Alcubierreās theoretical proof of concept for warp drives was created in the mid 1990s nearly 30 years after TOS first broadcast and TNG had completed its run.
Probably the most salient point - one cannot credibly claim that the warp drive was ābased on scienceā that hadnāt yet been published, and wouldnāt be for three decades.
And that Alcubierreās effort, as a theoretical physics PhD student, to prove mathematically that there was a an exception to General Relativity that would make warp possible, was inspired by Star Trekās fictional drive and not vice versa.
Although it might go both ways these days, since it wouldnāt be at all surprising if newer writers heard of Alcubierreās warp drive, and incorporated that into Star Trek as a mechanism for how it works.
Itās more that Star Trekās science advisor Dr. Erin MacDonald is a physicist who did her PhD thesis with the team in Scotland that got the Nobel prize shortly after she graduated.
As she puts it, her friends got her into watching Voyager when she was working on her PhD and she thought āoh cool, just what I am studying.ā
Thereās definitely a feedback loop going on, since Dr. MacDonald is whom they bounce their ideas off of.
She appears as herself - although as a Starfleet officer in the 24th century ā in animated form in Prodigy, and explains āTemporal Mechanics 101ā in a learning module.
I was not saying that the warp drive was based on the Alcubierre drive. My pont was that the warp drive was more grounded in physics than the spore drive, so much so that it inspired the Alcubierre drive.
The fact that Alcubierre was inspired by Star Trek to come up with something (theoretically) workable does not mean that the warp drive as originally conceived was somehow āgrounded in physics.ā At the end of the day, the similarities are pretty superficial.
Iāll go ahead and concede my point. I havenāt watched enough original Star Trek and definitely dont have enough knowledge in physics to argue this further. My understanding was that the warp drive was kept just vague enough to be argued to be theoretically possible. But honestly, Iām not a physicist, so I am probably missing something obvious.
In the original Star Trek, that Alcubierre was inspired by, it wasnāt explained at all. You just had warp engines and impulse engines. Warp engines made it so the ship could go at warp speed, but go too fast, and they could come off the ship, or the ship would explode.
It was later series that tried to have an explanation for how they worked.
Although I donāt think the writers cared particularly much for whether they were theoretically possible or not, anyway. They work through subspace, and that doesnāt exist in reality, so a lot of oddities could just be brushed under that.
Probably the most salient point - one cannot credibly claim that the warp drive was ābased on scienceā that hadnāt yet been published, and wouldnāt be for three decades.
Yup.
And that Alcubierreās effort, as a theoretical physics PhD student, to prove mathematically that there was a an exception to General Relativity that would make warp possible, was inspired by Star Trekās fictional drive and not vice versa.
Although it might go both ways these days, since it wouldnāt be at all surprising if newer writers heard of Alcubierreās warp drive, and incorporated that into Star Trek as a mechanism for how it works.
Itās more that Star Trekās science advisor Dr. Erin MacDonald is a physicist who did her PhD thesis with the team in Scotland that got the Nobel prize shortly after she graduated.
As she puts it, her friends got her into watching Voyager when she was working on her PhD and she thought āoh cool, just what I am studying.ā
Thereās definitely a feedback loop going on, since Dr. MacDonald is whom they bounce their ideas off of.
She appears as herself - although as a Starfleet officer in the 24th century ā in animated form in Prodigy, and explains āTemporal Mechanics 101ā in a learning module.
I was not saying that the warp drive was based on the Alcubierre drive. My pont was that the warp drive was more grounded in physics than the spore drive, so much so that it inspired the Alcubierre drive.
Thatās circular reasoning, though.
The fact that Alcubierre was inspired by Star Trek to come up with something (theoretically) workable does not mean that the warp drive as originally conceived was somehow āgrounded in physics.ā At the end of the day, the similarities are pretty superficial.
Iāll go ahead and concede my point. I havenāt watched enough original Star Trek and definitely dont have enough knowledge in physics to argue this further. My understanding was that the warp drive was kept just vague enough to be argued to be theoretically possible. But honestly, Iām not a physicist, so I am probably missing something obvious.
In the original Star Trek, that Alcubierre was inspired by, it wasnāt explained at all. You just had warp engines and impulse engines. Warp engines made it so the ship could go at warp speed, but go too fast, and they could come off the ship, or the ship would explode.
It was later series that tried to have an explanation for how they worked.
Although I donāt think the writers cared particularly much for whether they were theoretically possible or not, anyway. They work through subspace, and that doesnāt exist in reality, so a lot of oddities could just be brushed under that.