Folding Space

To travel to the stars by Folding Space is a method of space travel seen in many science fiction classics like Dune, but could it be possible under known science?
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Credits:
Folding Space
Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur
Episode 316a, November 14, 2021
Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur
Editors:
A.T. Long
Sig’unnr
Cover Art:
Jakub Grygier www.artstation.com/jakub_grygier
Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound epidemicsound.com/creator

[@SangoProductions213]

God damn it Isaac. You are such an inspiration. You've gone from having a disclaimer every episode about your speech impediment to confidently using words like "parchment" in your intro.

[@richardavery2894]

Lol hes got the best voice on KZbin I could listen to him talk all day. Literally the best videos on KZbin. This man needs an award 🏆

[@Weisior]

Too bad that his group on Facebook didnt get this tolerancy lesson - discussions there are too toxic to enjoy. But unfortunately its the case with literally every thematic group in the internet.

[@trouncerrredits]

Your speech thing is so faint now that I can't even articulate how it sounds different. Maybe I have an impediment.

[@jerrysstories711]

But the production team still doesn't let him say "horror". :-)

[@dancingwiththedogsdj]

I love his voice. I certainly do have to rewind occasionally to catch a word or something, but nothing different with anyone else either. I will always do my best to listen to anyone no matter language or anything else that may create a challenge understanding them, just please don't be offended if I ask for a repeat if I don't catch what is said, it means I'm engaged and at least trying!!!

[@ryanbarringer9993]

Seems a reasonable way to travel.

[@randomdude6446]

I mean of you got it working it would be one of the best FTL out there

[@condotiero860]

Its all fun and games, until somebody starts folding space/time

[@kennethhicks2113]

Where do I get tickets?

[@Soupy_loopy]

Better than getting stuck in the mud!

[@snickle1980]

@@moosekaiser9149 I'm sure it's a reference to something, but it's funny on it's own as well.

[@Dark_Jaguar]

Doom also involves finding out that the amazing teleporter they invented on Mars actually shortcuts through hell. Oh, and Nightcrawler's teleportation supposedly briefly pops him into a hellish dimension as well. How often does "our fast travel system is actually a portal to hell" come up in sci-fi? It seems to happen a lot now that I think about it.

[@snickle1980]

Stephen king's Dark Tower series has monsters that dwell in the darkness between worlds, when you magically travel. Some of Clive Barkers fantasy books have that element as well. Makes me wonder if there's something in the public Psych. Some strange undercurrent. Do humans still subconsciously associate traveling long distances with death and discomfort? Is it a primal warning against taking shortcuts? 😐 But it seems like too simple of an answer...Hell is always depicted specifically as residing in the spaces BETWEEN planes of existence. Why?

[@evensgrey]

There's often some 'wrongness' to hyperspace. In the Codominium Series, hyperspace can only be accessed by traveling on 'tram lines' which connect points in the normal universe that are of equal potential according to some very strange laws. It appears to be impossible for organic life as we know it to exist in the hyperspace used (and it appears matter as we know it and even elementary particles as we know them are impossible) because hyperspace is known to be non-quantized, meaning all physics there is classical. Matter as we know it would collapse to a dense state very rapidly according to classical physics. Certainly, things that depend on quantum effects to function (like computers and organic brains) come out of hyperspace extremely confused. Computers have to be reset, and life forms take a while to recover. In Larry Niven's Known Space, hyperspace cannot be viewed by a normal mind. If you have a window in a ship in hyperspace, a human brain edits it out, creating an effect much like the blind spot in a human eye, leading to hyperspace being nicknamed 'The Blind Spot.' (If you've ever had your blind spots mapped at the eye doctor's or done any of the experiments to detect it, you'll know how eerie the effect is: A place where you not only don't see anything, but your brain won't tell you you don't see anything.) To prevent getting too close to gravity wells, a spherical crystalline device called a Mass Pointer or Mass Detector is used. This has lines radiating from the center, and if a line touches the surface, you've come too close to a mass. In one story, a ship loses it's hull, leaving the two man crew to get home on the fortuitously hanging together remainder. To do this, every few hours, one of them has to go outside the safety of their pressurized tent and see the Blind Spot as part of their field of view to read the Mass Pointer. They take turns, but one of them accidentally looks up and sees only hyperspace. He describes it as more than blindness, he forgets not just everything he's ever seen, but what seeing is. He'd have stood there groping uselessly at the Mass Pointer for the rest of his life, unable to grasp how to use it, had his neck not gotten sore and caused him to tilt his head back down to where he could see the console again. Warhammer 40k has hyperspace (or "The Warp," as it is called in-universe) is literal Hell. It isn't so much that the Warp is full of demons, demons are really more like small pieces of the Warp that lead semi-independent existences. The hyperspace of Asimov's Foundation setting (which also includes his Robots setting as an early period) in one life cannot exist in. On discovering this, one artificial intelligence, being hard-coded to not harm humans, goes slightly insane. Another computer, with the same protections but no mind to cushion itself with, had self-destructed. On testing, it is proven the while all life dies entering hyperspace, it resurrects unharmed on emergence from hyperspace. Hyperdrives are redesigned to make the transit interval shorter and shorter to the occupants of the ship, until the jumps appear to take zero time, inside and outside. Everyone still dies at the moment of transit, but is also resurrected without harm simultaneously. In Star Wars Legends, hyperspace isn't dangerous to look at, but does have weird and dangerous properties. There is matter there, and it can be collected and brought back to the normal universe (hyperdrives requiring some matter from hyperspace in order for them to work, which does mean there must be some other way to get into hyperspace, it generally being believed that the Force can be used to build a hyperdrive only Force-users can operate). There are also places where matter from hyperspace naturally leaks into normal space, and can be collected. This hypermatter is different from that collected in hyperspace, and can be used as a very energy-dense fuel that also appears to allow waste heat from reactors using it to be vented directly into hyperspace. (The first Death Star produced energy at a rate comparable to the Sun, but clearly wasn't dumping all waste heat into the normal universe or it would have looked like a neutron star at a distance rather than a small moon.) Normal matter cannot exist unprotected in hyperspace, so certain kinds of hyperdrive failures while in use are automatically lethal to ship and crew.

[@austinglueck2554]

@@evensgrey One more to the list, in Elite: Dangerous, the hyperspace tunnels you use to travel between star systems, which may or may not be wormholes, take you through Witch Space. You can hear whispering and see strange colors, time no longer makes sense. There are legends of ships being lost forever in hyperspace. The ammonia based living ships appear to navigate hyperspace freely and are the only things in game that can pull you out of a hyperspace jump.

[@evensgrey]

@@austinglueck2554 The whispering reminded me of another. Over on Reddiy, in the 'Humanity, Fuck Yeah!" subredit there's a lengthy story called "Billy Bob, Space Trucker!" Once you get past how freaky most of the aliens find humans because we do things like eat chemical weapons for the flavor and drink combat drugs to help us wake up (the wonders of being a Death World super-predator) humans have another unexpected edge: We don't actually NEED the stardrive everyone else uses. Everyone uses these engineered FTL network things called Spacelanes. This turns out to be important, because humans have been doing all the maintenance on the Spacelane equipment with tens of lightyears of any human outpost or colony world for years...and have installed remote override systems in every one, in case we ever need to fight a war against the rest of the galaxy (which Billy Bob starts, when he teams of with a female from a different Death World super-predator species). Humans fought (and decisively won) an interstellar war of extermination BEFORE acquiring this technology. Humans have this weird stardrive that takes you through...somewhere. With whispering voices, according to Billy Bob. You soon learn to ignore them, though.

[@Dark_Jaguar]

@@evensgrey You know, I take issue with the literary device of "seeing true nothing and the mind inserts _ there". When you see "nothing", that's called "black". That's what our mind inserts in any area that isn't emitting visible light. If we can't see hyperspace, we'd just see inky blackness out that side. I mean, I get it it's a spooky narrative effect, but everyone's got some place that breaks their disbelief and for me that's one of them. Thank you for the fun listing though. It seems there really is a lot of overlap. I wonder how often the inverse happens, where hyper/sub space turns out to be heaven?

[@evensgrey]

In the case of Event Horizon, I got the impression that the inventor of the drive expected it to be a straight-forward position jump within the normal universe, but the universe turned out to have a bunch of extra, previously hidden features (namely, Hell and it's denizens) that meant what he actually had built was a form of hyperdrive in which the accessed hyperspace was Hell or something else so unimaginably horrible as to be indistinguishable from Hell.

[@sicarius100]

yeah, I had the impression that the Event Horizon ship drive simply took the ship to the "wrong destination". It was instantaneous travel just not to the destination they wanted and instead the ship landed in hell/different dimension

[@cobanus2862]

Whats crazy about the event horizon dimension is very possible because we live in a universe governed by laws and order even at a quantum scale it’s in a probability. If they were removed, things like your ship coming alive and entities appearing to have “up is down” aka completely chaotic intentions could happen.

[@tonanbarbarian]

It was my understanding that the Spacing Guild Navigators from Dune used their prescient ability to ensure that the location they were travelling to was not occupied. The method of travel was always referenced as being instantaneous so there would not be any issues with passing through objects on the journey, but you would want to be sure that you did not arrive at a location that was already occupied by anything, be it a asteroid, satellite, space ship, planet or star.

[@l.clevelandmajor9931]

In the Dune series, it was explained that before the Spice dependent navigators, interstellar travel was done using machines, and they too could fold space. The problem was that machines got to be a threat when the needed AI was higher that organic life could produce, and humans had to find a less threatening way to travel. When Arrakis was discovered, it was not long after that the Spice's benefits began being discovered, including the ability to fold space.

[@Shadowfire364]

@@l.clevelandmajor9931 Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought both the machines and the navigators are not the FTL drives themselves, merely the thing that steers them. The FTL drive was some sort of machine that was separate from the navigator or machine nav-computer. So navigators with prescience replaced advanced computers that predicted the paths of objects throughout the galaxy, but the space folding drives themselves remained unchanged.

[@approximateCognition]

@@Shadowfire364 I always interpreted it as the folds in space *already being there*, with the prescience of the Navigators merely *finding the right fold*.

[@evensgrey]

@@l.clevelandmajor9931 I'm pretty sure that only the Kwisatz Haderachs could actually fold space by mental power alone, and I'm not even sure of that. The Navigators folded space directly in the David Lynch movie, but that goes a long way from the book in many places. Officially, at least, the space folding is done by an application of the Holtzmann Effect, which is also at the root of the Shields and the Suspensors used to counteract gravity.

[@flabreque]

Folding space is done by the Hotlzman engines. Navigators just predict what coordinates to input in the heighliner’s controls to get there. (I am ignoring the prequels on purpose).

[@lukesball1]

Isaac, you sir, are a legend.

[@stinker1822]

Agreed, beautiful mind

[@Kirhean]

I had one I came up with when I was younger that involved folding space. The idea was to take two singularities and entangle them, rendering them indistinguishable from each other. The key was to entangle their locations specifically, so that you couldn't be sure which one was in which location. If they were big enough then you could activate a more standard "warp drive" near them and it would warp space between them into a sort of corridor. The closer you were to the event horizon, the more space warped, allowing for "faster" travel. This created natural choke-points to defend/attack and created a sort of highway system anyone could use, with the "lower levels" designated for military use so they could have the highest speeds. Maybe not entirely realistic, but it was a fun system to play with.

[@Kirhean]

@@gregoryhouse5240 Even better.

[@lunaticbz3594]

In the olden days back before google, I came up with a 'theory' that I called intelligent design. Imagine my surprise years later when I found out that term was already being used, and it meant something rather different then what I had been calling intelligent design.

[@drinkshamwow4621]

ha, hyperlanes.

[@TheWereparadox]

@@lunaticbz3594 More like *In need of some

[@Meilk27]

All i know is that I dont know nothin

[@richardavery2894]

I could listen to this guy talk all day long... Best voice on KZbin, Isaac should win an award 👏

[@BabaSikander]

The felidist movement supports SFIA

[@Anita_Bath]

uhh... i strongly disagree it sounds like Bri'ish baby-talk

[@BOPilot5517]

Possibly deaf ?

[@Meilk27]

@@Anita_Bath "woahlds" -Issac Arthur The guy has a speech impediment. I try and try. I can never make it longer than 5 minutes.

[@Meilk27]

This is me trying again. I'm sure the guy is brilliant I just can't listen to him

[@johnharvey5412]

My favorite example of the details of FTL travel being scarce is in Old Man's War where one character, when pushed for details, tells the others "you don't have the math for it", which is probably pretty accurate for any system like that.

[@dancingwiththedogsdj]

How do you even think of half of this stuff?!?! I love it, but half of the video I'm sitting here with my mouth open thinking how did you even think of the main concept, then so many things that support or reduce the likelihood that it could even be possible. I guess that's partially why you're so amazing at this stuff and I'm not. Please keep all the incredible stuff coming, but more importantly, thank you for everything you do! Have a wonderful day y'all!

[@dancingwiththedogsdj]

And there's another reason I love your stuff right there! You respond so quickly and made me smile more than I have in a while! Thank you, it means more than you might realize. ❤

[@chuckintexas]

Dancing- Hi ! Yeah, Isaac has a _GIFT_ , for SURE ! I'm thinking that ANY truly _GIFTED_ Science Fiction Author (as distinguished from S-F, F&S-F or even Sci-Fi - overlapping but DIFFERENT sub-Genres in Science Fiction) who is ALSO gifted in Story and Character Development and were able to AVOID "WOKE", could pull enough ideas out of even ONE of Isaac's vids to construct an ENTIRE Universe from, as the basis for a Novel or Short Story (FAR more difficult to do than a Novel, surprisingly enough !) or even a Trilogy-Based Series, similar in TYPE if not in SCOPE to the Isaac Asimov Foundation" Trilogy/Series he mentioned in the Vid. Seems to _ME_ that IF that Author were ALSO smart enough to RETAIN Isaac as a FORMAL "Technical Consultant", etc. , that Author might REALLY _HAVE SOMETHING_ ! JUST "... throwing it out there - _into the Universe ... " ;=)) !_ ALL the VERY _BEST_ to You and YOURS from Texas ! -

[@dancingwiththedogsdj]

@@chuckintexas Howdy! Thank you for your friendly response.... sure appreciate ya from your neighbor here in Oklahoma. You have a wonderful day and happy holidays, kind stranger!!

[@chuckintexas]

@@dancingwiththedogsdj - Dancing- Hi ! No more strangers ! I'll watch for you here and you can watch for me. From time to time I'm guessing we'll "run into" each other ! ALL the BEST! - -C.

[@dancingwiththedogsdj]

@@chuckintexas I would really enjoy that! And yes my new friend, no more strangers.. I am strange, but some things are just out of my control. Lol 😊 You take care and definitely be seeing you again in the future. 👍

[@TheGenericavatar]

Folding Space is easier when you use a Space-Time Fabric softener. ;)

[@dancingwiththedogsdj]

Omg! I barely caught this while scrolling down the comments. I'm just glad I wasn't drinking something. I snorted so loud! Thank you for making my day, kind stranger! What would you name this incredible product? What other products does this company have in it's inventory? 😉😀

[@TheGenericavatar]

@@dancingwiththedogsdj Nothing so far. But they are working on stain removers to use on the soul. Politicians are the intended market, so it has to be extra, extra heavy duty concentrate.

[@dancingwiththedogsdj]

@@TheGenericavatar that was almost as good as the original item lol 😄 What about if they had a bidet? I'd be really really NOT interested in who / what it was intended for if it was along the same lines of universe altering items... but I'm afraid my curiosity would still get the better of me. 😮

[@theishiopian68]

I mean, good joke but who knows, maybe there is some way to modify space in a similar manner

[@robertcarmosino6563]

@@dancingwiththedogsdj As long as it's not Proctor & Gamble's, there're WOKE don't you know 😉

[@ontoya1]

Funny how bending the dimension itself is easier than moving really fast through it

[@futuratipodcast5130]

Powerfully reminded of the 'tesseracts' that figured so prominently in "A Wrinkle in Time". Rather than folding space you're folding time, which also let's characters travel great distances.

[@Meilk27]

Tesseract makes me think interstellar

[@ranfan1820]

@@Meilk27 lol nice name

[@ReverseUnicorn]

Actually a tesseract is a five dimensional object. And while they do use one through time, to get back just before they leave, mostly they are folding/bypassing space.

[@calebnemrow2677]

Technically since time and space are actually the same phenomenon, "space-time", by folding one you also fold the other

[@ReverseUnicorn]

@@calebnemrow2677 ACtually that is deceptive phrasing. What it means is that duration, a type of time, is a dimension of space, like height and width. Not that folding one dimension of space means folding them all.

[@jeremyleyland1047]

0:20 you need to get an interstellar iron to get those wrinkles out

[@LudosErgoSum]

The Pumpkin Spice must flow

[@mikelytou]

Hm. I gotta ask my grandma about this. She's an expert when it comes to folding stuff.

[@BigZebraCom]

I was going to fold space as an aid to travel intergalactic space--but then things got really crazy at work.

[@shoujahatsumetsu]

I was gonna fold space to get home, but then I got high

[@BigZebraCom]

@@shoujahatsumetsu You know, your excuse to not fold space sounds much more enjoyable than mine.

[@carlh-thehermitwithwi-fi679]

it's so refreshing to listen to real science...being science trained, it's a breath of fresh air. in a world of "2 +2 = whatever i want, you -ist!" REAL hard science is actually soothing to absorb and learn. THANK YOU!

[@dualityomk9854]

maffs be waysis

[@ShadowWolfTJC]

One idea that I have for side-effects of folding space is to imagine the space along the line between the start and finish points of the ship folding space as being like a rubber band, or a spring, with the consequences being that space would be stretched out behind the ship, and in front of the destination, and compressed within the space in-between the ship and the destination, with appropriate physical consequences for any matter within, or even close to, the line where the space is being folded. For these reasons, I could imagine seeing such space-folding technologies not only being applicable for tasks other than space travel (such as matter compression, up to and including the creation of artificial black holes), and not only being weaponizable (though maybe not possibly to the same practical use as with a more crude explosive device, such as a nuke, or even antimatter), but being safe to use for travel only either over short distances (such as between a planet's surface and orbit), or between points either within space (such as the popular faster-than-light travel between stars) or within a planetary body (such as a short-range teleportation device, as seen in sci-fi settings like StarCraft), and dangerous to use in other circumstances (such as, for example, travelling between one planet and either space or another planet, for fear of causing catastrophic damage to the planet(s) involved, like tearing its surface apart, sucking out all the atmosphere, or compressing matter between the 2 points into a singularity that would then explosively evaporate like a miniature black hole).

[@Negentropy369]

Your section of this episode on WoT just increased my... regard for you even more, and it was already quite high. WoT is my absolute favorite work of art.

[@tathemrelag3123]

Don't think I didn't notice that the ship at 1:23 is the _Malevolence_ flipped over and modified to avoid copyright infringement. I'm onto you, whoever animated this episode!

[@orbismworldbuilding8428]

I love all the speculation of how these spacetravel systems and the sheer variety discussed

[@Ohem1]

Look into Quantum Tunneling FTL and superluminous monopoles.

[@erikjrn4080]

"OK, so... We may be able to travel faster than light. However, testing it may result in the destruction of the Universe. So, dear colleagues, I ask you: how curious are we?" -- future scientist, shortly before the destruction of the Universe.

[@Zeecontainers]

Just rely on quantum immortality to put you on a timeline where you either don't or fail to test, or it doesn't destroy the universe/ kill everyone somehow

[@robertcarmosino6563]

Oh we're fine , make sure your homeowners insurance is paid up !

[@addammadd]

You know we both learned in basic training that the best way to optimize space is to roll, not fold.

[@CrimsonUltrafox]

Roll them shirts recruit! No creases either!

[@DreadX10]

And copious amounts of brute force when stuffing it in the duffle-bag.

[@snickle1980]

I knew that had to be a military thing. 😖Annoys the hell out of me. makes the linen closet look weird. But technically correct...it efficiently saves space.

[@evensgrey]

@@snickle1980 Probably does less damage to the structure of the item, as well as being more space efficient.

[@snickle1980]

@@evensgrey 😁Yes, but you know what? I've heard that it efficiently saves space! What do you think?

[@dannylang8669]

I’m dying for a Warhammer 40k special from this man.

[@djschultz1970]

Thank you Isaac. My favorite episode in a while. I started watching it with the thought that you wouldn't have the time or space to go that deep. Or be able to clearly define those lines that we just dont cross in SFIA and still touch on every aspect. But you hit them all and even expanded on them. That is why I love you! I really think I now fully understand how to fold space!

[@papabaer6069]

And it's a great way to stay in shape!

[@necrosunderground]

Isaac: Today, we'll be looking at folding space. Me: Wait, this sounds like Event Hori- Isaac: I have such wonderful, wonderful things... to show you. Me: *Oh shit!*

[@SpacePonder]

😂😂

[@RevantheBlack]

Tutamet ex infernus!

[@paulrockatansky77]

@@RevantheBlack Funny how a medic on a salvage vessel figured out a Latin riddle which teams of nerdy PhD.s back on Earth couldn't. One of many logical flaws in that wonderful movie.

[@undertakr]

where we're going, we won't need ... eyes to see

[@necrosunderground]

@@paulrockatansky77 to be fair, they had access to the original log while they were on the ship, and could clean up the audio from it, but yeah. I'd be willing to guess that they just didn't put that much effort into EarthLink. Either way, it's just one of those movies that I'm willing to let things like that slide, just because it's a guilty pleasure 😂

[@jp12x]

The Planck length can be defined from three fundamental physical constants: the speed of light, the Planck constant, and the gravitational constant. It is not fundamental and holds no special meaning. It is just a useful unit of measure.

[@oliverperkinso3755]

Issac needs to have the prefix "Sir" . The sheer amount of knowledgeable information and the method of explanation is abouve and beyond what most self claimed professors would even talk about.

[@NancyLebovitz]

There's also Bujold, who had space doing its own folding instead of people or anyone else folding it. Instead, there are ftl connections between planets, connections which change spontaneously now and then. A planet can be part of interstellar trade, and then cut off.

[@dsnodgrass4843]

I love Bujold.

[@zylaaeria2627]

This episode is a creative goldmine for me. I am exploring some of these concepts in my personal project & this was a nice episode to tie everything up.

[@jeffcurtis5460]

The first IA video I’ve watched in a long while. Awesome! Blessings!

[@SangoProductions213]

Considering the ones in charge of the TV series doesn't seem to know the basics of the Wheel of Time setting, I have next to no hope for it.

[@DeanLavi96]

Which is so incredibly sad to those who grew up reading the books and wanted to see the characters come alive on screen

[@justarandomname420]

Yeah, it's going to get butchered.

[@dirus3142]

At least the developers are not boasting about GoT level full frontal nudity like the Middle Earth series creators. Also Moiraine's casting is suspect. While Pike is a good actress, she just does not fit the character. Then again I was wrong about Gail Gadot, and people gave Hugh Jackman the evil eye.

[@SangoProductions213]

@@dirus3142 That's supposed to be one of those "ironic" comments, due to the creator saying it's a Feminist fantasy that's going to be the next GoT, right?

[@chrisedwards4548]

Thanks Isaac for Highlighting THE WHEEL OF TIME TV series, much appreciated... Just finished watching the first episode it was Awesome and looking forward to watching further... NICE ONE

[@jaywatson8720]

Man it’s been a while since I’ve seen your videos. Your speech has gotten much better.

[@Retic_01]

As always, Such a brilliant Video! It is such a great time to be alive, were you have access to Isaac Arthur creating stunning content like this. Keep it up!

[@sab1751]

Saw the extended version on Nebula great episode guys. Space folding will probably remain a story telling tool more than any real life application. Still makes for cool stories though

[@sheldorleconcher8870]

Another interesting episode. You do such a great job explaining complicated concepts to a blue collar schmuck like me!

[@darkage5]

I would really like your take on the Sci-fi author Ian Douglas. His star carrier series uses a lot of the science and theoretical physics that you discuss on your channel. He uses Aclubiere, tiller cylinders, Dyson swarms. Even in later books, he is talking about the branes between universes. His use of AI is also pretty amazing in how artificial intelligence is fully Incorporated into human society where AI's have rights and in a lot of cases are treated as citizens based on their level of "purvue.'

[@dirus3142]

Ian Douglas is a pen name for William Keith Jr. He wrote the Grey Death novels for Battletech. They are a great entry point into that large world. Focused story, that lets you get to know how the world works. While the most popular are more game of thrones with mechs, and time jumps. The Grey Death novels are more mercenary military fiction with mechs.

[@nuancedhistory]

Loving the new episodes Isaac!

[@k.sullivan6303]

I read approximately the first 7 books of the Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan. There were times when there was huge delays between books in that series. I liked the series, however I should warn potential new readers to that series, that these books are extremely detailed and often concentrate on thoughts of individual characters, their dreams, and dreams within their dreams. If you wait too long between issues, you may have to reread some of the previous issues. I think this is a young person's series myself. At 55 years old, there is no way I would delve into this series now to finish the last number of books. I simply don't have enough time in my life. I want to do other things too. I do look forward to the upcoming Wheel of Time Series on Amazon. It won't be like reading the books, but the fact that it will likely be way more condensed is likely a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

[@dahJoJo]

I loved your videos already, but then you said WoT was a long running favorite and I love you even more. Keep up the amazing videos Issac! You're a good dude!

[@brandenlewis270]

Im glad that you chage the music while your explaining and talking about topics the music sounds so cool it draws people into wacthing keep the cool music going good job

[@PhoenixThunderheart]

Great vid fellow WoT fan! I'm on my third read through. Keep up the good work!

[@WasatchWind]

I'm very happy to hear Brandon Sanderson mentioned. His treatment of fantasy is exquisite.

[@lolly9804]

I always thought that the Wheel of Time's many ways of instant travel were a bit too well thought out for the average fantasy novel. Funnier still that it has more consideration of physics, in some regards, than a lot of sci fi franchises as well.

[@josorr]

How much energy does it take to fold the entier Universe? I'm only guessing, but I think the answer is: Just a little bit more than all of it.

[@azmanabdula]

In that case it would be like burning an iron rod to bend it You cant have it, and use it

[@isaiahwall3689]

Love the music at the beginning!

[@linz8291]

Great vlog on discussing FTL and traversable wormhole! FTL is a common way used by space and time travel on interstellar travel, and when the spacecraft travel as FTL or into the higher dimensions (4 to 6d)and hyperspace by using vacuum, negative energy, or blackhole...the time on 3d and distance are flexible between different planets and constellations. To create some temporary gates and use different techs are, too, go to the same location from several seconds to hours that depending on the dimensions and techs level of transportation and types of spacecraft.

[@charlesmclain6558]

Stellar video as usual, keep up the great work 👍

[@ChristopherRyans]

Channel has educating me for many years

[@chuckintexas]

Ok, I've THOROUGHLY enjoyed my "break" . Back to _WORK_ ! All the VERY _BEST_ to ALL here from Texas ! and _Merry Christmas !_

[@dseszu425]

Arlight that intro was edited amazingly. Timing of the end of the intro hook, with the start of the animation and the music change.

[@isaacmchale8832]

In the Dune novels, the Guild Navigators use spice as a "prescient" drug, when in fact it allowed them to see, because of how spacetime works, the *present* situation and location of their intended destination. Frank Herbert was a genius.

[@peterxyz3541]

Always a great day with a nee Futurism video! This subject is the stuff that dreams are made of!!!

[@12q8]

Where do you keep finding this awesome fitting music?

[@LucasDimoveo]

If I'm understanding the video correctly, a prerequisite for this kind of travel, it it is even possible, are megastructures capable of dealing with spacetime and energies at this scale?

[@SomeKindaSpy]

Xeelee gotcha covered on that.

[@imperialofficer6185]

I mean that's gonna be the least of your problems when attempting something like this

[@ianharrison5758]

I think a question in regards to folding space I’ve never seen answered is the actual mechanism by which you can actually fold space. Think of a 2D dimension represented by a piece of paper. How can the beings there actually fold it, how do they fold the paper from within the paper, when what folding means to them is the same for us, moving a an edge of the paper to align two points, from the outside. What kind of device is there that has a reasonable way to do this? Folding 3d space from within 3D space, is like folding a shirt while you’re in it.

[@mikewashington4188]

Mr. Isaac thanks for your enlightening video’s.

[@jeremypace249]

Thank you for going outside your "box" and doing sci-fi theories, Issac!

[@Eulemunin]

Always fun shows on Sunday.

[@kevanhubbard9673]

The Guild Navigators in Dune fold space ,or rather a generator on their ship does it ,and the Navigatiors 'see'the way using the Spice.It is called motion without movement but,as you say,Frank Herbert didn't get into technical details probably because he didn't know what they would be!In Philip Pullman's novels they cut through into other universes but unlike Dune they are different universes so it couldn't be used to get from A to B in our universe.

[@Kwr34538]

Another great video..and you mentioned Event Horizon! Look forward to future topics 😉🕟

[@jamesbowman5062]

Another amazing upload Isaac. Melted my tiny brain but listened intently all the same.

[@livellemulmato6683]

6.55 minute was a nice added opinion. you do good work man (i won't tell you keep it up coz you have have done enough)

[@TroaBarton]

Wasn’t expecting to see WoT being talked about in a video about folding space, made me unreasonably happy. May you find water and shade. As far as the topic it’s theoretically possible but it wouldn’t be so much folding two points it would be compressing a tunnel of space in front of you, you would have to do the calculations and stop when you mean to. You would have to create mass / gravity or at least the effect of it in front of your craft and the energy required would only be to light the fire as it were. When you put the craft into an envelope of compressed time / space it would act as a giant capacitor for that void energy which could be directed towards the ball of “gravity” towing your ship. You would however need to be able to project that behind you to stop and to cancel out the energy upon exiting the envelope. Think dryer hose for the tunnel and a splinter moving through your body. The more you compressed time and along with it space the less time it would take but it wouldn’t be instantaneous.

[@TipSheikh]

Idk why but when he said "do i need to have folks on both sides adding more ink..." i lol'd

[@theequalizer9154]

If I interpret this correctly, folding space is just a term used to explain faster than light travel. Faster than light travel means traveling within linear time, at faster than light speed. Faster than light speed would be more than possible. However, to preserve life within the spacecraft vessel, there would have to be inertia dampening capabilities, as well as the ability to slow the spacecraft vessel down. As wormholes are explained, they are a tunnel shortcut to a destination, within linear time. Were a spacecraft vessel to travel through a wormhole, which will accelerate to faster the light speeds withn linear time, again that would have to be a sturdy spacecraft, having inertia dampening capabilities to preserve life within the space craft, as well as the ability to get out of that wormhole. All such travel would occur in linear time. Although there has been the theory of time travel, which has not been disproven, reality states that time travel forward or backward is not possible, even if it was man-made, it is still not possible. Even with faster than light travel capabilities, it would still take years to travel to the next solar system. There has been talk of interdimensional travel, which is explained how UFO sightings have occurred on Earth by UFO enthusiasts, but no one has been able to explain how interdimensional travel would work If that is at all possible, which is doubtful. One must remember that we calculate using physics on Earth. Physics does operate differently in parts of the galaxy and universe, such as black holes. I am just expressing some realistic thoughts.

[@janettortora6374]

This is a really good episode. A now-classic

[@mr.viktory77]

I loved this episode

[@zutai1]

when you fold something like paper, touching 2 points together, you end up leaving creases between those points. so, if aliens are using space folding for travel, we may find creases somewhere out there, and may even be able to use those, for our own speed boots, even if not full ftl. what kinds of side effects would folding leave?

[@phillapple8260]

I’m going to go out on a limb to say once whatever device is creating the fold in space is turned off, the fold in topology also entirely disappears, leaving no crease, due to everything in the universe tending to be moving toward the lowest possible energy state.

[@zutai1]

@@phillapple8260 but, turning it off and on repeatedly, would leave a mark, over time. bit like in tng, when they found out there were wearing away at the fabric of the universe, by treading over the same place, too often

[@landoghini7149]

@@zutai1 you can always just iron out fabric to get those pesky creases out of you favorite space-time shirt hole.

[@robertcarmosino6563]

A paper cut ... ouch !

[@zutai1]

@@robertcarmosino6563 guess you dont know cardboard cuts...

[@fransker13]

I love the instantaneous traveling described in the Hyperion Cantos... you should talk about those books In relation to AI, the quantum void and space travel.

[@chazsroczynski5666]

I've actually thought this is s series that IA could do an interesting analysis of too.

[@DreadX10]

Farcasters? Or do you mean the the way some travel in the last book (Fall of Endimion?)?

[@fransker13]

@@DreadX10 can both be covered? They are linked

[@cannonfodder4376]

Alright, gotta my Spice laced Drink and Lunch ready for a Space Folding SFIA Sunday.

[@AppNasty]

Spooky action at a distance. Whatever is connecting 2 particles to be able to flip instantly no matter how far apart they are, THAT place, is where you wanna go.

[@mtpender69]

The Spice must flow.

[@robertb7293]

Ah, simple. Just jump into The Bulk. Yeet half the universe over your head to get the bend you need. Fall down onto the other half. ... Aim for the bushes.

[@VideographerExperience]

*A Wrinkle In Time*

[@camwyn256]

Ah! The Wheel of Time. That takes me back and reminds me of a spoof I made on the Lizzy Borden song. Robert Jordan took a pen and his first book 40 chaps. When he saw what he had done, he gave his next book 41. While the books are great, my good golly gee are they long

[@flowingfiber7115]

Here is a idea for a video that I personally really want to sea how will we use technology to keep our momentum in space while turning so that space becomes more affordable and a slight miscalculation doesn’t mean you lose the ship basically like you now how almost every sci fi has ships controld like airplanes or a mix of planes and ships and they can change direction without having to burn up there fuel to stop and then burn again in the other direction Maybe this could be via a few miniature black hole generators on the sides of the ship that aren’t strong enough to break anything but still pull the ship with all its momentum to the side of the generator Otherwise maybe somekind of object that causes the ship to orbit it until it shuts of with the ship keeping its momentum in the orbit

[@hansperil]

When i see Isaac Arthur and Space in one place all my personal problems go away

[@kevinwestrom4775]

There was a Star Trek TNG episode "The Nth Degree" where space seems like it's getting folded by the machinations of Lt. Barkley, to instantly bring the Enterprise-D to the other side of the galaxy in seconds to where the Cytherians live.

[@jimmyshrimbe9361]

Awesome stuff!

[@Liethen]

If it can only take advantage of naturally occurring folds in higher topologies then they amount to “jump points” and “ jump drives”

[@8BRInteractive]

Space folding is the default type of FTL travel for the entire Macross (the original series was used as the first part of the Robotech saga) franchise; in fact, it's also an in-universe method of FTL data transmission.

[@guicehowell543]

Many years ago, Popular Science magazine had a contest to determine the best way to travel through interstellar space. The winner put forward the theory of folding space. I lost the magazine and haven't seen a copy of it since and PopSci doesn't list it in their back copy list. I didn't dream this; it 20 some-odd years ago. I was very intrigued with the proposal of this mode of interstellar travel. I think all the engineers need to figure out is how to power a ship which, I've read, might take up to the entire output of a sun the size of Sol. So...

[@junholee4961]

Screw Origami, now Isaac is folding space

[@robertmaddox8352]

For a second I thought that you had attempted to disclaim the notion of zero-point energy (and in the process breaking my heart for the possibility). But you cleared it up for me. thanks :)

[@nowaay692]

Isaac, I've seen your channel grow over the years along with your confidence, heck your speech has improved tremendously!! You are awesome, keep doing what you do! Edit: "Trillion Trillion TRILLION" you're just showing off now :p

[@ShadowMage3D]

Folding space might be more like a cosmic hernia where you poke a hole at your location, pull the destination space around you and allow it to snap back. The theory being that the hole closes behind you.

[@portalopener7759]

More information about Hyperspace travel part 2: Metamaterials are important and essential for designing and building an electromagnetic shock wave Synthetic Dyon propelled, repulsive laser deflector shield-equipped spacecraft. The outer surface of the Synthetic Dyon propelled spacecraft’s strong durable almost indestructible, room temperature Superconductive Electromagnetic, Quantum dot Photonic and Phononic Quasicrystals that form Metamaterial lattice structures that are used to enhance and maximize the effect of the repulsive laser deflector shield that is made from an equal combination of rapid pulsating ionizing lasers such as Gamma ray lasers and X-ray Free electron lasers and Exciton-Polariton lasers and Squeezed states of light and also rapid oscillating conditioned SU(3) symmetry electromagnetic radiation fields are also combined with both effective Negative mass acoustic metamaterial lattice structures and effective Negative mass terahertz metamaterial lattice structures that contribute to the levitation of the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft in the atmosphere of a planet. The properties of the outer surfaces of the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft’s effective Negative mass acoustic metamaterial lattice structures and effective Negative mass terahertz metamaterial lattice structures contribute to the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft levitating and floating when in the atmosphere of a planet by the influence of sound and some terahertz frequencies. Acoustic levitation contributes to the floating of the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft in the atmosphere of a planet because the outer surface of the Synthetic Dyon propelled spacecraft’s strong durable almost indestructible, room temperature Superconductive Electromagnetic, Quantum dot Photonic and Phononic Quasicrystals that form Metamaterial lattice structures that are used to enhance and maximize the effect of the repulsive laser deflector shield that is made from an equal combination of rapid pulsating ionizing lasers such as Gamma ray lasers and X-ray Free electron lasers and Exciton-Polariton lasers and Squeezed states of light and also rapid oscillating conditioned SU(3) symmetry electromagnetic radiation fields are also combined with both effective Negative mass acoustic metamaterial lattice structures and effective Negative mass terahertz metamaterial lattice structures. The outer surface of the Synthetic Dyon propelled spacecraft’s strong durable almost indestructible, room temperature Superconductive Electromagnetic, Quantum dot Photonic and Phononic Quasicrystals that form Metamaterial lattice structures that are used to enhance and maximize the effect of the repulsive laser deflector shield that is made from an equal combination of rapid pulsating ionizing lasers such as Gamma ray lasers and X-ray Free electron lasers and Exciton-Polariton lasers and Squeezed states of light and also rapid oscillating conditioned SU(3) symmetry electromagnetic radiation fields are also combined with effective Negative mass, self-healing, shape memory metallic alloy, metamaterial lattice structures. The levitation of the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft in the atmosphere of a planet is also contributed to by the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft’s Inertial mass reduction device that is made from: an inner resonant cavity wall, an outer resonant cavity wall, the inner resonant cavity wall and the outer resonant cavity wall forming a resonant cavity. Microwave emitters create high frequency electromagnetic waves throughout the resonant cavity causing the outer resonant cavity wall to vibrate in an accelerated mode and create a local polarized vacuum outside the outer resonant cavity wall. The resonant cavity is filled with a noble gas. The outer resonant cavity wall is electrically charged. The resonant cavity is axially rotated in an accelerated mode. The Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft is also equipped with 2 parallel almost identical electron Synchrotron circular particle accelerators of equal size that have their particle beams counter rotate in relation to each other and are both injected with crushed liquefied bananas for the purpose of creating antimatter every 75 minutes for the purposes of creating extra energy and contributing to the control of artificial gravity while the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft is being accelerated through space because bananas contain Potassium 40. The Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft is also equipped with a Kugelblitz reactor that is also equipped with electromagnetic coils that are used to convert the Kugelblitz reactor’s contained non flammable, non toxic ionized gas into plasma fusion energy from the exploding Kugelblitz. Located beneath the double-shelled walls of the Kugelblitz reactor are an arrays of lasers that are made from an equal combination of Gamma rays and X-ray free electrons and Exciton-Polaritons and also rapid oscillating conditioned SU(3) symmetry electromagnetic radiation fields and squeezed states of light. The Kugelblitz reactor supplies the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft with large amounts of Negative energy. The Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft’s repulsive laser deflector shield that is made from an equal combination of rapid pulsating ionizing lasers such as Gamma ray lasers and X-ray Free electron lasers and Exciton-Polariton lasers and rapid oscillating conditioned SU(3) symmetry electromagnetic radiation fields and Squeezed states of light is emitted directly from the strong durable almost indestructible, room temperature Superconductive Electromagnetic, Quantum dot Photonic and Phononic Quasicrystal Metamaterial lattice structure surface of the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft in all directions and contributes to the creation of artificial gravity for the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft and supplies the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft with infinite amounts of Zero-point energy and Negative energy by constantly creating Kugelblitzes around the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft and also performing Bremsstrahlung by deflecting hydrogen atoms and Electrons and other high energy particles away from the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft that can be converted into X-ray photons, because the vacuum of space is NOT completely empty. The life support systems aboard the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft include atmospheric water generators and pipes and tubes and tanks for Electrolysis, water splitting and photo-synthesis that contribute to the creation of breathable oxygen that is used to keep the occupant or occupants of the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft alive. The life support systems aboard the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft also include an incinerating toilet that is used to dispose of the fecal and urinal waste of the biological occupant or biological occupants of the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft without using water. A small washing machine is also included among the life support systems aboard the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft for the purpose of washing the clothes of the occupant or occupants of the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft. The life support systems aboard the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft also include more than 1 hull for the purpose of keeping and recycling water for the survival of the biological occupant or biological occupants of the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft. The life support systems aboard the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft are monitored and controlled by an Artificial intelligence that also controls the Quantum computers that are onboard the Synthetic Dyon propelled Spacecraft. Hydroponics can be used to grow plant food to keep the biological occupant or biological occupants of the electromagnetic field propulsion spacecraft nourished and fed.

[@Toasty-du3fl]

love the music

[@Tinkering4Time]

Fermi Paradox- Great Filters: Hazards of Folding Space.

[@davidbaldwin9830]

Was my favorite when I was a kid 50 years ago.

[@lombardo141]

Hey can you do a video on Dune or The Expanse. Is this future more possible for us ?

[@randomdude6446]

Great as always ☺️

[@AtlasReburdened]

I wonder how many people will be disappointed to learn that there's no way out of an Alcubierre drive bubble.

[@Kirhean]

Not from the inside at least.

[@AtlasReburdened]

@@Kirhean And come to think of it, only if you actually use it in the way that theoretically enables FTL travel. I suppose you could use the general scheme to accelerate craft within the normal laws of relativity if you're willing to go through the required accelerations and actual travel through space, and willing to accept that anything over 99.999999%C is practically impossible.

[@Vinlaell]

I read some of Robert Jordan's shards of Alera or something like that part of the wheel of time and it was good

[@loop8946]

Whenever I get down and need something to remind me of amazing possible futures that inspire the best in humanity, I turn to Isaac Arthur.

[@theorize999]

another excellent episode! 🎉😊

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Thank you Mike :)