the next "BIG" invention

What if people couldn't hurt each other without feeling each others pain? Most people aren't sociopaths. What if grammar school bullies couldn't help but empathize with their 'victim'. Woud they grow up differently?

A device implanted that allow someone to experience the physical feelings of someone nearby?

Hehe... That could be real creepy if the guy standing next to you suddenly got shot...

I must say, forcing people to feel others emotions just might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

or horny

At least 3/4 of the things people have mentioned in this thread are already in dev/testing or been produced in at least small parts...

I don't think it would really be possible to transmit "feelings and thoughts" because we all store these things differently. There isn't, that we know of, a set "language" of the brain for us to decode/encode into EM radiation.

1. A piece of apparatus that you can screw somewhere in the bedroom and it makes all your dreams come true.

2. A female body patch that removes the desire to spend an entire Saturday choosing one pair of shoes to buy.

Warp drive too? :wink:

3/4 doesn't mean all. that's impossible anyway. although, there has been a theory developed as to how we could "move" faster than light. problem is it requires the theoretical properties of "dark energy" which we haven't found.

hehe.. I know that the concept of warp drive clashes with physics. Still, it would be a cool thing to have :wink:

Anyways, I think that there has been found strong indications of dark matter. Scientists have detected invisible forces at work on a large scale in the universe. Visible forces and objects that do not behave as anticipated due to the interference of something unseen.
But you probably knew that already..

Still, I would like to know more about this theory you speak of, if you wouldn't mind elaborating.

I'm not sure that dark matter and dark energy are the same. I mean, I realize E=mc^2 and all... but still.. Anyway, the theory went something like this:

You could have your spaceship and produce a field around it (with dark energy) that would push it our of our space-time. You would move through space by projecting your field in front and behind your craft so that the space in front is contracted and the space behind is expanded. Basically, moving along like an inchworm.

I don't remember if it was pop. sci. or wired i saw this in... it was some time ago.

hmmm... sounds like warp drive to me.

sounds like it. it's still only a theory based on another theory and very possile that we'll never test it.

Still, it's exciting stuff.

Anyway, a few years ago I read up on some theories of spacetravel. Lightspeed travel, wormholes, that sort of thing.

There are many theories, but one thing all the people behind them seem to have in common is the assumption that the first species to gain technology to travel into deep space and other galaxies (assuming there are other competing species out there) will be the one to achieve domain over the universe. They seem to be in agreement that if someone else had invented hyperdrive, wormholes or any of those things, we would know because they'd come down on us hard.

I don't know how people think about that today, but if we were to be able to travese the stars with that frame of mind I think we'd be in for a grim future...

Unsprung weight is more a function of suspension efficacy, total vehicle mass is the single consideration most important to energy efficiency when discussing wieght. In fact for non-driven wheels unsprung weight is most importantly a funtion of total vehicle mass as it relates to energy efficiency.

Nobody claimed that minimizing unsprung weight was the end-all of energy efficiency. Merely one component. But all things being equal, inflated tires should be more efficient than solid tires.

Efficiency aside, pneumatic tires also give better traction, and stability as dampen bumps.

Well the rolling friction of a solid tire is actually less than the rolling friction of a pneumatic tire because the contact patch will be smaller due to less deformation, and because less energy is wasted in the form of heat at the beginning and end of the contact patch as the deformation occurs, all other things being equal.

And again unsprung weight would be of some small concern as to driven wheels more than undriven wheels, and again unless the mass of the unsprung weight constitutes a relatively large portion of the total vehicle mass (uncommon I might add but not unheard of) unsprung weight is much more a function of suspension efficacy than it is general vehicle efficiency.

Also the claim that "inflated tires should be more efficient than solid tires" is not necessarily true if you are referring to certain tire types, those being low profile, narrow sidewall, narrow cross-section and particularity at higher speeds and/or higher vehicle weights where contact patch deformation and its associated frictions become more critical.

Pneumatic tires are not widely because of better unsprung weight so much as they are chosen for: ease of manufacture, costs, better traction,
better suspension compliance, ease of install / de-install, as opposed to solid tires.

If you wish real world examples, study up on the rails use of solid wheels which will contradict your blanket generalization that "inflated tires should be more efficient than solid tires".

So nope it's false to make the blanket generalization that "Energy efficiency is gained my minimizing the unsprung weight" because there are too many other variables to consider that are a function of changing unsprung weight.

a pill with all the nutrients of a full meal - breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you wanna loose weight, take half a pill, wanna gain it, eat 2 pills.

We can ship these pills all the world so the entire planet can eat.

infinite sorce of energy..