Whats the most outlandish technology that you can think of that might be possible?

[Perfection]

Still im not so sure about the possiblity of going back in time. Maybe we can view back in time which is possible, but going back physically ? im not that sure.

FTL and time travel don't seem that plausible. Those that argue it is possible require assumptions that aren't backed up by mainstream physics.

 

[starlifter]

Easy. We are already doing it, and have been for a long time: Forward time travel.

Force fields. - Done. They are in use today, in everything from plasma control, to Mag-lev, to antimatter storage & containment.
Time travel (Forwards only) - Done. For a long time. Astronauts, pilots, passengers, particle physics, even emerging chip design/manufacture.
Time travel (Forwards and backwards) - Not done, but theoretical framework established. Will not occur in a macro scale for a long time, if ever, due to certain issues what will happen to the matter transported, given what is understood realistically today.
Gravity generation. - Done. Its acceleration, and a fundamental part of relativity. You can feel it when you accelerate your car, or when we "pull G's" in an aircraft.
Intersteller travel. - Not done. Assuming humans to go... not likely for a while.
FTL travel. - Done, though not in the way most people can likely understand. It has to do with transfer of information across an event horizon, but it is not quantifiable in laboratories, and not all physicists are in agreement with certain aspects. But in any event, its not like Captain Kirk flying around youranus looking for clingons.
Teleportation. - Not done, and won't be on a macro-scale for quite a while, if ever, given man's current understanding of physics.
Terraforming. - Not done, & not for a while .
Fusion power. - Done. For a long time. This is reality, and not sci-fi. However, its not done for commercial profit yet for a series of reasons, including some technical aspects.
Blackhole generation. - (?) Not sure what this means, but certainly man is nowhere near to generating his own black holes from scratch. Just finiding a primordial black hole... indirectly... has been a challenge enough.

Many of the above are long-time reality in science... hopefully one is not thinking about phasers, warp-speed, and science fiction like in Star Trek & Battlestar Galactica for each option (as opposed to reality).

 

[Swedishguy]

Terraforming will be possible in the future.

 

[Riffraff]

Teleportation. - Not done, and won't be on a macro-scale for quite a while, if ever, given man's current understanding of physics.

I'm pretty sure this has been done on micro/nano/tiny scale. Was sucessfull first in a lab in Vienna if i remember correctly. Seems to be theoretically impossible for anything as complex as a human.

 

[Swedishguy]

Cool! How far will it be able to teleport?

 

[GinandTonic]

Force fields.

Sure, already happen. Not quite star trek in reality.

Time travel (Forwards only)

Happening all the time.

Time travel (Forwards and backwards)

Nope.

Gravity generation.

As people have pointed out, centrifugal force is simple.

Interstellar travel.

Could be done, not for a while yet. At some point humanity will need to hedge its bets.

FTL travel.

Dont know. The worm-hole theories are plausible, but I dont know enough about the physics. Not for the foreseeable anyhoo.

Teleportation.

Already happened. Macro level I dont see ever being worth the energy required.

Terraforming.

Easy. Just requires a disappointing number of millennial.

Fusion power.

Done it. Even managed to get more power out than we have put in, in the very short term. We need to be able to sustain the reaction (balancing honey on the back of a spoon) and make it economic. Most other stuff is dependent upon this working. We need energy for all the other projects and fusion is the only possible source.

Blackhole generation.

As has been pointed out, cern.

 

[Abaddon]

What is terraforming?

 

[GoodSarmatian]

What is terraforming?

Making a planet to resemble earth, like giving Mars a nice little Nitrogen/Oxygen and an aceptable surface temperature.
Should be possible in a hundred years or so...

 

[GoodSarmatian]

FTL and teleportation are quite outlandish but I doubt it will work...

I want Dyson Spheres !

 

[El_Machinae]

Dyson Spheres are inevitable if our economy continues its course. All we need is time.

 

[classical_hero]

How about Hamburger earmuffs?

There is really only one that is really feasable in RL that is on that list and that is Fusion Power.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Dyson Spheres are inevitable if our economy continues its course. All we need is time.

Not with capitalism and democracy. We'd need a unified humanity in a despotic commie state to reach this level of organisation.

 

[El_Machinae]

Not with capitalism and democracy. We'd need a unified humanity in a despotic commie state to reach this level of organisation.

I think we're describing different things, then. The Dyson Sphere I refer to is merely the encasing of the sun, it doesn't have to be a solid casing.

 

[Atlas14]

I read the question wrong, I switch my vote to fusion power.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I think we're describing different things, then. The Dyson Sphere I refer to is merely the encasing of the sun, it doesn't have to be a solid casing.

I am not sure what you are describing.
Millions of independent solar satelites as energy sources ?

 

[El_Machinae]

Yeah, that's pretty well exactly what I'm describing. Though I honestly think that we'll be engineering the sun before we encase it.

Here's the wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere

 

[Perfection]

Time travel (Forwards and backwards) - Not done, but theoretical framework established. Will not occur in a macro scale for a long time, if ever, due to certain issues what will happen to the matter transported, given what is understood realistically today.

What theoretical framework?

FTL travel. - Done, though not in the way most people can likely understand. It has to do with transfer of information across an event horizon, but it is not quantifiable in laboratories, and not all physicists are in agreement with certain aspects. But in any event, its not like Captain Kirk flying around youranus looking for clingons.

This is not a mainstream view, can you tell me where you got this from?

Just finiding a primordial black hole... indirectly... has been a challenge enough.

I don't recall anyone ever finding any. Can you demonstrate that they have?

 

[Myzenium]

FTL travel. - Done, though not in the way most people can likely understand. It has to do with transfer of information across an event horizon, but it is not quantifiable in laboratories, and not all physicists are in agreement with certain aspects. But in any event, its not like Captain Kirk flying around youranus looking for clingons.

This is not a mainstream view, can you tell me where you got this from?

"Not a mainstream view"? Out of curiousity, could you link me to your qualifications to state what is mainstream in science? Thanks.

 

[Dong2Long]

quoted from classical_hero
How about Hamburger earmuffs?

I found this thread by searching via a good post you made in another thread. But the earmuffs I don't "get."

What theoretical framework?

This is not a mainstream view, can you tell me where you got this from?

I don't recall anyone ever finding any. Can you demonstrate that they have?

I just googled for what you were talking about, and found it no problem. In the world of physics, this is all common stuff, but maybe not for us. Internet makes any of it readily findable.

The backward time machine involves using a gravitational distortion to move a particle, or subatomic particle back... not people. It cannot be tested emperically, as no one has a supermassive gravitational source in their labratory, but the science seemed peer-reviewed from my google.

You might try using Stephen Hawking in your google, and knowing what the consequence of transferring information across folded space, and indeed what it means to travel in a "line"... I was very educated from the effort.

I don't think he said that they did find a p-hole; the search has been on for a while, and only indirect evidence would likely be found.

Google, buddy, google...

 

[Dong2Long]

Not a chance! Will never be done.