Technology

A 'Very Tiny Rick Moranis' and Other Requests for the Sci-Fi Santa We Know as DARPA

By Rebecca J. Rosen
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DARPA turned to Twitter to crowdsource some ideas for what the future should bring. A round-up of the responses.

DeathStarIDiagram-EGVV-615.jpg
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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 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:

At least it was a good one.