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Predictions and Wishes, Wayne Hale's Blog
"Sir Arthur C. Clarke Law"
"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."
Does that mean that faster than light travel will "never" be possible?
Just a thought.
Only if faster than light travel is a phenomena and essential quality of the physical universe. As long as faster than light travel is a philosophical metaphysical concept and remains non-empirical, it is highly doubtful this technology will come into existence. Non the less, fictional depictions of superluminal travel and the mechanisms of achieving it are a staple of the science fiction genre. By the way, good luck with tachyons bosonic string theory.
While dismissive comments are clearly laughable in retrospect, it is difficult in real time to sort out viable crazy ideas from the more numerous erroneous ideas. At first, they all seem equally odd.
One technique to make such distinctions is to assess the rigor and honesty of the methods, rather than guessing feasibility. Feasibility of novel ideas is excruciatingly difficult to determine, but the warning signs of fringe work are easy to spot.
Good quality work on even bad ideas will produce reliable lessons, while low-quality work on good ideas (or worse - on crazy ideas) won't accomplish much.
Regarding faster-than-light flight, look at the rigor and step-by-step progress of such work (e.g, "Frontiers of Propulsion Science, AIAA 2009). Although it is still to soon to invest in warp drives, lessons are being learned. The future is unfolding.
- Ad astra incrementis
(to the stars in steps, where each step is greater than before).
4 Comments
Very eloquent!
I concur with your "Wish" and hope it comes to pass.
By the way, your wish makes one heck of a good mission statement.