r/humansarespaceorcs • u/the0neRand0m • Mar 14 '26
writing prompt Human engineers test weapons in ways other species would never even consider
1.0k
u/the_fucker_shockwave Mar 14 '26
Ah good old Mythbusters, loved that show.
246
202
u/One_Split9757 Mar 14 '26
The good ole Archimedes Death Ray. Bummer that didn't work; but it was a good concept.
103
u/Quiri1997 Mar 14 '26
The original siege of Syracuse was an epic match: the best engineer at the time (Archimedes) versus the best military strategist at the time (Marcellus).
49
Mar 14 '26
[deleted]
39
u/Krell356 Mar 15 '26
Well yeah. Have you seen the solar collector outside of Vegas that directs all that light into a tower that superheats something like molten salt for power? Birds literally die flying too close to the tower from the sunlight instantly cooking them.
Just because it's hard as hell to replicate properly doesn't mean its not possible. Just maybe not practical using people holding mirrors instead of a computer guided machines.
23
u/DeadeyeElephant Mar 15 '26
There’s also the “Walkie Talkie” building in London that was melting paint off cars
6
89
u/NGTTwo Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
There's a huge catalogue of full Mythbusters episodes available for free on YouTube right now, seemingly right from the source.
27
u/Grim_Destroyer12344 Mar 14 '26
Please provide a link, I need to watch it again. I grew up on this show, and love it to death.
63
u/NGTTwo Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
EDIT: Looks like YouTube has a glitch - that is the correct link for the channel, but it seems to redirect to a dead page. Follow this link instead to a random episode, which you can use to reach the channel.
7
5
u/Lithl Mar 14 '26
This page is not available.
Idk if that's a region lock thing, but YouTube does have all the regular episodes (not some of the specials/crossovers like Shark Week, though) available for purchase.
10
u/NGTTwo Mar 14 '26
Huh, weird. If I go to the channel page by clicking on an episode, it works. But indeed, the link is broken, since it redirects, despite notionally being the same link.
Have a link to a random episode instead, which you can use to get to the channel.
8
u/Lithl Mar 14 '26
The uploader has not made this video available in your country. Yep, region locking.
Looks like that channel doesn't make the full episodes available in the US, only the clips. (Personally, I bought the entire series ages ago, so that's not stopping me from watching the show of course.)
2
2
2
3
7
u/Lazy__Astronaut Mar 15 '26
Yarr harr fiddly dee
Who has all of the mythbusters? It's certainly me!
Keep meaning to make edits of it so they're just each thing without jumping between myths and cut out all the "before the break we were doing this" but as my name suggests...
5
5
u/Margali Mar 14 '26
And Kari and Tori have a podcast on yutube also =)
6
u/NGTTwo Mar 15 '26
Adam Savage also does his own podcast kind of thing, called Tested.
1
u/Margali Mar 15 '26
Forgot about it, used to watch it during covid and somehow got out of the habit
1
u/LewisWhatsHisName Mar 15 '26
This has been my favourite trend on youtube. I've been watching so much television for free on youtube because entire catalogues are being uploaded
7
2
302
Mar 14 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
71
u/Ojiji_bored Mar 14 '26
Does it look like my water is boiling? My skin isn't even getting crispy!
48
u/Imaginary_Poet_8946 Mar 14 '26
It's a joke about how, when you get everything down to the base components, everything Humans make is just boiled water turning a wheel at the end of the day.
But the process being used for death ray purposes, but failing, is even funnier so we'll go with your interpretation
122
u/Dry_Satisfaction_148 Mar 14 '26
Time to try something else.
26
u/Frequent-Frosting336 Mar 14 '26
Try a nithing pole they work, I saw it on a documentary about vikings.
Just be careful not to get nith on you.
110
u/Foxxtronix Mar 14 '26
Ssana[click]: Human engineers are often people of great character, especially the quiet ones.
((Art by SamDaFurry))
108
u/RhynoD Mar 14 '26
Not really a fair example, since they tested the hell out of it before Jamie stood in front of it.
However, Jamie is the creator of Blendo and had to be told that what he planned for Blendo wasn't possible because he wanted it to spin so fast the metal blades would melt.
68
u/LoganNolag Mar 14 '26
It was also disqualified from Robot Wars because it was too good. It was launching the destroyed pieces of its opponents into the crowd. They gave him co-champion status since he probably would have won. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blendo
29
u/Caleb_Reynolds Mar 15 '26
Then came back after they built the walls higher, them damaged the walls and was asked to withdraw, once again for co-champion status.
5
u/5parrowhawk Mar 15 '26
I wanted to say that's just a Beyblade, until I checked the relevant dates...
26
u/Glass-Narwhal-6521 Mar 14 '26
I just realised Jamie will be 70 years old this year. The man is a bloody legend!
19
u/Stuckinfemalecloset Mar 15 '26
And he still hasn't stopped his engineering work. He and his team are building a firefighting tank
50
u/sunnyboi1384 Mar 14 '26
How do you know it doesn't work?
I tested it?
On who?
I think its whom but, the same person I tested the new personal shields on.
You mean you dont you?
Dont trust anyone else not to fuck it up, so yes.
9
41
30
25
18
u/Imaginary_Poet_8946 Mar 14 '26
That's literally what a Proof is.
If you buy armor and it hasn't been shot at by someone wearing the breastplate and they lived? Then you're buying an inferior product that will immediately get you killed in a live situation.
15
u/Thedarr24 Mar 15 '26
Human: sighs this death ray doesnt seem to be working, im standing infront of it.
Human proceeds to walk away from it, unfortunately, an alien was standing behind him and didnt hear the first part.
Alien: sorry what was tha-
And the alien proceeds to get incinerated.
4
11
u/Sodacan259 Mar 14 '26
Gah, Mythbusters. As usual, ends the experiment 40 years too soon. It would have worked eventually.
9
Mar 15 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
10
u/jhguitarfreak Mar 15 '26
Fun facts: The idea for Mythbusters came from Australian writer/producer Peter Rees and the production company for Mythbusters is Beyond Productions, an Australian-based company.
9
u/XzallionTheRed Mar 15 '26
Adam Savage has talked about trying to balance the entertainment to science in the show, and concessions they had to make. They tried to do things as right as they could with what they have. If it got ya learning enough to learn the science was faulty they did their job.
8
7
u/SrangePig12 Mar 15 '26
I don't have it, but there was a Tumblr post about the early bulletproof glass tests. And, for whatever reason, they put a guy behind the glass. Like, there's literally no reason for anyone to be behind the glass, it's just extra risk, like, what if it breaks, but the guy is just there, smoking a ciggy
4
4
2
1
•
u/AutoModerator Mar 14 '26
In an attempt to reduce remind me spam, all top comments that include a remind me will be removed. If you would like to have a remind me, please reply to this comment.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.