Was: Skeptics are sometimes wrong.
 >  AM> hitting a small particle at nearly the speed of light - BOM! no more
 >  AM> UFO). If one can produce an artificial spacetime field, farbric
 >  AM> or whatever you wan't to call it, one would not experience
 >  AM> time dialation nor any other principle discussed in general theory
 >  AM> - speed > c would be possible.
 >  AM> PS. Don't tell me that this isn't possible. I'm sure you would have
 >  AM> thought the same thing of teleportation about 20 yrs ago!
 [....]
 > impossibilities.  'Huge accelerations' do not pose any problem...you
 > can accelerate at 1g (and simulate earths gravity on your craft
 > solving lots of potential physical complications) and accelerate up
 > to the speed of light in around 1 year.  Time dilation can be a
 > benefit and produces no problems on the one way trip...it can even
 > be used to reduce the trip time. and finally collision between
 > particles is not an impossible feat to overcome.  The density
 > between the stars is about 1 atom per cubic metre or so, hardly an
 > impossibility for construction design.
Man will have to go to the stars eventually, if he is to survive. In
the meanwhile, within the next thousand years, and based on present
technological advances, we will have the technology and means to build
"generation ships." For those who don't know of this idea, they are
ships that will support several hundred or even thousands of people
by the use of hydroponics and the raising of animals for food. The
first generations will never see land, but their descendants will.
Even if a continous 1g. acceleration isn't possible, a 1g force
can be created by spinning a section of the ship for artificial gravity.
Practical ship designs could be a sphere, or a pin-wheel shaped craft
with spokes and an outer wheel. The center section could be built on
gimbals that would not rotate, and would contain telescopes and video
for steering and observational purposes. Hydroponics areas would grow
vegetables for food. Farm animals could be raised for food as well.
This basic technology is only a few hundred years from being a reality
if science so chooses.
We don't need FTL speed, or space warps, or any of the science fiction
gadgetry to go to the stars.
In about 5 billion years, earth will be swallowed up by our sun which
will become a red giant, then fade away to a cold mote in space.
If man hasn't killed his race off, the technology to go to the stars
will certainly be available before then.
Regards,
Jack
--- FMail 1.22
---------------