Lasers Vs. Lead: How Do Guns Work In Science Fiction?
Science fiction is an art form that asks its creators to imagine the distant future or the far outer reaches of space, and there are countless ways technology could evolve. When crafting an action narrative in the future, an author has to consider the weapons they'll arm their heroes and villains with.
The gun has a strange place in modern action media. Once considered less technically interesting than the sword or the fist, modern blockbusters create balletic displays of choreographed violence with a firearm or two. When sci-fi fans picture an archetypal gun for the genre, some see a battery-operated plasma cannon, while others picture something one could buy at a local home defense outlet.
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Firearms have evolved a lot since their origin in the early 10th century. From the fire lance of China to the muskets of the Renaissance, to six-shooters of the old west, all the way to modern assault rifles. Comparing the gun of today to that of two or three hundred years ago demonstrates how countless creators have iterated on the original concept to create something new. But, even through those different iterations, the firearm is still the same idea. Graduating from a powder-activated explosion that fires a projectile to a laser gun is a radical change, but it's one mankind has been trying to make for generations.
In real life, lasers are still in an experimental stage, and their usefulness in real-world combat is dubious. But, in sci-fi, it's the go-to option for a ton of creators. Lasers are typically portrayed as more deadly and less convenient than traditional firearms. Sometimes laser weaponry will have some form of limitation, like a massive battery pack or a risk of volatility. Other stories might
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