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Crossposted from https://lemmy.world/post/49798631
The Star Trek television series and films use the term “warp drive” to describe their method of faster-than-light travel. Neither the Alcubierre theory, nor anything similar, existed when the series was conceived—the term “warp drive” and general concept originated with John W. Campbell’s 1931 science fiction novel Islands of Space. Alcubierre stated in an email to William Shatner that his theory was directly inspired by the term used in the show and cites the “‘warp drive’ of science fiction” in his 1994 article. A USS Alcubierre appears in the Star Trek tabletop RPG Star Trek Adventures. Since the release of Star Trek: The Original Series, more recent Star Trek spin-off series have made closer use of the theory behind the Alcubierre Drive incorporating warp bubbles/fields into the in-universe science.
Doesn’t violate relativity. And it’s not a physics proposal as much as a mathematical proof.
it is really not. just because some math adds up doesn’t mean that the underlying idea makes sense.
let me tell you a joke.
a biologist, a mechanical engineer and a mathematician are observing a house. we know for a fact that at the beginning of the observation the house was empty and there are no hidden exits.
now they watch a person enter the house and - after some time - two people leave. they scratch their heads.
“they reproduced,” says the biologist. “oh no, it is a measurement error,” says the engineer. “oh come on guys, it is always you two with your absurd explanations,” says the mathematician. “you see - it is pretty clear. now, another person will enter, and the house will be empty.”
I mean, yeah, the math checking out doesn’t necessarily mean it’s physically possible. That’s pretty much my point. It’s just mathematically possible. I think a lot of people are hearing that Alcubierre came up with a warp drive solution from YouTube science communicators and running with the narrative that “it’s possible, we just gotta figure out negative mass!” And not stopping to think about how absurd that idea is.
I mean, how would we even measure negative mass? If an object has negative mass it would be repelled out of the universe. It would repel itself. The binding forces of the universe kind of depend on at least some mass.
All of that to say, those are physics problems. Not math problems. Insurmountable sure, but mathematically calculable.