Weird science?

[kengr]

I've often played with the idea that there isn't just *one* way to do things. So, for example, there may be several different ways to achieve FTL. Ditto for weapons tech and maybe defenses like shielding.

But the other day, I gave it more serious thought than I had in the past. I tried to picture a setup where the "other side's" tech isn't magic (except in the Clarkean sense) but is essentially incomprehensible to "us".

basic idea is similar to that in one set of Turtledove's stories where early on there's a crucial experiment or discovery that leads you in a direction that leads away from the sort of things we discovered.

But unlike his setup (where most races discovered antigrav and hyperdrive early, but never really got a handle "regular" physics), I want a more "even" result.

So both sides can do equivalent things, but their science behind said things is just so much gobbledegook to the other side.

But trying to *write* something like this looks like a *major* headache.

Comments

[kengr]

I got the idea from a combo of things. First a long time back I read some stuff about the magnetic equivalent of electrical stuff.

Then there was the bit with the British boffins and the magnetron tube.

Finally, there's the fun bit where you can "tune" a microwave circuit by making marks with a pencil on the circuit board.

That last could appear to be magic if the marks were made by an inspector, and things quit working when they switched inspectors. :-)

Wish I could remember the patent for the first transistor. It was a dual whisker crystal detector. Patented befor 1910. Not even the inventor knew *why* it worked so it was pretty much abandoned until semiconductor electronics got going. *Then* someone noticed it and realized what had actually been discovered (and why it hadn't worked so well)