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I honestly can't imagine why NASA even acknowledges the idea of FTL travel - Is there some kind of propeller beanie PAC forcing their hand? They should just ha

by eudox 12y ago

I honestly can't imagine why NASA even acknowledges the idea of FTL travel - Is there some kind of propeller beanie PAC forcing their hand? They should just have a page that says: "FTL is impossible, but that's fine, once you get used to the way things are."

ceejayoz 12y ago
Scientists, rightly so, are a little leery of stating "we know everything". There's no guarantees our current theories are perfect - in fact, it's extraordinarily unlikely that they are. Also of note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive
- jp555 12y ago
  I consider how we understand that at the speed of light, all distances are zero. So even if you can somehow travel at C, there would be nowhere to go, because you're already everywhere. Given this, travelling faster than C can be seen as travelling a distance of less than zero... which makes no sense.
  - ceejayoz 12y ago
    Humans have always had a big gap between "how we understand" and knowing everything. Plenty of stuff in physics doesn't make intuitive sense, and there are things like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive theorized that wouldn't require brute force exceeding C.
    - jp555 12y ago
      That drive has a bit of an issue that even if it worked, it would probably destroy it's destination in a annihilating blast of gamma radiation on arrival.
TheCraiggers 12y ago
>They should just have a page that says: "FTL is impossible, but that's fine, once you get used to the way things are." No offense intended to you, but I feel this is a disastrously negative attitude to have. Except where morals dictate otherwise (which are outside the scope of science anyway) nothing is banned from exploration. Suggesting otherwise implies that we know all there is to know about a subject; to me, this is analogous to willful ignorance. Science is dedicated to removing ignorance, not enforcing it.
- crusso 12y ago
  nothing is banned from exploration Nothing is banned, per se... but there's just too much search space to sift through to not be smart about where you look.
  - yazaddaruvala 12y ago
    I don't know about you, but for me, some of the best things I've ever found were in places I shouldn't have been looking.
- logfromblammo 12y ago
  I would amend that to "FTL is economically impossible", rather than an unqualified impossible. It may be allowed by physics, but if we have to effectively bankrupt a whole galaxy just to move quickly from one star to the next, humans simply won't ever do it. As it is now, with our current level of understanding, the best way to move around in space is by throwing tiny things very fast in one direction, to make a big thing move in the opposite direction, then wait a few thousand years for that big thing to get somewhere. Given that we sometimes have difficulty being alive after waiting a few thousand years, it is understandable that some people have a problem with this, and want to explore other options.
madaxe_again 12y ago
The sun orbits the Earth, but that's fine, once you get used to the way things are.
mcguire 12y ago
NASA is made up of the same Science Fiction-obsessed, excessively optimistic people who also probably make up most of the employees of wherever most of us work. Some of them, I understand, even go to 'cons and such. I suspect it's based on disappointment over not being capable of actually launching anything. In any case, they're regrettably not all hard-headed realists like you and me.
ctdonath 12y ago
I've long observed there's a small but profitable industry in proposing & researching megaprojects: suggest doing something so intriguing and outlandish and expensive that somebody will figure it's worth coughing up a minuscule percentage of the ginormous price tag to fund at least an amusing cursory overview, at a price sufficient to employ a small team for several years. Space elevators, floating (ocean) cities, bridging the Strait Of Gibraltar, world-spanning freeway, FTL interstellar travel, mile-high buildings, etc all are engaging concepts that people with deep pockets are willing to toss some "pocket change" at, giving a group a tidy sum to live on for a while doing something amusing.

by eudox 12y ago

ceejayoz 12y ago

Scientists, rightly so, are a little leery of stating "we know everything". There's no guarantees our current theories are perfect - in fact, it's extraordinarily unlikely that they are. Also of note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive

jp555 12y ago
I consider how we understand that at the speed of light, all distances are zero. So even if you can somehow travel at C, there would be nowhere to go, because you're already everywhere. Given this, travelling faster than C can be seen as travelling a distance of less than zero... which makes no sense.
- ceejayoz 12y ago
  Humans have always had a big gap between "how we understand" and knowing everything. Plenty of stuff in physics doesn't make intuitive sense, and there are things like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive theorized that wouldn't require brute force exceeding C.
  - jp555 12y ago
    That drive has a bit of an issue that even if it worked, it would probably destroy it's destination in a annihilating blast of gamma radiation on arrival.

TheCraiggers 12y ago

>They should just have a page that says: "FTL is impossible, but that's fine, once you get used to the way things are." No offense intended to you, but I feel this is a disastrously negative attitude to have. Except where morals dictate otherwise (which are outside the scope of science anyway) nothing is banned from exploration. Suggesting otherwise implies that we know all there is to know about a subject; to me, this is analogous to willful ignorance. Science is dedicated to removing ignorance, not enforcing it.

crusso 12y ago
nothing is banned from exploration Nothing is banned, per se... but there's just too much search space to sift through to not be smart about where you look.
- yazaddaruvala 12y ago
  I don't know about you, but for me, some of the best things I've ever found were in places I shouldn't have been looking.
logfromblammo 12y ago
I would amend that to "FTL is economically impossible", rather than an unqualified impossible. It may be allowed by physics, but if we have to effectively bankrupt a whole galaxy just to move quickly from one star to the next, humans simply won't ever do it. As it is now, with our current level of understanding, the best way to move around in space is by throwing tiny things very fast in one direction, to make a big thing move in the opposite direction, then wait a few thousand years for that big thing to get somewhere. Given that we sometimes have difficulty being alive after waiting a few thousand years, it is understandable that some people have a problem with this, and want to explore other options.

madaxe_again 12y ago

The sun orbits the Earth, but that's fine, once you get used to the way things are.

mcguire 12y ago

NASA is made up of the same Science Fiction-obsessed, excessively optimistic people who also probably make up most of the employees of wherever most of us work. Some of them, I understand, even go to 'cons and such. I suspect it's based on disappointment over not being capable of actually launching anything. In any case, they're regrettably not all hard-headed realists like you and me.

ctdonath 12y ago

I've long observed there's a small but profitable industry in proposing & researching megaprojects: suggest doing something so intriguing and outlandish and expensive that somebody will figure it's worth coughing up a minuscule percentage of the ginormous price tag to fund at least an amusing cursory overview, at a price sufficient to employ a small team for several years. Space elevators, floating (ocean) cities, bridging the Strait Of Gibraltar, world-spanning freeway, FTL interstellar travel, mile-high buildings, etc all are engaging concepts that people with deep pockets are willing to toss some "pocket change" at, giving a group a tidy sum to live on for a while doing something amusing.