Science Fiction Worldbuilding

>>50702758
Obviously we'd have free energy.
>place two portals side by side on a flat surface.
>any object dropped into one will come out with the same velocity from the other, but upwards
>never loses energy but to air resistance, which could be minimized in a vacuum
On a large enough scale this could produce significant power.

>>50702758

Read Hyperion.

In it, mankind invents AI, and that AI invents a bunch of other sweet shit for us including Farcasters. Farcasters are, essentially, what you have described.

All of the many worlds that have Farcasters linking them together are called the World Web. Its so densely linked that you have people with 'apartments' that have rooms in different solar systems.

The only downside is that you have to physically build both ends of the farcaster link. So you need someone to hoof it all the way to a new planet to set up the first farcaster, but after that you can populate the new planet as easily as getting on an elevator.

>>50704033
Couldn't you just build two connected Farcasters initially then launch one at the desired planet, thus eliminating the need for a manned flight?

>>50704033
I was going to circumvent the "hoofing" it part by noting you can "extend" the portal by pouring more "specialized particle beam.tm" into it, and you can move this portal considerably faster than c because you're not actually moving it at all. The sheer scale of astronomical distance is so absurd that I don't think mankind will ever get its shit together for that kind of journey.
[spoilers] In fact, I doubt any species in the universe will. [/spoilers]

But this does sound otherwise relevant to my interests. What other sorts of technology did they have? Apartments in both worlds- that sounds sensible. I imagine you might have starships that are both in flight and also permanently connected to a city so you can have shore leave whenever you want.

Why stop there? You could build a suit out portals and wear it like power armor- effectively being a bunch of limbs floating around in multiple locations. Actually, that may be about as practical as a jetpack... But it might be cooler than a wheelchair for paraplegics.

What limitations are there I haven't thought of? I'm wondering what about tidal forces or other gravity shenanigans might result. In theory they still diffuse like lightwaves so being near the edge of one might still suck you in. Likewise you could use one to counteract gravity and create a freefall environment. Or, in space, solve the low gravity deterioration problem by importing via portal.

What other applications will come from a technological revolution in which we master space and gravity?

>>50704888
The "Farcasters" are also the AI servers.

This becomes relevant when you realize the following two books dictate that the Shrike is a soldier in a time-war between the AI apotheosis into a single intelligence and the God developed from directed human evolution, both of which exist at the end of time in opposing time-lines and both of which retroactively "created" the universe. Or something like that it's been a while since I read it.

Essentially, the AI keep humanity dependent on using the Farcaster system so they don't develop in divergent ways and stay pretty much the same genetically, socially, and technologically.

And without the massive computing power of BEING an AI server, the Farcasters don't work.

Oh and they also use them to access humanities neuro-implants and brains for processing power.

>>50705024
>technologically
I see. So they don't use the technology for much else then?