Talk:Tachyons in fiction

From Tachyons
I deleted this from Tachyons. Feel free to merge in this article.

­ Tachyons are exhibited in many novels of the late science fiction author, Frank Herbert.

Tachyons are also central in Gregory Benford's seminal novel Timescape, where the main character tries to use them in order to warn people in his past about events that are in their future (but are past for him). Part of the story is set on the Columbia University campus in homage to Gerald Feinberg.

Tachyons were discussed in the NBC series Journeyman as an explanation of the protagonist's (Dan Vasser) ability to travel back in time.

Tachyons are extensively used in the television series Star Trek. In Star Trek the tachyon is used mostly in situations regarding space-time anomalies but there is no real consistency to the use of the tachyon. An "inverted tachyon" is also quite common in Star Trek. The tachyon, however, is most extensively used in the later era of Star Trek (TNG, VOY and DS9'').

Other places it's been used:
 * Doctor Who "The Leisure Hive" - A tachyon regeneration generator was used.
 * Blake's 7 "Orbit" - The renegade scientist Egrorian demonstrates an ultimate weapon: the tachyon funnel.
 * Eureka (TV series) "Pilot" - A scientist causing the collision of tachyons destabilizes time and space.
 * In Eve Online An Amarrian "Named" Mega Beam Laser is the "Tachyon Beam Laser I/II" It has a slow reload time, but causes massive damage over long distance.
 * Tachyons are the only known weakness of Doctor Manhattan in the Watchmen comic book series, as his precognitive abilities can be disrupted by them. Ozymandias used this method to evade Doctor Manhattan's detection.
 * Most powerful beam weapon in real-time strategy game Total Annihilation
 * The X-Files "Synchrony" - An old man is capable of time travel through the use of tachyons.
 * In the movie, Prince of Darkness (film) by John Carpenter, a tachyon beam is used to send communication of the world's impending danger from the future to characters of the movie in the form of dreams.
 * K-PAX by Gene Brewer references tachyons in Prot's explanation of faster than light travel.
 * In Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" novels, the oft-used "Hyperspace-Jump" is explained to be a total conversion from normal matter to tachyons, allowing for instantaneous inter-spatial travel.
 * In the video game "Dino Stalker", each level must be completed before time runs out. The player can collect tachyons which temporarily stop the clock for either 5 (Purple) or 30 (Blue) seconds. Tachyons can be found floating above the ground or by destroying the in game environment.
 * Red Dwarf "Holoship" - Kryten says that the holoship has no mass or volume and is able to travel as super-light particles (tachyons).
 * In Freelancer there are weapons and shields that are "tachyon based".
 * In Fantastic Four "Rise of the Silver Surfer", Reed Richards suggests using a tachyon pulse to separate the Silver Surfer from his surf board.
 * In Babylon5 tachyons are the basic particles which allow time travel, essential for the five year story arc, especially in  the case of character Jeffrey Sinclair.
 * In the adventure space flight simulation computer game Wing Commander: Privateer the tachyon cannon is the third most powerful blaster weapons that the player can purchase for his or her ship, behind the plasma and ionic pulse cannons.
 * In Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, the Tachyon bolt is a weapon that can be equipped to land, sea, and air combat units
 * In Margaret Peterson Haddix's book "Found", an airplane labeled TACHYON TRAVEL appears from the future, carrying adults transformed into babies due to the time-warping effects of tachyon travel.
 * In X-Com:UFO Defense's PS1 ending, a dying Ethereal enables a tachyon which signals the invaders seen in the next game, X-Com:Terror from the Deep. This ending varies from the PC/Dos/Amiga ending those of which are considered non-canonical
 * In Star Trek: Voyager "The Caretaker I & II", the USS Voyager is transported through time and space via a tachyon beam. The starship is instantaneously transwarped 75,000 light years from Earth.

What is the point of this article?
This article is nothing more than a list of random fiction. The only way to justify this as an encyclopedia entry topic would be a discussion of how writers employ tachyons in fiction and with what aims. Otherwise this is just a pointless list that should be deleted altogether.Ekwos (talk) 23:04, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

"Misc Items"
I'm not convinced that the flag calling the list of examples "miscellaneous information" is particularly valid. This article is specifically about notable examples of Tachyons used in fiction. It details the common methodology, the rationale and the most common reasons authors and writers use them (which pretty much covers the "what is the point" question above), but most important to an article on this subject is a list of examples of where it is applied. That's the exact reason why I came here and found this article in the first place, and as an enyclopedia entry it seems pretty perfect. In terms of the "lists of miscellaneous items" I fail to see how else you can show examples of something being used in context.

If you tried to put all these entries into some sort of continuous prose it would become unwieldy and unreadable. By simply adding in a "In Popular Culture" header, (a heading which is used many, many times on other pages - without issue - to contain almost identical lists like this one) I think this solves the "problem" just fine. Damage (talk) 02:12, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Adding "Dune"
I see Dune is not cited here. I will place it on top of the list (and possibly move up Asimov's example) as their are older than some of the other example. --Fabricebaro (talk) 16:10, 21 September 2012 (UTC)

Neglects to Mention Earlier Use in Fiction
The first mention of tachyons in fiction was not in 1974, as the article says, but in 1970, in the Star Trek novel "Spock Must Die", by James Blish. As I recall Scotty tried to use them as a way of improving the transporter. He mentions that they exist in Hilbert space and can only travel faster than light. Blish was well current on developments in physics, obviously. 47.20.162.46 (talk) 06:57, 14 April 2015 (UTC)captcrisis