Hyperspace; Is it possible?

[kosh555]

I have wondered for a while this question, Is Hyperspace possible? If it is impossible that would really mess up sci-fi. If it is impossible that means we will never get to another galaxy, stay in the same galaxy forever. Is it possible? Along with things like wormholes. Are they possible

[Morden]

I have no idea if it's really possible, I've heard much about wormhole-theories and so on, but Hyperspace is some kind of standard scifi-issue which I just can't say how scientifically thinkable it is.

But surely it wouldn't mess up the SciFi-genre for me if Steven Hawking says tomorrow: "Hyperspace, that's unlogical crap!"

I like scifi for what it is, nothing in there has too be (and can't be) correct in a real science level. I can live with First Ones, psi-abilities, time travel, Klingons, Shadows, Cylons, it just has too be some kind of logical in an in-universe-style.

That said, most of the ST:TOS-equipment looks quite medieval in these days, who knows what somebody will say about the accuracy of our days scifi-shows in 40 or 50 years.

[Jonas]

Well, hyperspace as such is clearly fictional, but there is the possibility of bridging huge distances. Unfortunately, such technology is still VERY far away. (It was the same thing in the B5 universe, after all; we got the technology from the Centauri.) And it's not helping that modern governments think of space as little more than a new battleground, and of science as something that must produce immediate profit.

[luvB5]

The only certain thing we know right now is how much we don't know. If --and it's admittedly a huge if -- we can find the Higgs Bosun (for an example) and through it learn how to fiddle with Higgs Field mechanics ( if, again, the Higgs Field exists), then not only is light speed possible but many times light speed probably is also. "Warp 300, Mr. Crusher, make it so."

[kosh555]

The only certain thing we know right now is how much we don't know. If --and it's admittedly a huge if -- we can find the Higgs Bosun (for an example) and through it learn how to fiddle with Higgs Field mechanics ( if, again, the Higgs Field exists), then not only is light speed possible but many times light speed probably is also. "Warp 300, Mr. Crusher, make it so."

I've heard about the Higgs Bosun it's very confusing

[byong]

100 years ago people didn't think we could fly and now it's no big deal. I don't think traveling at the speed of light or hyperspace/worm hole travel will be all that difficult it just takes someone to figure it out.

[I love Lyta]

Well, first-off I consider the concept of hyperspace-travel to be highly unlikely. Even if one assumes it to be just another spacial dimension of known space in a sense of the additional dimensions in string theory it would not help us get from one point to another faster than travelling the distance through normal space.
I guess a space folding technology like in Event Horizon or Dune would be the only way to travel great distances without having to be underway for ages.
Or some way to use the concept of non-locality of quantum states for travelling.
Also I don't really believe in the Higgs Field theory. To be honest I consider even the existence of the Akashic Field to be more likely than this.

The really funny part is that even if we'd manage to jump to let's say a star five million lightyears away. Someone going there might very well unexpectedly jump into a supernova. Why? Because people keep forgetting that the state we see the star in right now was the state it was in five million years ago...

[RMcD]

The way hyperspace is depicted in B5 could be explained by brane cosmology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brane_cosmology..

Hyperspace would seem to be another universe, corresponding to our own at every point, but with a different internal geometry. Either different physical rules mean that distances are more compact or can be traversed more quickly, or it is twisted relative to our own universe in such a way that it's possible to take short cuts if you know what you're doing, or it has internal currents which can carry ships at speed in certain directions.

Brane cosmology can arise from string theory, and suggests that the universe is an enclosed skein, or membrane moving in a higher dimensional space, just as the surface of the earth resembles a 2-dimensional plane curved through 3-dimensional space. Big bangs may occur when more than one brane intersects, and gravity may appear weaker in our universe than theory suggests because it may leak from one brane to the next. See 'The Elegant Universe' by Brian Greene for more details.

[Doom Shepherd]

I think that it's very likely that some kind of FTL transport is possible.

I also think that whatever it is will probably be unlike anything we've managed to imagine so far.

But I could be wrong.


As an aside...

Do Zombie Cosmologists eat Branes?

...sorry. Couldn't resist.

[JoeD80]

Well, hyperspace as such is clearly fictional, but there is the possibility of bridging huge distances. Unfortunately, such technology is still VERY far away. (It was the same thing in the B5 universe, after all; we got the technology from the Centauri.) And it's not helping that modern governments think of space as little more than a new battleground, and of science as something that must produce immediate profit.

And the Centauri got it from somewhere else too. From Thirdspace:

Well, that's old news. Fact is, the way I hear it, the Centauri didn't exactly invent jumpgate technology either. None of the current races did. They found the gates when they got out into space, took them apart and put them back together again. I mean, no one even knows who built the first gates.

[I love Lyta]

See 'The Elegant Universe' by Brian Greene for more details.

Heh, very good that one. It's one of my favorite books.

Do Zombie Cosmologists eat Branes?

I think I read that one somewhere before. Still a good one.