poem Eugene’s limit, a poem about interweaving Star Trek and the scientific world, and how Gene Roddenberry decided that for the Next Generation, they would set a warp speed limit to warp factor ten, By Chicago Poet Janet Kuypers

[the Writing of Kuypers] [JanetKuypers.com] [Bio] [Poems] [Prose]

See YouTube video of the Janet Kuypers reading her poem Eugene’s Limit in her 3/20/15 show “Resistance is Futile” at Ch Fi 2015 in Chicago (Canon fs200)

See YouTube video of the Janet Kuypers reading her poem Eugene’s Limit in her 3/20/15 show “Resistance is Futile” at Ch Fi 2015 in Chicago (Canon Power Shot)

See YouTube video of the Janet Kuypers 3/20/15 show “Resistance is Futile” at Ch Fi 2015 in Chicago, of poems relating to Star Trek including this poem (filmed from a Canon fs200 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoetryshow #janetkuypersperiodictablepoem

See YouTube video of the Janet Kuypers 3/20/15 show “Resistance is Futile” at Ch Fi 2015 in Chicago, of poems relating to Star Trek including this poem (filmed from a Canon Power Shot camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetryshow #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersperiodictablepoem

Download this poem in the free chapbook
“Resistance is Futile”, of poems read on 3/21/15 at the Ch Fi 2015 convention in Chicago, with this poem.

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her “Resistance is Futile” poems
“Red Matter”, and “Eugene’s Limit”, then her “Imzadi” poem “Kinds of Interference”, all read from her 2014-2015 Chicago poetry performance art book “a year long Journey” at “Recycled Reads” open mic 11/4/18 (this video was recorded live from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her “Resistance is Futile” poems
“Red Matter”, and “Eugene’s Limit”, then her “Imzadi” poem “Kinds of Interference”, all read from her 2014-2015 Chicago poetry performance art book “a year long Journey” at “Recycled Reads” open mic 11/4/18 (this video was recorded live from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).

Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her v210 8/23 Down in the Dirt issue/book “At th e Zoo” poems “one oh two destruction instructions: self-destructive”, “Eugene’s limit”, and “Full Stop” during her “Poetic License 8/6/23 global open mic” she hosted through a Zoom meeting and a Facebook event page (filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linked in, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). Also enjoy this as a Facebook live video stream filmed & streamed from a Samsung S9 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linked in, Instagram, and Tumblr. #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperspoeticlicense

Eugene’s limit
Janet Kuypers
1/23/15
Just read an article
from the daily Times of India newspaper
that relayed the theory
that an interstellar-style wormhole
may exist in the Milky Way.
That there’s this “teleporting” tunnel
we could magically step through
that just pops us out,
somewhere else in the Universe.
But really,
a wormhole’s just a theory
with a catchy little name
that has no basis in reality.
And no one’s ever found a stable wormhole —
even Data and La Forge left the Barzan wormhole
after discovering how unstable it really was.
So I guess Star Trek has to settle
for going beyond the speed of light
with their precious warp drive...
And you know, scientists have only now
been able to finally figure out how
to slow down the speed of light —
(warning, science content:
researchers say that applying a “mask”
to an optical beam,
which would give it spatial structure,
can reduce it’s speed
an infinitesimally small amount
from that beautiful constant.
299 million,
792 thousand,
458 metres per second...)
And if all we’ve been able to do
is try to slow down the speed of light,
how will we ever get to Eugene’s limit
of warp ten?
You know,
it’s really cute,
how we come up with names
for scientific discoveries,
“The Big Bang” wasn’t a bang
when there wasn’t any atmosphere
to allow sound to travel;
“dark matter”
isn’t dark at all,
it’s just a name one scientist said
that for some reason stuck;
“Eugene’s limit”
is an homage in the Next Generation
to Gene Roddenberry
who thought that warp drive
shouldn’t go past ten...
Yeah, thanks to Gene Roddenberry,
by the 24th century, infinite velocity
was the unattainable warp factor ten.
But wait a minute,
let me get back to the science here,
because when it comes of those science geeks
who come up with these theories
like the Big Bang or dark matter,
they try to bring Star Trek into the real world...
They’re trying dilithium now
to try to increase speed
for distance travel
for a future journey to Mars.
And I don’t know how many years
scientists have been trying to transport
even an atom
to anywhere else in the world...
But you know,
with these scientist’s minds out there…
well, the writer Gene Roddenberry
may have come up with a warp drive limit,
but when scientists are taking their cues
from the Star Trek world,
the sky
may not be the limit
any longer.

my hand to an anim of jkchair