THE PHYSICS OF STAR TREK A critique of Lawrence M. Krauss's book, by G.F. Willmetts

It's very hard to explain 24th century physics from a 20th century perspective. Even worse, is attempting to justify the whims of Star Trek scriptwriters to science accuracies. Krauss doesn't go as far as to attack any 'science advisors' on any of the four Star Trek series and six films, but he must have thought they were asleep some of the time to let so many faux pas get through.

Krauss ignores the technobabble and goes for the jugular with the basic scientific principles that are wrong. Anyone who understood high school science will know the Conservation of Energy (nothing can be created or destroyed only its form can be altered) and the speed of light is an impossible barrier to exceed will immediately have problems with warp drive.

As a book of the current developments of science in our century and reality, Krauss has provided a reasonable layman's understanding of today's physics. Where it goes wrong is in attempting to apply this to Star Trek. The Roddenberry hype of plausibility refers to scientific analysis, characters' jobs and astronomical phenomena than the means to get there.

The technique of any SF reality creation is to remain consistent to any science law changes that are used. Star Trek has had dozens of scriptwriters over the past 30 years, so it's amazing that there haven't been more inconsistencies. This can, to some extent, be attributed to the writers' bibles and script-editors addressing these problems.

It is a taken rule that through warp drive, faster-than-light travel is possible fueled by matter/anti-matter annihilation. Transporters work by dissembling someone, projecting proto-matter to the surface of a planet and transform it back to an organic being by re-organising it into the pattern briefly stored in the starship's databanks. Originals are lost but duplicates go on forever.

Universal translators enable non-English speaking aliens to talk to the crew without appearing to be out-of-synch with the translation. Sub-space communication devices can pass messages across an eighth of the galaxy with delays that can be measured in hours rather than centuries.

This all immediately falls flat by saying it's impossible. Everyone knows this isn't yet possible or Star Trek wouldn't be classed as Science Fiction and we'd be among the stars today. Star Trek is set in an SF reality where such problems have, if not been escaped, certainly been evaded by the discovery and application of new principles.

The discovery of Quantum Mechanics and its differences to the larger world science laws has caused a lot of problems to many scientists reconciling the differences.

Should a new science rule or understanding surface, then our perception of the universe will change yet again. Scientists are learning the hard way not to be close-minded or dogmatic about anything being impossible.

The Physics Of Star Trek isn't really tackling the title subject but the problems any Science Fiction book, film or TV series has in dealing with certain takes and distortions on our own reality.

Many of them would never leave our own star system if they never took any liberties and violated or changed some of our current science laws. As a Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Krauss would certainly be putting his reputation on the line if he attempted to explain plausibility from within an alternative reality, when he's only really expert on our own.

It might well take an extra-ordinary amount of energy to get into warp space, but if space between stars is shortened, then so too might energy expenditure. Returning to normal space may conserve and restore much of the lost energy.

Gravity inside a starship could be created by vectoring some of the Gee-force downwards as mass increases approaching impulse speed, acting as an inertia dampner rather than squashing everyone. This same gravity technique no doubt gave floors to LaForge, Ro and the Romulan scientist in ST:TNG's The Next Phase and everyone aboard in Pegasus.

As to Transporters, Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle may very well be violated by someone being instantly simultaneously copied and destroyed with the same information being used for recreation. The Heisenberg Compensators no doubt encases both where something should and should not be together. Starship phaser power may fire in curved lines but any distortion could be compensated and corrected by computer calculations.

Unlike Professor Krauss, I don't have a reputation to lose by stating any of the above. All I've done is to look from within the Star Trek reality and suggested, using the technical manuals, plausible ways to address the information demonstrated on screen. Playing with unusual rules is often a good way to understanding our own reality better. Krauss' best speculation, in my opinion, is that our universe may be in a Black Hole may give food for thought for many aspiring SF author.

Krauss' book provides an excellent understanding of our own scientific reality, but that can be got from any science textbook. Other than the references to Star Trek in making it relevant to his discussion, this would be just another physics textbook. Considering that this book follows other physics books he's written, one could suppose that it is being used to widen his appeal to a wider market.

If you intend reading this book in the hope of obtaining some understanding as to what LaForge or Data are talking about in ST:TNG, then you'll be as lost as you are with the Star Trek Technical Manuals. If you want to see how our own century's science is developing, then this can only serve as a starting point before digging into something much deeper.

pub: HARPER COLLINS 188 pages Price: £12.99 (UK) author: LAWRENCE M. KRAUSS

G.F.WILLMETTS

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