Science Fiction and Fantasy Forum Rules

This forum is ONLY for the discussion of existing science fiction and fantasy stories in movies, books, tv, comics. It is NOT for discussing personal ideas, those would go in the Science fiction WRITING forum if they adhere to the rules for that forum.

This forum is not for new ideas or projects, it is for discussion of existing fiction works ONLY. Any post not discussing existing works will be moved or deleted.

The global guidelines are still in effect. This applies in particular to the forbidden topic list: https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=3929007&postcount=2 Any obvious crackpottery and links to crackpot sites will be deleted.

I see that this topic is not locked and I don't see a "read-only" sign, so I'll just ask about one of the rules above:

Ryan_m_b said:

asking how such (fictional) technology could be built in the real world and what the ramifications would be is not (ok)

My question is: why? Discussing implementation and especially effects of SF technologies is one of the most fun topics tech-wise. So, why this limitation?

Corbeau said:

I see that this topic is not locked and I don't see a "read-only" sign, so I'll just ask about one of the rules above:
My question is: why? Discussing implementation and especially effects of SF technologies is one of the most fun topics tech-wise. So, why this limitation?

Because it ALWAYS attracts crackpots and devolves into nonsense. PF is about actual science and that is the rationale behind the rule. We don't break the crockery.

Corbeau said:

I see that this topic is not locked and I don't see a "read-only" sign, so I'll just ask about one of the rules above:

Thankyou for pointing out this oversight, the thread is now locked for replies. Before it is though I'll respond to your question:

Corbeau said:

My question is: why? Discussing implementation and especially effects of SF technologies is one of the most fun topics tech-wise. So, why this limitation?

As a big science fiction fan I understand that this is very fun to do, and sometimes quite illuminating. But the scope of this entire forum is to provide education and discussion of mainstream science, the general discussion forums (including this one) are a bonus. They have to fit within that former rule set and if we allow discussions on speculative (or even downright impossible) technologies then we are violating that rule. When creating the SF&F subforum we wanted to make a place that lovers of the genre can come and discuss it together, but it can only exist if it is not a loophole for the rest of the forum.