OFF: SETI, ETs

M Holmes fofp at TATTOO.ED.AC.UK
Thu Jul 11 11:25:40 EDT 1996


Carl E. Anderson writes:

> >>>>  Furthermore, the ufologists stated that
> >>>>  it has been proven recently that we can infact travel at a warp speed and
> >>>>  within this warp one can slow or speed up time factors.
> >
> > *proven*?  Surely "theorised" would be more accurate? Even Einstein's
> > _Theory_of Relativity or Darwin's _Theory_ of Evolution havn't made it
> > to _Laws_ yet. As in Law of Gravity etc.
>
>         Gravity is probably only a "Law" because no one understands how
> it works :)   "Er, masses attract."  "Why?"  "Er, well, they just sort of
> *do* .... "  :)

Didn't Einstein posit that this was because mass bent spacetime?

I was recently at a lecture here by one of the local theoretical physics
gurus. He was talking about how a Grand Universal Theory (including all
four Forces) is highly likely within ten or twenty years (current
accelerators are close to the energy required to have a good look at the
symmetry breakdown point of gravity or somesuch). Before the lecture I'd
always wondered how particles like the neutrino et al could have no
mass. After the lecture I realised that the real question is why some
particles do have mass. It's a pretty weird property.

I'm having a lot of difficulty not seeing the Universe as some kind of
finite automata simulation lately.

> Carl

FoFP



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