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The Feasibility of Star Wars Tech
pwnage writes "Forbes Magazine, not usually the the web's premiere source of all things geekish, has posted an interesting summary of Star Wars technology and its scientific feasibility. As a bonus, they also include a great set of Star Flops, including the infamous Jedi Arena Atari 2600 video 'game.'"
...and not Star Trek, but in this vein, The Physics of Star Trek is one of my favorites. It's written by Lawrence Krauss, a theoretical physicist from Case Western Reserve University. Beyond Star Trek was another good one from him.
He dissects, from a scientific standpoint, some of the common plot elements and familiar staples (such as warp travel, transporters, phasers, etc.) to determine whether they'd be physically possible. An example of some interesting diversions along the way are demonstrating exactly how much data is contained in a human body, and how much bandwidth would be required for a "transporter" to work. It's a fun and interesting read, and includes content that would satisfy anyone from laymen to scientists. Being a fan of Star Trek is a prerequisite, though...
If we were to arm our military like they do in star wars, we'd be giving every soldier their normal equipment plus a crossbow, a pack of bolts, a knife, AND a sword. And then telling them to close in as quick as possible and engage in hand to hand combat.
You know, I'm not even a Star Wars geek and I've gotta mix it up a little on this one...
First of all, the whole idea of the Jedi is that they are not just elite soldiers, they are practically Gods. Before Lucas went with this whole ridiculous "mitochondria" nonsense, the Jedi were basically a religious sect that understood how to harness a mysterious force that nobody else understood. So, first, you're already suspending disbelief to hell and back because you've got to believe that these guys could control time and space to some extent.
Now, once you accept that premise - that these are not just "foot-soldiers" (remember that the regular soldiers all throughout the Star Wars movies just carry blasters, from the droid armies on eps. 1-3 to the Imperial Army and the rebels in 4-6), but instead ultra-elite combination soldiers/priests/shamen/wizards, then you can start to see how on the one hand, conventional weapons would be entirely ineffective against them (something Lucas has demonstrated time and time again), and hand-to-hand fighting would be their most effective weapon against you. Conversely, it is also the only real way to kill them.
The other thing that a lot of people who argue this point seem to miss is that the Jedi do die out in the end! I mean, it is a parallel to what happened in real life to the knights on this planet, and purposely so. It's the end of chivalry in Star Wars just as it was here, and it happens in Star Wars for some of the very same reasons.
Its kind of rediculous to think anyone at all would ever try to engage anyone else in melee weapon combat as a battle tactic.
Unless that's what you're really good at. If you're a trained swordsman who's so good that he can both dodge bullets and deflect them without fail, why wouldn't you try to engage your enemy in melee combat? Your opponent would be basically defenseless in such a situation, unless he was as well-trained in melee combat as you are.
(The best shooter can't do anything more than shoot straight and accurately, so if there was such a person who could deflect bullets with a sword, it wouldn't matter how good of a shooter he was facing - they'd be just as ineffective. The problem is the mass of real swords makes it impossible to use one that way, but that's why light sabers are supposedly made of light... which is a whole other discussion.)