A 'Very tiny Rick Moranis' and other requests for DARPA
One tweeter requested Chewbacca from the Star Wars films. AP file photo
DARPA turned to Twitter to crowdsource some ideas for what the future should bring. A round-up of the responses.
DARPA -- the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency but better known as Sci-Fi Santa in these parts -- turned to Twitter to crowdsource a few ideas for what the future should bring. The agency asked for requests to make sci-fi into "science fact:"
What technology from science fiction would you most like to see as science fact?
-- DARPA (@DARPA) June 15, 2012
The people have heeded the call, some in earnest, others ... not so much. Here's a rundown of some of the responses:
- The Death Star, pls -- @silvermanjacob
- SOMA from Brave New World -- @ZichaelMao
- FTL [faster-than-light] travel so humanity can expand into the stars! -- @Arjyparjy
- super-fast self-healing materials -- @Vito_Scarco
- Teleportation -- @DaLN [Ed. note: PLEASE!]
- Teleporters and/or Timetravel/Chronovision -- @MANOMACHINE
- A working heart -- @derektmead
- Cheap, safe, available access to space -- @TonySolo
- Flying robots that rain terror from the sky -- @paleofuture [Ed. note: Ignore this guy!]
- Chewbacca -- @paleofuture [Ed. note: Again!]
- Godless theocracy based on a mysterious "force" -- @mims [Ed. note: Because we need help with this?]
- Motoko Kusanagi's prosthetic body. Also, fusion -- @blakestacey
- Hologram trees from The Simpsons -- @FutureTenseNow
- Suspended animation. For cross-country flights. -- @WhySharksMatter
- Very tiny Rick Moranis. -- @jwhermann
There was only one request DARPA said was already in the works:
RT @armedwscience: A world... without passwords? @DARPA is working on it: ht.ly/bGmYp #sot
-- DARPA (@DARPA) June 19, 2012
At least it was a good one.