Theoretically possible inventions you would like to see?

[El_Machinae]

Why not just buy one of those bearsuits from the complete nutjob who has dedicated his life to building suits capable of surviving a bear-mauling, but has never put any of them to the test against an actual bear?

Because it cannot fly! It doesn't augment strength! It doesn't have a sensor suit and an interactive AI!

I don't even need weapons on the thing. I'm just letting enterprising people of today know that someday I'll be willing to pay millions of dollars for such a thing.

 

[uppi]

Infinite energy? You just solved all the energy problems then

Yes, and I am kind of suspicious about anything that violates the laws of thermodynamics on a large scale. So I guess this would be a redistribution of energy, which always costs energy in the end.

Of course, the small magnitude of this effect might limit the usefulness of it.

And to increase the magnitude, one would need an miraculous material. So the use of this might be confined to the ideal world of the theorists, where you only look at a small subset of physical laws and ignore the rest.

Like I've said, if the calculations are correct and there's no way to avoid it, it might make it practically impossible.

No, and this is the key: Of the calculations are correct, they make it theoretically impossible, as they show that there is no way to create a stable drive. This is more than just practical impossibility, which would mean, that there is a theoretical recipe which should work but cannot be implemented for some reason.

I thought we established this already, the amount of energy required by Alcubierre drive is huge but still finite.

But if it exceeds the total energy of the universe, it might as well be infinite as we would not be able to reach either and the drive is theoretically impossible. If it is less than that, but still huge, then it might be just practically impossible (just considering energy).

 

[Hehehe]

And to increase the magnitude, one would need an miraculous material. So the use of this might be confined to the ideal world of the theorists, where you only look at a small subset of physical laws and ignore the rest.

One would need to produce a locally mass-negative region of space-time. So, in effect, that would mean one would need to extract more than the energy of the plates, yes? The energy of the plates is less than infinite, is it not?

No, and this is the key: Of the calculations are correct, they make it theoretically impossible, as they show that there is no way to create a stable drive. This is more than just practical impossibility, which would mean, that there is a theoretical recipe which should work but cannot be implemented for some reason.

There is a theoretical recipe. It can be implemented (ignoring problems other than Hawking radiation for a second). It can go over light speed, even if it is for a short time. Practically, its implementation can be limited the amount of energy required or the aforementioned Hawking radiation.

But if it exceeds the total energy of the universe, it might as well be infinite as we would not be able to reach either and the drive is theoretically impossible. If it is less than that, but still huge, then it might be just practically impossible (just considering energy).

Chris Van Den Broeck, in 1999, has tried to address the potential issues.[10] By contracting the 3+1 dimensional surface area of the 'bubble' being transported by the drive, while at the same time expanding the 3 dimensional volume contained inside, Van Den Broeck was able to reduce the total energy needed to transport small atoms to less than 3 solar masses. Later, by slightly modifying the Van Den Broeck metric, Krasnikov reduced the necessary total amount of negative energy to a few milligrams.

I'm getting the feeling that this debate is going nowhere.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

I hate how that last quote acts like the results there are actually from physical experiments.

 

[uppi]

One would need to produce a locally mass-negative region of space-time. So, in effect, that would mean one would need to extract more than the energy of the plates, yes? The energy of the plates is less than infinite, is it not?

Well, that is kind of the problem: Theoretically the vacuum energy does go to infinity.

There is a theoretical recipe. It can be implemented (ignoring problems other than Hawking radiation for a second). It can go over light speed, even if it is for a short time. Practically, its implementation can be limited the amount of energy required or the aforementioned Hawking radiation.

*Sigh* You're right, this isn't going anywhere.

I hate how that last quote acts like the results there are actually from physical experiments.

Me too. This is exactly the kind of theory I hate.

 

[Kozmos]

FTL wise I support QT than actually crossing traveling across the 'verse.

 

[Uncle Anton]

Nano-Factory would be Epic - Bye, bye Relative Scarcity

I'm pretty sure it wouldn't change humanity into one big Roddenberry-esque utopia (some will always strive for power over others, regardless of the reason), but re-defining the very nature of economics like that would definitely bring this planet and it's people some big improvements.

Manipulation of Gravitational fields would also be Win.

 

[Uncle Anton]

Why not just buy one of those bearsuits from the complete nutjob who has dedicated his life to building suits capable of surviving a bear-mauling, but has never put any of them to the test against an actual bear?

Hang on... a Suit that makes you look like a Bear, but can enable you to safely Bear-fight with other Bears??? But that hasn't been used against a Bear?


That's...


That's.... so..... AWESOME!