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Consider the possibility that somebody somewhere has FTL destructive capability, distinct from FTL travel.
by inopinatus 10y ago
Consider the possibility that somebody somewhere has FTL destructive capability, distinct from FTL travel.
- Teever 10y agoAre there any sort of proposed or theoretical FTL weapons?
- pdonis 10y ago> Are there any sort of proposed or theoretical FTL weapons? No.
- cthalupa 10y agoSure there are. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive#Damaging_effect_on_destination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive#Damaging_effe...
- pdonis 10y ago> Sure there are. If you include "believed to be impossible" in the definition, I guess.
- pmoriarty 10y ago"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong." -- Arthur C. Clarke
- pdonis 10y agoThanks for the implicit compliment, but I'm not a distinguished but elderly scientist. :-)
- throwaway7645 10y agoPut bluntly, if any aliens have FTL tech they could strap it on an asteroid and vaporize the earth. More simple than that would be to send nano-bots, an asteroid of significant size coming for us at any speed, or a thousand other things. Any civilization with that level of science/engineering know-how would most likely be like the US army going waging war with Neanderthals throwing spears.
- Teever 10y agoSo in other words the prospect of an FTL weapon is irrelevant?
- throwaway7645 10y agoWell, to us I think it would be irrelevant as it wouldn't take anything 1/2 as complicated or energy intensive to do in our planet. However, an FTL weapon could be relevant to an FTL capable species at war with another FTL species. What is interesting is that motion through space + motion through time must add up to the speed of light. So an FTL weapon would arrive at the target before it was launched if I understand the consequences right.
- pdonis 10y agoThere's no real difference: both require being able to send matter/energy FTL.
- inopinatus 10y agoHow about manipulating spacetime at a distance? Maybe fold your planet into your star in a dimension currently inaccessible to humans. I know, I know, it's space opera stuff.
- pdonis 10y ago> How about manipulating spacetime at a distance? How would that change anything? You're still sending matter or energy FTL; you need matter or energy to curve spacetime.
- inopinatus 10y agoIt's a foolhardy assumption that matter and energy are the only forms of existence in our universe, let alone all possible universes. I'm not even sure they are distinct except in mode of perception. They may both be emergent properties of a universe that is a) functional and b) lazily evaluated.