What do you think scientists in the Star Wars galaxy are working on?

[Maximum7]

Just Kyber crystals?!
In Catalyst, we learned about how Galen Erso worked on weaponizing Kyber crystals. First off. Is their society so unadvanced that they are messing around with crystals? Okay they are supposed to fuel the Death Star and are part of the plot, I just find it so strange that FTL travel would be perfected centuries before figuring out the properties of kyber crystals. Anyway, my other complaint was that in the novel, Catalyst, we didn't catch glimpses of what the other scientists that are employed by the Empire are working on. I would love to have known what the Iktochi scientist who Galen got into a fist fight with was working on.


Anyway, my question is. What possible other things could the scientists of the Empire be researching and working on besides kyber crystals? I don't think teleportation or time travel because by the time of the novel Phasma and the Force Awakens novelization, these things are hinted to be impossible. I also don't think matter replication is a viable idea since it would create a post-scarcity society and the Empire would probably try to surpluses all research of that technology. A wormhole gate appeared in the Han Solo comic but nobody seems to be doing anything with it and it was said to be ancient technology too complicated to figure out


So what's left? What else could scientists be working to achieve during the time of the Empire? Any and all ideas besides the ones I mentioned are welcomed

 

[Overmind One]

Just Kyber crystals?!
In Catalyst, we learned about how Galen Erso worked on weaponizing Kyber crystals. First off. Is their society so unadvanced that they are messing around with crystals? Okay they are supposed to fuel the Death Star and are part of the plot, I just find it so strange that FTL travel would be perfected centuries before figuring out the properties of kyber crystals. Anyway, my other complaint was that in the novel, Catalyst, we didn't catch glimpses of what the other scientists that are employed by the Empire are working on. I would love to have known what the Iktochi scientist who Galen got into a fist fight with was working on.


Anyway, my question is. What possible other things could the scientists of the Empire be researching and working on besides kyber crystals? I don't think teleportation or time travel because by the time of the novel Phasma and the Force Awakens novelization, these things are hinted to be impossible. I also don't think matter replication is a viable idea since it would create a post-scarcity society and the Empire would probably try to surpluses all research of that technology. A wormhole gate appeared in the Han Solo comic but nobody seems to be doing anything with it and it was said to be ancient technology too complicated to figure out


So what's left? What else could scientists be working to achieve during the time of the Empire? Any and all ideas besides the ones I mentioned are welcomed

I think perhaps a super powerful version of the existing shield technologies to match the planet killing power of the Death Star would be logical. There are already directed energy weapons in Star Wars, and the Death Star just uses a combined and far more powerful version of the same tech. Why not apply it to existing Star Wars shield technologies and make it super powerful to protect against planet killers?

Also, I would think that long range detection/surveillance technologies would be very useful in that universe. Something technologically equal to the way Jedi and Sith detect things using the Force. Just a couple of ideas there.

 

[PussyGalore]

SW just doesn't seem very "tech" to me. It's more fantasy than anything. The only tech they seem to focus on is a planet-destroying death ray -- and frankly that's getting old.

 

[Overmind One]

SW just doesn't seem very "tech" to me. It's more fantasy than anything. The only tech they seem to focus on is a planet-destroying death ray -- and frankly that's getting old.

I agree. You just don't think about any science going on in Star Wars. After all, in that universe, religious Jedi wielding magical Force powers are the supremely respected people in the galaxy, not scientists. Star Wars concentrates on hero building, characters and getting "the bad guy". I am always reduced to a smirk when I hear SW fans try and say it's science fiction. It is no more science fiction than Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter.

 

[Maximum7]

If you read the novels; you'd feel differently.

 

[Overmind One]

If you read the novels; you'd feel differently.

The EU novels? Those have been thrown out, haven't they? Don't get me wrong, I love Star Wars! But it is not a science fiction saga and it really does not try to be. None of the tech is ever explained anywhere in Star Wars. I actually thought that the idea of the midichlorians (mitochondrions) having a separate sentience in our bodies and being able to communicate with other midichlorians to conceive a life without another parent was fascinating. But the short list of things Star Wars fans hate includes "midichlorians" and all three prequel movies.

We have had huge Star Wars fans here who were very familiar with the Extended Universe novels. Me personally? I lean more towards science fiction like The Expanse, Star Trek B.A.A.K (Before Abrams and Kurtzman) and some others.

So, do you see any science in the Star Wars movies?

 

[PussyGalore]

If you read the novels; you'd feel differently.

Actually no, no I wouldn't.

 

[YJ02]

I just find it so strange that FTL travel would be perfected centuries before figuring out the properties of kyber crystals

i am guessing--not a big reader of 'old republic/legends' material--that between the Sith and the Jedi and their various adherents/associates, the properties of Kyber were kept secret and away from the secular population

one thing that makes the 'rape' of Jedha even more offensive to the Jedi worshipers and church of the force ppl; the empire was destroying a planet through mining of a sacred material

i would guess that asked for his opinion Vader would have similar feelings though his loyalty to the emperor would keep him relatively silent. reference his 'technical monstrosity' comment and the faith put into the death star that vader criticized ppl for and you can get a feel for what he would say about mining kyber

at his core, Vader was always a Luddite

 

[YJ02]

So, do you see any science in the Star Wars movies

to be fair, that have probably had more scientific displays and/or explanations or exposition in REBELS then in all the movies combined

got to get the kiddies on that S.T.E.M. don't cha know!!

 

[YJ02]

The EU novels? Those have been thrown out

yes they were

but increasingly through REBELS, the new movies and the official books, more and more of that 'purge' was defi for strategic reasons by DISNEY (as in money making ones)

more and more material, characters and plots--albeit changed a bit, have been intro'd into official canon after having their conception in the EU

Thrawn, Wedge Antille's early life and many other things are examples

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it would be crazy stupid to throw it all out and then come up with entirely new stuff when all of that is just sitting there, owned by disney via lucasarts. why re-invent when you just doll it up?

like, why throw out a loved villain like Thrawn and come up with a red skinned imperial admiral in his place?

 

[YJ02]

Me personally? I lean more towards science fiction like The Expanse, Star Trek B.A.A.K (Before Abrams and Kurtzman) and some others

come, come, we all know that Star WARS is NO Trek!

although Trek appears to becoming more like SW's to our dismay

but like i say, just like,or dislike, them both based on what they are without comparisons to something else they can never be?

 

[YJ02]

religious Jedi wielding magical Force powers are the supremely respected people in the galaxy, not scientists.

hey, our politicians use the hard work and research of scientists all the time for their own ends, the ppl of the SW's galaxy do the same

they live off the labors of the science world I mean, they can't have starships without science right? kind of a given that advanced science and advanced industry exists, the stories are just not of that vein
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no one in the real world, who does anything real and important-like science or math or industry, ARE respected either by the majority. our society highly respects movie stars professional athletes, singers, gurus, and those who make money from the labors of others.

we want the stuff they make and what science does for us, we just don't care how it is made or how science works

 

[Overmind One]

hey, our politicians use the hard work and research of scientists all the time for their own ends, the ppl of the SW's galaxy do the same

Not really. The Jedi are technically monks and priests of the Jedi religion, religious warriors in a Jihad with the Sith. That is not political and it is not an equivalency.

they live off the labors of the science world I mean, they can't have starships without science right? kind of a given that advanced science and advanced industry exists, the stories are just not of that vein
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no one in the real world, who does anything real and important-like science or math or industry, ARE respected either by the majority. our society highly respects movie stars professional athletes, singers, gurus, and those who make money from the labors of others.

True, but that is not the Star Wars universe. Star Wars centers around individuals and not principles. There is one Bad Guy King (Snope, the Emperor, Darth Vader, etc), and a Good Guy King (a Jedi of some sort). The Empire and the Republic all have secondary roles, and they almost answer to the Jedi (or the Sith on the other side).

we want the stuff they make and what science does for us, we just don't care how it is made or how science works

Well, I want to know how things are made and how science works.

 

[YJ02]

That is not political and it is not an equivalency.

but it IS political in the SW's galaxy. remember the only military the republic had before the clone army was the Jedi knights and their adherents

but want i mean is that our politicans will gladly start a war and have the military use tech and gear made from the effprts of science WITHOUT any concern has to how that came about

 

[YJ02]

The Empire and the Republic all have secondary roles, and they almost answer to the Jedi (or the Sith on the other side).

and in our world, govt's answer to corporate interests. corporate greed- a new religion

 

[YJ02]

Well, I want to know how things are made and how science works

of course you do! though i don't have any desire to get into the weeds of scientific things, I do have an appreciation for science and those who do it

but, and you KNOW this, most americans could not give one damn about how stuff gets to them, they just want it and they want it now <wonder how many americans realise that their smart phone requires rare earth minerals and that these are in increasingly short supply?--not many is the answer, and- they dont care >

most of the ppl in the SW's galaxy are ignorant end users. most jedi do not care about how a light saber works, they just know how to use it (like most samurai did not know or want to know, how their swords were made) and use it as an object of veneration because of the Kyber in it--Kyber is an important element for the force.

the empire does not care about how their ships are made, they just want them.

i would like to see more Galen Erso's and Krennic's (he was military but knew the value of science and scientists) and the 'how and why's' of the science, but you know most ppl just want the 'pew,pew'