Aliens (the kind from outer space)

[Roy H.]

I'm not sure what it is about aliens that has gotten people fired up, but a second warning to all:  remain civil and please stop with the bashing of others.

[indeedproceed]

Here are my thoughts on this:

I think its cool to think about Aliens, but I'm no physicist and I'm no astronaut, and I doubt we'll ever see faster than light speed travel in my lifetime, so really..pretty much the only thing relevant to me in my reality is what I see and read in sci-fi movies/books.

Now if you want to tell me that one day we'll be able to fold space and time...that's cool. you want to tell me that it is a near mathematical certainty that other intelligent life exists out there, that's cool too. But I gotta say, there are better odds that Marvin the Martian will jump off the page and shake your hand than anyone you know seeing FTL travel or an actual alien before they die.

So really, I'm just gonna sit back and read 'Hitchhiker's Guide To The Universe' again. Maybe have a cup of hot cocoa...with some space marshmallows.

[Master Po]

Let me help you think the "right way" IP

[indeedproceed]

Oh no, Po...allow me to show you the truth!

http://movieclips.com/LRE4j-star-trek-the-wrath-of-khan-movie-khans-worms/

[Fafnir]

Short of us developing the ability to "cheat" well beyond our wildess dreams the current laws of physics I don't see FTL travel happening. The amounts of energy required are to huge even if the current theories provide some potential loopholes to exploit.

Even our vastly improved understanding since the days of pure Newtonian physics hasn't allowed for such a big change.

Threads like this remind me how sad I am that they stopped the accelerator in the US.

[Bahku]

Let me help you think the "right way" IP

Star Trek: The Original Series, Episode #9, "Dagger of the Mind", broadcast November 3, 1966. (Yes, I'm one of those).

[fairweatherfan]

The article that you posted last night, mentions that one would need 10^42 joules of energy just to manipulate the 11th dimension...to give you an idea, 1 tonne of TNT explosion yields 10^8 joules of energy...so, you have to find a source which yields more than 5 times that amount energy.

This is actually off by a lot...10^9 joules is 10 times the energy of 10^8 joules; 10^10 joules is 10 times that, and so on.  So you'd need a source that provides roughly 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (phew!) times as much energy as your ton of TNT.  This amount of energy would literally destroy the Earth, assuming it was anywhere near the energy when it was applied.

That's why, while theoretically it's not impossible to do such things, practically it's well beyond the bounds of everything we know to even attempt it.

[Eja117]

The article that you posted last night, mentions that one would need 10^42 joules of energy just to manipulate the 11th dimension...to give you an idea, 1 tonne of TNT explosion yields 10^8 joules of energy...so, you have to find a source which yields more than 5 times that amount energy.

This is actually off by a lot...10^9 joules is 10 times the energy of 10^8 joules; 10^10 joules is 10 times that, and so on.  So you'd need a source that provides roughly 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (phew!) times as much energy as your ton of TNT.  This amount of energy would literally destroy the Earth, assuming it was anywhere near the energy when it was applied.

That's why, while theoretically it's not impossible to do such things, practically it's well beyond the bounds of everything we know to even attempt it.

I was under the impression that they recently figured out how to make a mini sun by heating something up with lasers to the heat of the sun at which point it collapses on itself and makes fusion.

How they plan to contain the thing I guess is something different.

Never heard the follow up though.

[indeedproceed]

Threads like this remind me how sad I am that they stopped the accelerator in the US.

Will you still be sad when they rip a hole in the space time continuum in switzerland and suddenly they're overrun with evil teenage mutant ninja turtles? Villains in a half-shell? Where April Jones rules over them as their queen?

I was under the impression that they recently figured out how to make a mini sun by heating something up with lasers to the heat of the sun at which point it collapses on itself and makes fusion.

How they plan to contain the thing I guess is something different.

Never heard the follow up though.

Actually I heard the doctor that was planning to do that was going to use this complex series of artificially intelligent mechanical arms that could push the solar bursts back in upon themselves.

There was some mild speculation as to what would happen if the user's AI inhibitor chip (the thing that stops the arms from taking over the doctor's brain) was damaged somehow, but those were dismissed as overly cautious. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?

Have you heard about the new study that's going on where they're testing what the experimental detonation of a gamma bomb can do to the human body? I heard the doctor in charge is presumed dead, and this large green 'hulk' is runnin amuck.

[barefacedmonk]

The article that you posted last night, mentions that one would need 10^42 joules of energy just to manipulate the 11th dimension...to give you an idea, 1 tonne of TNT explosion yields 10^8 joules of energy...so, you have to find a source which yields more than 5 times that amount energy.

This is actually off by a lot...10^9 joules is 10 times the energy of 10^8 joules; 10^10 joules is 10 times that, and so on.  So you'd need a source that provides roughly 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (phew!) times as much energy as your ton of TNT.  This amount of energy would literally destroy the Earth, assuming it was anywhere near the energy when it was applied.

That's why, while theoretically it's not impossible to do such things, practically it's well beyond the bounds of everything we know to even attempt it.

Don't you just add the powers when multiplying? So, five times the amount of energy yielded by a tonne of TNT would be 10^40, right? Which is what I said..more than five times. If I'm wrong, please clarify...just trying to understand.

[barefacedmonk]

Threads like this remind me how sad I am that they stopped the accelerator in the US.

Will you still be sad when they rip a hole in the space time continuum in switzerland and suddenly they're overrun with evil teenage mutant ninja turtles? Villains in a half-shell? Where April Jones rules over them as their queen?

I was under the impression that they recently figured out how to make a mini sun by heating something up with lasers to the heat of the sun at which point it collapses on itself and makes fusion.

How they plan to contain the thing I guess is something different.

Never heard the follow up though.

Actually I heard the doctor that was planning to do that was going to use this complex series of artificially intelligent mechanical arms that could push the solar bursts back in upon themselves.

There was some mild speculation as to what would happen if the user's AI inhibitor chip (the thing that stops the arms from taking over the doctor's brain) was damaged somehow, but those were dismissed as overly cautious. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?

Have you heard about the new study that's going on where they're testing what the experimental detonation of a gamma bomb can do to the human body? I heard the doctor in charge is presumed dead, and this large green 'hulk' is runnin amuck.

LOL.

[Fafnir]

The article that you posted last night, mentions that one would need 10^42 joules of energy just to manipulate the 11th dimension...to give you an idea, 1 tonne of TNT explosion yields 10^8 joules of energy...so, you have to find a source which yields more than 5 times that amount energy.

This is actually off by a lot...10^9 joules is 10 times the energy of 10^8 joules; 10^10 joules is 10 times that, and so on.  So you'd need a source that provides roughly 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (phew!) times as much energy as your ton of TNT.  This amount of energy would literally destroy the Earth, assuming it was anywhere near the energy when it was applied.

That's why, while theoretically it's not impossible to do such things, practically it's well beyond the bounds of everything we know to even attempt it.

I was under the impression that they recently figured out how to make a mini sun by heating something up with lasers to the heat of the sun at which point it collapses on itself and makes fusion.

How they plan to contain the thing I guess is something different.

Never heard the follow up though.

What? I hadn't heard of this. They've been able to create some small fusion reactors for research iirc, but they are a net negative energy wise.

[Bahku]

The article that you posted last night, mentions that one would need 10^42 joules of energy just to manipulate the 11th dimension...to give you an idea, 1 tonne of TNT explosion yields 10^8 joules of energy...so, you have to find a source which yields more than 5 times that amount energy.

This is actually off by a lot...10^9 joules is 10 times the energy of 10^8 joules; 10^10 joules is 10 times that, and so on.  So you'd need a source that provides roughly 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (phew!) times as much energy as your ton of TNT.  This amount of energy would literally destroy the Earth, assuming it was anywhere near the energy when it was applied.

That's why, while theoretically it's not impossible to do such things, practically it's well beyond the bounds of everything we know to even attempt it.

There is a source of energy that is powerful enough to supply the required amounts, and it is anti-matter, (and it has been created and acquired by accelerator). The current problem with anti-matter, is that it is produced in such incredibly small amounts, that it would, at present time and state of technology, take thousands of years to produce enough to use as energy for space-travel.

I believe that, and the understanding of gravity and the "Theory of Everything", (s-string/membranes/11 dimensions, etc.), is only a matter of time. I also think that interstellar travel is not so much a matter of speed as it is a matter of understanding the bending of space and manipulation of gravity to make large distances much smaller.

[Fafnir]

The article that you posted last night, mentions that one would need 10^42 joules of energy just to manipulate the 11th dimension...to give you an idea, 1 tonne of TNT explosion yields 10^8 joules of energy...so, you have to find a source which yields more than 5 times that amount energy.

This is actually off by a lot...10^9 joules is 10 times the energy of 10^8 joules; 10^10 joules is 10 times that, and so on.  So you'd need a source that provides roughly 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (phew!) times as much energy as your ton of TNT.  This amount of energy would literally destroy the Earth, assuming it was anywhere near the energy when it was applied.

That's why, while theoretically it's not impossible to do such things, practically it's well beyond the bounds of everything we know to even attempt it.

Don't you just add the powers when multiplying? So, five times the amount of energy yielded by a tonne of TNT would be 10^40, right? Which is what I said..more than five times. If I'm wrong, please clarify...just trying to understand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponentiation#Identities_and_properties

[dpaps]

EDIT: People have already been warned.