Is the future bereft of culture?

Trek Books, Games and General chat
User avatar
IanKennedy
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 6155
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:28 pm
Location: Oxford, UK
Contact:

Re: Is the future bereft of culture?

Post by IanKennedy »

There are quite a few subspace issues that have come up over the years. There was the silly warp travel damaging the fabric of space thing but we've seen other anomalies too. Check out this sci-tech page:

http://www.ditl.org/scitech-page.php?Sc ... D=Sci-tech
email, ergo spam
User avatar
Teaos
4 Star Admiral
4 Star Admiral
Posts: 15368
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:00 am
Commendations: The Daystrom Award
Location: Behind you!

Re: Is the future bereft of culture?

Post by Teaos »

One would think that is the issue was known, most species would stop using the tech out of self preservation, or maybe there is something like a arms agreement, where almost everyone agrees not to use the damaging drives, and if any small power doesnt agree, everyone comes together and damn well makes them.
What does defeat mean to you?

Nothing it will never come. Death before defeat. I don’t bend or break. I end, if I meet a foe capable of it. Victory is in forcing the opponent to back down. I do not. There is no defeat.
User avatar
sunnyside
Captain
Captain
Posts: 2711
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2007 5:35 pm

Re: Is the future bereft of culture?

Post by sunnyside »

IanKennedy wrote:There are quite a few subspace issues that have come up over the years. There was the silly warp travel damaging the fabric of space thing but we've seen other anomalies too. Check out this sci-tech page:

http://www.ditl.org/scitech-page.php?Sc ... D=Sci-tech

So I noted something interesting in the yellow text in one of those entries. A "Cochran factor".

Trying to look that up, I found a memory alpha entry stating:

"Star Trek Maps mentions the Cochrane's factor, a mathematical variable pointed out by Zefram Cochrane in 2053, in which the curvature of space the ship is traveling through causes a multiplication of the relative speed depending on the mass of nearby matter. It can be as high as a multiplication of 1500 times within the most dense interstellar dust and gas, and as little as 1 in the intergalactic void.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Cochrane_Equation
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek_Maps

Based on the episodes it's referenced, it seems a Cochran factor of 0 is also possible, creating the "subspace sandbar."

So the term is cannonical and I wonder if the maybe-not-quite-cannon explanation comes from addressing the trip to the center of the galaxy. The general mass present increases as one approaches the galactic center (and spacetime is actually warped in that direction, producing a gravitational pull).

As a side note I love that the Star Trek Maps book apparently includes an introduction to vector calculus.
User avatar
IanKennedy
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 6155
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:28 pm
Location: Oxford, UK
Contact:

Re: Is the future bereft of culture?

Post by IanKennedy »

The problem of a 'pull' would be that you can get there really quickly but never really get back. It's more that he speeds close to the core would be faster in general, no matter what direction you would be travelling in, and further out (in areas of lower star density) they would be slower. Given a fixed warp speed number.
email, ergo spam
Post Reply