Voting is a mechanism to signal whether the comment adds anything to the discussion. Star Trek references really don't add anything to an actual scientific discovery. I would much rather read actual engineering rather than entertainment driven thought.

I think you've just proven his point.

Yeah, I know, I might be occasionally too cynical.

I took the post as commentary on the engineering feasibility of the parent post.

Simply: this is not reddit. Voting happens based on the content of information added by your comment. Not a joke or a wordplay, unfortunately.

I had to downvote you because we're not supposed to compare HN to reddit. ;)

Edit: Oops, I cancelled my downvote.

That's a misreading of the guidelines:

If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a common semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills.

https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html