Dr. Mrdad, on 31 January 2013 - 03:44 PM, said:
I have always thought that physics as we see it isn't complete. We can all agree that man hasn't mastered the concept of physics. I believe there are infinite amount of discoveries to be made when it comes to physics. If the human races is still on this planet a thousand years from now and hasnt destroyed itself, the concepts of physics and what would be known then, wouldnt be the same as now in comparison. Technology would be different. The things we might have deemed impossible might be in fact be possible and plausible. Then space travel from other star systems maybe in fact possible. Just look at the advancement we have made in a 100 years, Imagine what could be gained in a 1000 years? And imagine a civilization that is 2000 years more advance that the human race. Imagine the concept and discoveries that they would have in physics in comparison to ours. Imagine the technologies they would possess. Imagine the technology we would possess in 2000 years. Many things still remain to be uncovered in the universe and in physics.
They are not complete, I would be the first to admit it, but that will not change what we do know, it might expand upon it. It might redefine aspects of it, but I see no reason to think it is wrong, we do not make the rules, we just observe them and report them. Saying we do not "have them right" is kind of like saying when we see a Lion, it's not really a Lion. New physics might make technology more workable, I grant, but right now, physics are the same across the Universe. Aliens have to follow the same laws that we do, and have observed. Even Michio Kaku says the same thing in Through The Wormhole, Season 3, Episode 1.
Technology too, must hit a wall. It is not never ending. I hear what you are saying, and I have heard the argument, but if I might bring the debate a little closer to home, we once said, heavier than air flight was impossible, the speed of sound was impossible, yet birds flew right in front of our eyes, the Mantis Shrimp exceeds the speed of sounds when it attacks with pincers, heck, man had already accomplished traversing the speed of sound with the bullet, and the simple whip! All it was, was people not looking around themselves. Science did. Science made the discoveries that paved the way to overcome these man made obstacles. And now we have Plasma TV's and... drag cars. I love 'em. Yes, I know driving really fast in ladies clothing is dangerous, but the rush is hard to beat.
And we said no way can man break the 8 second quarter mile. But we did. Then they said the 5 second quarter mile could not be done, a man would black out. Sometimes they do, but we still did it. Now we are into sub 5 second quarters. Can we do 4? Probably! 3? Maybe, I'd love to try it! What about 2? Man that is smoking! Imagine if we could barrel down a quarter mile in a conventional engine in 2 seconds! I can only imagine how that might feel. 1 second? Can we get a car to go down the quarter ,mile in les than one second flat?
You know what. I really do not think so. A drag car has a normall aspirated engine. The only way it is going to do that is by fitting some amazing advanced tech that we do not posses right? But lets just say, some genius manages to do a quarter second pass in under one second. Amazing as that is.
Then what?
Backwards in time? A drag car is not going to do that, so you need to dump the technology because it has reached it's limit. I think everything in existence has a limit, and light is at the end of that limit. I think when Einstein came up with E=MC2, he came up with the first basic equation of the Universe, the equivalent to our 1+1=2. I think we have to stop thinking about going faster, and think about another way to tackle the conundrum of space travel, and to be honest, proposals that use several suns as a source of power, and only ever in theory - is just our way if learning that limit.
Still, it is viable for short space travel. But we are not ever seeing species at our level of technology. Only ones with fantastical stuff we can only imagine (and often do). I think that is something of a problem to.
Edited by psyche101, 04 February 2013 - 08:28 AM.