The Final Frontier.
- Thread starter Von Smallhausen
- Start date
But you also believe in UFOs?
Yes. History is littered with cases of the 'impossible' becoming very real. We made fire, we made aeroplanes, we sent men to the moon (let's ignore channel 5 conspiracies), so why not believe that one day we can travel across the universe.
IMO we probably have the "critical understanding" now. Not in NASA but other, erm, "agencies" in the USA.
The world economy needs to reach a threshold before it can happen too. And I think "world economy" is perhaps a little small scale. We probably need to colonise a couple more planets, such as the Moon and Mars, in order to get their mineral resources to be used, at first, to advance the civilisation and economies on Earth - but longer term to help build interstellar spacecraft.
Sustained nuclear fusion has, probably, already been solved by the USA. It's only the public sector and "higher level" government agencies like NASA which are still trying to get it working.
Life is good but, damn, wouldn't it have been awesome to have been born perhaps 200-300 years later?
I was thinking this the other night, looking up at the sky and thinking 100 years ago mass travel on land was unheard of let alone traveling to the moon, 100-200 years will probably see a company doing flights to the moon for £199.
Funny how so many people are willing to entertain the idea of us traveling outside our own solar system, but laugh at the idea of aliens visiting us here.
We have various theories on how we could travel between the stars - we just don't have the ability right now. What's to say some alien race (or races) could be more advanced than us and have turned the theories into practice? And what with our planet being a giant radio transmitter 'n all, probably would be quite easy to home in on us with that level of technology.
We have robots crawling around on another planet sending us back pictures, video and data. Imagine if there are Martians....they're probably pretty freaked out by our spaceships landing and robots emerging from within!
We have various theories on how we could travel between the stars - we just don't have the ability right now. What's to say some alien race (or races) could be more advanced than us and have turned the theories into practice? And what with our planet being a giant radio transmitter 'n all, probably would be quite easy to home in on us with that level of technology.
We have robots crawling around on another planet sending us back pictures, video and data. Imagine if there are Martians....they're probably pretty freaked out by our spaceships landing and robots emerging from within!
Quantum entanglement.
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Once they can minipulate DNA so we live for 250+ years then we can start visiting the stars. Doing that will be a hell of a lot easier then breaking the laws of physics to do this in the blink of an eye. We already have most the tech do do this kind of trip right now. Apart from the old age thing anyways, which isnt far off at the speed we are researching genetics.
The work needed to reach interstellar travel will, in my opinion, require co-operation on a scale never before seen on Earth. Until we can sort out our own differences and stop making a mess of things, we'll never be in a position to realise it.
Man of Honour
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I believe we will one day. I'm considering freezing myself, then coming back in the future to try it. Wonder if this account will still be active..
Alright, what are you saying?
I'd like to imagine rather than travelling through space we'd have learn to fold it (Scifi here) removing the need to exceed speeds rather, cheat it
I think you've got the wrong idea.
Please note the word "think" because I am not 100% on this either but, let's discuss.
It would still take a long time.
If a planet was 10 light years away and you travelled at the speed of light it would take 10 years for the people onboard the vessel doing so.
Despite the fact more time has passed back on Earth, it is still 10 years for the people on the ship, I don't think it changes anything how fast YOU are travelling.
"thousands of years could have passed on earth. You can see it as a way of time travel if you like."
Yes, but we are not travelling to earth are we? We are trying to go to another object in space...
EDIT EDIT/PS/Disclaimer..
That's how I was lead to believe it... please don't hurt me!
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Burt said:
What if scientists discover a new atom or some subatomic particle that bonds so tightly together; so that when it is forcefully split apart the two parts actually stay linked? Then by manipulating (in some way) one of the parts, the opposing atom (which may at this point be millions of miles away) reflects the same change as was made to the other part.
Sounds like science fiction now but it may not be in the future.
Associate
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Alright, what are you saying?
I'd like to imagine rather than travelling through space we'd have learn to fold it (Scifi here) removing the need to exceed speeds rather, cheat it
Ive seen the film Event Horizon, that is not the way to go believe me!
Folding space time has been in theories for a long time now - using wormholes. In theory entirely possible but we're technologically not there yet to properly detect them?
I suppose it also goes hand in hand with Multi-universe theories because if there's more than one universe then perhaps wormholes could allow you to move between universes which could co-exist in different time spaces!
*boggles mind*
I suppose it also goes hand in hand with Multi-universe theories because if there's more than one universe then perhaps wormholes could allow you to move between universes which could co-exist in different time spaces!
*boggles mind*
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Yes. Even if we never get FTL engines, the increasing lifespan of humans could eventually make decade-long journeys feasible. Engineering hurdles will eventually be overcome simply because they are there to be overcome.
This is of course assuming no great cataclysm befalls the human race before then.
This is of course assuming no great cataclysm befalls the human race before then.
Alright, what are you saying?
I'd like to imagine rather than travelling through space we'd have learn to fold it (Scifi here) removing the need to exceed speeds rather, cheat it
I think you've got the wrong idea.
Please note the word "think" because I am not 100% on this either but, let's discuss.
It would still take a long time.
If a planet was 10 light years away and you travelled at the speed of light it would take 10 years for the people onboard the vessel doing so.
Despite the fact more time has passed back on Earth, it is still 10 years for the people on the ship, I don't think it changes anything how fast YOU are travelling.
"thousands of years could have passed on earth. You can see it as a way of time travel if you like."
Yes, but we are not travelling to earth are we? We are trying to go to another object in space...
EDIT EDIT/PS/Disclaimer..
That's how I was lead to believe it... please don't hurt me!
Actually you're wrong. Time would pass very quickly for the people on the ship.
Say a ship wanted to travel 10ly and moved at 0.8c. To an outside observer, time taken = 10/0.8 = 12.5 years. To the people on the ship, time passed = t/gamma = t*(1-(v^2/c^2))^1/2 = 12.5*sqrt(0.36) = 12.5*0.6 = 7.5.
So to the onboard observer, the journey would only take 7 and a half years. To go 10 light years. Fairly convenient isn't it?
Actually you're wrong. Time would pass very quickly for the people on the ship.
Say a ship wanted to travel 10ly and moved at 0.8c. To an outside observer, time taken = 10/0.8 = 12.5 years. To the people on the ship, time passed = t/gamma = t*(1-(v^2/c^2))^1/2 = 12.5*sqrt(0.36) = 12.5*0.6 = 7.5.
So to the onboard observer, the journey would only take 7 and a half years. To go 10 light years. Fairly convenient isn't it?
Looks like I need to go back and read
I thought, for example travelling 10 light years at the speed of light would take 10 years.
So how travelling 10ly at 0.8c(a slower speed) only takes 7.5 years really confuses me!
Are you basing this off time back on earth/outside observer? or time from the onboard observer's watch? (for example and to simplify)
Because I think you need to take the outside observer out of this equation and base it entirely on the crew of the ship. I am not concerned about what time appears to have passed if you're outside the ship or relative to another object.
Let me know
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If you're travelling at the speed of light then your surroundings will be in a state of pause would they not since you have to be either going slower or faster than light to observe any change in time - how is this overcome?
