Ultratech
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ultratech (pronounced "ultra-tek") is a fictional device comprising technology which is grossly incompatible with the known laws of Nature. While all fiction involving ultratech is science fiction, not all science fictional technology, even if it seems to contradict actual scientific understanding, is ultratech. The term is used as a shorthand way of explaining that how something works is not important and that the suspension of disbelief is required to enjoy the story containing it. This is true for most fiction, but the distinction here is that much science fiction (often referred to as "hard" science fiction) contains technology that may be advanced but is still internally consistent and compatible with known or presently theorized aspects of the natural world. Ultratech is technology that simply could not work in the real world and for which no rational and consistent explanation can be made.
A classic example of ultratech is the "rocket packs" worn by Commando Cody and his offspring, including the Rocketeer. No chemically powered jet engine could have the range, speed, or maneuverability that the "rocket packs" display, and no human being could fly one in the manner portrayed. Similarly, many (though not all) of James Bond's devices as furnished by Q Section are ultratech. Ironically, the jetpack worn by Sean Connery in the James Bond movie Thunderball is not ultratech: it was a working prototype. However, it was not controllable - hence the visible wire, which didn't lift Connery, just kept him from being killed - and no amount of improvement could turn it into a Commando Cody rocket pack.
Contrarily, the Warp Drive from Star Trek, although it doesn't seem compatible with our current understanding of the physics of relativity, is not ultratech: it's merely extremely advanced fictional technology - in the Star Trek universe, the technology of warp fields is well-explained and internally consistent.
Ultratech sometimes is referred to as magitech, hypertech, metatech, or pulp-tech. A great deal of the technology in the relatively new science fiction genre of steampunk as seen in such works as Morlock Night, the film Wild, Wild West, or the Girl Genius graphic novels, could be referred to as ultratech.
