Lesson 1-3 - Retooling Space Travel
Farnsworth Space Travel Theory
Perhaps the most blatant ignorance of actual science on Futurama
is "The Farnsworth Space Travel Theory" originally summarized by Cubert,
as Professor Farnsworth lay unconscious. The crew is failing to begin
their escape from a planetary retirement home.
"Nothing is impossible. I understand how the engines work now. It came
to me in a dream. The engines don't move the ship at all. The ship stays
where it is, and the engines move the universe around it."
Of course, anyone with a basic understanding of mechanics would know
this is false. Despite this, Cubert manages to fix the ship (presumably
using this theory). See Figure 1-8 for an image of the Planet Express
Ship freezing space.
Figure 1-8
Implications
This idea that anything can be invented if it can be imagined suggests a
sort-of omnipotent nature, contrary to the atheistic views Futurama
seems to uphold throughout most of the series. If we can think
something, then we can put it into action. This would allow basically
anything to happen, and, as such, make the universe similar to a
program.
We may be led to believe that everything and anything is part of one
giant program, and that program allows us to think up dreams, but they
don't become part of the program. That is, however, unless we truly
believe they are part of the program, in which case our minds would act
as a sort of hacking program into the mainframe of life. This can even
be substantiated by the idea that Farnsworth's senility allows him to
believe in full anything he can think of.
Or, on a more believable note, it may simply mean that Cubert's
understanding of the engine coincidentally allowed him to fix it, but
his beliefs were not actually true. This is more likely, but far less
interesting.
Perpetual Motion
Perpetual motion doesn't have much to do with the exact topic at hand
(the world as a computer), but it is often mentioned in serious
discussions on space travel in general.
The fundamental idea is for a machine to create its own fuel. As the machine
creates fuel, it refuels itself, and creates more fuel. This process is
never-ending, and, therefore, the only plausible means for enormous
lengths of travel. Futurama never mentions a perpetual motion machine,
and, instead, takes the non-scientific way out. "Dark Matter" is
supposed to be a super-fuel, lasting for many more miles during use. We
can attribute this efficiency to its extreme-density, as shown by the
extremely large weight, even in small amounts.
Perpetual motion is interesting because, unless we find some magical
substance such as dark matter, it is probably the secret we have to
unlock to utilize the full potential of space travel. See Figure 1-9 for
a representation of a basic (for lack of a better word) perpetual motion
machine.
Figure 1-9
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Futurama Textbook