I realized just how much my internal geek influences my regular life, when I began discussing CNN’s article about NASA’s take on warp drive today.

Basically, someone at NASA is a big Star Trek fan. Harold White has been working on a warp drive theory since 2010, and when he named his concept ship, he made sure to name it right: IXS Enterprise. If warp drive could be achieved, it would allow for faster than light travel.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/tech/innovation/warp-speed-spaceship/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
I love every part of this picture http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/tech/innovation/warp-speed-spaceship/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

What would this mean for human life, though? I started wondering if I’d leave for some new planet (probably not, and I’d probably regret it), and who in my life would leave. My brother, I’m sure. Jerk. But what was my rationale for staying?

“Well, in Star Trek, Earth ends up a pretty awesome place, and a lot of other places aren’t.”

Then I remembered that the ship looks like something out of Star Trek, but I really doubt we’d quickly run into the Klingon race. Yet there I was, imagining what it’d be like if Star Trek got it right. What if we were being monitored by an alien species, aware that we were about to achieve warp, and welcome us to the next stage of our cultural evolution? How would we react?

If we could get up and go – plant ourselves on other planets, deplete (it’s us, after all) other planets, then what would happen to us? What would happen to the global economy? To government? I don’t know, but I can imagine all sorts of scenarios.

I’ll tell you one thing: If Star Trek got everything right, I don’t want any of that Synthehol. I’d be that person at the bar, demanding the real thing.