gsmith@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (Gene Ward Smith) (02/10/86)
In article <6315@utzoo.UUCP> henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) writes: >Robert Forward,who has studied the matter [starflight] professionally as a USAF >consultant on advanced space propulsion, says that antimatter propulsion >is within our reach with today's technology. Antimatter production would I must confess to a very considerable lack of knowledge about star travel. But this posting brought to mind a book I read recently, "The Flight of the Dragonfly" I think it was called. It was by Robert Forward, and it featured aliens with vast mathematical abilities. Apparantly, Forward had the idea when writing this book that he knew something about mathematics, and nobody told him differently. The result was my nomination for the funniest sf novel since "The Butterfly Kid". Gag me with a functor! I thought I would die laughing. Anyway, I was wondering, does someone out there know enough about this to tell the rest of us if Forward is talking through his hat again (it kind of sounds like it to me, but as I say, I really don't know) or does he know what he is talking about (this time). >"Their" absence here is a considerable mystery, which has occasioned much >debate in recent years, but the "extreme cost" of interstellar travel just >does not suffice as an explanation. Maybe "they" are a long way away? >"Antimatter rockets will take us to the stars. *This is no longer >science fiction*." -- Forward Thank God it's not science fiction -- that way it stands a chance of being true. :-} ucbvax!brahms!gsmith Gene Ward Smith/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720 ucbvax!weyl!gsmith "When Ubizmo talks, people listen."
crm@duke.UUCP (Charlie Martin) (02/11/86)
DOCTOR Robert Forward, whose Ph. D. is in Physics and who has done considerable and worthwhile basic research, CERTAINLY knows *something* about mathematics. Probably more than any 990 other people out of a thousand. But I suppose he didn't realize that the new incarnation of Gauss would be grading his fiction. -- Charlie Martin (...mcnc!duke!crm)
cipher@mmm.UUCP (Andre Guirard) (02/13/86)
In article <11783@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> gsmith@brahms.UUCP (Gene Ward Smith) writes: >In article <6315@utzoo.UUCP> henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) writes: >>"Their" absence here is a considerable mystery, which has occasioned much >>debate in recent years, but the "extreme cost" of interstellar travel just >>does not suffice as an explanation. > > Maybe "they" are a long way away? Maybe "they" don't know we're here. Maybe "they" don't care. Maybe "they" _are_ here, and they're not interfering because they're running a betting pool on how long it will be before the nuclear holocaust. There have been stranger forms of entertainment. Actually if I were "they," I would certainly think twice before helping as belligerent and irresponsible a species as ours is into interstellar space... -- /''`\ Andre Guirard ([]-[]) High Weasel \ x / speak no evil ihnp4!mmm!cipher `-'