The ansible

It's hard to imagine SF without the ansible now. The concept has been around for many years since Ursula le Guin invented it. Curiously, the story in which she did wasn't about the effects of the technology, it was about culture clash when members of two very different societies meet.

But later writers have taken and shaped her invention to their own purposes.  I'm thinking specifically  of Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series of books.  Much of the action there revolves around messages sent instantaneously by ansible, or around anisbles being destroyed and solar systems being out of contact.

I've adopted the technology myself, specifically in Starfire, where Ria Behar, my tradeship  captain, is jumping about the galaxy in search of her missing uncle.  Like FTL, I find it hard to imagine the SF genre without instant interstellar communications.

Part of our desire for the ansible is wish-fulfilment.  It would allow us to reach out to the stars in a far more immediate way than we can today, when a signal we send to a robot spacecraft takes minutes or hours to reach it.

But instantaneous communication would also greatly aid warfare, as Elizabeth Moon demonstrates in the Vatta's War books.  Pirates equipped with shipboard anisbles would have an advantage over other fleets, and the potential for destruction is huge.  As always, we need to be careful what we wish for.