I've always thought the idea that we're trapped by the speed of light to be a little sad, so I love seeing realistic possibilities for finding a way around it.
I find the limitation to be implausible for the simple reason that imagining limitations and then finding ways around them is the history of human technology.
People started out making sharp edges by breaking away parts of a rock they didn't want and using the sharpened core. Then someone figured out you could get a lot more edges from one rock by using the flakes which was the opposite approach.
People used to believe that things like electricity and sound were fleeting, impossible to catch. They had proofs for why heavier-than-air flight and faster-than-sound flight were impossible. Then someone else figured out how to do those things.
Humanity hasn't even discovered how all the forces unite, only electricity and magnetism, but they want to call FTL impossible. They don't know enough to know what's possible or not.
Oh, hey, finally there's open acknowledgement of the negative energy conundrum. I had that in calculations back when I was fourteen, but mainstream science has tried to avoid the discussion for a very long time now. (From what I can tell, it ties into the weak nuclear mess.)
Nifty - I'd previously heard of the non-FTL solution (which would still be useful if it could hit relativistic velocities, since getting up to relativistic velocities with reaction drives is seriously hard), and had not known there was a solution that permitted FTL but didn't require negative energy. Of course, the one downside of the idea that FTL is possible is that it removes the most likely solution to the Fermi paradox that still permits our galaxy to have multiple intelligent species (if FTL is impossible and STL travel is *really* difficult, then there's nothing like a Fermi paradox). If FTL is possible, I suspect it means humanity is alone in the galaxy, which is I find quite sad.
Stastics indicate that the galaxy is crammed with planets, many of them potentially habitable. Certainly there are others with life. It is the nature of life to chain up to more complex organisms, as far as possible in a given environment. So looking at Earth, you can see everything from small ecosystems like Antarctica or thermal pools to teeming ones like rainforests. The same will be true of planets.
Enter Drake's Equation. While life is common, sapient life is somewhat less so, first because of inherent risks like getting smacked by a comet ... second because intelligent life tends to be stupid when it comes to inventing ways to destroy itself. So finding a planet with lower tech is easier than finding one with higher tech, and FTL is really high tech. You have to clear a lot of "don't kill yourself" hurdles to get there. I mean, look at humanity, not winning any prizes on self-preservation right now. :/
Just because something is possible doesn't mean everyone will figure it out.
Oh, and most of the tech that high is extremely dangerous. Graviton technology in particular is "oops, I broke the planet" stuff.
We should have guessed that warp drives and FTL is possible, since we've seen artefacts, instances of where natural objects under extreme conditions have gone supra-light. There is a black hole galaxy, or rather two merged galaxies, where the supermassive black holes are doing a dance around each other, and producing a super-luminal jet of plasma. Of course we can't see it until it slows down to light speed... but the fact there's a gap along it's trajectory is indication enough.
Plenty of people have extrapolated the feasibility of FTL, arriving at a wide assortment of methods by diverse routes. I observed that the universe is full of possibilities, many of them stranger than most people can imagine; and that the history of human technology is full of doing things once thought impossible.
An interesting outgrowth of this is that, in galaxies where multiple types of FTL develop, the cultures are even less likely to encounter each other unless they all seek very similar planets. Those using subspace, hyperspace, wormholes, etc. will not travel in the same way and thus may prefer different routes favoring their particular mode of transit.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmith
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-11 01:18 am (UTC)Well ...
Date: 2021-05-11 01:42 am (UTC)People started out making sharp edges by breaking away parts of a rock they didn't want and using the sharpened core. Then someone figured out you could get a lot more edges from one rock by using the flakes which was the opposite approach.
People used to believe that things like electricity and sound were fleeting, impossible to catch. They had proofs for why heavier-than-air flight and faster-than-sound flight were impossible. Then someone else figured out how to do those things.
Humanity hasn't even discovered how all the forces unite, only electricity and magnetism, but they want to call FTL impossible. They don't know enough to know what's possible or not.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-11 02:02 am (UTC)Oh, hey, finally there's open acknowledgement of the negative energy conundrum. I had that in calculations back when I was fourteen, but mainstream science has tried to avoid the discussion for a very long time now. (From what I can tell, it ties into the weak nuclear mess.)
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-11 06:41 am (UTC)Well ...
Date: 2021-05-11 10:42 am (UTC)Enter Drake's Equation. While life is common, sapient life is somewhat less so, first because of inherent risks like getting smacked by a comet ... second because intelligent life tends to be stupid when it comes to inventing ways to destroy itself. So finding a planet with lower tech is easier than finding one with higher tech, and FTL is really high tech. You have to clear a lot of "don't kill yourself" hurdles to get there. I mean, look at humanity, not winning any prizes on self-preservation right now. :/
Just because something is possible doesn't mean everyone will figure it out.
Oh, and most of the tech that high is extremely dangerous. Graviton technology in particular is "oops, I broke the planet" stuff.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-11 10:56 am (UTC)We should have guessed that warp drives and FTL is possible, since we've seen artefacts, instances of where natural objects under extreme conditions have gone supra-light. There is a black hole galaxy, or rather two merged galaxies, where the supermassive black holes are doing a dance around each other, and producing a super-luminal jet of plasma. Of course we can't see it until it slows down to light speed... but the fact there's a gap along it's trajectory is indication enough.
Well ...
Date: 2021-05-11 07:52 pm (UTC)An interesting outgrowth of this is that, in galaxies where multiple types of FTL develop, the cultures are even less likely to encounter each other unless they all seek very similar planets. Those using subspace, hyperspace, wormholes, etc. will not travel in the same way and thus may prefer different routes favoring their particular mode of transit.