Fiction or Non-Fiction? Star Trek's Effect on Reality
By Matt Kutzner - May 20, 2006

Seeing as how it's been a while since my last article, why not treat all you ST2 fanatics with another wonderful piece of journalism? I can already hear the applause. Well, I guess my articles are less about journalism and more about mindless chatter...just like these few sentences I've written so far. I think I'll get on to the point of the article before I lose all the readers.

A lot of people are under the misconception that Star Trek is nothing more than fantasy. I've recently read several articles about the advancement of technology, and Star Trek has been an inspiration for many inventions. I never even realized a lot of this stuff until I did some research on it. It really is pretty amazing. There are far too many things I could talk about, and I know you don't want to be bored with a painfully long article. So let me get on to the important stuff.

A German physicist by the name of Jochem Hauser has said that he believes a "hyperspace" drive (or warp drive) is a very real possibility. "It would be amazing. I have been working on propulsion systems for quite a while and it would be the most amazing thing. The benefits would be almost unlimited," he stated. "But this thing is not around the corner; we first have to prove the basic science is correct and there are quite a few physicists who have a different opinion." He goes on to say that an optimistic timeframe to test this would be within the next five years. To me, this is unbelievable. Exploring other star systems would be amazing. Allow me a moment to dream about it...

...Ok, enough of that. Moving on to another very interesting topic. Who here would love to have their very own holodeck? What? No one? What's wrong with you people? Well, apparently Saint Mary's University in Canada (eh?) has come up with a very basic version of it. This "data cave," as they call it, is being used to project three-dimensional objects such as stars. This system uses several large screens backlit by projectors. A student must be wearing polarized glasses to view the projected object. Robert Deupree, director of the university's Institute for Computational Astrophysics (yes, I know, that was a lot to read), thinks that a "holodeck" similar to the one on Star Trek might be possible within the next ten to fifteen years. I'm sure you can't touch the objects, but this is even cooler than the warp drive. It's not like I'll be on a ship with a warp drive anyway. With a holodeck, I could be the best starship captain ever! Look out Kirk and Picard!

Next up we have something that even Starfleet never used (with a few exceptions). Nicolae Nicorovici and Graeme Milton believe that a cloaking device could be made in the near future. Guys, this doesn't mean you'll be able to walk into the girls locker room without being noticed, so just get that thought out of your mind. Right now they're proposing tests involving specks of dust. Nicorovici and Milton would use lenses that stop light from scattering normally. They also say that they don't think it will work with every object or light frequency. As cool as cloaking would be, if they can't apply that theory to more complex objects, why would you waste money on that? Just give the money to me. It will go to good use.

There are so many more things to talk about, but I think this article is plenty long, so I'll shut up before I bore you any more. Yet again I hear applause. It's much less appropriate this time. Anyway, I'll have part two of this article sometime in the near future. Until then, why not read my other articles? They're all rated 5/5 combadges according to StarTrek2.com...and that's no small feat. Rating my own articles gives me a sense of satisfaction, so back off! There's nothing wrong with it!

I'd like to know what you thought of the article, so please email me at matthew911@startrek2.com.