Gene Roddenberry said: "What does modern science allow us to imagine as our possible future as a civilization." Well applying today's technology__ taking the Enterprise for a short spin across the solar system at impulse power, half the speed of light, would blow Captain's Kirk's head off of his shoulders. Kirk would fall victim to the prosaic laws of Newtonian physics, the simple laws of inertia and motion__unless however__ the Enterprise was fitted with "inertial dampers." But are inertial dampers possible? Lawerence Krauss in his book, "The Physics of Star Trek" tackles such issues. Are inertial dampers or any other of the technology used in the Star Trek universe scientifically feasible given what we know today, but his kind of begs the question, and is a major a flaw of the book__knowing what we know of today__well maybe we don't know what we are going to know tomorrow, perhaps this might change what we know to be possible. But what did the writers of Star Trek get right, what is possible: the holodeck, transporters, photon torpedoes, deflector shields, tractor beams, and phasers and perhaps a cloaking device. Regardless this is a lighthearted and fascinating read about what we know of physics today. Perhaps in his next book Krauss will address why 90 percent of the life encountered in the Star Trek universe is humanoid while 90 percent of life encountered here on earth isn't even humanoid. And what is warp factor 9 anyway?
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
BOOKS: The Physics of Star Trek
Gene Roddenberry said: "What does modern science allow us to imagine as our possible future as a civilization." Well applying today's technology__ taking the Enterprise for a short spin across the solar system at impulse power, half the speed of light, would blow Captain's Kirk's head off of his shoulders. Kirk would fall victim to the prosaic laws of Newtonian physics, the simple laws of inertia and motion__unless however__ the Enterprise was fitted with "inertial dampers." But are inertial dampers possible? Lawerence Krauss in his book, "The Physics of Star Trek" tackles such issues. Are inertial dampers or any other of the technology used in the Star Trek universe scientifically feasible given what we know today, but his kind of begs the question, and is a major a flaw of the book__knowing what we know of today__well maybe we don't know what we are going to know tomorrow, perhaps this might change what we know to be possible. But what did the writers of Star Trek get right, what is possible: the holodeck, transporters, photon torpedoes, deflector shields, tractor beams, and phasers and perhaps a cloaking device. Regardless this is a lighthearted and fascinating read about what we know of physics today. Perhaps in his next book Krauss will address why 90 percent of the life encountered in the Star Trek universe is humanoid while 90 percent of life encountered here on earth isn't even humanoid. And what is warp factor 9 anyway?
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