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I am always fascinated with flying like superman (who hasn't been), and this gives me confidence that one day humans can fly with a similar bird-like mechanical
by richardofyork 15y ago
I am always fascinated with flying like superman (who hasn't been), and this gives me confidence that one day humans can fly with a similar bird-like mechanical device, not a jetpack or massive engine on our backs.
I always thought if we copy nature, we will be very successul in engineering a device to allow humans to fly gracefully and safely.
- eru 15y agoThe problem is that compared to birds humans are very heavy in relation to any of their cross sections. Thus we can not produce enough lift in air. We would require enormous wings. Big birds tend to glide more than they flutter. Fixed wings aren't a bad approximation for birds our size.
- richardofyork 15y agoSure thing, but we are smart enough to do better than piston engines and gas turbines used in aircrafts. I am confident we will one day discover another form of energy, so we can build aircrafts that do not require jet propulsion engines and induction engines. In fact, such a new form of energy will be necessary for us to fly at and possibly beyond the speed of light. And this will allow us to go deep into outer space and other galaxies. I always thought if we can somehow ride photons, like hop on and go for a ride, then we can move at the speed of light. But right now I am only a programmer, I leave that to the Rocket Scientists to figure out :)
- jules 15y agoCurrent scientific knowledge says that going faster than light is impossible.
- ryandvm 15y agoDon't be harshing his buzz.
- 6ren 15y agoI like Larry Niven's response to this: maybe [they] have different theories. To be fair, OP was talking about the future.
- gnaritas 15y agoWhere do people get this idea that future science disproves past science? It really doesn't work that way. We're not going to suddenly discover all of modern physics is wrong and oh hey look, it's easy to travel faster than light; that just isn't going to happen.
- richardofyork 15y agoI am not sure if anyone said that we will disapprove past science. The point here, like with everything we aspire for as programmers and scientists, is to improve what we have. Who knows what the future holds, I don’t. Incidentally, many theories have been disproved and proved in Physics. And scientists will never rest; they will continue to re-invent, to invent, and to improve on what we have today. That is the simple point, to improve and see where it takes us.
- 3pt14159 15y agoMore like the following: Newton discovered that F = ma, and that acceleration was the amount of speed gained per second. When he said this people were all like "man, if we could only find a vacuum we could take a small amount of mass and a large amount of force and move something faster than the speed of light!" (Which they semi knew due to some sort of cosmological event.) But Einstein came by and said "hold up, Newton is right for slow moving things, but as you approach C most of the force goes into increasing the mass of the object." Imagine it goes the other way, in a few years some guy says "Einstein was right, but he didn't take into account the fact that we can effect the Plank constant within a certain radius of an horizon-tangle-event, so we can actually build something that will change the relative size of space around us and effectively move faster than the speed of light." And back and forth all day.
- thret 15y ago
- fragsworth 15y ago> I always thought if we can somehow ride photons, like hop on and go for a ride, then we can move at the speed of light. That might work, but if we accelerate at the same rate we'd arrive at our destination looking much like sample from a centrifuge.
- robin_reala 15y agoHang-glider? It’s not powered so you need knowledge of thermals, but it’s basically what you want. Or even paragliding (which is easier and cheaper). You’re sitting down so facing forwards rather than down, but it’s a beautiful way of seeing things from a new angle.
- richardofyork 15y agoYeah, I agree that those are close, but having full control over flying at varying speeds, landing with ease, taking off from anywhere, and going anywhere, is what we are really after.
- lutorm 15y agoIf you want to take off, you need power. Look at a largish bird taking off, and then factor in the power/weight of the human body... you'll need to haul some ass.
- robin_reala 15y agoVTOL? Sounds like you need a jet pack :)