What if everything in the Star Trek universe was just one grand holodeck simulation and everything we’ve seen them go through in all the shows, all the movies, all the animations and all the books were just a runaway holodeck program that some junior officer made.
And it turns out the actual Star Trek universe is a lonely empty experience as their ships go wandering around nearby star systems and haven’t met any other species yet. It’s just a boring repetitive experience that leaves everyone feeling a deep sense of Galactic loneliness as it will take them many centuries of exploration before they eventually meet another species … and also a species that is not humanoid or familiar to us at all.
Ah, so “realistic” space travel, where 100 years later, they’re still on their way to the first Star system and the most critical technology is how to pass the time
Existential dread? … they are my favourite scifi thought experiments
Imagine being the first to travel far away from our star system to the point where you can no longer see our home sun … hopefully you are able to navigate back to our home star system. Hopefully the science and technology is accurate enough to return you home. Otherwise if anything is off by even a small amount, you’ll either become helplessly lost, or run out of fuel to make the return journey.
Time travelling? … any time you jump in time, it is either extremely complicated or more likely impossible to navigate back to an accurate reference point in the universe. You can go back six months in time but you’ll never be able to pinpoint where in the universe you will end up because the earth is moving through space, the solar system is moving and so is the galaxy constantly through time … so time travellers may be floating around in random space everywhere because they could never figure out where they would end up.
What if… Hear me out on this. What if the whole Star Trek Universe is actually a TV show made out of wishful thinking before any real space exploration beyond our solar system takes place?
What if everything in the Star Trek universe was just one grand holodeck simulation and everything we’ve seen them go through in all the shows, all the movies, all the animations and all the books were just a runaway holodeck program that some junior officer made.
And it turns out the actual Star Trek universe is a lonely empty experience as their ships go wandering around nearby star systems and haven’t met any other species yet. It’s just a boring repetitive experience that leaves everyone feeling a deep sense of Galactic loneliness as it will take them many centuries of exploration before they eventually meet another species … and also a species that is not humanoid or familiar to us at all.
“From you Dante”
Oh, right!
Ah, so “realistic” space travel, where 100 years later, they’re still on their way to the first Star system and the most critical technology is how to pass the time
I needed more existential dread so thanks for this. <3
Existential dread? … they are my favourite scifi thought experiments
Imagine being the first to travel far away from our star system to the point where you can no longer see our home sun … hopefully you are able to navigate back to our home star system. Hopefully the science and technology is accurate enough to return you home. Otherwise if anything is off by even a small amount, you’ll either become helplessly lost, or run out of fuel to make the return journey.
Time travelling? … any time you jump in time, it is either extremely complicated or more likely impossible to navigate back to an accurate reference point in the universe. You can go back six months in time but you’ll never be able to pinpoint where in the universe you will end up because the earth is moving through space, the solar system is moving and so is the galaxy constantly through time … so time travellers may be floating around in random space everywhere because they could never figure out where they would end up.
We’re still not sure if all of DS9 is in the shattered mind of an insane 1940’s writer or not.
Inhales
Ok…wait, hear me out
Exhales
what if that’s how Discovery ends?
It wouldn’t be the worst story-ending on the show…
What if… Hear me out on this. What if the whole Star Trek Universe is actually a TV show made out of wishful thinking before any real space exploration beyond our solar system takes place?