Have you seen those shows on Discovery about how Star Trek inspired scientists to create everything from the cell phone to the MRI? They're really cool, and totally worth tracking down.
When I worked on the show, I met lots of people who had been inspired by the original series in one way or another and followed that inspiration into a career. You know what's cool? Meeting so many astronauts and planetary scientists that it stopped being such an epic big deal, and I could relax enough to actually talk with them about their missions.
I recalled those days when I saw the following story at Netscape this morning:
NASA announces status of Warp Drive
"Warp Drives", "Hyperspace Drives", or any other term for Faster-than-light travel is at the level of speculation, with some facets edging into the realm of science. We are at the point where we know what we do know and know what we don’t, but do not know for sure if faster than light travel is possible.
The bad news is that the bulk of scientific knowledge that we have accumulated to date concludes that faster than light travel is impossible. This is an artifact of Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. Yes, there are some other perspectives; tachyons, wormholes, inflationary universe, spacetime warping, quantum paradoxes...ideas that are in credible scientific literature, but it is still too soon to know if such ideas are viable.
There's an awesome little graphic of the Enterprise, accompanied by a discussion of why Chuck Yeager could break the sound barrier, but space ships may not be able to break the light barrier.
The positive impact Star Trek had on the world from civil rights to science during its first run in the late 60s was a frequent topic of discussion at conventions and in interviews when I was a teenager, and even during those die.die.die days, I always felt lucky and proud to be associated with the show because of its legacy. It's really cool to read a story like this one, and realize that the legacy continues.
