Dale.Amon@H.GP.CS.CMU.EDU (01/21/89)
How do we know that there is not indeed a theory that is a superset of Einstein? A lot of work in physics goes into getting rid of inifinities. string-theory f'r'instance. I would say that I don't believe for one instance that there is such a thing as infinite mass, no matter how fast you go. I suspect SOMETHING will break long before that, EVEN IF YOU CAN GET THE ENERGY TO KEEP ACCELERATING. Maybe you'll become a black hole, or maybe you'll tunnel through to the negative have of the hyperbola. I suspect that when you get up to those high energies that you will enter the realm where quantum theory cannot be ignored even for macroscopic objects. I'm not saying that the speed of light is not necessarily a 'limit', but that infinities just don't happen. They aren't neat. And Hawking doesn't like them, so who am I to differ?
ethan@ut-emx.UUCP (Ethan Tecumseh Vishniac) (01/22/89)
In article <601361839.amon@H.GP.CS.CMU.EDU>, Dale.Amon@H.GP.CS.CMU.EDU writes: > I would say that I don't believe for one instance that there is such a > thing as infinite mass, no matter how fast you go. I suspect SOMETHING > will break long before that, EVEN IF YOU CAN GET THE ENERGY TO KEEP > ACCELERATING. > ... > I suspect that when you get up to those high energies that you will > enter the realm where quantum theory cannot be ignored even for > macroscopic objects. > > I'm not saying that the speed of light is not necessarily a 'limit', > but that infinities just don't happen. They aren't neat. And Hawking > doesn't like them, so who am I to differ? These are not the type of infinities that pose any real physical problem. The troublesome infinities are those where an (apparently) physically realizable system evolves to contain infinities, like the collapse of a massive cold object into a black hole with a central singularity. SR includes no such problems. It may be wrong, but there are no singularities in it that guarantee that it's wrong. GR, of course, is a different story. -- I'm not afraid of dying Ethan Vishniac, Dept of Astronomy, Univ. of Texas I just don't want to be {charm,ut-sally,ut-emx,noao}!utastro!ethan there when it happens. (arpanet) ethan@astro.AS.UTEXAS.EDU - Woody Allen (bitnet) ethan%astro.as.utexas.edu@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU These must be my opinions. Who else would bother?
rae@geaclib.UUCP (Reid Ellis) (01/24/89)
Dale.Amon@H.GP.CS.CMU.EDU writes: |Maybe you'll become a black hole, or maybe you'll tunnel through to the |negative have of the hyperbola. But how would it feel to have *some* of your atoms quantum tunnel? You'd want the whole thing to happen at once, n'est-ce pas? :-) Reid -- Reid Ellis geaclib!rae@geac.uucp
space-request+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU (01/24/89)
Those who find this FTL talk interesting will want to see this month's Discover magazine, which has the cover story "Beyond Einstein". It contains some fascinating reference to tachyon theory, etc. Nothing for the hard-core physicist, but easy reading, at least. +--------------------------------------------+------------------------------+ | David Birnbaum, programmer/consultant | dbirnbau@nmsu.edu | | Small Systems, Computer Center | VTIS001@NMSUVM1.BITNET | | New Mexico State University <--+ They pay my bills, but | | 10 PRINT "Basic is Dead!" : GOTO 10 | they don't write my opions! | +--------------------------------------------+------------------------------+