would seem at first glance. Quote:
Last edited by KarlKost; 06-24-2022 at 05:34 AM. |
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06-24-2022, 06:25 AM | #25 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Different TLs in different fields
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So, yeah, they're advanced in a lot more than just biotech.
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06-24-2022, 06:38 AM | #26 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Different TLs in different fields
Our biotech involves knowing the structure of DNA and proteins, which involves such fields as organic chemistry, catalytic chemistry, and X-ray crystallography. And processing genetic information requires fairly high-powered computer technology. I think if you were on a biotech path you would either stall out before TL8, or be forced to invent those other technologies. And each of them entails several other technologies for support.
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06-24-2022, 06:54 AM | #27 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Different TLs in different fields
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Another possibility is a technology that has been discovered as such but cannot come fully on line for economic reasons (usually expense of production).
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06-24-2022, 07:50 AM | #28 | |
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Brazil
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Re: Different TLs in different fields
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The zerg have ship-design skills too, but those are bio-ships, and so on. Also, not all possible knowledge is "technology". "Warfare" for instance is NOT technology. Scientific knowledge is not technology, it's knowledge. Technology is the applicability of said knowledge. So, the Zerg can know pretty much the same as the Protoss know in theory, but only apply it for Biotech, so that does not invalidate the argument (architecture applied to bio-buildings is still biotech regardless). |
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06-24-2022, 07:53 AM | #29 | |
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Brazil
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Re: Different TLs in different fields
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06-24-2022, 10:44 AM | #30 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Different TLs in different fields
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