Beyond Star Trek: From Alien Invasions to the End of Time

203 Pages·1998·6.42 MB·English

by  Lawrence M. Krauss

ALSO BY LAWRENCE M. KRAUSS
The Physics of Star Trek
Fear of Physics: A Guide for the Perplexed
The Fifth Essence: The Search for Dark Matter
in the Universe
from
Alien Invasions
to the End of Time
LAWRENCE M. KRAUSS
BasicBooks
A Division of HarperCoWinsPublishen
BEYOND STAR TREK. Copyright © 1997 by Lawrence M. Krauss. All
rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of
this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address
HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY
IOO2Z.
FIRST EDITION
Designed by Elliott Beard
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Krauss, Lawrence Maxwell.
Beyond Star Trek : Physics from alien invasions to the end of
time / by Lawrence M. Krauss. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN0-465-00637-X
1. Space sciences. 2. Life on other planets. 3. Space flight.
I. Title
QB500.K64 1997
oo1.9'01'53—dczi 97-31127
97 98 99 00 01 •/RRD 10 987654321
In Memory of Carl Sagan
1934-1996

CONTENTS
Prologue xi
SECTION ONE
They'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain ..
ONE Choose Your Poison 3
TWO To Be or Not to Be 10
THREE To Boldly Go ... If We Can Afford It 18
FOUR A Cosmic Game of Golf 25
FIVE There, and Back Again? 35
SIX Seeing Is Believing 49
SEVEN Gambling on the Galaxy 62
EIGHT The Restaurant at the End of
the Universe 73
SECTION TWO
Madonna's Universe
NINE May the Force Be with You
87
TEN Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know 101
ix
Contents
ELEVEN It's About Time 114
TWELVE All Good Things ... 1Z3
THIRTEEN The Measure of a Man 133
FOURTEEN The Ghost in the Machine 142
FIFTEEN The Final Frontier? 155
Epilogue 173
Acknowledgments 177
Index 181
PROLOGUE
These are the days of miracle and wonder.
—Paul Simon
Ihave been asked innumerable times since the publication of
my last book, The Physics of Star Trek, to talk about the rela-
tionship of science to science fiction. I think the connection is a
simple one: We are all inspired by the same questions.
I also believe that the questions that scientists and writers of
science fiction wonder about are essentially universal and time
invariant. They are the subject of every age's fascination, reflected
in its literature, art, and drama, and its science. The specific mira-
cles change with time, as we learn about the world; as certain
mysteries are unveiled, others are born. Think about a vibrant
flower. Could such a wonderful thing really have evolved from pri-
mordial sludge? Yes. But let's go beyond this rather tired question
and examine the flower further. It may have a beautiful pattern
visible only in ultraviolet light, which a bee can sense. Who
ordered that? Or think about the myriad chemical reactions
going on in the bee's eye, which turn individual packets of pure
energy into the same visual picture each time the bee scans the
XI