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The human stuff is hard sci-fi. The alien protomolecule is thoroughly in the realm of sufficiently advanced to be indistinguishable from magic. And I'm fine wi
by thereddaikon 5y ago
The human stuff is hard sci-fi. The alien protomolecule is thoroughly in the realm of sufficiently advanced to be indistinguishable from magic.
And I'm fine with that because of how its handled. The protomolecule is less of a technology itself and more or a narrative tool. How it works isn't important. What is important is that it is a disruptive force that changes the direction of humanity.
- Zimahl 5y agoIt is 'magic' but a really interesting concept. It's essentially a self-replicating terraforming device. An ancient civilization sends out probes with the molecule - in this case a small planetoid - that will hopefully crash into a planet with biological material and then collect and convert said material into a ring that connects to an interstellar network. The problem is that the one in The Expanse got caught up in Jovian system, like gets done with a lot of interstellar objects.
- thereddaikon 5y agoIt's a variation on the Von Neumann probe. A self replicating spacecraft. Instead of being for exploration or production of a specific widget its purpose is building ftl gates as part of a presumably galactic network.