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Update: 4/7/2017

So episode three is now up and we are starting to plan for number four.

Wanted to get this back in front of people so it can collect more votes and more questions.

One thing we are considering adding to the podcast is a sort of ask the group a question segment.

The idea would be that you, the community, pose questions to us, the panel, and we try to answer them on the podcast. With our current technology set we are not equipped to do this live (its not a live broadcast), so we would have to get questions ahead of time.

We don't have the same restrictions as the site, so we are totally happy to share our opinions :D.

If you have a question in mind please post it below, one question per post.

I cannot guarantee we will start this segment with episode 3 which we will be filming in a few days but fully anticipate we will do it sooner rather than later.

Community, please feel free to up-vote the questions you would most like to see us discuss on the podcast but we reserve the right to pick questions in any old order.

So people have questions about questions...heh, irony.

I don't want to restrict people in any way so I am going to provide examples but feel free to branch out beyond that!!!!

  • So, examples.
    • Questions that may not work on the site, maybe they are too opinion based, or to discussion-y
    • Does James have a dog? (to which the answer is yes, also he is old and blind (the dog))
    • Is Green's name really Green?
    • Why doesn't one of you actually ever finish building something?
    • What are you building?
    • I have this problem with my world...example
    • How many nerds does it take to decide what magic is?

Also, if you're wondering, the primary participants in the podcast are myself, Green and Nex. The fourth slot has rotated thus far, we've had Daaaawhaterver the spelling is and Monica join us, and for episode 3 ArtofCode will be our guest.

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    $\begingroup$ So like worldbuilding questions? Or questions for you guys? $\endgroup$
    – DonyorM
    Feb 1, 2017 at 23:27
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    $\begingroup$ Could you give us some context? We don't really know much about the situation. You describe a panel, but who's on it and what's it for? An episode 3, but where are the other episodes? A need for questions, but about what? Worldbuilding? Yourselves? The site? $\endgroup$
    – Zxyrra
    Feb 2, 2017 at 3:54
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    $\begingroup$ as always I'd love to take part in any imaginable way. But the alphabet person is right there, you probably need to elaborate a tad more to satisfy some prople on here $\endgroup$
    – dot_Sp0T
    Feb 2, 2017 at 6:00
  • $\begingroup$ Why does this have a vote to close? $\endgroup$
    – Frostfyre
    Feb 2, 2017 at 13:16
  • $\begingroup$ @Frostfyre someone thought it was "unclear what you're asking." :P $\endgroup$
    – DonyorM
    Feb 2, 2017 at 14:08
  • $\begingroup$ @DonyorM Any kind of question you want to ask. $\endgroup$
    – James
    Feb 2, 2017 at 15:13
  • $\begingroup$ @Zxyrra Watch the podcast. $\endgroup$
    – James
    Feb 2, 2017 at 15:13
  • $\begingroup$ @Zxyrra If you explore the other meta threads about the podcast you should be able to find a fair deal of documentation on it, as well as links to the current episodes. I'll see if I can get James to link the other topics in this one. $\endgroup$
    – Ranger
    Feb 2, 2017 at 18:59
  • $\begingroup$ @Frostfyre Before the edit it didn't say what questions were supposed to be about - making it unclear how to respond. $\endgroup$
    – Zxyrra
    Feb 2, 2017 at 19:05
  • $\begingroup$ Yeah I added the podcast youtubechannel link already $\endgroup$
    – James
    Feb 2, 2017 at 20:08
  • $\begingroup$ @Zxyrra Sorry if that first response came off a bit short tempered, I was running to a meeting and rushed a bit. $\endgroup$
    – James
    Feb 2, 2017 at 20:33

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How do you work math into a narrative?

Many worldbuilders want realism, so they find out exactly what is scientifically possible and how to do it. However, it makes an incredibly boring story to run off numbers and reasoning every other page.

How would you approach this problem - explaining your technology yet keeping people's attention - without discarding either?

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  • $\begingroup$ Working something into a narrative seems more like a writing issue and not so much a worldbuilding matter. Although Robert L Forward put this sort of detail in the Technical Appendixes to his novels. Dragon's Egg runs to twenty-two pages. $\endgroup$
    – a4android
    Feb 27, 2017 at 8:12
  • $\begingroup$ @a4android I assumed it was okay given the off-topic question examples $\endgroup$
    – Zxyrra
    Feb 27, 2017 at 8:29
  • $\begingroup$ It is one of those borderline issues. It is a genuine area of concern for, especially, written science-fiction. Certainly the podcast isn't WB proper, there is potential to give the wrong impression about questions asked here. Your suggestion has strong support. I don't have a definitive answer either way, apart from an unease about off-topic questions being suggested generally. $\endgroup$
    – a4android
    Feb 28, 2017 at 0:44
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Can other people join the panel?

People may potentially be interested and want to know. I'm all set, but for the record, let's ask.

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  • $\begingroup$ This wasn't ever answered, but since it's an out-of-podcast answer, I'll go ahead and answer. James pseudo-officially runs the podcast (with Green and my help), and we have been trying to pick out a guest to join the discussion each time, to bring it up to 4 people. Anyone who's interested would be best to get in touch with James for a first step. $\endgroup$
    – Ranger
    Apr 12, 2017 at 22:24
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What are good/efficient ways to introduce variety into a world?

Most people create worlds to accommodate a certain story or things they find very cool - like that huge airship that is totally infeasible on earth but works perfectly fine on htrae, because there's this phlebotinum lifting gas there.

The issue there is, that while we/they often have a pretty clear view of what they are aiming to have in their world, there will be a lot of things that would likely have developed differently or not exist at all (and the opposite).

The question/discussion/subject would be about this issue and what ways there are to interpolate/extrapolate technologies and/or populate the creation with stuff that fits & makes sense.

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How will the world end?

  • Will people cause it?
  • Will aliens solve the Fermi Paradox and show up to kill us all?
  • Will we run out of resources?
  • Will humans safely be on a terraformed Mars or something sustainable before then?
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What invention do you hope for in the next 50 years?

What one invention do you hope will be made in the next 50 years and why? The invention must be:

  • Realistic and able to be created within 50 years.
  • Have a reasonable rationale behind why you want it. Other than that you can have whatever invention you want.
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An alien race has built a machine which can form planets from asteroids:

  • What would it likely look like and how would it work?

  • What would it be made from to be able to maintain its shape in the gravity?

  • How would it be transported?

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    $\begingroup$ FWIW you can make those into actual bullet points, put a space between teh - and the first letter (- What would it likely look like...) $\endgroup$
    – user17905
    Feb 13, 2017 at 21:52
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Why go with a classic time travel conundrum?

How to resolve the causality problems with a single mutable timeline compared to a single deterministic timeline.

Notes:

(1) "Mutable" means any change to history, either past or future, will remain changed -- unless time travllers deliberately intervene.

(2) "Deterministic" means history remains unchanged. Vide the philosophical concept of 'determinism". Refer to Novikov self-consistency for physicists' version.

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