Star Trek's Warp Drive: Are We There Yet?

[Tarrbot]

Mike states:

What quantification do we have to think that space IS the same everywhere? Since none of us has been there, we really have no way of knowing other than what the scientific train of thought is on the matter based on what they currently believe to be true. Particle accelerators have nearly reached light speed and have yeilded no appreciative conclusions on the matter, so I really don't see how considering other options is "foolhardy". Keeping an open mind and thinking outside of the box is of the upmost importance in trying to discover these secrets, as overlooking any detail that may seem unlikely could be counterproductive.

Who would have believed that mold on bread led to the discovery of the most signifigant anti-biotic in history?

I never intended to suggest that other options were foolhardy, only that basing calculations on speculative data is foolhardy.

Nothing at all wrong with looking at different options but when it comes to calculations and such, going with known data is correct. Speculation can't (or shouldn't) enter into it.

However, even saying that, Einstein used a non-standard geometry to come up with the theory of relativity. But that's mainly because space falls into Euclidean geometry and spacetime does not.

Regardless, I'm no physicist but I do have a firm grasp on the scientific method and I'm a bit of a bonehead when it comes to executing that method.

[johnallg]

Thanks for this thread. It sparked quite a few emails between my daughter and me - I needed to get a handle on the concept of depressing time to propel. She being an astrophysics doctoral student had this in different courses and though I didn't follow or didn't see how her examples pertained, did get the point through to me. But with more thinking I see it would take immense amounts of energy to depress time.

What was it Dorothy said?.......

[kiramdear]

Shoot, and I just changed avatars ...