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Introducing the Warpship
astroengine writes "Dr. Richard Obousy, a guy who has put modern science into the warp drive, has designed his very own warpship. Now, for the first time, he's shared it with the world. It might not be the sleek Starship Enterprise, but its structure has been optimized to harness local 'dark energy,' generating a warp bubble so faster-than-light velocities are possible." Now, the only question is: will the ship achieve faster-than-light travel ... or will the company hit those speeds once it has enough money from investors?
Because we all know from Douglas Adams that it takes so long to learn how to perform time travel you need time travel in order to do so. I don't recall what we're supposed to do instead, so just write 42 on everything and we'll be okay until we run out of towels.
My webcomic
How about we figure out how to warp time first and then figure out a ship to utilize that science for the sake of travel?
Where's the fun in that?!
Yeah - Here's the kicker, found on Page 2 of TFA:
Exactly how the 11th dimension would be expanded and shrunk is still unknown.
Sounds pretty similar to the way I walk - I move my feet and the Earth rotates beneath me. I'm planning on starting to fly instead, it's just maintaining altitude after lift-off. But I won't let that small detail stop me from making travel plans - I'll work that out after jumping.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Where's the fun in that?!
Not where, when.
Instead, the design relies upon our future knowledge of spacetime and superstring[1] theory. That's the nice thing about it... warping space time in a bubble around the ship can result not only in FTL travel, but also time travel. So why should I constrain myself to the currently available theory?
[1] Also a little bit of sillystring theory, but it gets messy at that point, so I won't go into details.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
A consultant, eh? Making the big promises, he is?
Well when he's done and had his turn, I've got some marvelous things to show you. I wouldn't show just anybody, it's our secret. Everyone will want one and we'll be rich and famous so get them while you can now!
So, they are seeking funding from the same people that invested in the Moller Skycar, then?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
What was it someone said about "a fool and his money"?
That they're soul-mates and stay together forever?
Trust me, kids; don't drink and post.
Resistance is always futile, especially if a woman is involved.
In my other life, I eat cats.
How am I supposed to secure the patent if I wait until after someone else has discovered the underlying science?
Sounds pretty similar to the way I walk - I move my feet and the Earth rotates beneath me. I'm planning on starting to fly instead, it's just maintaining altitude after lift-off. But I won't let that small detail stop me from making travel plans - I'll work that out after jumping.
Oh that part is relatively simple: Just throw yourself at the ground and miss.
.
Causality-Shmausality. I dropped a glass because I found it in pieces on the floor just this afternoon...
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein
I've always heard that a fool and his money are some party!
Steal their invention, then travel back in space-time and patent it.
Whoops, you spelled his name wrong, it should be "Zephram Cochrane".
first
Only if you mastered time travel.
To err is human. To arr is pirate.
is that like a universal 404 error?
I already have a time warping machine. I use it once daily to skip ahead 8hrs into tomorrow.
"Be prepared, son. That's my motto. Be prepared." --Joe Hallenbeck
Investing in insane pipe-dreams is simply a rational hedge in a portfolio overly weighted toward sane endeavors.
I've got one too, though unfortunately it's stuck going forward at x1 speed.
Oh that part is relatively simple: Just throw yourself at the ground and miss.
I never knew I had such good aim.
.sdrawkcab si gis siht
Mine varies by alcohol consumption.
"Be prepared, son. That's my motto. Be prepared." --Joe Hallenbeck
Don't worry, you can just buy a causality default swap as a hedge, and then tranche the resulting multiverse into marketable reality instruments.
You know what sound it makes when you jump and miss the ground?
Whoosh!
I think you're just stringing us along.
Write up the button pushing process part of it, get that filed and then claim prior art?
I drank what? -- Socrates
Being half serious:
How will those, that are aware in the 11th dimension, experience this when WE expand their Universe?
"Honey, does this warpship make my ass look fat?"
And the 11th dimensional husband heads out to the 9th dimension for a drink before he answers that question.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
Can you imagine that when we make our first travel faster than light, a Vulcan spaceship(or any other alien except Borgs :P) will passing by our neighborhood and make the first contact with aliens...?
Noooo, I think I see too much science fiction
Until the skies turn blue...
Until the air of freedom strikes us...
"Honey, does this warpship make my ass look fat?"
--
Just because you aren't asking the question doesn't mean you aren't going to get the answer.
If those are at all related, I'm guessing you're single. If you're going to tell your wife that her ass looks like it's bending space-time, at least let her ask the question first. That's not the kind of thing you volunteer.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
We should harness energy from our own universe instead!
Wait that didn't go so well for Rodney did it...
Don't panic
all hail Orbo!
"Don't Forget to Salt the Fries"
and is piloted by L Ron himself! Probably full of Thetans, too.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
and there it was all along..
duke@3drealms.com
OMG!!! Ponies!!!
on the same day I play Duke Nukem Forever in HURD.
I am not saying that every spaceship has to be as awesome as the Millennium Falcon, but is he saying that we can solve the problem of harnessing dark energy, and we can solve the problem of warping the space-time continuum, but we can't figure out how to do it without building something that looks like an intergalactic Segway?
Forget time travel, lets just use the Infinite Improbability Drive! There's an infinite improbability that we'll get where we want to go, but we'll probably arrive as a petunia! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improbability_drive#Infinite_Improbability_Drive [wikipedia]
The other 63/64 don't understand fractions.
Failure to follow this advice may result in non-deterministic behavior.
What if you can only "change lanes" to other parallel dimensions, and can't "change speed" relative to our own timeline?
Then stay out of the left lane. Your slowing the rest of us down.
No, there's a finite improbability that we'll get where we want to go.
Before we can get an infinite improbability drive, we have to master finite probability physics. At that point, we can simply figure out the finite improbability of the existence of an infinite improbability drive, hook the system up to a nice, hot cup of tea, see it pop into existence, and then get beaten to death by a group of scientists who finally realize that the one thing that they really can't stand is a smartass.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
You want to warp time? Spend a weekend at my in-laws.
Guaranteed it takes a month.
This is the longest string of modded-funny comments I have ever seen on Slashdot.
The Professor: Where's the device that lets to speed up or slow down the passage of time?
Fry: [pulls out a bong] Under the seat.
Hey, I'm all for manipulating dark matter and delving into the 11th dimension as the next guy...
But we can't even get operating systems to work as we want. And car gas mileage hasn't increased much in the past few decades. [No, I don't consider it to be an huge accomplishment that some tiny 1500lb car now gets ~33mpg on the highway when my 6 year old V6 Camry gets an actual 30mpg on the highway at 70mph. Should I be thrilled if you show me a car getting 40mpg? ].
I think we have much more pressing (easier) issues to solve before making a warp drive...
That said, given how people behave, it wouldn't quite surprise me if we have warp-drive spacecraft (including civilian inter-solar-system travel) before we have fuel-efficient transportation and decent operating systems.