What's Stopping Us From Building a Warp Drive?

Thank-you for watching and let me know whether you think a warp drive will ever happen? Thanks to Blinkist for sponsoring - Get a 7-day free trial and 25% off Blinkist Annual Premium by clicking here: www.blinkist.com/coolworldslab

As an engineer, love engineering challenges. Usually I just say it’s a money problem, but plank length metal isn’t really a money problem lol.

Okay guys, I’ll build it.

The fact that a group of people around the world are busy trying to solve some of the most complex problems available, problems that their solutions feel like they are hundreds if not thousands of years ahead of us, makes me feel hopeful for a greater future for our species. I might be wrong, but I am optimistic about things and ideas like this.

We discussed this paper back when I was doing my Ph.D (it was new then). We came to the conclusion that although very interesting (and exciting), some fundamental problems existed with materials (now realised as the Planck length skin lol), energy requirements and we just couldn't get away from the paradoxes, and how quantum mechanics/gravity (if we ever get unification) would play into this. Looks like we've come a long way in understanding, but we young Ph.D students weren't too far off. Brilliant synopsis and Video. Thanks man. PS I'm now a blinkist customer, cheers lad, Dr D (aka Jed)

Imagine you use the warp drive to jump to the nearest star. Once you got there you could look through an extremely powerful telescope and see yourself in the past because the light traveled slower than you did. I love this idea

"The problem with space travel isn't reaching your destination: the problem is having the crew survive."
--NASA engineers

"If we have budget as much as the military does, we would have colonized Mars 30 years ago "

I could listen to both you and Brian Cox all day long. The two most soothing and informative voices in science. The ability to tell it all as a story is amazing. Awesome!

"...merely engineering issues..." When I hear that remark about speculative technology, I frequently think they're saying in a roundabout way - "...and then magic happens..."
An excellent video! Clear and without the hype.

Mass relay stations from Mass Effect could be a solution for the horizon issue, that is a launch and catch stations. First trip would be a long one but a needed sacrifice for the ease of the rest.

Kinda like a highway, you need years to build it, but hours to travel through it.

Paradox goes away if, by traveling through time we instead create alternate timelines. This theory states that you are unable to change the past, but instead create a new future for another you. I've heard this referred to as the multiverse theory and I understand that our current knowledge of physics suggests this is probable.

I really appreciate the honest assessment of where we are at with FTL space travel. Some of these Youtube videos would have you believe that we'll be going on vacations half way across the galaxy next month. That said, I suspect that there is so much about creation we don't understand yet, that history will look back on this time as when we finally started asking the right questions.

I rarely see the Horizon problem the emphasis it deserves, and it is very well described here.
This is THE ONE issue which is not just an engineering challenge, but makes it outright impossible. Basically we need another FTL communication method to be invented, but that is exactly what we tried to solve with warp drive in first place.

Cool worlds and pbs space time are the only channels I re-watch videos multiple times. So information dense. Amazing as always.

Best video on youtube I have seen concerning this topic, thanks for putting it together.

These videos are helping me write the story for my Sci fi video game so much...

I wonder if the people at LIGO or the Pulsar Timing Array have figured out what a warp signature would look like. That would be a really neat way to learn we aren't alone in the Universe.

Despite all these extremely compelling arguments against warp drive I am (somehow silly) convinced that humans, or some other intelligent being around the universe, will crack the code and break the faster than light speed barrier. We just need to keep at it.

The concept introduced of having a slower-than-light warp drive, but slowing down the passage of time inside the bubble is actually extremely interesting! A drive like that would invoke a “time-debt” system of interstellar travel, since the passengers wouldn’t experience the same time-passage as outside observers. Very interesting .