But I posit that science knows far less than it does not know. At one time, it was believed man could not fly, the sound barrier could not be broken, and man could not reach the moon. Not just believed, but considered scientifically impossible.
And yet we did it.
So on the assumption that science is wrong about what we cannot do, I have collected the data on speeds man has attained over the past 300 years. The trend, ladies and gentlemen, clearly shows that we will send something through space at the speed of light around the year 2050.
If not, who cares? This was fun anyway.
I kind of agree, honestly. Once the unified field theorem gets squared away in Physics we're going to see a whole host of new innovations in regards to space travel and a bunch of other stuff.
ReplyDeleteOf course, uniting a field split between study of very big things and very small things is kind of hard.
Nature has a speed limit, dude. We'd have to break nature to go faster than light.
ReplyDeleteWhich is what wormholes are all about. And the spice in Dune.
Still, it's hard to argue with a graph as fine as yours. *pets the pretty graph*
Sadly I won't be around to hear you say "I told you so". It wouldn't surprise me if you're right, though.
ReplyDeleteThat's right, jj. You can't argue with a graph that has horsies on it!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't possibly heart you more than I do right now: graphs, FTL AND Back to the Future 3. *swoons*
ReplyDeleteAhem.
Matthew is of course correct - if we can get that Unified Theory rockin' so that we understand gravity at both quantum and galaxy scales, we'll be on our way through the wormholes.
But wait! There's more!
A little thing called Quantum Entanglement has already proved that information can (through entangled quantum particles) move faster than the speed of light. Some studies have already entangled larger, atom sized particles. Before you know it, we'll have entangled monkeys, and lord knows where it will go from there!
In 2050, my son Worm Burner will be 47 - I'm pretty sure he will have invented FTL drive by then, so that sounds about right to me. :)
Yes! And even if we haven't, it'll have been more fun to believe we could have (if that even makes sense).
ReplyDeleteWish I'd known about that when I'd made my graph, Susan. Monkeys. Dang, nobody could argue with monkeys.
ReplyDeleteMakes perfect sense, Myrna. I figure that's what sci-fi is for :-)
The solution is soooooo simple. Three words, "focused gravity drive". if black holes produce enough gravity to retain light, it's just a matter of focusing that force. Come on people I did the hard part, just need a few scientists to take it the rest of the way.
ReplyDeleteHey, Emmet! That was the exact idea I used for my (now-trunked) first novel. Maybe you should write sci-fi :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm just saying masterminds think alike
ReplyDeleteWell, lookit! It's all-but guaranteed. Nice!
ReplyDeleteI s'pose once they figure out the secrets of tachyons, FTL ain't too far off, right? As long as Moore's Law holds and computing keeps up....