Subspace Ansible: Difference between revisions

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Space is big. No, ''[[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|really]]'' big. You might think it's a long way to the chemist, [[Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy|but that's peanuts compared to space]]. The only way to have snappy dialogue between characters in different star systems (hell, even to '''''the moon''''') is with faster-than-light radio. This [[Subspace Ansible]] (a.k.a. [[FTL Radio]]) is also necessary for spaceships using [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]] to have two-way conversations, since actual radio waves ''are'' light (of a non-visible frequency) - and are therefore slower than the ship.

Space is big. No, ''[[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|really]]'' big. You might think it's a long way to the chemist, [[Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy|but that's peanuts compared to space]]. The only way to have snappy dialogue between characters in different star systems (hell, even to '''''the moon''''') is with faster-than-light radio. This '''Subspace Ansible''' (a.k.a. [[FTL Radio]]) is also necessary for spaceships using [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]] to have two-way conversations, since actual radio waves ''are'' light (of a non-visible frequency) - and are therefore slower than the ship.

There are several types of faster than light technologies in fiction; however, ~~[[Subspace Ansible|~~Subspace Ansibles]] need to use one that doesn't require sending the ship's engines along with the message. So, they typically use the "shortcut" method: sending ordinary radio waves through an exotic [[Subspace or Hyperspace]] that is smaller than real space.

There are several types of faster than light technologies in fiction; however, '''Subspace Ansibles''' need to use one that doesn't require sending the ship's engines along with the message. So, they typically use the "shortcut" method: sending ordinary radio waves through an exotic [[Subspace or Hyperspace]] that is smaller than real space.

If the setting has both subspace and hyperspace, then typically subspace will allow nearly-instant communication, but can't be used for travel. Even in ''[[Star Trek]]'', which uses subspace for both, real-time conversations take place between characters who are days of [[FTL Travel]] apart. This allows plots to be written as if [[Space Is an Ocean]]. On the other hand, just as not all FTL methods are equal, neither are all FTL comms. A humble 10''c'' is technically FTL, but it'll still take about 5 months for a message to reach Earth from an Alpha Centauri colony. Raising the speed of transmission to 365''c'' turns the travel time down to 4 days, but still an eternity for any poor spacers calling for reinforcement, and God forbid you need to call for help from anywhere further. Having a determinate speed rather than [[Traveling At the Speed of Plot|that of plot]] can shape a story's events.

In some cases, a [[Subspace Ansible]] may exist even if [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]] does not. There might be some attempt to [[Justified Trope|justify]] this, proposing that technology exists to bypass the limits of relativity for information but not matter, but often, it is simply a matter of necessity: while a single-star-system [[Space Opera]] can get by without [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]], it takes several minutes for radio waves to travel the distance from Earth to ''Mars'', the problem of communication remains pressing even if [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]] can be safely shelved.

In some cases, a '''Subspace Ansible''' may exist even if [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]] does not. There might be some attempt to [[Justified Trope|justify]] this, proposing that technology exists to bypass the limits of relativity for information but not matter, but often, it is simply a matter of necessity: while a single-star-system [[Space Opera]] can get by without [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]], it takes several minutes for radio waves to travel the distance from Earth to ''Mars'', the problem of communication remains pressing even if [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]] can be safely shelved.

Presumably, an [[FTL Radio]] is also what allows ship sensors to work faster than light, viewing objects that are light-minutes away - or even light-years! - in real-time. However, any attempts to explain it are indistinguishable from a [[Hand Wave]] (unless tachyons are involved; then it gets complicated).

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The term "ansible" for this kind of near-instantaneous subspace communication system was coined by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] in her 1966 novel, ''Rocannon's World''. "Ansible" is a derivation of "answerable", i.e. "messages will be answerable in realtime". Many other science-fiction writers picked up the name after Le Guin.

If [[Psychic Powers]] exist in a setting, they often work instantaneously at any distance, and function as a [[Subspace Ansible]].

If [[Psychic Powers]] exist in a setting, they often work instantaneously at any distance, and function as a '''Subspace Ansible'''.

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=== ~~'''~~Examples~~:'''~~ ===

=== Examples ===

== [[Literature]] ==

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**** Turns out the Piggies use them to communicate too or at least {{spoiler|the sentient Father Trees do amongst themselves (they can talk to Formic Queens directly too)}}

** Also, the super-AI/alien-hybrid/space-god, Jane {{spoiler|came into being when the Formics tried to create one of these links to Ender himself (during the third war) by going through the psych-analyzer computer program that created Fairy World}}

* James Hogan uses a similar system (and also worked in the computer ~~industry -- for~~ DEC during the PDP minicomputer days) in his ''Gentle Giants'' series of books where both communication ''and'' FTL travel are accomplished through rotating black holes. ''Toroidal'' black holes. A similar concept is used in his book ''The Genesis Machine,'' in which a Cold War era book about a machine that is initially used to pull information from remote places in real time ''without'' there being a device on the other end to transmit the data is turned into a superweapon to stop the Cold War in its ~~tracks -- by~~ causing a nuclear exchange and destroying the missiles before they hit the ground.

* James Hogan uses a similar system (and also worked in the computer industry—for DEC during the PDP minicomputer days) in his ''Gentle Giants'' series of books where both communication ''and'' FTL travel are accomplished through rotating black holes. ''Toroidal'' black holes. A similar concept is used in his book ''The Genesis Machine,'' in which a Cold War era book about a machine that is initially used to pull information from remote places in real time ''without'' there being a device on the other end to transmit the data is turned into a superweapon to stop the Cold War in its tracks—by causing a nuclear exchange and destroying the missiles before they hit the ground.

* Richard Morgan's ''[[Altered Carbon]]'' features "needlecasts", but no FTL travel. Interestingly, since [[Brain Uploading]] is routine, people may travel from planet to planet by downloading into a local body.

** The information-only aspect is a power limitation, not an inherent limitation of the functionality. The information is transmitted by energy; the best matter-energy conversion reactors they have can hold open a needlecast portal for at most 15 to 30 seconds, and transmit only blinking light. They find a stable [[Stargate]]-style portal created by the precursors, extrapolate the energy costs, and realize that a hiccup in the portals matrix would crack the planet open like an egg. Hazards of children playing with adult toys.

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* [[Alan Dean Foster]] uses the [[Subspace or Hyperspace]] version in his ''[[Humanx Commonwealth]]'' series. "Space plus" is hyperspace and is used for [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]] - it can also be used for communication but at the same speed as starships. "Space minus" is subspace and can be used for near-instantaneous communication, but at a very high energy cost. Later in the series, it's revealed that [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] figured out how to travel in space minus as well.

** In his remake of ''Design for Great-Day'', Foster's Solarian Combine is a kind of galactic [[Hive Mind]] created as a natural extension of intelligent beings learning to live and think in harmony. Said thought processes apparently travel instantaneously, ignoring the speed of light. Of course, they've learned to circumvent this with starships as well; the Combine's ships can traverse a galaxy in a matter of hours, and intragalactic jaunts are considered to be fairly trivial, if not entirely routine.

* Though it never actually comes up, the ''[[Discworld]]'' series has a bit of fun with this in a footnote. It points out that a Disc philosopher decided that the fastest thing in the universe is ''monarchy'', noting that regardless of distance, the ''instant'' a monarch dies, the heir immediately succeeds them. He further proposes subatomic ~~particles--kingons~~, or perhaps ~~queenons--but~~ his rough-hewn plans for artificially generating them by torturing a minor noble and using them to send messages vast distances were cut short when {{spoiler|the bar closed.}}

* Though it never actually comes up, the ''[[Discworld]]'' series has a bit of fun with this in a footnote. It points out that a Disc philosopher decided that the fastest thing in the universe is ''monarchy'', noting that regardless of distance, the ''instant'' a monarch dies, the heir immediately succeeds them. He further proposes subatomic particles—kingons, or perhaps queenons—but his rough-hewn plans for artificially generating them by torturing a minor noble and using them to send messages vast distances were cut short when {{spoiler|the bar closed.}}

* The first of ''[[The Stainless Steel Rat]]'' novels by [[Harry Harrison]] feature psychics used explicitly as communicators over interstellar distances. Later novels don't seem to rely that much on conversations at distance.

** Some ''[[Death World]]'' novels (which, supposedly, take place in the same universe) feature portable psychic locator beacons. Also, every ship is equipped with a psychic transmitter/receiver, making actual psychics obsolete.

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** IIRC, they [[Handwaved]] that in the first ep mentioning that the recent invention of some new instant communication device was what made the entire mission feasible.

** Of course, the show only ''starts'' trying to be hard sci-fi. With the introduction of {{spoiler|Beta}}, all bets are off.

* In ''[[Eureka]]'', after Fargo and Henry build an FTL drive, the government starts planning the ''Atraeus'' mission, the first manned flight to Titan. One episode involves a scientist trying to build a [[Subspace Ansible]] for real-time communications and telemetry with the ship. Given that this is Eureka, this ends up causing a big problem (although, not by itself).

* In ''[[Eureka]]'', after Fargo and Henry build an FTL drive, the government starts planning the ''Atraeus'' mission, the first manned flight to Titan. One episode involves a scientist trying to build a Subspace Ansible for real-time communications and telemetry with the ship. Given that this is Eureka, this ends up causing a big problem (although, not by itself).

** Later on, after [[Ridiculously Human Robot|Sheriff Andy]] is accidentally transported to Titan, Jack is able to communicate with him via real-time video.

* The ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' communicators, which are connected to the Command Center's [[Teleporters and Transporters|teleportation system]], can communicate across incredible distances.

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* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' allows faster-than-light travel by [[Minovsky Physics|giving physical objects zero or negative mass]] or through the use of large and fairly rare mass relays that create long tunnels of space where everything has zero or negative mass. Communications often take place through large numbers of comm buoys deployed throughout explored space, which transmit messages via photons passed through miniaturized corridors of mass-free space. Time lag in real-time communications occurs if transmitter bandwidth is overloaded, though high-level government operatives and military personnel get access to high-end, high-speed channels that allow near-instantaneous communications. Long-range interstellar calls are implied to be highly expensive, judging by one overheard conversation on Noveria.

** The second game also features a quantum-entanglement transponder which allows the Illusive Man to contact Shepard instantly while conveniently avoiding the relay network. While this is efficient, as it bypasses the limits of bandwidth and time delay, it is highly inefficient for mass production, as it's basically a two way radio with a truly astronomical price tag - according to EDI "each quantum pair costs almost as much as a comm relay." It only communicates between the Normandy and the Illusive Man's hideout. If they wanted to contact somebody else this way, they would need to do more quantum entanglements.

** The existence of [[Subspace Ansible]] also [[Hand Wave|Handwaves]] the fact that Harbinger is capable of "[[Catch Phrase|ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL]]" of individual [[Mooks]], despite being a Reaper whose physical form is drifting thousands of lightyears ''[[Behind the Black|outside the galaxy]]''.

** The existence of Subspace Ansible also [[Hand Wave|Handwaves]] the fact that Harbinger is capable of "[[Catch Phrase|ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL]]" of individual [[Mooks]], despite being a Reaper whose physical form is drifting thousands of lightyears ''[[Behind the Black|outside the galaxy]]''.

*** Fridge Brilliance: Done by implanting every Collector with part of an entangled pair which the Reapers can surely manufacture more easily than Cerberus, being [[Eldritch Abominations]] [[Clarke's Third Law|so far above us]] technologically.

** The third game has quantum entanglement communication units practically everywhere, after the Systems Alliance takes apart the ''Normandy SR-2'' and finds out all the enhancements Cerberus made to it. It seems as if they're all connected to each other, which wouldn't make sense given EDI's comment about the device in the second game (i.e. a single communication unit can only connect to its partner).

* The plot of ''[[Commander Keen]] 4'' starts with Billy Blaze building a FTL radio and accidentallly picking up a transmission from a group of aliens planning on destroying the galaxy.

* ''[[EVE Online]]'' uses [http://www.eveonline.com/background/communication/ pairs of particles which are synchronized with each other]: Manipulating one affects the other as well, no matter the distance between the two particles. This was used to create a galaxy-wide network (not unlike the Internet) where latency due to physical distance is not an issue. Carrying one half of a particle pair on a spaceship allows one to "phone home" from any part of the galaxy.

** This is based very loosely on the concept of quantum entanglement. It is possible to create pairs of particles both of which are both in superpositions of quantum states (e.g. spin up and spin down at once) and can be separated by a substantial distance. Observing the spin of one of the particles forces it to collapse into one state (either spin up or spin down, but not both) observations of the other particle are then guaranteed to see it in the other state. The particles seem to have needed to communicate faster than light to make this coordination. Unfortunately, in the real world, this does not help ''us'' communicate faster than ~~light -- when~~ we collapse the state of the first particle we can't force it to enter one state or the other, so it's simply random noise which happens to be correlated with random noise somewhere else in the universe, but not a communication channel.

** This is based very loosely on the concept of quantum entanglement. It is possible to create pairs of particles both of which are both in superpositions of quantum states (e.g. spin up and spin down at once) and can be separated by a substantial distance. Observing the spin of one of the particles forces it to collapse into one state (either spin up or spin down, but not both) observations of the other particle are then guaranteed to see it in the other state. The particles seem to have needed to communicate faster than light to make this coordination. Unfortunately, in the real world, this does not help ''us'' communicate faster than light—when we collapse the state of the first particle we can't force it to enter one state or the other, so it's simply random noise which happens to be correlated with random noise somewhere else in the universe, but not a communication channel.

* The ''[[Homeworld]]'' verse is implied to have FTL communication (the ''Veer-Rak'' alerting the ''Kuun-Lan'' which is in another system that Hiigara is under attack at the beginning of ''Cataclysm'', for example) but it's never explained. FTL sensors however, are a bit sketchy: the manual of the first game explains that the Mothership has a cobbled-together short-range<ref>"short" in this case means "couple seconds of advance warning"</ref> sensor that can see if the ship is passing near a high-mass object in realspace but they have to drop out of hyperspace to actually see what it is. ''Homeworld 2'' has Advanced Sensor Arrays buildable on Hiigaran super-capital ships that can detect enemy ships in hyperspace.

* Every (playable) race except the Liir (see aversions with FTL travel below) in ''[[Sword of the Stars]]''.

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* In [[Poul Anderson]]'s [[Technic History]] novels and short stories, there is no "interstellar equivalent of radio" and all messages have to be carried by courier spaceships.

* Stephen Harper's Silent Empire Quadrilogy exists in a universe with FTL flight, but no FTL communication. This necessitates the use of psychics for communication. This universe has a thriving slave trade for the same reason.

* Ditto in ''The Gap'' series by Stephen Donaldson. Courier drones are the order of the ~~day -- although~~ the Amnion do briefly try to use some sort of experimental "symbiotic crystalline resonance device" as an FTL Radio.

* Ditto in ''The Gap'' series by Stephen Donaldson. Courier drones are the order of the day—although the Amnion do briefly try to use some sort of experimental "symbiotic crystalline resonance device" as an FTL Radio.

* The [[CoDominium]] universe and ''The Mote In God's Eye'' by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

* ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' has courier ships to carry messages between star systems, but because of the delay, there's no way to control battle groups in multiple systems with military precision. Early in the series, [[The Kingdom]] figures out how to create a comm system using gravity pulses, but this only works within a system, and initially is roughly as fast (in terms of bandwidth) as Morse code. The technology undergoes multiple improvements, and in the later books is capable of carrying video.

** At one point, a Manticoran diplomat intentionally exploits this trope just to issue a calculated insult to a Solarian Admiral, by [[Leave the Camera Running|keeping his video feed on]] and using the lengthy comm delays to kick his feet up on a nearby piece of furniture and catch up on some casual reading.

* David Feintuch's ''[[Seafort Saga]]'': while FTL travel existed in the form of "N-Waves" propelling a ship, even human-level computer AI couldn't run a ship (robotics not being advanced in Feintuch's 'verse). Physical mail was carried by the ships traveling to extrasolar colonies, while ordinary radio was used in-system.

* [[H. Beam Piper]]'s Terro-Human Future History. News and communications travel with FTL ~~starships -- taking~~ months to get to their destination, and months to get an answer ~~back -- but~~ no FTL radio exists. This has a major impact during the System States War, in his novel ''The Cosmic Computer'', where planning and controlling fleet and army movements has to be done for a theater of war thousands of light years across. In fact, the Terran Federation's "Manhattan Project" is to create a super-powerful computer capable of evaluating not only military but social and economic factors and effectively predict the enemy's future actions, so that the Terran generals can determine just where to send troops and ships.

* [[H. Beam Piper]]'s Terro-Human Future History. News and communications travel with FTL starships—taking months to get to their destination, and months to get an answer back—but no FTL radio exists. This has a major impact during the System States War, in his novel ''The Cosmic Computer'', where planning and controlling fleet and army movements has to be done for a theater of war thousands of light years across. In fact, the Terran Federation's "Manhattan Project" is to create a super-powerful computer capable of evaluating not only military but social and economic factors and effectively predict the enemy's future actions, so that the Terran generals can determine just where to send troops and ships.

** It can be said that Piper and other writers who have FTL travel but no FTL radio setups in their works often do so to justify why the protagonists must handle the issue at hand and can't just call back to base for help/relief/support from more qualified personnel.

** They come the closest in the Empire story "Ministry of Disturbance", where a scientist discovers a method of teleporting a particle. Unfortunately, the only story following "Ministry of Disturbance" took place several thousands of years after that one and on a backwater planet, so Piper never managed to explore the consequences of this new technology.

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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* The time taken for messages to reach to the other recipient is practically the entire point of ''[[Voices of a Distant Star]]''. There ''is'' [[FTL Travel]] in ''Hoshi no Koe''.

** There's also, briefly noted, some form of subspace communication. But it's only there for ~~irony -- a~~ newspaper shown for a moment has a report on the next generation of starships, the ones built ''after'' Mikako's fleet leaves. The new ships will have this form of FTL communication; the fleet Mikako is in, however, does not.

** There's also, briefly noted, some form of subspace communication. But it's only there for irony—a newspaper shown for a moment has a report on the next generation of starships, the ones built ''after'' Mikako's fleet leaves. The new ships will have this form of FTL communication; the fleet Mikako is in, however, does not.

*** And, to make the irony even more cruel, -- Noboru is a comms officer on one of these new ships.

* Communication across large distances is virtually impossible in the ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'' universe; it is actually a plot point in ''[[Macross Frontier]]'', where even relay buoys must contend with "fold interference" that delay or disable communication entirely. However, the [[Neglectful Precursors|Protoculture]] and the Vajra have their ways around that (see above.)

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* [[Real Life]], so far. [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/167610/may-08-2008/garrett-reisman This clip] shows how tricky surface-to-orbit conversations can be without an ansible to hand.

** Even Digital Satellite TV (e.g. DirecTV, Dish Network) is delayed about 4 seconds relative to the cable feed the shows come from. This delay is mostly due to the processing time necessary to compress the data on-the-fly, however; the actual signal-propagation delay to and from the satellite is only a quarter of a second.

* Recently<ref>published 2 December 2011</ref>, scientists have discovered that [http://www.livescience.com/17264-quantum-entanglement-macroscopic-diamonds.html Entanglement is possible in macroscopic scale]. Quantum entanglement experiments make it seem as if systems are somehow "communicating" faster than light through correlations between their states, although if quantum mechanics is correct it's (provably) impossible to actually use this to send information faster than light.

* Recently,<ref>published 2 December 2011</ref> scientists have discovered that [http://www.livescience.com/17264-quantum-entanglement-macroscopic-diamonds.html Entanglement is possible in macroscopic scale]. Quantum entanglement experiments make it seem as if systems are somehow "communicating" faster than light through correlations between their states, although if quantum mechanics is correct it's (provably) impossible to actually use this to send information faster than light.