And... to apologise for getting off topic a bit... here's a comment relating to the OP...
Tram law writes:
One of the things I wonder about from time to is if we lived in a society with high levels of technology, such as say that in Star Trek, were commonplace and humanity can travel among the stars, I often think about what would science fiction be like.
I would guess that the science fiction of such a world would, as sci-fi has always done, explore the further consequences of what is now known or knowable.... i.e. in a world with faster-than-light engines and holodecks, science fiction would spend more time poking into other universes, alternate realities, the micro world, and so forth.
And to venture slightly off topic again, is it just me or is the entire notion of "galactic empire" simply not feasible regardless of the state of technology due to time dilation effects? I mean, I'm no physicist but... haven't we proven that there is no such thing as simultaneity on an interstellar scale? In other words, even if we could travel faster than light, and zip from one star to another in minutes... wouldn't we all be way out-of sync with one another rather quickly? i.e. those departing, upon return, would find thousands of years had passed and everyone they ever knew was dead?
Edited by Briterican, : typo