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STAR FLEET productions
the science education interactive multimedia virtual corporation


Jack Sarfatti, Ph.D.
(415) 885 5194
e-mail: sarfatti@netcom.com
2000 Broadway, #406
San Francisco, CA 94115


Nature of the Corporation

The Mission

The education America's youth receives through its public school system has
steadily eroded over the past several decades.  Various strategies have been
implemented to re-capture the students' imaginations and stimulate their
desire to learn.  These programs have enjoyed various levels of success, but
most are available only to a very few.  Things look particularly bleak in
mathematics and the "hard sciences."  Many people view these subjects as
"way too difficult to understand" and "just plain boring."

In addition to the inability of most instructors to inspire students'
success in the traditional curriculum areas, there are currently many "21st
Century" sciences being developed which will further tax their teaching
skills.  For example, theoretical physicists are seriously examining
problems previously considered to fall within the realm of science fiction.
This "New Physics" involves an exploration of time travel, faster than light
travel and communication, and telepathy.  Obviously, none of these subject
areas is being taught in even the most "forward thinking" educational
environments, and yet, research breakthroughs in any of these areas will
totally change the world as we know it.

We propose a new program be created to reach all students and the public at
large.  We propose to provide them with an entertaining and accessible way
to learn about these fields.  This will be accomplished by creating an
actual Star Fleet Academy: a virtual school using books, floppy disks, CD
ROMS, videotapes and on-line computer links (e.g. internet) where students
(working on their home computers or in edutainment arcades) can not only
study subjects related to space exploration, but also be immersed in the
positive life lessons featured in the Star Trek universe.


The Experience

Star Fleet Academy is a 21st century version of the Boy or Girl Scouts
merged with a fully involving experience such as NASA's Space Camp.  Instead
of earning scout merit badges for starting fires and surviving in the
wilderness, Star Fleet Cadets will earn insignias for mastering basic skills
in mathematics and physical science using programmed interactive multimedia
instruction and virtual reality simulations.  Whereas Space Camp is focused
on today's exploration of space, Star Fleet will embrace science and the
future of science in general.

The Cadets progress at their own speed in pursuit of promotions and receive
certifications as Science Officer, Medical Assistant, Android Robotics
Technician, Warp Drive Engineer, Holodeck Experience Designer, Navigator,
Pilot, Star Ship Command, Star Ship Design Engineer, Sub-Space
Communications Engineer, Inter-Species Negotiations, Galactic Ethics
Counselor, etc., all with increasing levels of difficulty (with benchmarks
appropriate to the age level of the participants).

Using Today's Technology

Star Fleet Productions will be equipped with the latest in multimedia
workstations, virtual reality systems, science labs, video production
equipment as well as lecture/meeting rooms, and a theater.  But being in
possession of the latest technology is not enough to insure success.  Star
Fleet Academy will incorporate essential lessons learned from the
entertainment industry, especially computer games and participatory theater.
For example, in addition to inter-active programs on basic mathematics and
physics, the Cadet would actually fly a computer simulated starship.

We will be combining absolute state-of-the-art in graphic and audio realism
(or hyper-realism as the case may be), with the state-of-the-art in our
empirical and theoretical knowledge of the physical world.  It's a
revolutionary kind of "classroom" and it all boils down to this:  if a Cadet
wants to play these games successfully, he or she is really going to have to
learn something.  Not just pop some facts into short term memory so that
they can be regurgitated for an exam (as is so often the modus operandi in
traditional education) but to understand new information so that knowledge
is retained and able to be put into practical application).


The New Physics

The last few years have seen several breakthroughs in physics that are
helping to make Star Trek real:

1.      Breakthrough in Einstein's general theory of relativity that
permits, in principle, time travel from present to future, and more
astounding, from future back to present or past, using "traversable
wormholes."  Time travel back in time can be done in a consistent way and
forms the basis for "warp drive."  There are a growing number of
publications in time travel physics in professional journals.

2.      Breakthrough in quantum physics showing a faster-than-light
connectedness. This quantum connection may be the link between mind and
matter.  Some physicists believe that the quantum connection may have
important practical applications which might eventually lead to "subspace
communication" and "beam transporter technology."

3.      Breakthrough in the understanding of randomness.  The new
mathematics of fractals shows hidden order in seemingly random processes
that are important in complex systems like the weather, the stock market,
the human brain and the human heart.

4.      Breakthroughs in high energy physics and cosmology suggest the
possibility of a new super-efficient rocket fuel using "dark matter."  This
application would permit the "impulse engines" of Star Fleet.  Dark matter
would also be used to make the traversable wormholes of warp drive.

5. ....Breakthroughs in the understanding of the quantum bio-physics of the
mind-matter interaction and healing.


Curriculum

These are some examples of some advanced topics that could be included to
flesh out the basic math and physics:

Computer science -- computer game design and programming, Virtual Reality
world making, 3D modeling, ray tracing, computer animation, movie special
effects.

Fractals and chaos theory -- with applications to ecology, weather
prediction, behavior of financial markets, chaotic behavior of heart and
brain.

Classical mechanics -- emphasis on robotics, rocket propulsion and orbital
mechanics of space-flight in the solar system.

Sub-nuclear physics -- anti-matter propulsion of star ships of the Galactic
Class, "zero point quantum energy propulsion."

Astronomy -- planetary physics of the solar system and astrophysics of
stars, galaxies, clusters, dark matter.

Einstein's theories of curved space-time -- including the big bang creation
of the universe, black holes, and wormhole time machines for travel to past
and future.

Mind-matter interaction -- how we see, hear and think including evidence
both pro and con for telepathy, precognition, psychokinesis; science, good,
bad, or
bogus?

Other life forms - terran animal intelligence, extra-terrestrial
intelligence, UFO research both pro and con.


Sources of Funding

Star Fleet Productions will be set up as a startup "for profit" corporation
not to exceed $3,000,000/year in accord with the new Clinton Administration
tax incentives to stimulate job-intensive small businesses.  Funding will be
sought from technology-oriented companies and private investors.

PROFITS

The major source of income will be the sale of edutainment books, floppy
disks (games), videotapes and CD discs, and cable TV programs with varying
levels of interactivity limited by the medium to schools and the home
market.

Project Phases

As we see it, these are the Star Fleet Productions project's developmental
phases:

Phase I:  Research -- A one year research phase will be launched in which we
will:

1.      Clearly establish Star Fleet Production's
organization, plans, and capabilities integrating our expertise so as to
enhance our mutual objectives.

2.      Identify educational software already "in the can" that can be used
as is or further developed; visit innovative science and technology museums,
schools;  interview physicists, scientists, and educators involved in
pertinent research and development.

3.      Identify technical and managerial talent to join our creative team
to design programming and marketing strategies for Star Fleet Productions.


By the end of this period, we will have developed detailed plans for
successive phases.

Significant progress in multi-media products is anticipated by the end of
the first year if adequate investment is found.


People

Project Director

Jack Sarfatti
Content expert math/physics multimedia authoring.

Jack Sarfatti has a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of
California (Riverside 1969), an M.S. in physics also from the University of
California (San Diego, 1967) and a B.A. in physics from Cornell University
(1960).  He was an assistant professor of physics at San Diego State
University.  He was an Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck College of the
University of London, a visiting scientist at UNESCO International Centre
for Theoretical Physics in Trieste Italy, and a visiting professor at the
Institute of Mathematics of UNICAMP in Brazil.

Jack has taught physics and math for the US. Navy and has recently taught
physics and math to 11th and 12th graders at a private high school.

Jack was the first director of the Esalen Physics Seminars in Big Sur in the
mid-seventies which nurtured the popular physics books, Space-Time and
Beyond, Tao of Physics, and The Dancing Wu Li Masters.

Jack is widely known for his visionary research on the outer limits of the
New Physics.

Consultants

Other people who have contributed to this proposal and who have expressed
and interest in participating should adequate investment be found.

David Fox

David Fox and his wife Annie co-founded the world's first public-access
microcomputer center in 1977.  Marin Computer Center was a prototype for
bringing new technology to the public.  David is the co-author of Computer
Animation Primer, Armchair BASIC, and Pascal Primer.  In 1982 he became one
of the founding members of the Games Division at Lucasfilm Ltd. (now
LucasArts Games).  During his 10 year stay with LucasArts, he was the
designer, project leader, and one of the programmers for the games Rescue on
Fractalus!, Labyrinth, Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, and Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure.  He also worked on Maniac
Mansion as the primary script programmer.  During his last two years at
LucasArts he was the Manager of Entertainment Software on Mirage (a
collaboration between LucasArts and Hughes Aircraft Corporation).  This
multi-player, networked Virtual Reality entertainment system is intended for
theme parks.

David is now independently designing and producing children's CD-ROM titles,
writing books, and consulting with various entertainment companies on
Virtual Reality projects.

Scott Fisher

Scott Fisher attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he
held a research fellowship at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies from
1974 to 1976 and was a member of the Architecture Machine Group from 1978 to
1982.  There he participated in development of the "Aspen Movie Map"
surrogate travel videodisk project and several stereoscopic display systems
for teleconferencing and telepresence applications.  He received the Master
of Science degree in Media Technology from MIT in 1981.  His research
interests focus primarily in stereoscopic imaging technologies, interactive
display environments and the development of media technology for
representing "first-person" sensory experience

From 1985 to 1990, Scott was Founder and Director of the Virtual Environment
Workstation Project (VIEW) at NASA's Ames Research Center in which the
objective was to develop a multisensory "virtual environment" workstation
for use in Space Station teleoperation, telepresence, and automation
activities.  Most recently, he has co-founded Telepresence Research to
continue research on first-person media, and to develop Virtual Environment
and Remote Presence systems and applications.  Prior to the Ames Research
Center, Scott has served as Research Scientist with Atari Corporation's
Sunnyvale Research Laboratory and has provided consulting services for
several other corporations in the areas of spatial imaging and interactive
display technology.  His work has been recognized internationally in
numerous invited presentations, professional publications and by the popular
media.  In addition, his stereoscopic imagery and artwork has been exhibited
in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

Creon Levit
NASA AMES computer scientist.  Considerable experience in
programming super-computers for wind tunnel simulations. Creon has also
designed computer graphics for theatrical productions at the George Coates
Theater in San Francisco.




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