For me, Stargate is one of the best science fiction series. I liked its humorous and down-to-earth approach. Space battles are secondary; the main method of travel is the eponymous Stargates. But how do the addresses actually work?
Sudden Confusion
It was one of those evenings where I didn’t fall asleep within 10 seconds. Instead, a few questions shot through my mind:
How does the Stargate addressing system actually work?
I remembered that a Stargate address, at least within the Milky Way, consists of seven symbols. Six symbols for the destination, one for the point of origin. There are 36 symbols available.
Hang on a minute. If there are 36 symbols and one of them is always for the origin, how can there be more than 36 Stargates?
False Assumption
Without a solution to the problem, I eventually fell asleep. The next morning, however, the problem was still rattling around in my head, so I started doing some research online.
I quickly realised my mistake. I had assumed that the Stargates in the Milky Way were all identical. But it seems that only 35 symbols are identical, and the 36th symbol differs from gate to gate. Because that’s the one that represents the planet.
This post is intentionally kept short. It captures a thought of mine without diving deep into the topic.
What do you think of this type of post?
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