In Science Fiction
Faster-than-light travel is often used in science fiction to denote a wide variety of imaginary propulsion methods, though not necessarily based on the Alcubierre drive or any other physical theory.
The Star Trek television series used the term "warp drive" to describe their method of faster than light travel. The Alcubierre theory, or anything similar, did not exist when the series was conceived, but Alcubierre stated in an email to William Shatner that his theory was directly inspired by the term used in the show, and references it in his 1994 paper.
Some science-fiction works, particularly of the "hard" genre, have explicitly made use of the Alcubierre theory, such as Stephen Baxter's novel Ark.
The Alcubierre drive theory is proposed as a possible reason for events occurring in the graphic novel "Orbiter" by Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran.
The Ian Douglas "Star Carrier" series exclusively uses the Alcubierre drive as the main mode of interstellar travel.
In M. John Harrison's novel Light, the character Ed Chianese, while trying to get a job with the Circus of Pathet Lao, claims that he "rode navigator on Alcubierre ships."
Read more about this topic: Alcubierre Drive
Famous quotes containing the words science and/or fiction:
“Human Nature is the only science of man; and yet has been hitherto the most neglected.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“A reader who quarrels with postulates, who dislikes Hamlet because he does not believe that there are ghosts or that people speak in pentameters, clearly has no business in literature. He cannot distinguish fiction from fact, and belongs in the same category as the people who send cheques to radio stations for the relief of suffering heroines in soap operas.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)