4 ms·

Here comes the Alcubierre Warp Drive!

gradys 8y ago
Exactly where my mind went. Does the perspective described in the paper make the Alcubierre drive seem more plausible? Or is there something about the nature of the dark fluid hypothesized that would make it useless for something like that?
- krapp 8y ago
  >Or is there something about the nature of the dark fluid hypothesized that would make it useless for something like that? Assuming it was, literally, some kind of magical FTL juice... it all seems to be outside the galaxy, which means tens of thousands of years' travel just to get to it. If we're willing and able to do that, why bother with FTL at all?
  - noetic_techy 8y ago
    He is also implying that it spontaneously emerges from space on a continuous basis. If that's the case then it may be possible to setup a harvester of negative mass. The question is how much of it emerges in so many square km of empty space. It could be 1 particle per light year.
    - krapp 8y ago
      I'm not a huge fan of the Fermi paradox but if it has any validity, it would seem to suggest the problem is difficult to say the least.
      - noetic_techy 8y ago
        Or extremely easy if you believe the UFO reports... the only incorrect assumption is that they would initiate contact. Even Dawkings knew that this would be a stupid assumption: https://www.richarddawkins.net/2017/11/we-just-sent-a-message-to-try-to-talk-to-aliens-on-another-world/ https://www.richarddawkins.net/2017/11/we-just-sent-a-messag... If they show up every couple thousand years and don't say anything, would we even notice?
perlgeek 8y ago
To quote the author https://twitter.com/Astro_Jamie/status/1070343971338153984 https://twitter.com/Astro_Jamie/status/1070343971338153984 > It is quite likely that the negative masses in this study are a mathematical tool, rather than real physical matter. This rules out a lot of sci-fi, which is disappointing of course!
- noetic_techy 8y ago
  To be clear, the author IS proposing that there MAY be negative mass particles, not that this is all mathematical. That statement was simply a tip of the hat to the fact that none have yet been detected and its possible his theory is just a "accurate way to model" dark matter/+dark energy. It's just a nice way saying "My thoery might be the Newtonian Mechanics of Dark Matter/Energy, close but possibly wrong." Why crap on the fact that this may lead to a warp drive.

Exactly where my mind went. Does the perspective described in the paper make the Alcubierre drive seem more plausible? Or is there something about the nature of the dark fluid hypothesized that would make it useless for something like that?

krapp 8y ago
>Or is there something about the nature of the dark fluid hypothesized that would make it useless for something like that? Assuming it was, literally, some kind of magical FTL juice... it all seems to be outside the galaxy, which means tens of thousands of years' travel just to get to it. If we're willing and able to do that, why bother with FTL at all?
- noetic_techy 8y ago
  He is also implying that it spontaneously emerges from space on a continuous basis. If that's the case then it may be possible to setup a harvester of negative mass. The question is how much of it emerges in so many square km of empty space. It could be 1 particle per light year.
  - krapp 8y ago
    I'm not a huge fan of the Fermi paradox but if it has any validity, it would seem to suggest the problem is difficult to say the least.
    - noetic_techy 8y ago
      Or extremely easy if you believe the UFO reports... the only incorrect assumption is that they would initiate contact. Even Dawkings knew that this would be a stupid assumption: https://www.richarddawkins.net/2017/11/we-just-sent-a-message-to-try-to-talk-to-aliens-on-another-world/ https://www.richarddawkins.net/2017/11/we-just-sent-a-messag... If they show up every couple thousand years and don't say anything, would we even notice?

perlgeek 8y ago

To quote the author https://twitter.com/Astro_Jamie/status/1070343971338153984 https://twitter.com/Astro_Jamie/status/1070343971338153984 > It is quite likely that the negative masses in this study are a mathematical tool, rather than real physical matter. This rules out a lot of sci-fi, which is disappointing of course!

noetic_techy 8y ago
To be clear, the author IS proposing that there MAY be negative mass particles, not that this is all mathematical. That statement was simply a tip of the hat to the fact that none have yet been detected and its possible his theory is just a "accurate way to model" dark matter/+dark energy. It's just a nice way saying "My thoery might be the Newtonian Mechanics of Dark Matter/Energy, close but possibly wrong." Why crap on the fact that this may lead to a warp drive.