This is why I love science fiction. Fifty-some years ago, a physics-major envisioned the following...
"There were no constants for the psi-drive. Everything was a variable, a function of many components depending on the potential gradients and on each other. The setting for 'ahead' could become that for 'reverse' under new conditions, and there was the uncertainty principle to reckon with, the uncaused chaos of individual electrons, flattened probability curves, the unimaginable complexity..."
In a flash, you can see how one might extend the individual's ability to navigate the differentials between what is known/observed and unknown/unobserved (Smearland) to something larger.
A presentient peek at things to come? He was dead-on about an ever-changing set of baseline differentials...
I think I've mentioned that I enjoy a good speculation. Something crossed my path about a year ago that may shed some light on how we might eventually turn this piece of science fiction into science fact. More on that research in a future post.
