...so in theory Kirk, Picard, the Borg and Bakula could all be alive at the same time if they traveled to different parts of the galaxy.

For example, traveling towards the center of the galaxy might slow down aging - because the relative motion (think wagon wheel) is less near the center than at the periphery.

So Captain Kirk takes off towards the center of the galaxy and returns to earth only to find Picard there in a new enterprise battling the Borg.

Galaxy explorers on other worlds probably figured this out long ago...and it means saying goodbye to your family is likely really saying goodbye.

All these relative motions of energy determine time. Where energy has higher fundamental frequencies, we can extrapolate that the cycles of atomic structures are accelerated causing what collectively would seem to be 'time' differences.

So in the real galaxy - there is a very good chance that starships from the past and future of any world could encounter eachother during their travels.

A captain leaving a daughter behind might encounter his great, great, great grandson in a new ship.

The real tragedy is that the new ship may be able to travel much faster and have explored everything they were sent out to explore! They may also have been able to avoid a percentage of the time disparities - causing a sense of waste, obsolescence and loss in the crew of the "old" ship.

The time disparity is probably a big factor in keeping folks in their own galaxy neighborhood.

SDAI-Tech1