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Every single second spent 'studying' warp bubbles is a second wasted. A dollar misspent. A CPU cycle squandered. "How do you move the warp bubble?" uh... uh..

Every single second spent 'studying' warp bubbles is a second wasted. A dollar misspent. A CPU cycle squandered. "How do you move the warp bubble?" uh... uh... uh... uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... this paper's title is sexy and will get me published! Even string theory is better than this nonsense.

groby_b 2y ago
What interesting research are you currently pursuing? Would love to read the papers!
- snakeyjake 2y ago
  15 years ago I played a small, insignificant but still important, role in saving Hubble: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20080023344/downloads/20080023344.pdf https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20080023344/downloads/20... Now I design sensors that go on things designed to kill Russian soldiers in Ukraine. I am very confident that what I have done has been a tangible net benefit to humanity and is not the modern-day equivalent of spending time and money on the study of Orgone Energy.
  - snapcaster 2y ago
    So you were helping kill people who you've never met but bashing on the dudes studying warp drives? Not even saying you're a bad person but stones and glass houses man
    - snakeyjake 2y ago
      >So you were helping kill people Not were, am. My sensors are also good at quantifying sea level changes, measuring shore erosion, determining plant foliage density and water content, and can find ancient buried ruins given the right conditions so it's a win-win for all of humanity!
      - snapcaster 2y ago
        How is it a win/win unless you value human life of russian people at 0? Would you say that to the face of the victims of your work? Do the russians you help kill not have families and partners? Are they any more at fault than the average american was for Iraq?
        coryrc 2y ago
        I would value their lives as negative. Lots of people have lives of negative impact, like Thomas Midgely Jr or the Russian people carrying out genocide in Ukraine.
  - groby_b 2y ago
    Thanks for sharing (I really meant the "I like reading interesting papers" request). In an odd coincidence, that means you're the second person I met this month who helped save Hubble.
swid 2y ago
You make the bubble after you are already moving in the direction you want to go. The bubble will keep moving. What else would it do? Out of all the questions, this is not a hard one…
- ben_w 2y ago
  That answer has always bugged me. In relativity, observers only agree on motion at exactly c, so the idea that a warp drive speeds up normal motion… feels like a contradiction. But then, I know I can't fully grok the relatively simple maths of SR, let alone GR.
- snakeyjake 2y ago
  Precisely! You get it! If you have to spend the entire combined annual energy output of all of humanity getting up to speed, why convert the equivalent of 1% of the mass of the sun into energy to create and maintain a warp bubble?
- mr_toad 2y ago
  Which raises the spooky question is it the ship causing the bubble (space-time) to move, or vice versa? Typically space-time tells objects how to move, not the reverse. It would be disconcerting to discover FTL but find that the journey was fated from the beginning.
deleted 2y ago
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groby_b 2y ago

What interesting research are you currently pursuing? Would love to read the papers!

snakeyjake 2y ago
15 years ago I played a small, insignificant but still important, role in saving Hubble: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20080023344/downloads/20080023344.pdf https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20080023344/downloads/20... Now I design sensors that go on things designed to kill Russian soldiers in Ukraine. I am very confident that what I have done has been a tangible net benefit to humanity and is not the modern-day equivalent of spending time and money on the study of Orgone Energy.
- snapcaster 2y ago
  So you were helping kill people who you've never met but bashing on the dudes studying warp drives? Not even saying you're a bad person but stones and glass houses man
  - snakeyjake 2y ago
    >So you were helping kill people Not were, am. My sensors are also good at quantifying sea level changes, measuring shore erosion, determining plant foliage density and water content, and can find ancient buried ruins given the right conditions so it's a win-win for all of humanity!
    - snapcaster 2y ago
      How is it a win/win unless you value human life of russian people at 0? Would you say that to the face of the victims of your work? Do the russians you help kill not have families and partners? Are they any more at fault than the average american was for Iraq?
      - coryrc 2y ago
        I would value their lives as negative. Lots of people have lives of negative impact, like Thomas Midgely Jr or the Russian people carrying out genocide in Ukraine.
- groby_b 2y ago
  Thanks for sharing (I really meant the "I like reading interesting papers" request). In an odd coincidence, that means you're the second person I met this month who helped save Hubble.

swid 2y ago

You make the bubble after you are already moving in the direction you want to go. The bubble will keep moving. What else would it do? Out of all the questions, this is not a hard one…

ben_w 2y ago
That answer has always bugged me. In relativity, observers only agree on motion at exactly c, so the idea that a warp drive speeds up normal motion… feels like a contradiction. But then, I know I can't fully grok the relatively simple maths of SR, let alone GR.
snakeyjake 2y ago
Precisely! You get it! If you have to spend the entire combined annual energy output of all of humanity getting up to speed, why convert the equivalent of 1% of the mass of the sun into energy to create and maintain a warp bubble?
mr_toad 2y ago
Which raises the spooky question is it the ship causing the bubble (space-time) to move, or vice versa? Typically space-time tells objects how to move, not the reverse. It would be disconcerting to discover FTL but find that the journey was fated from the beginning.

deleted 2y ago

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