[LibWhacker]

Ha! We all know how the design of the Starship Enterprise really came to be... Namely, Roddenberry, none too gently, demanding fellow that was, gave the team the order. One of the interns, immediately feeling the heat, made his way to the bathroom, thinking, "Oh, my gosh! How am I ever going to design a darn starship? I don't have a clue about starships! I'm an artist!" Then, bending over the bathroom sink to splash some cold water onto his face, he froze, furrowed his brow, cocked his head to the side like a poodle that just heard his first squeaky toy, and -BOOM!- it came to him, like a bolt out of the blue:

[miliantnutcase]

A galaxy class sink! I want one.

[JRandomFreeper]

perhaps there are only two remaining. The first would be some variation on the Zoo hypothesis, and the second is that we are indeed alone on this pale blue dot called Earth.

People always leave out the other option... we are the first. Someone has to be the first advanced civilization. It could be us.

/johnny

[dhs12345]

Truly inspired at all levels including the plots which to this day drive thought and introspection: time paradoxes (what if someone existed or didn't exist) and good intentions gone bad; a sterile war where the suffering of war are not experienced and war continues on for centuries; etc. etc.

[Da Coyote]

D*mn,

That was good!

Impressive, most impressive.

[BenLurkin]

We can travel to the stars in Generation Ships and leave this century.

Of course it will be 100 generations before we get there — hope we won’t have forgotten why we left in the first place!

[Terry L Smith]

I enjoyed reading about the Larry Niven design, of a fusion-powered ‘ramjet’, fed by the free floating hydrogen particles in space, funneled to the ‘ramjet’ by a magnetic funnel, with greater ‘scooping capability’, as the ship gained speed. The fictional ship was sub-light speed, of course.

The natural world similarity would be of a basking shark, sifting super-small krill, thereby sustaining itself, and providing energy to continue on its way.

[hattend]

BTTT