> From: Eliezer Yudkowsky <sentience@pobox.com>
>
> > What are the physics behind sci-fi force fields? Are there any or is it
> > purely fantasy? Perhaps only nano force fields are possible.
>
> Check out the Langstrom Field; Pournelle and Niven probably have the
> equations stashed somewhere. My understanding was that it was supposed
> to be a plausible force-field requiring only a few new discoveries.
>From "Building the Mote in God's Eye", Niven and Pournelle, in
_AStep Further Out_, Jerry Pournelle: "[The Alderson Drive and the
Langston Field] were invented to Jerry Pournelle's specifications by
Dan Alderson ... at Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratories." So Alderson's
the person to contact, but unfortunately he's dead. Jerry Pournelle should
still be out there at jerryp@bix.com. (Alderson also invented the
Alderson Disc: "A massive disc the size of a planetary system, with a small
hole in the centre through which a star bobs up and down" - quoting
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/3699/sf-megastructures.html.)
> From: James Rogers <jamesr@best.com>
>
> A memetic modelling tool could have some very interesting applications. If
> a "good" modelling/engineering tool was designed, couldn't this give small
> organizations enormously disproportionate amounts of influence?
See _In the Country of the Blind_, Michael Flynn. (In ths story, the small
organization in question dates from the Victorian era, when they used
Babbage's mechanical computers to make their extrapolations, and has
survived into the present day.)
-mitch
http://www.thehub.com.au/~mitch