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Physics has all but ruled out faster than light travel for squishy beings like humans, or for that matter even sensitive electronics. The equations that allow

Physics has all but ruled out faster than light travel for squishy beings like humans, or for that matter even sensitive electronics. The equations that allow for wormholes or Alcubierre drives don't mean it's possible for living beings or working electronics to actually successfully make a trip through such extreme and unlikely phenomena. It's a bit like saying you'll slingshot around a black hole close to its event horizon to gain enormous speed: you could do that, but tidal forces will rip you apart in the process. Except wormholes and other such spacetime anomalies are worse.

cthalupa 3y ago
Tidal forces are highly dependent on the mass of the black hole. The more massive, the less tidal forces you have to contend with. The bigger problem is finding such a black hole that doesn't have a very unfriendly to life and electronics accretion disk. I've seen some arguments that alcubierre drives could allow for safe transportation with materials science advancements that we believe to be possible. Safe for the people traveling, at any rate. Not so safe for your destination and whatever else is in a large cone in front of your ship. I've not seen any convincing arguments that would allow for anyone to safely traverse a worm hole, however.
- antonvs 3y ago
  Right, I should have qualified the black hole mass. But it doesn’t affect the point, which is that just because equations tell us that some favorable path through spacetime is physically possible, doesn’t mean we could survive the trip. As for Alcubierre drives, they’re interesting as a problem in highly speculative physics. But when people start taking as if we might actually build one, they lose me. I guess perhaps it’s kind of a fantasy game, like talking about gods, but if you’re not a believer or interested in playing the game, it just seems pointless. They’re not real and they’re extremely unlikely to ever be real.

cthalupa 3y ago

Tidal forces are highly dependent on the mass of the black hole. The more massive, the less tidal forces you have to contend with. The bigger problem is finding such a black hole that doesn't have a very unfriendly to life and electronics accretion disk. I've seen some arguments that alcubierre drives could allow for safe transportation with materials science advancements that we believe to be possible. Safe for the people traveling, at any rate. Not so safe for your destination and whatever else is in a large cone in front of your ship. I've not seen any convincing arguments that would allow for anyone to safely traverse a worm hole, however.

antonvs 3y ago
Right, I should have qualified the black hole mass. But it doesn’t affect the point, which is that just because equations tell us that some favorable path through spacetime is physically possible, doesn’t mean we could survive the trip. As for Alcubierre drives, they’re interesting as a problem in highly speculative physics. But when people start taking as if we might actually build one, they lose me. I guess perhaps it’s kind of a fantasy game, like talking about gods, but if you’re not a believer or interested in playing the game, it just seems pointless. They’re not real and they’re extremely unlikely to ever be real.