The Evolution of Technology

Today, we were at The Railway Museum in Saitama, a place I’d wanted to go to for years. Finally, I went there. It was pretty interesting, and I could have spent a lot more time there looking around. What’s interesting is seeing how the trains changed over time. Old trains are fascinating, but so are newer ones.

One area showed the development of the Shinkansen (bullet train) over time. You could see how the speed of the train got faster over the years, as well as how the design became more aerodynamic. The technology kept improving.

I’m always interested in how technology evolves. I’ll be looking at space probes when I go through them for Quick Facts, though this will mostly look at the discoveries and science done. However, I want to look at specific advances in technology over time for individual technologies. For example, I’d like to look at how computers have changed, or how bicycles have changed, or how telephones have changed. I want to write about the various stages and provide examples. I think it’ll be interesting. It also makes me wonder about the future.

What do you think? Are you interested in how technology changes?

Designing a Starship

In Star Trek, the starships are all very elegant looking and quite beautiful.  They just look really good.  They are also advanced and have had a couple hundred years of history, so the designs tend to be more aesthetically pleasing.

I’m designing a starship for Journey to Ariadne.  I’ve made a sketch which looks a bit clunky, but I’m not entirely satisfied with it.  I don’t want it to look beautiful.  It shouldn’t look beautiful.  It should be built for function, not form.  Take a look at past forms of transportation in their first incarnations.

The first automobile, an 1885 Benz.

The Wright Flyer, the first airplane from 1903.

The Vostok I capsule that brought Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961. Photo taken by SiefkinDR and used under Creative Commons License.

Notice a theme?  None of them are particularly attractive.  They weren’t built to look good.  They were built simply to work.  It’s only in the years and decades after that design became important (cars are now made to look good, planes are made to be aerodynamic and fuel efficient, and the space shuttle ended the utilitarian spacecraft era).  So it’s only logical that the first interstellar spacecraft will look more like a collection of modules connected by a framework and various instruments extending from the main body.  This is what I need to consider when designing a starship.  Think about function first, then refine it a bit.

I’m going to have one ugly spaceship.  And it’ll be a massive one.