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Musicmystery -> RE: Poll: Obama would handle invading aliens better than Mitt Romney (7/2/2012 6:55:34 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: jlf1961
Muse, the theory behind Alcurbierre drive which basically warps space time requires a huge amount of energy, which could be solved by using either an antimatter/matter reaction, which in and of itself is theoretically possible, or harnessing dark energy, again theoretically possible.
Radiation shielding has come a long way with the advent of some of the composite materials, in fact, water makes a good radiation shield. You seem to have forgotten that the Earth has a radiation shield that works quite well shielding us from the worst of the solar radiation, and that is the magnetosphere generated by the earth's core. And scientists are trying to duplicate that effect for the ship that will travel to Mars.
I think you are confusing a few things. It would be impossible to move any object at the speed of light, or even close to it due to the infinite amount of energy it would need. But physics has already proven there is a way around that just by warping spacetime.
If you have the energy to warp spacetime, then you have enough energy to generate a field that would protect your ship from interstellar debris and radiation. In fact, according to the theory put forth by Alcubierre, you would be in a bubble of real space and everything else would move around you.
Your whole argument about interstellar travel is based on physics that has been rewritten in the last fifteen years and is no longer valid.
jif,
I'm down with all that. It's the practicality you're ignoring.
We can't take the earth with us. The idea of asteroid jumping is precisely to hide from radiation. The kinds of shields we'd need--and to get into space in the first place--would be immense. Even the metallic shields we know how to build aren't practical, as they themselves become irradiated and emit even worse forms of radiation.
The problem with the new physics argument is that quantum level wizardry isn't demonstrable at aggregate levels (or we COULD just jump around in time/space/dimension). [Fallacy of composition--atoms are colorless, cats are made of atoms, therefore cats are colorless.] Antimatter holds tremendous promise in terms of power, but it's an incredibly delicate balance, a dangerous line.
Sure, we know travel beyond the speed of light is possible--but not at the space ship level; it would destroy the ship. Yes, we can curve space/time time, but not in any practical/controllable way.
Again, any beings mastering such matters are more likely to have a very different understanding of physics. Think, for example, of Western medicine's inability to work with chi. Eastern doctors have no trouble, but it's outside the model for the West--there is no way to understand it; it's not a part of a human machine. Similarly, as we try to grasp the universe and astrophysics with our theoretical minds, we as much blind ourselves to new possibilities as we expand the understanding we already have. This is why every true scientific break-through is actually a "break-with" what came before, not so much invalidating it as superseding it.
Here's an example--how to overcome gravity and fly? Well, airplanes don't defy gravity--in fact, they use it, as the principle of lift depends on a gravitational field. It's a different understanding than seeking anti-gravity. Other anti-gravity devices we understand so well we don't even recognize them as such--tables and chairs allow us to float ourselves and objects above the floor, defying gravity's pull (well, using it again, but you get the idea).
We're still trying to understand dark matter and anti-matter. We're a long way from using it, or knowing if that's truly possible. Fusion we understand--but using it practically is another matter.
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