[Meta] [RFC] Fenspace 2022, take 2

[Ace Dreamer]

OK, cue mushy-tech revolution. All with handwavium strains that became well distributed.

* "Grey Pane" solar panels that turn 90% of the incident radiation falling on them, from IR through the visible spectrum to UV, into usable electrical energy. These are waved conventional solar panels. This meant people could make their own power cheaper than it could be generated and distributed centrally. The grid was still useful for evening-out power loads, though.

You could easily skip the UV part... not much energy available around our sun anyways Near infrared is much more interesting.

Might be interesting to know the quirks of this strain.

Hardtech cells are most likely at ~40-50% anyways in 2020.

No point in wasting that UV.  I'd say that if you are close to them (say within ten feet), in sunlight, and you aren't wearing polarised glasses, your attention becomes drawn to the panel and you zone-out, until the sun goes away, or you are forcibly distracted (enough hunger or thirst will do this).  I'd be surprised if hard tech cells in general production exceed 30% by 2020 ( and you still need to cool and keep the panels clean).

* "Super Batteries" are a combination of Lithium-Ion
batteries and Super Capacitors with a waved processor, and can store
ridiculous amounts of power. Most people turn to an electrical
technician to put it all together. This meant people could store solar
power for use at night, cloudy conditions, or even the long periods of
darkness near the Poles, meaning they needed no other source of power.

Without waving the battery/capacitor, I cannot see how this should increase the capacity...

Hopefully fixed.

HRogge wrote:

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* "Aqua Clean" is an electrically-powered handwavium filter
which will take the most polluted water (including sea water, and
sewage) and produce clean water for drinking.

Hardtech filters (based on Graphen?) will do half of the job (filtering
our anything but water)... but the waver versions might add the
necessary salts to make it drinkable.

Price is the big reason  - adding salts is best left to later; pure water is useful for all sorts of things.

HRogge wrote:

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Then there is the "Magic Wardrobe" that measures people,
makes (non-designer) clothes of almost any sort for them (including
shoes), and also cleans clothes and repair and re-dyes old clothes to
new; needs rags, scrap leather, waste plastic, metal scrap.

Hmm... I think this one should be highly quirked.

Fashion quirk added.  The other ones are probably more to do with you accurately specifying what you want.  If it was hard tech this would be nanotech and an expert system.

HRogge wrote:

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The "Doc Phone" which tracked its owners medical state, and made an emergency call generally early enough people could be effectively treated.

Where is the need of Handwavium with this one?

There is hard-tech that can check blood oxygenation, heart beat, and blood sugar, just by using an accelerometer and analysing the IR from the ear.  The wave adds delicate checks of hormone levels and other markers in the blood, stress on the immune system.  Fixed (I hope).

HRogge wrote:

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The "Kanzashi", a small worn ornament, maybe in your hair,
which contains (part of) a friendly AI who cares about you, will talk to
you when you are lonely, enjoys your interests, and wants you to, and
works towards, you having a fun life. Called the "IThink" by the more
cynical. This has greatly reduced rates of depression across the world.
Taking someones Kanzashi is a human rights violation in more
enlightened places. These AIs are linked to phones, and are backed-up
so destroying their physical part only looses their short-term memories.
For some reason the standard versions of these don't work if taken to a
height above Terra beyond about 50mls.

Hmm...

I've got to have some fun, or I'll start taking myself too seriously. [grin]
Fixed, so it is only (mostly) the Japanese.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind