Drudge counts on the uneducated to not know the difference...(Clark)

wyldwolf

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Tue Sep-30-03 12:03 PM
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Drudge counts on the uneducated to not know the difference...(Clark)

Edited on Tue Sep-30-03 12:07 PM by wyldwolf

The headline is on the top of the page: General Clark Explores Possibility Of Time Travel... And the article links to a Wired Magazine article in which Clark says:

"...I can't believe that in all of human history, we'll never ever be able to go beyond the speed of light to reach where we want to go," said Clark. "I happen to believe that mankind can do it."

"I've argued with physicists about it, I've argued with best friends about it. I just have to believe it. It's my only faith-based initiative."

No mention of time travel. But Speed of light travel. (or warp speed - people often confuse the two.) There is a difference - and you would think the scientists quoted in the article would know better.

Sure, Clark isn't qualified to argue with physicists on a scientific level. But we've all read pieces from scientists who have explored the possibilities of it. Some have said it is possible. So on the surface - from a purely conversational level - anyone can argue with a scientist from the position that scientists often disagree with each other's opinions.

And we all know how fruitless it is to declare anything is impossible.

But back to the main point. The point is speed of light travel. Not time travel, and the Wired Magazine scientists speak of them as one in the same...

Gary Melnick, a senior astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said Clark's faith in the possibility of time travel was "probably based more on his imagination than on physics."

Correction Dr. Melnick. We're talking about speed of light travel.

Speed of light travel as being studied by NASA with their Breakthrough Propulsion Physics (BPP) Project. (The project lost funding under the Bush administration.)

In 1996, NASA established the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project to seek the ultimate breakthroughs in space transportation: (1) propulsion that requires no propellant mass, (2) propulsion that attains the maximum transit speeds physically possible, and (3) breakthrough methods of energy production to power such devices. Topics of interest include experiments and theories regarding the coupling of gravity and electromagnetism, the quantum vacuum, hyper fast travel, and super luminal quantum effects. Warp speed. Because the propulsion goals are presumably far from fruition, a special emphasis is to identify affordable, near-term, and credible research that could make measurable progress toward these propulsion goals.

Scientists working on this project generally agree that "warp drive" won't be a reality in the forseeable future. They say this NOT BECAUSE they feel it is impossible but because the physics to do it are not yet known. But that is where the research is...

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/bpp/
http://www.lerc.nasa.gov/WWW/PAO/warp.htm

"I just have to believe it. It's my only faith-based initiative." Clark's comment prompted laughter and applause from the gathering.