3 ms·
> Since you could get to anywhere in the universe almost instantly by travelling sufficiently close to the speed of light But the universe is billions of light
by GordonS 5y ago
> Since you could get to anywhere in the universe almost instantly by travelling sufficiently close to the speed of light
But the universe is billions of light years across - if someone is travelling at just under the speed of light, wouldn't that mean it would take them billions of years (as experienced on the ship) to traverse the universe?
> why do many science fiction writers and science fiction movies want to introduce faster than light travel?
My thought on this, from a purely sci-fi perspective, is that accelerating close to light speed would use a phenomenonal amount of energy, and take a long time to do. Furthermore, time is experienced differently for those on the ship and those outside it. So with these points in mind, some kind of "hack" that allows you to fold spacetime and jump several lightyears instantaneously (as experienced by everyone) makes sense.
- rbanffy 5y ago> wouldn't that mean it would take them billions of years (as experienced on the ship) to traverse the universe? No, because time passes more slowly in the ship frame. This means it’s billions of years for your friends back home, but it could be hours for you.
- GordonS 5y agoI get that time passes slower for those outwith the ship, but I'm struggling to wrap my head around how long it would take those on the ship to travel large distances at close to light speed - whenever I think on this topic, my head almost bursts with awe and wonder! Let's consider a ship, travelling from Earth, and say it somehow accelerates almost instantly to just below light speed, and travels for a distance of 1 light year. How much time would pass for those still on Earth, and for those on the ship?