Faster Than Light

Update on NASA's warp drive research. A recent re-interpretation of the warp field equations means that the mass and energy requirements have dropped from Jupiter-sized to ship-sized. The math works, now it's down to figuring out how to build the darned thing.

Before we get too excited, however, I would point out that the math for net energy positive fusion reactors works as well, and we've been trying to build one of those for over fifty years without notable success. Likewise, our ancestors knew for hundreds of thousands of years that heavier-than-air flight was possible -- birds exist, after all -- but only 100 years ago did technology and science contrive to allow humans to perform the same action.

I have absolutely no doubt that the vast majority of concepts and technologies portrayed in science fiction will eventually become a reality. The key word in that sentence, however, is not "reality" but "eventually."