User:Beeminus/tech
Information detailed here is for OOC uses only.
This page is for listing technology that I am interested in pitching to the game, at least to make my own RPing easier. It will mostly be computer stuff, but there will likely be some physics and astronomy mixing in soon - whatever my character needs. None of the following is in-game official. It is listed here for easy reference for me and people I talk to.
Contents
Hardware
Personal sourcebox (desktop computer)
In the RPG manual. To expand, they should be generally suitable for all purposes, including state-of-the-art research and engineering. If you want specific hardware, it's probably gonna be at the theoretical limits of solid-state nanotechnology, which has superceded bio-computing and other 21st-century nanotech techniques. Some pretty advanced cooling systems in there, too.
2D Display
Basically identical to common paper screens, 2D displays are generally very affordable and very flat. More sophisticated models are semi-transparent solid 3D displays (multiple 2D sheets overlaid), or 2D displays that can project well outside the visible spectrum.
KQ solid-state quantum processor
KiloQubit is now a brand name, as they no longer guarantee how many qubits they actually have resolved in their processors, although it's usually on the order of hundreds. They are expensive and still jumpy, but they will crack the smaller factorization-based keyless codes very quickly. Requires hybrid interface to perform dynamic programming with a digital computer.
Li Ning MERSENNE Holo-card and 3D scanner/emitter
Just a brand (Li Ning is a prominent 2000s-era sports equipment company in China - in the future I predict their brand will be used for high-performance hologame technology) and model (MERSENNE) of a Holo-card, which is the graphics input-output hardware for holograms. This particular model is for gaming.
Server external storage drive
I won't say how much capacity, but the RPG manual would suggest it's in the range of a couple petabytes.
Portable external storage drive
Still a lot, but less.
Portable industrial-grade multimeter/signal processor
Detects wired and wireless electromagnetic signals, performs a wide range of processing, but still only readable by someone with some engineering knowledge and certainly no substitute for a full-blown computer for processing.
Software
Latest Blue Sun OS Professional
Windows clone? Security holes? You betcha!
Programming languages
Alliance CHARLES
Basically a joke of the U.S. Government's 'ADA' (named after Ada Lovelace), the Alliance developed 'CHARLES' (named after Charles Babbage) to be used for all government security and warship computers. Like ADA, CHARLES is by far the most obsolete, clumsy, slow, bloated, useless language in the 'Verse, but the Government spent millions in developing it and they're gonna get their money's worth, dammit.
void*C
First there was A, then B, then C, then C++, then C#. Sometime in the next 500 years, somebody developed 'void*C' ("void-star-see"), which is basically the Lingua Franca for programming in the 'Verse. There are many things you can do to 'C' to make it better, but once you cast it as void*, you have made it omnipotent!
FORTRAN
There must be legacy code, and there is no legacy code more legacy than FORTRAN. It's still in use, despite being obselete in 1960, in places including the most expensive, largest projects that governments and scientists have undertaken in the 21st century: particle accelerators!
Quantum and stochastic coding suites
You need special hardware for quantum and stochastic processors, so special software and code is also appropriate.
Symbolic mathematics suite
In the future, there may be a revolution from Mathematica, MAPLE, perhaps Liebniz notation altogether. But still, mathematicians, engineers and physicists will have great use for a symbolic manipulation, graphing, and infinite-precision calculation program.
Engineering CAD - chemical, structural, electrical, and computer
Self-explanatory
Signal processing suite
Self-explanatory
Professional-grade security suite
In a world of quantum cryptography, security is harder than ever. Note: the only mathematically-unbeatable way to encrypt something is to use the "Onetime-use pad" method, which is a polyalphabetic cipher with a random key that is as long as the message, used once, then replaced with a new one for each message. The keys must first be exchanged physically between the two parties.
Misc
Carbon-fibre fencing blades
Western and Eastern swordplay traditions have merged, interwoven, separated, and merged again in 'Verse history, and in many places at many times has become a part of life and, as such, a part of death. Common technology was mass-marketed for safe training with blades along several traditions of swordsmanship, culminating in a range of carbon-fibre practice swords. The blades are made up of multiple rigid staves that compress and flex in slashing and thrusting action, each time absorbing kinetic energy dynamically and efficiently such that minimal to no protective clothing is needed during practice. Should they break from overuse, the fibres lose local rigidity and collapse into harmless strands.
