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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 7418275" data-attributes="member: 177">You know, this thread is years old, so I cannot remember if this got said, and I'm not going back to read the whole thing for just this point...A wormhole is a shortcut through a curved space.&nbsp; To go through normal space from points A to B, you travel some distance X.&nbsp; Go between points A and B through a wormhole, and you go some distance Y.Now, you have three cases.&nbsp; Y=0 is the &quot;instantaneous travel&quot; option.&nbsp; The wormhole is a portal, and there is zero distance between its ends.But zero is a very specific number.&nbsp; All in all, you'd kind of expect Y to have some value, but one that specific?&nbsp; That would have to be a specific result of the math, to come out that elegantly.The more realistic idea is that Y has some non-zero value.&nbsp; If X&gt;Y, we travel some distance through the wormhole, and it is a shortcut.&nbsp; But that doesn't mean it is actually short, on human scales.&nbsp; It is ~4 light years to Alpha Centauri.&nbsp; A trip of only 2 light years to get there would be a shortcut, but still a long distance on human scales.&nbsp; There's also the possibility that Y &gt; X, that the wormhole trip is *longer* than the trip through normal space.&nbsp; It would be kinda dumb to spend all the effort warping spacetime and taking a longer trip, rather than a shorter one, but I think the math allows it.&nbsp; We just aren't interested i this, so we disregard it.Um, the whole point is that there is no &quot;objective&quot; time.&nbsp; That's why it is the Theory of *Relativity*.&nbsp; If there's objective time, wormholes are not possible!The best you can get is, &quot;it is 1d6+1 days with respect to some specific location in normal space&quot;.&nbsp; I would imagine that best to be the point of departure, so if you take a round trip out and back, the total time you are gone is at least 2d6+2 days.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 7418275, member: 177"] You know, this thread is years old, so I cannot remember if this got said, and I'm not going back to read the whole thing for just this point... A wormhole is a shortcut through a curved space. To go through normal space from points A to B, you travel some distance X. Go between points A and B through a wormhole, and you go some distance Y. Now, you have three cases. Y=0 is the "instantaneous travel" option. The wormhole is a portal, and there is zero distance between its ends. But zero is a very specific number. All in all, you'd kind of expect Y to have some value, but one that specific? That would have to be a specific result of the math, to come out that elegantly. The more realistic idea is that Y has some non-zero value. If X>Y, we travel some distance through the wormhole, and it is a shortcut. But that doesn't mean it is actually short, on human scales. It is ~4 light years to Alpha Centauri. A trip of only 2 light years to get there would be a shortcut, but still a long distance on human scales. There's also the possibility that Y > X, that the wormhole trip is *longer* than the trip through normal space. It would be kinda dumb to spend all the effort warping spacetime and taking a longer trip, rather than a shorter one, but I think the math allows it. We just aren't interested i this, so we disregard it. Um, the whole point is that there is no "objective" time. That's why it is the Theory of *Relativity*. If there's objective time, wormholes are not possible! The best you can get is, "it is 1d6+1 days with respect to some specific location in normal space". I would imagine that best to be the point of departure, so if you take a round trip out and back, the total time you are gone is at least 2d6+2 days. [/QUOTE]

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