Talk:Spore drive

Reserve & unused yet references list

1. https://www.inverse.com/article/37061-star-trek-discovery-stamets-mycology
2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/linhanhcat/2019/03/19/star-trek-discovery-spore-drive/
3. https://www.sciof.fi/erin-macdonald-star-trek-science/
4. https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/tv/a26037538/star-trek-discovery-season-2-episode-2/
5. https://www.space.com/32712-warp-drive-hyperspace.html
6. https://www.space.com/38407-star-trek-discovery-episode-4-recap.html
7. https://screenrant.com/star-trek-discovery-spore-drive-how-it-works-why-controversy/
8. https://www.space.com/38477-star-trek-discovery-mudd-ies-up-tardigrade-science.html
9. https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/tv/a28553/star-trek-discovery-episode-4/
10. https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/tv/a26037538/star-trek-discovery-season-2-episode-2/
11. https://www.gamesradar.com/how-mushrooms-fuel-star-trek-discoverys-experimental-transport-technology/
12. https://startalkmedia.com/spoilers-star-trek-discoverys-spore-drive-nonsense-musings-sci-fi-travel-technology
13. https://sfrareview.org/2023/01/19/review-of-fighting-for-the-future-essays-on-star-trek-
14. https://reactormag.com/mycelium-running-star-trek-discovery

What I have to get to. -- Very Polite Person (talk) 04:35, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

<ref name="Donaldson Spore 2024-04-06">{{Cite web|date=2024-04-06|title=Star Trek Is Ditching Discovery's Spore Drive - And That's Good!| last1=Donaldson| first1=Mark|url=https://screenrant.com/star-trek-discovery-spore-drive-abandoned-season-5/|url-status=live|website=[[Screen Rant]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240406123823/https://screenrant.com/star-trek-discovery-spore-drive-abandoned-season-5/|archive-date=2024-04-06}}</ref>

Plus this one, just dropping full template to have accessible. -- Very Polite Person (talk) 04:44, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

Hello! I saw you making this page and thought you might find this reference interesting. I don't know if you'll be able to weave it in, but apparently Terrence Mckenna was thinking about something very similar:

"I am old, older than thought in your species, which is itself fifty times older than your history. Though I have been on earth for ages I am from the stars. My home is no one planet, for many worlds scattered through the shining disc of the galaxy have conditions which allow my spores an opportunity for life. The mushroom which you see is the part of my body given to sex thrills and sun bathing, my true body is a fine network of fibers growing through the soil. These networks may cover acres and may have far more connections than the number in a human brain.

My mycelial network is nearly immortal--only the sudden toxification of a planet or the explosion of it's parent star can wipe me out. By means impossible to explain because of certain misconceptions in your model of reality all my mycelial networks in the galaxy are in hyperlight communication through space and time. The mycelial body is as fragile as a spider's web but the collective hypermind and memory is a vast historical archive of the career of evolving intelligence on many worlds in our spiral star swarm. Space, you see, is a vast ocean to those hardy life forms that have the ability to reproduce from spores, for spores are covered with the hardest organic substance known.

Across the aeons of time and space drift many spore forming life-forms in suspended animation for millions of years until contact is made with a suitable environment. Few such species are minded, only myself and my recently evolved near relatives have achieved the hyper-communication mode and memory capacity that makes us leading members in the community of galactic intelligence. How the hyper-communication mode operates is a secret which will not be lightly given to humans.

But the means should be obvious: it is the occurrence of psilocybin and psilocin in the biosynthetic pathways of my living body that opens for me and my symbiots the vision screens to many worlds. You as an individual and Homo sapiens as a species are on the brink of the formation of a symbiotic relationship with my genetic material that will eventually carry humanity and earth into the galactic mainstream of the higher civilizations.

Since it is not easy for you to recognize other varieties of intelligence around you, your most advanced theories of politics and society have advanced only as far as the notion of collectivism. But beyond the cohesion of the members of a species into a single social organism there lie richer and even more baroque evolutionary possibilities. Symbiosis is one of these. Symbiosis is a relation of mutual dependence and positive benefits for both species involved.

Symbiotic relationships between myself and civilized forms of higher animals have been established many times and in many places throughout the long ages of my development. These relationships have been mutually useful; within my memory is the knowledge of hyperlight drive ships and how to build them. I will trade this knowledge for a free ticket to new worlds around suns younger and more stable than your own.

To secure an eternal existence down the long river of cosmic time, I again and again offer this agreement to higher beings and thereby have spread throughout the galaxy over the long millenia.

A mycelial network has no organs to move the world, no hands; but higher animals with manipulative abilities can become partners with the star knowledge within me and if they act in good faith, return both themselves and their humble mushroom teacher to the million worlds to which all citizens of our starswarm are heir."

—Terrence Mckenna,  In "Psilocybin: The Magic Mushroom Growers Guide" and "True Hallucinations"

In any case, if a non-human intelligence tries to strike such a Faustian bargain with you, tell it, "No." 2603:9001:0:313:85DE:50D6:5995:B39B (talk) 21:47, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

+1 to review https://academic.oup.com/liverpool-scholarship-online/book/38391/chapter-abstract/333413006?redirectedFrom=fulltext -- Very Polite Person (talk) 23:39, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

Found an extra source that I ordered, no digital access

I tracked down an edited volume of academic writings about the Discovery show from Liverpool University as editor, global scope on authorship apparently--it seems pretty neat and huge. I could only find snippets but at a guess there's potentially another solid 10-15+ references worth of nice data to be brought into spore drive once I have it and can go through it. -- Very Polite Person (talk) 18:29, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

Peer review

Spore drive

I've listed this article for peer review because I'd like to get it up toward GAC and then FAC. I had briefly submitted it (I guess ahead of schedule) to FAC at this link but it was suggested I withdraw. I thought I had taken it both through GAC/FAC level standards, but I guess not, or there's more than the listed requirements, or I missed something? How can I get this up to where it apparently still isn't? Thanks!

Thanks, -- Very Polite Person (talk) 19:47, 5 June 2025 (UTC)

Comments from Z1720

After a quick skim, I added a "citation needed" tag to the article. Once that sentence is cited this article is ready to be nominated at WP:GAN. Z1720 (talk) 14:58, 26 June 2025 (UTC)

Thanks, fixed, that was supposed to be cited to the subsequent source. I'll nominate it! -- Very Polite Person (talk) 15:55, 26 June 2025 (UTC)

GA review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Spore drive/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: Very Polite Person (talk · contribs) 15:57, 26 June 2025 (UTC)

Reviewer: History6042 (talk · contribs) 19:13, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

I will do this as part of my GA pledge from User: It is a wonderful world. History6042😊 (Contact me) 19:13, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

Comments

All images' copyrights are fine. History6042😊 (Contact me) 19:19, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

Stability is also good. History6042😊 (Contact me) 19:19, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

No WP:NPOV issues. History6042😊 (Contact me) 19:24, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

Only Earwig issue is a quote. History6042😊 (Contact me) 19:29, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

Could a similarities section be added where it mentions any similar things from other media? History6042😊 (Contact me) 22:31, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

Interesting, I hadn't thought of that. Sort of FTL drives that differ from the impulse/warp model, which are kind of common tropes now under many science fiction media? I like that idea.

Would we need initial WP:RS that binds us into starting the comparison, or that invoke the spore drive and thus the comparison off that? I think that could be possible, I still have sections of that book of academic essays to get through. -- Very Polite Person (talk) 00:08, 1 July 2025 (UTC)

I would say the second option of invoking the spore drive would be fine, thank you for your swift response to my comments. History6042😊 (Contact me) 00:16, 1 July 2025 (UTC)

Well, it turned out to actually be a bit of slim pickings, but there aren't (by memory and searching) that many other even reasonably well-known organic-based FTL concepts in fiction (or I just don't know about them).

What do you think? Edits here. -- Very Polite Person (talk) 19:44, 1 July 2025 (UTC)

Seems good, pass. History6042😊 (Contact me) 20:22, 1 July 2025 (UTC)

No major prose issues. History6042😊 (Contact me) 23:56, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

I will spotcheck sources 9, 12, and 21. History6042😊 (Contact me) 23:57, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

All were good. History6042😊 (Contact me) 23:59, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

Good Article review progress box

Criteria: 1a. prose () 1b. MoS () 2a. ref layout () 2b. cites WP:RS () 2c. no WP:OR () 2d. no WP:CV () 3a. broadness () 3b. focus () 4. neutral () 5. stable () 6a. free or tagged images () 6b. pics relevant () Note: this represents where the article stands relative to the Good Article criteria. Criteria marked are unassessed

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by AirshipJungleman29 talk 15:28, 18 July 2025 (UTC)

(

• Comment or view
• Article history

)

• ... that Star Trek's spore drive is a biological faster-than-light engine, that can "skip across the universe on a highway made of mushrooms"?

• Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore_drive#cite_note-New_Eden-12

• • ALT1: ... that Star Trek's spore drive is a biological faster-than-light engine, inspired by real-world sciences of mycology? Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore_drive#cite_note-Siegel_Spore_2019-01-15-4
  • Reviewed:

Improved to Good Article status by Very Polite Person (talk). Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has fewer than 5 past nominations.

Very Polite Person (talk) 23:40, 3 July 2025 (UTC).

• New enough GA. This is a curious article. I don't think ALT0 can withstand WP:DYKFICTION requisites, and while ALT1 is interesting, I'm struggling with the Siegel 2009 source as backing up its claim in the article. Stamets is mentioned in the image caption. Very Polite Person, could you point me where I need to look for ALT1? Sammi Brie (she/her · t · c) 04:00, 6 July 2025 (UTC)

• Sorry @Sammi Brie: -- it was supposed to be this one for Alexandratos, see this section for source [20]. Source link on article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore_drive#cite_note-Alexandratos_Spore_2018-02-21-20
• Aaron Harberts, Star Trek: Discovery's then-showrunner, discussed the origins of the spore drive with Reactor Magazine in 2018.[20] Real-world mycologist Paul Stamets and his sixth book Mycelium Running were cited as a particular influence, which examined concepts of fungus-based bioremediation, called mycoremediation.[20] -- Very Polite Person (talk) 15:37, 6 July 2025 (UTC)

• • ALT1 is ready. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Sammi Brie (she/her · t · c) 17:00, 6 July 2025 (UTC)

Cover image choice

Cover image depicts the real scientist who inspired the fictional character who helped build the fictional propulsion system- it would probably be more appropriate to have an image of the fictional drive or the character. Chivesinvestigates (talk) 13:06, 30 July 2025 (UTC) Chivesinvestigates (talk) 13:06, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

Mycorrhizal Network

I’m surprised there’s no link or mention within this article to the Mycorrhizal network article. Might be worth adding? As that scientific concept seems to be a key component of what the spore drive is based on. Catfrost (talk) 02:38, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

There is! It says:

According to mycologist Lynne Boddy, the mycelial network visually echoes real-life underground mycorrhizal networks, albeit on a galactic scale.

It's under Spore drive#Depiction. — Very Polite Person (talk/contribs) 03:18, 20 January 2026 (UTC)