Ever since I fell into Eclipse Phase's event horizon, I knew escape would be impossible. Admittedly, I am not as avid a hard-SF fan or follower, but many aspects of Eclipse Phase are too tantalizing not to explore and discuss. I could feel my meager intellect wilt and pale upon roaming the various threads on these forums. I have decided, for the most part, to give a wide berth to most of the subjects that I cannot claim much more than "intrigued layman" status, so I apologize for my generally ignorant flailing and constant state of wide-eyed and mystified curiosity. I do have questions and I do try to search the forums before asking anything, considering I'm new to all this, and not just Eclipse Phase. I think it's interesting how I feel slightly smarter just by mere association, and all of it having to do with a role-playing game. It's a rare ANYTHING that can so deftly disguise and intrigue, whilst also educating and enlightening. Well done! Anyway, I do have a specific point to this post. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man%27s_War#Technology I have touched upon John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" series before and the link is specifically to tie in with my question(s). In particular, I am wondering about the Skip Drive. The gist of what I understand is universe-to-universe travel, basically leaving the universe of origin and "arriving" at a universe where the probability of their destination and other circumstances are made 100% true/real. Something to that effect. The process seems pretty simple, but the implications are enormous, of course. http://imaginingthetenthdimension.blogspot.com/ The above link is to a series of vlogs and such by Rob Bryanton, whose "Imagining the Tenth Dimension" has been a matter of fascination for me over the course of quite a while. I am sure I understand very little, but any "magic" travel in one dimension typically involves a circumnavigation across the next dimension "up." To bypass any limitations to the fourth dimension, for instance, a means through the fifth dimension would enable apparently instantaneous travel across the fourth. The fifth dimension is described as a "probability" space in Bryanton's project. I'm being colloquial and there is probably a lot of information to sift through there, but the various reachable probabilities from any fourth dimensional state/point would be found across in the fifth dimension. Any sort of "probability drive" would be enabling "travel" to a possible universe where their destination is their true position. One second they are in this universe, the next the ship is wherever the new "true" location is. In a few ways this reminds me of the Improbability Drive in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and could likely have similar mind-boggling consequences when one is messing with things of this nature. If the drive can bring travelers to destinations they wish to go, why not universe where even better circumstances are the true? Why not a universe where they hold even greater dominion over reality through will alone? I suppose the device could be limited to positional states in space, limited by power use, or limited by probability interference through whatever one wants to say can do that. I would imagine the Skip Drive can only really touch on a "range" of probabilities. The farther away they want to go, the least likely they can reach from this 4-D point in 5-D probability-scape. More exotic realities would just be such a low probability, even to 0 perhaps, which would entail higher risk and/or higher power requirements than is even feasible no matter the circumstance. Of course, I don't even know what the technique would be to affect probability. Would this go beyond a quantum scale means of manipulation? Is this Planck Scale tinkering? I doubt it is as "easy" as gravitational or electromagnetic force wizardry. I suppose one could suggest wormholes or something. This might even be scarier than "mere" temporal and causal tampering. One thing, however, has me wondering a little further. In Frank Herbert's "Dune" books, the primary FTL means of travel is foldspace. Their means of FTL probability travel involves the use of higher consciousness. And, to some degree, if a number of quantum effects are based on observation, etc., then a consciousness may need to be involved in the process. If all those on the ship that is traveling were given only one probability to observe and collapse to actuality, would that then write their reality as being in that location, and be enough? A lot of relativity and probability effects would have some interesting connotations were consciousness be the missing factor to FTL travel. I am probably not being nearly as in-depth as may require, but I suppose this is a starting point for some of my wonderings...