There was an article in the March 26, 2010, issue of the news magazine The Week titled “Captain—you killed the crew.” It summarizes a study by Johns Hopkins University physicist William Edelstein that finds that humans could never travel at the speed of light, Star Trek warp-speed style, because radiation would kill us. My favorite part of the story is that “Star Trek fans have protested his conclusion, saying that the Enterprise’s electromagnetic ‘shields’ could block such radiation.”
At first, I chuckled at the image of a bunch of nerds wearing Spock ears and speaking Klingon arguing the finer points of particle physics with a Johns Hopkins University physicist. But as I read the article, I realized that I was feeling a sense of disappointment myself. I understand that, even if humans ultimately develop the capacity for interstellar travel, I’m probably not on the short list of who gets to make the trip. But I’ve always imagined that long after my time on Earth, our species would find a way to explore the universe and maybe even find other life out there, so, to me, it’s terrible news that travel at light speed may simply not be physically possible.
One of my all-time favorite reads is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy by Douglas Adams. Growing up, at night before going to sleep, I used to open one of the books to a random page and start reading. In the third book, Life, the Universe, and Everything, the protagonist, a helpless, overwhelmed earthling named Arthur Dent thrust unwillingly into exploring the universe with his alien friend, reads this passage in The Guide:
There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
This issue of Legacy addresses the interstellar dreamer in all of us. We may never know “what the universe is for and why it is here,” but who better than interpreters to talk about that wonder we feel when we look up at the night sky?
NAI Art and Publications director Paul Caputo can be reached at pcaputo@interpnet.com. Send letters to the editor for publication to legacy@interpnet.com.
