Science, not fiction: Larry Niven

You need someone to set a direction, someone to give today's scientists the inspiration to create things, even if there is a good chance they won't see the fruits of their labor for themselves. The scientists' muse, one might say: the science fiction writer. Larry Niven

An integral part of the world of science is the vision, the goal. Sometimes the goal is clear. Geneticists, for example, are trying to discover the north of the human genome in order to create a world without genetic diseases - a world without Taysex, without muscular dystrophy and similar diseases, and to spare future generations this terrible suffering. It's a clear goal, a very sharp vision.

Sometimes the goal is less clear - mathematicians, for example. What are they rowing for? What they create, with all their equations, the numbers, the X's and the Y's. The benefit that will arise from mathematical developments is a little more ambiguous. It may take decades and hundreds of years before practical fruits grow from an innovative mathematical idea.

So sometimes you need someone to create that vision. You need someone to set a direction, someone to give today's scientists the inspiration to create things, even if there is a good chance they won't see the fruits of their labor for themselves. The scientists' muse, one might say: the science fiction writer.

The current article deals with the ideas of Larry Niven. Larry Niven is one of the greatest science fiction writers of the last fifty years, considered one of the Nephilim generation of this genre along with Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and more.

Niven's writing is in the style known as 'hard science fiction': science fiction based on science, on revolutionary technological ideas. This is in contrast to 'Lord of the Rings' style fantasy, a style that deals more with characters, a plot that is a bit like telenovela, human stories and emotions. In fantasy, the story takes place on the background of another planet or a castle in an enchanted forest, but it could just as well take place in present-day Argentina.

Larry Niven excels especially in writing 'hard' science fiction, and his books are rich in amazing and wonderful ideas based on real science. It is not surprising, then, that Niven has a bachelor's degree in mathematics.

One of the serious problems facing every science fiction writer is the question - how do you travel the vast distances of space? The distances between the stars are such that flying a spaceship at the speed we are capable of today, may take several thousand years between two stars - even if they are relatively close to each other.

The solution is, of course, to accelerate the spacecraft to a higher speed - as close as possible to the speed of light. It's not that simple: even the fastest spacecraft we have now, the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft, will pass the distance to the nearest stars only after a few tens of thousands of years of travel.

To accelerate the spaceship, it is required to carry large amounts of fuel with it. A lot of fuel means a heavier spaceship, then more fuel is needed to accelerate it, then it is heavier, then more fuel is needed, etc., etc... you understand the problem.

In 1960, the physicist Robert Bussard proposed a rather clever theoretical idea, which could allow flight at a very high speed - perhaps even up to two thirds of the speed of light - without the need for fuel on the spacecraft. His propulsion method is called 'bussrad ramjet' or in English bussrad ramjet, and this is also the method Niven chose to use in some of his books.

The general idea of ​​the Bossard detector is this: the "empty" space is not really a perfect vacuum, and there is little gas in it - a few individual hydrogen and helium atoms per square meter. At the front of the spacecraft is a large collection facility that channels the atoms into the spacecraft. Imagine a huge funnel sailing through space - that's the general idea.

These atoms will be swept into the spacecraft's engine, where they will be used as fuel - probably in the process of nuclear fusion, or any other process that can produce enough energy to propel the spacecraft forward. As the spacecraft moves faster, it is able to collect more and more atoms from space. In this way it is possible, theoretically, to reach a very high speed, without needing heavy fuel tanks.

This idea is not perfect, and there are some practical problems with it that we may or may not one day be able to solve. But it is certainly theoretically possible, and in Niven's books Magh Bossard propels huge ships, which contain thousands of settlers from Earth, and brings them within a few tens to hundreds of years to planets on which humanity is gradually settling.

The next idea that Niven brings up in his books comes from a field that is half physics and half biology: a strange species of trees called 'stage trees', in English stage trees.

These trees are described as tall and have a very thick trunk, and what sets them apart is that they are able to transform the energy from the sun into a rocket fuel-like substance of tremendous power. When the tree reaches maturity, it is already full to bursting with this natural combustible material, and then a chemical process takes place that causes the lower part of the tree to suddenly ignite. I think you are starting to get the picture - this tree is actually a kind of natural missile, a natural rocket. The combustion of the rocket fuel causes the tree to soar into the sky quickly, with parts of it detaching during takeoff - just like the stages of a conventional rocket to launch satellites into space, hence the name - the stage trees. Some of the trees, Niven describes, even manage to reach a speed that allows them to overcome gravity and escape into space, where they make their way to other planets and seed them as well.

How strange does this idea sound to you? Trees soaring into the sky, rocket fuel inside the trunk...some people will see this as complete fantasy, I suppose.

But I would like to raise two points here. One, that nature is capable of creating chemical compounds that look at first sight no less unusual than jet fuel. For example, a substance that glows in the dark in the firefly, or extremely powerful poisons in certain insects. So why not a chemical substance that burns itself tremendously? It's just a different kind of compound, that's all. If you think about it, we already produce combustible material - in our intestines...

The second point, that biotechnology is advancing by leaps and bounds every day: biotechnology is perhaps the fastest developing field in today's science. Today we know how to do things to the genetic code of animals that fifty years ago, when Niven wrote some of his books, one could only dream of. Niven writes, by the way, that the phase trees were created by aliens with advanced knowledge of biotechnology. We know how to make goats produce drugs in their milk. A natural pharmaceutical factory. So why is it that in a hundred years from now we won't be able to make trees produce fuel naturally? We'll connect a few such races to a satellite launcher, and then... the sky's the limit, isn't it?

If that doesn't make you want to be a biotechnology and genetics scientist, I don't know what will.

The last idea I will talk about is also the scariest idea and alarmingly the closest to realization.

Larry Niven describes in his books a device known as 'Tasp' ('drip', loosely translated in Hebrew). The tasp is a small black box that is worn on the skull, and a thin metal wire emerges from it. This thread goes into the skull, into the brain, straight to the center responsible for the feeling of pleasure, fun, happiness.

The tasp releases a tiny electric current into the cord and into the pleasure center of the brain, causing a person to feel the highest possible pleasure. There is no greater fun than that. It's direct stimulation, without intermediaries, an express train without intermediate stops, to the place that does it for you more than anything else. Better than any drug, better than sex, better than anything you can think of.

What happens to a person after he experiences such pleasure, a pleasure that has no rivals, the ultimate happiness? He wants more. and more. and more. He can't stop. Life without the tasp seems gray and depressing compared to this incredible pleasure. You get addicted to TASP, you become enslaved to it, you want more and more and you can't bring yourself to disconnect from this little black box.

In his books Niven describes how an epidemic of tasep addicts is created, drug addicts who sit all day with a smile on their faces, hardly eat or drink, neglect their families. Real junkies.

You will be surprised to hear, but this technology already exists - it is here, and it works. This method, known as "deep brain stimulation", is used to treat neurological diseases such as Parkinson's. An electrode is implanted inside the brain, and with the help of an electric current, the brain activity is changed so that the vibrations caused by the disease subside. A year ago, the University of Bristol in the UK announced an experiment aimed at developing a treatment for depression by inserting an electrode into the brain - the electric current will cause a feeling of happiness! known to all?…. The future is here, gentlemen.

This article is taken from the show's script.Making history!', a bi-weekly podcast about the history of science and technology.