: Re: Working out details of a technology concept I have a sci-fi technology concept in the work I'm currently writing, and its potential implications for society and for individual characters are quite

@Nimeshi163

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I would just show the implications as they come up in the story. I wouldn't explain how the device worked. Heck, if you knew how it worked you'd develop the technology and get rich.

Just remember that if this is a mature technology that the rich will probably have control of it barring anything special about it. If it breaks the laws of thermodynamics, there will be complaints from readers.

Larry Nivens wrote several stories about the effects of technological teleportation on society. He also wrote a group of short stories around a character called "Gil the Arm" who was a member of police force that investigated new technology.

In Clifford Simak's City short stories (the ones that were eventually stitched together to form the book), he never explained just how robots were built or the dogs were made sentient, he just showed the effects of these things on the characters and society. City would be a great book to read for your question.

I would avoid explanations as much as possible. Just show how this technology/magic shows up in the world and bothers/helps the characters and society. Slip what little explanations you absolutely need into short narrations.

I real mainly science fiction and fantasy. I hate unnecessary explanations because they usually don't help the story. If you want some really bad examples of this, you only have to look at some SF from the beginnings of the pulp era where the technology was more important than the characters. I remember one story, but can't remember the name, where the main character was a rich publisher who went about his day using one technological marvel after another.

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