A guest post by Bobby Holmquist:
It is common in sci-fi literature to hear about higher special dimensions. In Star Trek and Star Wars, one is able to access faster-than-light travel by accessing warp speed or hyperspace, respectively. In both of these cases, space time is being bent or “warped” into the fourth dimension which allows for faster-than-light travel without actually breaking the speed of light. By adding a fourth special dimension to space-time, we are able to then “fold” space and instantaneously jump from one point to the next. Think about space-time like a piece of paper where you want to get from one point to the other. In normal space-time, the obvious answer is a straight line but by adding a third dimension of maneuverability, we are able to fold the paper and put the two points right next to each other and so are able to move from A to B instantaneously. This is how faster-than-light travel would work; we would bend space-time into the fourth dimension putting the points right next to each other.
