~ Codex Anima
While I have always found myself to be a firm believer in that which can be seen and touched, I must certainly admit to the fact that fact itself is not absolute. This is a point I have defended for most of my life, against people who have made frequent use of objects and technologies that were once thought impossible.
Though he was renowned and notorious for subterfuge and the theft of others' ideas, there is one quote from Thomas Edison I use frequently in these conversations: "We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything." The 20th Century alone gave proof of that fact. One such theft of Edison's was a science fiction movie called "A Trip to the Moon." At the time, travel to another planetary body, even one only four hundred thousand kilometres away, was at best a laughable and preposterous idea. Now, NASA has plans to create a permanent construction outpost on Luna (yes, I refuse to call it the Moon, except when I'm quoting someone else) between 2019 and 2024.
Many people I've known have looked at several examples of futuristic technology from the Star Trek universe and found themselves laughing at the concepts. One of them even went on to answer their cell phone within moments, a piece of technology inspired by the communicators from the original Star Trek television series. Even the phasers from Star Trek are slowly becoming reality, thanks to an American defense project called the Pulsed Energy Projectile.
But what about the famous blaze of light from the nacelles of the Enterprise as it takes off at warp speed toward the next planet or ship in need of assistance? That's just crazy, right? In a sense, it is: Einstein's theories on relativity showed that nothing can travel beyond the speed of light. Then in 1994, a Mexican phycisist named Miguel Alcubierre created a hypothetical mathematical model of a 'spacetime bubble' which could permit superluminal speeds. While only the basic mathematics and physics behind the proposed propulsion system have been tentatively established, the major breakthroughs have really yet to come.
In the end, who knows? Your next vacation could be in orbit of Tau Ceti. But keep this in mind, next time someone tells you about a radical idea they have that could change the world, don't automatically dismiss it permanently to the realm of science fiction. Things have a habit of not staying there long.
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