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Reverse Engineering of Alien Technology
Sep. 15th, 2009 08:53 amI don't quite know how I got to thinking about it, but I came up with a (to me) interesting way to look at the difficulties of reverse engineering a truly alien piece of technology. It may have been during a bout of channel surfing where I caught one of those "the government is building secret flying saucers" TV "documentaries." Or, it could have been a throwaway discussion in something Bill Keith (writing as Ian Douglas) put in one of his books. But however it came to me, herein presented for your edification and amusement are my thoughts.
Imagine, if you will, an alien arrives on Earth, and their level of technology is equivalent to what ours will be 200 years from now. In other words, they are to us as we are to the scientists of 1809 - the year of Charles Darwin's birth. 1809 was an era of sailing ships and horse-drawn carriages. The first railroad wouldn't be built for another 16 years. Got the picture?
Now, hand the greatest scientists of that age this Timex watch, and tell them to make an exact copy. Well, first, the face piece is plastic, something they can't make, and in that era the aluminum of the case and bands is more significantly more expensive per pound than gold. This assumes that they can machine the aluminum and springs of the band.
It gets even worse once they crack the case open. Instead of the gears that they expect, the inside consists of a series of black boxes, including an electric motor, a battery, and a quartz timing device. As far as making it illuminate, forget about it. Edison's dad isn't even a gleam in his grandfather's eyes yet!
So, they would be very hard-pressed indeed to make a simple watch - something that many people simply throw away when the good-for-ten-year battery quits. What's even worse is that the scientists know what this device does.
Now hand them an F-16. If you think that they could build a flying replica of one, I've got a bridge for sale in Brooklyn.
Of course, if you're looking at something built for an alien physiology, using an alien language and measurement system, with unclear purposes, how much more difficult could it get?
Imagine, if you will, an alien arrives on Earth, and their level of technology is equivalent to what ours will be 200 years from now. In other words, they are to us as we are to the scientists of 1809 - the year of Charles Darwin's birth. 1809 was an era of sailing ships and horse-drawn carriages. The first railroad wouldn't be built for another 16 years. Got the picture?
Now, hand the greatest scientists of that age this Timex watch, and tell them to make an exact copy. Well, first, the face piece is plastic, something they can't make, and in that era the aluminum of the case and bands is more significantly more expensive per pound than gold. This assumes that they can machine the aluminum and springs of the band.
It gets even worse once they crack the case open. Instead of the gears that they expect, the inside consists of a series of black boxes, including an electric motor, a battery, and a quartz timing device. As far as making it illuminate, forget about it. Edison's dad isn't even a gleam in his grandfather's eyes yet!
So, they would be very hard-pressed indeed to make a simple watch - something that many people simply throw away when the good-for-ten-year battery quits. What's even worse is that the scientists know what this device does.
Now hand them an F-16. If you think that they could build a flying replica of one, I've got a bridge for sale in Brooklyn.
Of course, if you're looking at something built for an alien physiology, using an alien language and measurement system, with unclear purposes, how much more difficult could it get?
