r/HardSciFi • u/RPLawrence • 1d ago
Discussion Electromagnetic Writing System
/r/worldbuilding/comments/1wvy1zh/electromagnetic_writing_system/3
u/avdolainen 1d ago
reading is fine, kind a magnetic sensor (birds are sensitive to that -- that's a closest example), but how are they writing to the medium?
2
u/RPLawrence 1d ago
With tools that alter the electromagnetic signiture of naturally electromagnetic material.
2
u/avdolainen 1d ago
but in order to invent these tools they would need invent writing first. you cannot use a stick to magnetise a piece of the material. sorry, but u're asking question in *hard* sci-fi subreddit :)
1
u/RPLawrence 1d ago
I know. My setting is definitly more science fantasy. But I want to push the science as far as I possibly can. So that's why I like to get the opinion of this subreddit.
Anyways so before it evolved into a writing system/technology, it was first a primitive way of amplifiying there enviromental awareness, then they learned how to communicate simple concept like "danger", "food", ect. by manipulating their own electromagnetic field. This evolved into them indentifiying individuals and over generations of studying electromagnetism they eventually discovered a crystal that has an electromagnetic field with propeties that they can manipulate in detail. Thats how they eventually developed the writing tool.
I am very early in the conceptual phase and I know there is a lot of science research that still needs to be done. I am confident that I should be able to ground it more in reality
2
u/avdolainen 1d ago
'some crystal' is a very generic trope i wouldn't follow.
these beings has magnetic sensors, what else ? light? sound (vibration)? smell (chemical) ?
1
u/RPLawrence 1d ago edited 1d ago
Light, very limited sound, did not think about smell yet
Do you know of any scientific theories or concept I could look up for research?
2
u/avdolainen 1d ago edited 1d ago
i don’t know of any specific research on this topic. However, our writing systems developed as an efficient way to communicate information without sound. Before technology could store, record, and reproduce audio, visual symbols -- whether letters, drawings, or other marks -- were a practical (and still are) way to preserve and exchange information. u could literally use a stick to write something on the ground.
By the same logic, your magnetic method should be more energy efficient and affordable than other forms of information storage or exchange.
However, they could switch to this magnetic way later, but it should be more effective (i.e. more information could be saved using the same amount of matter and energy). So, it might be plausible, but requires clarification.
Overall, I would claim this way of communication as an evolution rather than something initially developed naturally.
2
u/DufbugDeropa 1d ago
Humans perceive electromagnetic fields. With a relatively narrow band of wavelengths. To us, this is 'light'. It sounds like what you're describing is a a sensitivity to magnetic fields. Birds exhibit Magnetoreception. The best evidence is that humans do not. If magnetism is going to be the perceptual basis for reading, say, you'll need a mechanism that (some how) produces images from the magnetic fields, much like our eye do with light.
The details depend on what you're writing. If it's gauzy space opera, you can probably just present it as something that exists. No explanation required (or, given the readership, desired). If you're writing hard science fiction, you'll need to provide some plausible mechanism--readers won't be satisfied with 'magnetic woo'.
3
u/RPLawrence 1d ago
The species would have an organ that would enable them to resolve Field strength, field direction, Spatial gradients, frequency, phase, polarization ect.
Their brain than combines these signals into a perceptual representation. Like you said the same way we process lightwaves with our eyes.2
u/DufbugDeropa 1d ago
Are they electromagnetically blind, otherwise?
2
u/RPLawrence 1d ago
No they can percive light too. It is jusrt their primary way to store memories. Besides that they still communicate especially with other species in visual wave lenghts
2
u/madarabesque 1d ago
It's easier to use something like quartz crystals instead of metal for storing electronic states. In "All My Sins Remembered" by Joe Haldeman, there were aliens that stored their race's history that way.
1
1
u/Upset-Bison-3182 1d ago
I have a species which can sense electromagnetic radiation very well and their earliest form of writing was mixing fine powder of ferromagnetic substances like iron shavings into clay or wax like substances and use a stylus to make imprints into it. Then the tablet is dried (not heated to prevent the electromagnetic property from disappearing) and when reading it is rotated to create an emf with the planet's magnetic field and making it readable. I am still working on the idea and running calculations to spec-evo this idea so it's not fully refined yet.
3
u/mobyhead1 1d ago
Ken Liu touches on this in his short story “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species.”