# Utterly Pointless Sci-Fi Debate **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 2, 2001, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-sci-fi-debate/84990 "2001-10-02T16:24:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shortie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Shortie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shortie)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-sci-fi-debate/84990/41 "2001-10-06T16:13:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\*Hey, Shortie, do you also post over at Spacebattles with the same name? \*\* Yeah. Are you over there as well? ---
**Author:** ![Shortie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Shortie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shortie)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-sci-fi-debate/84990/42 "2001-10-06T19:29:55Z")
Ah. I see ya now. ---
**Author:** ![RenMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@RenMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RenMan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-sci-fi-debate/84990/43 "2001-10-07T15:50:47Z")
What about ships in Asimov’s Foundation. Galactic Empire spans our galaxy. Ships can enter “jumps”, a series of carefully calculated, faster-than-light trips (multiple jumps are required to avoid black holes/stars/nebulae). Trips from the outer rim of the Galaxy to the Center of the Galaxy take a matter of days, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-sci-fi-debate/84990/44 "2001-10-08T03:21:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shortie \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > > \*\*Battlefield Earth had teleporters that would instantly transport matter between universes. \*\* > > I thought it was between planets? Though it’s a whiel since I read it, and I avoided the movie. The Psychlo homeworld was in a different universe. I believe their empire has colonies in 3 or 4 different universes. The Uplift Trilogies by David Brin take place in a multi-galactic empire - currently 5 galaxies are members, in the past there were more but the means of travel to those galaxies have been lost. One of the things I like about the series is that there are MANY forms of FTL travel, instead of just one that everybody uses. Some of the faster ones will get you from one galaxy to another in minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-sci-fi-debate/84990/45 "2001-10-08T08:47:28Z")
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the OP specifically exclude books? If I may be so bold, I’d like to also set a couple of other ground rules: First, nothing instantaneous: It’s pointless trying to compare which instantaneous drive is faster. I’d include anything that takes a set amount of time for an arbitrary distance in this category (in other words, it takes one second for a light year, or one second for a megaparsec). Secondly, nothing that (in the SF universe in which it’s set) would allow, in itself, for time travel: Any time machine is arbitrarily faster than instantaneous, and it’s again meaningless to compare. Sorry, TARDIS. What’s the winner under those conditions? ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-sci-fi-debate/84990/46 "2001-10-08T10:00:33Z")
Dunno about the “winner”, Chronos. Hyperdrive (SW) allows travel of 150,000 lightyears in a couple weeks (give or take depending on the speed of the drive). That speed would allow us to travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda in just a few months, which is no slouch. I’m sure that the _Andromeda_ series’ method of FTL travel is faster than this, as it seems to conduct relations with other galaxies on a more regular basis. The SW galaxy must be pretty far from other galaxies if they consider several months of hyperspace travel to be difficult to achieve. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-sci-fi-debate/84990.md?page=2)