At Jodotha's request

[Jodotha]

I don't need to get specific, but one of my particular quirks is I like to know how things work - even if it never shows up in the story. That's one of the reasons I don't read high sci-fi. "It Just Does" has never been a suitable explanation for me Plus, it's just INTERESTING.
I'm fairly keen on there being artificial gravity of some sort - something that each craft has on its own. I thought about the centrifugal thing too, but I'm thinking more along the lines of Star Wars/Firefly/Titan AE type stuff. They all have gravity, but who knows how?

[Crows]

Well, 'it just does' is rare in good science fiction. A good basis in the understanding of your technology will shine through your work even if you don't choose to bore the reader with the technical specs (not supportive of a plot, under most circumstances). Plausibility will come from your confidence in the provenance of the device or technology. That could be technical understanding, or historical understanding of the development; either of which you can establish tacitly through solid narrative. Just don't get sucked into the trap of trying to convey every detail to the reader no matter how cool the idea is at the end (because it will be). That kind of thing makes me put books down; it's usually unnecessary.

[Adrasteia]

I think some authors have effectively pulled off the "it just does" approach to science fiction, albeit not many. I think Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles is a prime example of this.

I agree however, that just because you're not going to put every world-building detail into your story proper, knowing your universe intimately while you are writing can only increase the overal richness and texture of your storytelling.

Good points about gravity! I like Berick's idea about human beings whose bodies have changed to the point where they could not longer withstand Earth gravity (particularly if said humans were in fact seeking out their original homeworld).

[Grasshopper]

Zero gravity livestock would be easy to deal with, genetic manipulation of mammalian animals to survive under water, or genetic manipulation of fish to acquire certain desired traits of mammalian species and boom, giant farm aquarium. Though that would of course require machinery to clean and take care of, back to the point of failing 'replicators' potential. But you don't need gravity in an aquarium, I wonder how the fish would deal without an up or down, or maybe even a false spherical center used as a 'ground'.

Damnit now I want to have a giant space aquarium!

[Guest]

I'm a bit late to the discussion, but Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot" series had people in Very Over-Populated Eastern Part of the World (e.g. China, etc) eating yeast. Of course, that was also still on Earth, but it was implied that it was basically all done in hydroponic facilities as opposed to in soil so "all" they would need is water. Which admittedly is not something that can be found everywhere. Still I imagine water can also be recycled. In Tank Girl they had that scary stabby bottle whereby you could get water from a human being by sucking out his blood and converting it to water. I imagine when people die naturally you could do much the same. See Marie's reference to Burgess' dystopian world.

[skippytoad]

Oops... that was me... didn't realize I wasn't signed in.