5 ms·

If we're talking surprising applications of FTL, what about reducing latencies within CPUs?

R0b0t1 5y ago
This is a good one. The limits on the mass needed to construct the system are quite large, but perhaps you can get a weaker effect much more easily.
godelski 5y ago
This would also be neat. And of course any information communication. While Ansibles[0] are typically used to verbally communicate with someone why not any information? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansible
- evilduck 5y ago
  That was sort of a primary plot point of the Ender's Game series.
  - godelski 5y ago
    I wouldn't say primary plot of Ender's Game. I'd say it was a higher focus in Speaker for the Dead. Still, the device is used in a lot of Sci-Fis. Card wasn't even the first to use the term Ansible, though he did use that exact word.
    - effingwewt 5y ago
      It was most definitely one of if not the most central plot point of the series. Not sure how far you got, but the entire series including the prequels is worth a read imho.
      - effingwewt 5y ago
        Dropped by to see what was up, only a drive-by downvote so let me explain since you didn't. Its becomes clear by the end that the ansibles being used were creating philotic threads throughout the universe. So the very thing they had been using for FTL communication was building a huge network. This allowed them to not only save the trees by uploading them, it akso allowed Ender to be brought to no-space where he was able to subconsciously create young Peter and Valentine. So, they ended up being central to the entire story. You're welcome.
      - ISV_Damocles 5y ago
        Here's why I believe you are being downvoted: 1. The original topic was about Ender's Game only, not the entire series, so you basically shifted the goalposts. 2. More importantly, I think you are using the wrong literary terminology and you and the others are talking over each other. Where you say "plot point" I believe you meant "plot device." The Ansible is definitely the primary plot device that makes so much of the story and how it flows possible, but the ansible is not the point of the plot itself. Throughout Ender's Game the plot point is reinforced that the rules of civilization will be broken when a credible threat shows itself. That is shown with the various physical conflicts Ender has with the other children at the individual level, it is shown with the tolerance the military has in order to shape Ender at the organizational level, and it is shown with the vilification of Ender so society at large does not have to grapple with just how badly it broke its own rules - so it can be done again if necessary for survival.
        evilduck 5y ago
        FWIW I explicitly said "Ender's Game series". I think you're also redefining "plot point" to just be "plot". A plot point is simply an event that impacts what happens next. The reveal of FTL data happens late in the book but it is definitely both a plot point and a plot device. For the greater series though, it's basically the core concept of the story arc's plot.
        effingwewt 5y ago
        Appreciated, I wasn't meaning to be rude, just love talking about this series in particular.
foota 5y ago
You don't even need FTL for that, just move quicker than your cpu!
- fho 5y ago
  I assume that in theory this would also work the other way around ... find a way to make your CPU move (spatially) a lot slower than you and perform millenias worth of computation in your coffeebreak.
  - pontifier 5y ago
    "I will slow myself down relativistically and declare that the universe has sped up." seems like the equivalent of the mathematical joke of "I build the fence around myself and declare that I am outside it." I highly approve.
thaneross 5y ago
Funnily enough, the writers of ST:TNG had this idea too. The main computer of the Enterprise-D was huge (9 decks tall) and generated a subspace field so that optical processing ran faster than light.
- native_samples 5y ago
  Star Trek's tech vision is astounding. How many things in it have actually been built? I count: • Tablets (the padds) • VR "holodecks" • Computers that you can talk to and ask questions • "Tricorders" (smartphones?) • Turbolifts (https://www.dezeen.com/2017/07/12/thyssenkrupp-unveils-worlds-first-rope-less-sideways-moving-elevator-system-multi/ https://www.dezeen.com/2017/07/12/thyssenkrupp-unveils-world...) Maybe we'll get to add a warp drive to the list by the time I die. What else?
  - moonbug 5y ago
    The navigation was done by whales.
  - pbhjpbhj 5y ago
    Communicators would be something like Bluetooth earpieces. You've got Tricorders wrong, they're a generalized non-contact diagnostic tool; someone was working on one but it was just a load of diagnostic devices stuck together. We've got body temperature, and pulse is doable, but not sure what else can really be added to a Tricorder, maybe a tiny mass-spectrometer gets you part way there.
    - eganist 5y ago
      > You've got Tricorders wrong, they're a generalized non-contact diagnostic tool; someone was working on one but it was just a load of diagnostic devices stuck together. We've got body temperature, and pulse is doable, but not sure what else can really be added to a Tricorder, maybe a tiny mass-spectrometer gets you part way there. In fairness, a tricorder would probably need to be a device capable of gathering data about quantum fields within an extremely local region of space and then analyzing based on known frames of reference and data models, so we're probably a ways off on that one. The harder part of that challenge is building a device capable of analyzing quantum fields in the most abstract sense. But once that's done, even if it's in the form of a massive machine that can only analyze spacetime in a small chamber, even if that machine is rooms-big, the race to the first tricorder begins. (I could be completely off-base with my comment on analyzing quantum fields. I'm not at all an expert.)
WJW 5y ago
There's at least three sci-fi universes I know of that used ubiquitous nanoscale wormholes to speed up their processors.
iflp 5y ago
If you are willing to assume CTC: https://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/lec19.html https://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/lec19.html

This is a good one. The limits on the mass needed to construct the system are quite large, but perhaps you can get a weaker effect much more easily.

godelski 5y ago

This would also be neat. And of course any information communication. While Ansibles[0] are typically used to verbally communicate with someone why not any information? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansible

evilduck 5y ago
That was sort of a primary plot point of the Ender's Game series.
- godelski 5y ago
  I wouldn't say primary plot of Ender's Game. I'd say it was a higher focus in Speaker for the Dead. Still, the device is used in a lot of Sci-Fis. Card wasn't even the first to use the term Ansible, though he did use that exact word.
  - effingwewt 5y ago
    It was most definitely one of if not the most central plot point of the series. Not sure how far you got, but the entire series including the prequels is worth a read imho.
    - effingwewt 5y ago
      Dropped by to see what was up, only a drive-by downvote so let me explain since you didn't. Its becomes clear by the end that the ansibles being used were creating philotic threads throughout the universe. So the very thing they had been using for FTL communication was building a huge network. This allowed them to not only save the trees by uploading them, it akso allowed Ender to be brought to no-space where he was able to subconsciously create young Peter and Valentine. So, they ended up being central to the entire story. You're welcome.
    - ISV_Damocles 5y ago
      Here's why I believe you are being downvoted: 1. The original topic was about Ender's Game only, not the entire series, so you basically shifted the goalposts. 2. More importantly, I think you are using the wrong literary terminology and you and the others are talking over each other. Where you say "plot point" I believe you meant "plot device." The Ansible is definitely the primary plot device that makes so much of the story and how it flows possible, but the ansible is not the point of the plot itself. Throughout Ender's Game the plot point is reinforced that the rules of civilization will be broken when a credible threat shows itself. That is shown with the various physical conflicts Ender has with the other children at the individual level, it is shown with the tolerance the military has in order to shape Ender at the organizational level, and it is shown with the vilification of Ender so society at large does not have to grapple with just how badly it broke its own rules - so it can be done again if necessary for survival.
      - evilduck 5y ago
        FWIW I explicitly said "Ender's Game series". I think you're also redefining "plot point" to just be "plot". A plot point is simply an event that impacts what happens next. The reveal of FTL data happens late in the book but it is definitely both a plot point and a plot device. For the greater series though, it's basically the core concept of the story arc's plot.
        effingwewt 5y ago
        Appreciated, I wasn't meaning to be rude, just love talking about this series in particular.

foota 5y ago

You don't even need FTL for that, just move quicker than your cpu!

fho 5y ago
I assume that in theory this would also work the other way around ... find a way to make your CPU move (spatially) a lot slower than you and perform millenias worth of computation in your coffeebreak.
- pontifier 5y ago
  "I will slow myself down relativistically and declare that the universe has sped up." seems like the equivalent of the mathematical joke of "I build the fence around myself and declare that I am outside it." I highly approve.

thaneross 5y ago

Funnily enough, the writers of ST:TNG had this idea too. The main computer of the Enterprise-D was huge (9 decks tall) and generated a subspace field so that optical processing ran faster than light.

native_samples 5y ago
Star Trek's tech vision is astounding. How many things in it have actually been built? I count: • Tablets (the padds) • VR "holodecks" • Computers that you can talk to and ask questions • "Tricorders" (smartphones?) • Turbolifts (https://www.dezeen.com/2017/07/12/thyssenkrupp-unveils-worlds-first-rope-less-sideways-moving-elevator-system-multi/ https://www.dezeen.com/2017/07/12/thyssenkrupp-unveils-world...) Maybe we'll get to add a warp drive to the list by the time I die. What else?
- moonbug 5y ago
  The navigation was done by whales.
- pbhjpbhj 5y ago
  Communicators would be something like Bluetooth earpieces. You've got Tricorders wrong, they're a generalized non-contact diagnostic tool; someone was working on one but it was just a load of diagnostic devices stuck together. We've got body temperature, and pulse is doable, but not sure what else can really be added to a Tricorder, maybe a tiny mass-spectrometer gets you part way there.
  - eganist 5y ago
    > You've got Tricorders wrong, they're a generalized non-contact diagnostic tool; someone was working on one but it was just a load of diagnostic devices stuck together. We've got body temperature, and pulse is doable, but not sure what else can really be added to a Tricorder, maybe a tiny mass-spectrometer gets you part way there. In fairness, a tricorder would probably need to be a device capable of gathering data about quantum fields within an extremely local region of space and then analyzing based on known frames of reference and data models, so we're probably a ways off on that one. The harder part of that challenge is building a device capable of analyzing quantum fields in the most abstract sense. But once that's done, even if it's in the form of a massive machine that can only analyze spacetime in a small chamber, even if that machine is rooms-big, the race to the first tricorder begins. (I could be completely off-base with my comment on analyzing quantum fields. I'm not at all an expert.)

WJW 5y ago

There's at least three sci-fi universes I know of that used ubiquitous nanoscale wormholes to speed up their processors.

iflp 5y ago

If you are willing to assume CTC: https://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/lec19.html https://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/lec19.html