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> What then is bound to happen is that we develop some sort of theoretically inter-stellar range communication technology. 'Bound to happen' is quite a bold st
by wlievens 16y ago
> What then is bound to happen is that we develop some sort of theoretically inter-stellar range communication technology.
'Bound to happen' is quite a bold statement for something that, according to current scientific understanding, is not really possible. That is, if you mean faster-than-light communication, which I think you allude to in the next paragraphs.
- Tycho 16y agoYou're right of course but I believe science already has some inroads in FTL communication (quantum entanglement, some exploit I read in New Scientist about a sweeping beam traveling faster at the the ends than the pivoting centre) whereas from what I've gathered FTL space travel is still a non-starter.
- wlievens 16y agoThat's not how I interpret it. The light-speed constraint isn't just about preventing matter to move faster than light, it's about information traveling faster than light. Picturing it like FTL communication being just an engineering problem (sorry for the exaggeration) and FTL travel being near-impossible in contrast is rather strange. Quantum entanglement doesn't allow faster-than light information transfer (though it is pretty mysterious in its own right). The sweeping beam thing doesn't either. These things aren't in any way pushing the frontier with regards to FTL communication. Do note that I hope with all my heart that I'm wrong here. We're all geeks, right.