On the Wings of a Fantasy

Abstract

Sociologist Timothy McGettigan argues that science is the most effective means ever invented to transform fantasies into reality. He discusses how DARPA stimulates scientific progress by challenging scientists to pursue fantasies, and nowhere is this better illustrated than in the 100 Year Starship project.

Keywords

Timothy McGettigan science fantasy reality 100YSS science fiction space race Captain Kirk Watson John F. Kennedy NASA DARPA

Science is the most effective means humans have devised to transform fantasies into reality. To put it another way, tantalizing fantasies often inspire knowledge-seekers to purposefully shift the boundaries between fact and fantasy in order to realize their far-fetched dreams. Indeed, the most extraordinary feat of the space age, the Apollo 11 moon landing, was essentially an epic scientific effort to realize a particularly captivating fantasy.

In 1961, when President John F. Kennedy announced his plan to send astronauts to the moon, the United States lacked the technology to achieve such an outlandish goal. When they first heard the news, the U.S. scientific community was convinced that JFK’s moon-landing dream was impossible. And, indeed, those scientists were correct. Without question, it would have been impossible to send astronauts to the moon using early-1960s era technology. Nevertheless, Kennedy tasked NASA scientists with precisely that goal: achieving the impossible. Once they recovered from their initial shock that is exactly what those scientists did: achieve the impossible. The United States managed to land astronauts on the moon on July 20, 1965, because NASA scientists purposefully embraced Kennedy’s fantasy and then invented all of the necessary ideas—the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs—that were required to transform JFK’s dream into an undeniable reality. One small step for (a) man….

To Boldly Go

Though scientists prefer to believe that they deal only in empirical facts, a substantial body of evidence suggests that scientists have a penchant for indulging in irrational fantasies. For example, in his 2004 book, I Am Working on That, William Shatner argues that scientists are among the most avid fans of Star Trek. Since the debut of the original 1960s Star Trek TV series, which projected a (wonderfully!) corny view of the future, many scientists and technologists have fantasized about inhabiting a Star Trek-inspired world. For example, Martin Cooper was so beguiled by Captain Kirk’s wireless communicator that Cooper became determined to live out his fantasy. On, April 3, 1973, Cooper succeeded in bringing his Star Trek dream to life in the form of wireless cell phone technology.

Famous quotes to inspire the 100YSS team—and the rest of us. Could human interstellar travel be a reality within the next 100 years?

The United States managed to land astronauts on the moon because NASA scientists purposefully embraced Kennedy’s fantasy and invented all of the necessary ideas to make it happen.

David Ferrucci provides another example of a Star Trek-inspired dream-weaver. Ferrucci served as the lead developer on IBM’s Watson project. Watson has been dubbed “the smartest machine on earth” as a result of the ability to trounce its human competitors on the TV game show Jeopardy. Though Watson was ultimately celebrated as an unqualified success, the process of building the computer was fraught with ulcer-inducing dilemmas. Indeed, more than once, Ferrucci feared that Watson would end up being a career-ending disaster. When asked why he took such huge personal and professional risks, Ferrucci admitted that the idea of conversing with computers like his (fictional) hero, Captain Kirk, was so tantalizing that he was willing to stake his career in order to move a step closer to that dream.

Clearly, in more than one case, Trekkies have chalked up spectacular successes in transforming their sci-fi fantasies into reality-redefining facts. Noting this, on November 11, 2011, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched a project called the 100 Year Starship. Briefly, 100YSS is a project with the stated goal of orchestrating the necessary social and technological progress that is required to launch an interstellar starship by the year 2111. Yes, you read that correctly. 100YSS has established a 100-year timetable to achieve the impossible: mobilizing a critical mass of scientists, technologists, and dreamweavers who will combine to build a spacecraft that defies the known laws of physics, the conceptual twin of Captain Kirk’s Starship Enterprise. Given the origins for the project, one might expect 100YSS to inspire ironic smirks rather than approval from serious scientists. However, this seems not to be the case.

Calling All Trekkies

Interestingly, several of DARPA’s trailblazing initiatives have been designed to tantalize sci-fi lovers more so than dispassionate scientists. For example, the 2012 Grand Challenge reads like it could have been drawn straight from the pages of Issac Asimov’s I, Robot. DARPA appears to have embraced the notion that scientific innovation is more often an outcome of sci-fi fantasies than dispassionate scientific inquiry. And nowhere is this better illustrated than in DARPA’s 100YSS initiative. The project is headed by Mae Jemison, the first black woman astronaut to travel in space. In a website describing the project she states: “I recognize that the concept of humans travelling to other star systems may appear fantastical—but no more so than the fantasy of reaching the moon was in the days of H. G. Welles.”

Since the debut of the original 1960s TV series, many scientists and technologists have fantasized about inhabiting a Star Trek-inspired world.

Kennedy’s lunar problematic was infused with a sense of urgency due to the nationwide goal of defeating America’s arch nemesis, the USSR, in the space race. Since the Cold War has ended, and the Soviets are no longer America’s sworn foe, DARPA can’t hope to sell its 100YSS project with the same pitch that JFK used to take charge of the space race. Thus, if DARPA is going to shoot for the stars, then it will have to find an entirely new inspiration upon which to launch its interstellar aspirations. Since there is no earthly foe that could possibly sustain a renewed space race to the moon—much less to other planets—DARPA has decided that if it is going to aim for the stars, it will have to do so on the wings of a fantasy. Jamison’s mission statement for the project reads like something derived directly from the Star Trek manifesto: “The goal is to implement an independent, sustained, non-governmental organization that will ensure that the capacity for human interstellar flight is a reality within the next 100 years.”

Will this be inducement enough? Will Trekkies’ dreams of flitting through the cosmos like their hero, Captain Kirk, be sufficient to sustain the 100YSS project? I would have serious doubts if it were not for the fact that Trekkies have already accumulated an impressive track record of achievement. Frankly, it beggars belief that a corny 1960s TV series could still enthrall a global fan base well into the twenty-first century. Yet, as enthusiasm for Star Trek persists, so too do the prospects that Star Trek enthusiasts—buoyed by their dreams of one day defeating the Romulans—will persist into the twenty-second century.

To paraphrase an old saying: “The most difficult journey begins with the first step.” Will 100YSS succeed in boldly going where no one has gone before? Perhaps. As President Kennedy discovered, it is amazing how much knowledge-seekers can accomplish when they commit themselves to reaching for the stars. So long as Star Trek fantasies continue to inspire committed followers, DARPA’s goal of a 100 Year Starship will become more achievable by the day. If Trekkies can have their way, yesterday’s TV fantasies will inexorably become tomorrow’s realities.