Time machines, teleports, cyborgs, invisibility cloaks are indispensable attributes of almost any science fiction work telling about the not very distant future. But are there at least some prerequisites for the creation of the inventions described in books and films? Let's try to understand some of the studies that scientists are conducting today.
"Linguistic" pills
In the "Matrix" movie trilogy, probably known to all fans of fantastic blockbusters, the protagonist Neo and his companions, using a cunning device, master the skills of martial arts or helicopter control within a few minutes.
And, as experts in the development of information technology say, it is quite possible!
Without mentioning, however, the possibility of getting a black belt in karate in half an hour, they, in particular, predict that by 2050 anyone who wants to thoroughly learn a particular foreign language will no longer spend a lot of time and money on this.
According to American researchers, a tourist planning, for example, to visit India, will just have to drink just one "linguistic" pill with water before the trip, and the necessary "package of knowledge", introduced into the capsule using nanoprocesses, will instantly go through the blood vessels into the desired areas of the cerebral cortex.
It is clear that at present it is difficult to believe in such a technology. However, this disbelief stems from the lack of necessary information, which the developers of "magic" pills are in no hurry to share with the public. In order not to jinx it, I guess.
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Is the beam capable of attracting objects?
The viewers are constantly reminded of attracting rays in the next movie horror stories about aliens who have invaded the Earth. Ufologists also often talk about them, citing as examples cases associated with the abductions of cattle.
Until recently, scientists considered the creation of such a technology only exclusively hypothetically. But that all changed when Chinese mathematicians announced that, through appropriate experiments and computer simulations, they had identified the conditions under which a light beam was actually capable of attracting objects!
True, at the current stage of research, Chinese development is not considered as a potential weapon, since the prototype of the fantastic beam created by scientists is still essentially stationary and is capable of attracting only passive objects of extremely small sizes.
However, research is ongoing, and scientists are working to increase the power and maneuverability of their apparatus.
In the shadow of the invisible hat
Conversations about hats and invisibility cloaks have been going on for more than one hundred years, and many would give a lot of money for the opportunity to acquire them. At the same time, the results of such developments are already available.
Not so long ago, German physicists announced that they had created a real Harry Potter cloak, with which you can become invisible to others. Scientists were able to achieve an amazing result by applying a unique paint to the surface of an ordinary fabric, which scatters light.
Of course, there is no talk of mass production of the "invisibility cloak" yet, as it can be used by criminals.
In turn, the leaders of the Russian military department report that domestic "invisibility cloaks", which will protect armored vehicles, aircraft and warships on the battlefield, in the air and in the sea, are currently completing field tests and, probably, already in the coming 2017 will begin to be supplied to the troops.
According to officials, radio electronic means are not able to identify the tank covered with the so-called ferrite cloth as a combat unit. They see a certain object in front of them, but they cannot understand what it is.
From heat A to point B
Things are much more complicated with teleportation, that is, instantaneous movement of objects over considerable distances. Yes, scientists can already boast that they have teleported quanta and beams of light for several kilometers. In the near future - sending photons to our night star.
At the same time, one should not forget about the difference between an atom and a man, and successes at the micro level by no means imply that Ho-mo sapiens, having moved in space, will remain alive and unharmed.
As opponents of the teleportation theory say, this phenomenon works only in works of art. In practice, for example, the experimental frog will first need to be disassembled into trillions of individual atoms, that is, simply kill, conduct their "revision", link, read, digitize and carry out many other tasks, and only then teleport, and then reassemble …
In theory, this is possible, although it will require a huge amount of time with the help of the currently existing computer facilities. But this is not the main point.
Even if teleportation technology is ever created, which, of course, no one doubts, it is not yet clear whether the person brought back to life at point B will be an “original” or just a copy, that is, a clone?
Why does the United States need a "planet killer"?
As for the implausible Death Star, widely known from Star Wars, capable of destroying an entire planet with one shot, then, according to scientists, it is theoretically possible to create such a weapon of mass destruction, it will not take hundreds of years to build and has already been calculated, how much it will cost.
Truly galactic figures were announced a couple of years ago, when tens of thousands of Americans signed a petition on the White House website demanding that the construction of a "planet killer" begin in 2016 in order to protect the United States from alien invasion.
Representatives of the Department of Scientific and Space Research of the White House, having considered the proposal of citizens, said that they had carried out the appropriate calculations and came to the conclusion that the "Death Star" will cost the budget a quadrillion dollars!
This amount, in their opinion, is, firstly, too much for the budget; secondly, the United States is not going to fight the aliens, and thirdly, there is no need to build superweapons that can be destroyed with one small starship.