Rethinking subspace in light of ST: Discovery

[Tuvix5675]

Prior to STD subspace was referred to by name but not really described, but it was simple referred to as a dimension of space through which the federation would communicate. Now with Star Trek Discovery we are told the mycelium network exists in subspace. So essentially, the Federation communicates through the mycelium network. Now, in the real world scientists have discovered that fungi do communicate through their mycelium, but mycelium on earth only exists within a narrow temperature range, it really cannot exist in space, could it exist in subspace? If subspace had this narrow temperature range and spores lived in this dimension, but fungi are heterotrophs, living organisms that require nutrients from their environment and water, etc. which subspace is unlikely to have-unless this is a special type of fungi, a space fungi that lives on radiation or space debris, but then it would likely not exist everywhere throughout space, only in those parts of space that had the elements it required.

 

[Christopher]

Prior to STD subspace was referred to by name but not really described, but it was simple referred to as a dimension of space through which the federation would communicate.

No, that's only true of TOS/TAS, which only used the term in the context of "subspace radio." The portrayal of subspace as a hyperspace-like dimension through which warp travel occurred began in earnest in the later years of TNG (though it had been around in science fiction since the 1930s). TNG did a number of episodes revolving around entities and phenomena from subspace, like "Schisms," which established the existence of an infinite number of "domains" within subspace, some of which are essentially pocket universes with their own physical laws and inhabitants. A number of Voyager episodes involved the ship getting trapped in parts of subspace (e.g. subspace sinkholes and astral eddies) and having to get out.

Now with Star Trek Discovery we are told the mycelium network exists in subspace. So essentially, the Federation communicates through the mycelium network.

Sorry, but no. Discovery built on the TNG-era terminology, saying that the mycelial network occupied "a discrete subspace domain." Meaning that it's only one of the infinite number of domains/parallel planes that make up subspace.