Starship-mounted disintegrators

The TL is when the prototype becomes possible.
Just thinking (bad for me I know) but when the prototype is possible or when it shows up?

Romans had a steam driven toy but they failed to grasp the full potential of such a technology. But one could argue the prototype was possible for steam engines back then, they just didn't show up. So I am thinking it is less when they could have, but rather when they did. Or did I miss your point? :unsure:

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Think about it for more than 2 seconds and you will see why that Roman toy is not a prototype steam engine.

If you can not see the difference say so and I will explain.
 
Or the bronze age artifacts that used materials that, if filled with an acid, like vinegar, would generate small amounts of electricity.
I blame Doc Brown, again.
 
If that's that standard for prototypes, we have cold fusion now :D
We DO have cold fusion prototypes.
But they operate on the inverse of the principle of a computer not behaving until an IT guy shows up to fix it...
The cold fusion works until any accredited outside observer shows up to verify its function.
 
Think about it for more than 2 seconds and you will see why that Roman toy is not a prototype steam engine.

If you can not see the difference say so and I will explain.
If you go back and read my post again, you will see I said it was NOT a prototype. Just a toy.

Thus, why I said it should be tied to when the prototype shows up and not when it is possible.

But never mind, I do not want to discuss this with someone more worried about being "right" than understanding the difference between when something might have been possible vs when something really exists. :(
 
If you go back and read my post again, you will see I said it was NOT a prototype. Just a toy.

Thus, why I said it should be tied to when the prototype shows up and not when it is possible.

But never mind, I do not want to discuss this with someone more worried about being "right" than understanding the difference between when something might have been possible vs when something really exists. :(
I apologise for my tone and misreading your post. It is nothing to do with wanting to be right, I have just had the roman steam engine argument argued to death (among others), So again I apologise.

edit - and immediately condottiere proves my point.
 
Romans had a steam driven toy but they failed to grasp the full potential of such a technology. But one could argue the prototype was possible for steam engines back then, they just didn't show up. So I am thinking it is less when they could have, but rather when they did. Or did I miss your point? :unsure:
To be honest it was closer to a steam pot then a steam engine. There’s a lot more that goes into even a pre basic steam engine than they could have actually built, they just didn’t have the metallurgy to do it.
 
To be honest it was closer to a steam pot then a steam engine. There’s a lot more that goes into even a pre basic steam engine than they could have actually built, they just didn’t have the metallurgy to do it.
Fair enough. I may have picked a bad example for the point I was questioning. Bottom line is, prototypes show up when everything comes together not just because the ability to make something exists. So I was suggestion possible might need to be switched for created or showed up or such.
 
The TL is when the prototype becomes possible.

The TL must be when it becomes possible, because:

1) Worlds across Charted Space have access to the knowledge base of the Imperium (or their respective interstellar government), and thus do not have to "learn from scratch" or relearn their technological infrastructure; they can build at a given TL what they know about.

2) Alien cultures (especially those in a first contact situation) will not necessarily have developed along the same path or at the same parallel technological rates as Terra. So just because Terra did not have something at a given TL (even though they could have built it), it does not follow that all other species will likewise not have it at that TL.

If TL is to be a meaningful gague, then it must be general enough to accommodate many possible technological evolutionary paths or paradigms, not just those that look like a historical period on Old Earth (or Old Vland).

First Development of a technology will always occur a little later than the period in which it is actually possible to build it.
 
We DO have cold fusion prototypes.
But they operate on the inverse of the principle of a computer not behaving until an IT guy shows up to fix it...
The cold fusion works until any accredited outside observer shows up to verify its function.

So it's a Quantum Cold Fusion unit.

If you would just leave it alone in its black box and stop trying to observe its operation and constantly collapse it's Wave Function, we could all have cold fusion right now . . .
 
So it's a Quantum Cold Fusion unit.

If you would just leave it alone in its black box and stop trying to observe its operation and constantly collapse it's Wave Function, we could all have cold fusion right now . . .
No the problem is you put it on a table in a room with the cat who keeps knocking it off the table. And then dies. Or not.
 
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