I know some people aren't in love with the idea that handwavium is intelligent, or even possibly symbiotically intelligent by connecting with its users. Now, I tend to anthropomorphize my representations of the stuff, just because it's fun, and I have this image of it in my head. But here's a thought on how handwavium might work that doesn't require it to be intelligent at all. Just able to perceive a large portion of its environment, and to have a tropism for certain perceptions of that environment.
So - we've decided to make a spacecraft. Here's what might be happening, on a metaphorical level:
Imagine a HUGE wall. Not infinite, but extremely large. Across every bit of the wall are lights - untold numbers of them (Bill-yuns and Bill-yuns...*thwap of a rolled-up newspaper* Shut UP, Carl.). A light can be dark or brightly lit, or a gradient in between. And each point of light represents data from the environment.
You're applying handwavium to the engine. The wall is what the handwavium perceives. Exactly how much it perceives might be based on the strain, and certain users might unlock the ability to perceive more data points, or odder ones. So strain, tech types by user, whatever else we might decide is important - all of this changes the points on the wall.
There's a HUGE bright spot on the wall that represents the engine data - that's what it's being applied to, after all. The things say - gas-run, does this, does that, fair repair - everything to represent the engine. Clustered nearby would be data points from the user - his perception on what the engine is/does, what he WANTS it to do, and so on. All in various intensities of light/dark.
Other lights would be environmental data - music, temperature, what other conditions in the room, the knowledge programmed into the 'wavium, including special technical data that a specific user might unlock. All told, it generates a HUGE mottled form on the wall - a picture in light.
And the handwavium has been programmed with a tropism for light - it reacts to light by approaching it. The effect inside the handwavium is for it to be attracted to the brighter sources and settle there on the metaphorical wall. When it's all settled and it cures, it forms a permanent representation of the wall - as the device it was creating.
So, if you replicate conditions/devices/user/strain as close as possible.....you can make a similar device. But there will still be differences, just because you can't replicate the wall exactly. You can get close, but there WILL be differences.
Some things will be easier to make/replicate than others - spaceship parts of the wall are easy for most handwavium to perceive, so when attached to a device that can become a ship, those parts stand out. Other bits are more obscure.
Each handwavium item is a sort of metaphorical representation of the environment around the handwavium in question when it made the device.
No intelligence needed - it simply reacts as programmed, as a tropism. But this still allows generating all sorts of odd devices. Quirks might represent points of light that fired up because of an environmental condition or thought from the user...and so on.
Thoughts?
So - we've decided to make a spacecraft. Here's what might be happening, on a metaphorical level:
Imagine a HUGE wall. Not infinite, but extremely large. Across every bit of the wall are lights - untold numbers of them (Bill-yuns and Bill-yuns...*thwap of a rolled-up newspaper* Shut UP, Carl.). A light can be dark or brightly lit, or a gradient in between. And each point of light represents data from the environment.
You're applying handwavium to the engine. The wall is what the handwavium perceives. Exactly how much it perceives might be based on the strain, and certain users might unlock the ability to perceive more data points, or odder ones. So strain, tech types by user, whatever else we might decide is important - all of this changes the points on the wall.
There's a HUGE bright spot on the wall that represents the engine data - that's what it's being applied to, after all. The things say - gas-run, does this, does that, fair repair - everything to represent the engine. Clustered nearby would be data points from the user - his perception on what the engine is/does, what he WANTS it to do, and so on. All in various intensities of light/dark.
Other lights would be environmental data - music, temperature, what other conditions in the room, the knowledge programmed into the 'wavium, including special technical data that a specific user might unlock. All told, it generates a HUGE mottled form on the wall - a picture in light.
And the handwavium has been programmed with a tropism for light - it reacts to light by approaching it. The effect inside the handwavium is for it to be attracted to the brighter sources and settle there on the metaphorical wall. When it's all settled and it cures, it forms a permanent representation of the wall - as the device it was creating.
So, if you replicate conditions/devices/user/strain as close as possible.....you can make a similar device. But there will still be differences, just because you can't replicate the wall exactly. You can get close, but there WILL be differences.
Some things will be easier to make/replicate than others - spaceship parts of the wall are easy for most handwavium to perceive, so when attached to a device that can become a ship, those parts stand out. Other bits are more obscure.
Each handwavium item is a sort of metaphorical representation of the environment around the handwavium in question when it made the device.
No intelligence needed - it simply reacts as programmed, as a tropism. But this still allows generating all sorts of odd devices. Quirks might represent points of light that fired up because of an environmental condition or thought from the user...and so on.
Thoughts?