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Interstellar Travel; Your thoughts on starships
Topic Started: Apr 26 2009, 09:32 PM (3,302 Views)
Genesis
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But all that at a quantum level?
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Ànraich
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Canis Lupis
Jun 2 2009, 10:55 PM
Ever hear of messenger theory?

If one nanobot gets to the world and has a means of reproducing without organic compounds, then it could theoretically program itself. Give it artificial intelligence, a firm understanding of the mission, and a firm understanding of its goal and WHAM!!! you've got a way to cheaply survey a planet without putting human lives at risk.
Yes but you can't program a robot to have a human mind. Computers use logic and logic alone, they can't be illogical or irrational like we can. They can be creative, don't get me wrong, they can come up with new ideas and such, but ultimately their abilities are limited because they just don't have those flaws that make us as humans perfect. They can survey a planet, but they can't really judge a planet, which is what we need to do when we get to the point of colonizing other star systems.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Genesis
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Irrationality is useless in planning a colony. Logic, connective reasoning, and creativity are the perfect tools for builing a colony.

Besides that, our irrationality is formed of dozens or even hundreds of layers of different logical and rational concepts that are not completely compatible.

For example, our subconcious understands cloth and fur as warm and comfortable. These concepts are then compared to 'home', and therefore safety. This is why we naturally adore furry animals. We also subconsciously understand dog as allies or companions. Then, our oldest, deepest, and perhaps strongest instincts tell us that a loud, hairy creature with huge teeth running towards us is trying to eat us. We then factor in the situation.

A large dog then shows up with warm, comforting fur, a history of alliance, and jaws to snap bone. After considering the situation and present train of thought, we may interpret it as an enemy, obstacle, or something to avoid at all costs or else it will rip you apart, activting the adrenaline gland, or as a large, fluffy, playful, pillow-like creature that you would allow to sleep at the foot of your bed.

All this 'irrational reasoning' is processed in a second or less. A very advanced machine could replicate this.
Edited by Genesis, Jun 5 2009, 04:01 PM.
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sam999
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alienboy
Apr 26 2009, 09:32 PM
A Solar or Laser Sail:
Pro: Fast travel
Con: The technology used for this is theroretical.
Did you hear about that craft NASA tested a soler sail on? It is theroretical no more.
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No, can you post a link to the article?
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seascorpion
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Why Can't I Hold All These Mongols?

it is possible, just not at the moment, about two hundred years ago we thought it would be impossible for heavier than air aircraft to fly , im not saying it will happen soon, but it will happen someday in the probably distant future( i say probably because for all we know someone could figure out a way sometime in the next century, im not saying that will happen) but it is possible
Edited by seascorpion, Sep 21 2009, 01:22 AM.
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lamna
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Well you are wrong about that. 210 years ago Sir George Cayley was perfected his on understanding the principles of flight and showed us what you need for an aeroplane to work, then 100 years later Percy Plicher build a plane but died before he could test it, then in 31 March 1903 Richard Pearse invented the aeroplane. Then some yanks dicking about with bicycles stole the glory.

Edited by lamna, Sep 21 2009, 05:03 AM.
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Holben
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intestellar travel? Remember, earth technology is millions of years before that of any Solar Empire civilisation.
It's possible, though meybe not for a few hundred years.
Somebody will make some way of doing it if we're not all dead.
How about dimensional jumps?
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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lamna
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Oh I can do that. I can move in 4 dimensions!

And I think we will have the ability to probe the nearest stars in just a thousand years, or less.
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Dimensional Jump? What kind of 'dimensional jump'?

Travel faster then light speed? Sure, why not?

It honestly wouldn't be as impossible as people let on for us to beat the light speed barrier, in theory. I repeat, in theory (things tend to get messier in the real world). First, you could built Michio Kaku's warp drive, but the energy requirements are rediculous.

Second: Figure out how to merge Electro-magnetism with gravity. We have found ways to merge every fundamental force but gravity, if we can figure out how, we can make area of negative mass pretty easily. This means we could complete negate mass to equal zero, letting light-speed, maybe superluminal speed become possible. Plus we wouldn't need much force to get moving, since inertia and mass are so closely related that the existence of negative mass in an object would decrease it's inertia.

Third: Use the same technology to create a wormhole.

Fourth: Discover Negative Matter. Use it for same affect as second and third.

Fifth: Quantum Teleportation. If you're here, you probably already know what it is. However, anytime you do it, the 'replica' would never be a perfect replica of yourself, so, it would be a new, slightly different, you.

These aren't impossible, and scientifically understandable. The technology is incredibly advanced, but we could, in theory, do them in time. Honestly, if enough scientists got to work on it, astonauts could go to Zeta Reticuli could happen in our life-times. Of course, i don't know of any country that would be willing to put enough hours or money into it, sadly.

So... anyone here want to sponsor it?
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Ànraich
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Millions of years away? I doubt that highly. We could colonize the whole solar system with modern technology, if we wanted to. Hell, we could even build a death star or imperial cruiser, if you could come into possession of the entire Earth's income for the next 500 years or so. It's not that the technology doesn't exist, it's that people don't know it exists and don't know what we could gain by colonizing the solar system. For instance I just read about a plasma rocket today that can reach Mars in 39 days. That's nearly a third of the time it takes compared to regular rockets.

We don't need new technology, we need public interest in space.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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lamna
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Or a successful overlord with an enthusiasm for space. Just considering all the options.
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Holben
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How about me?
Dimensional jumps... I don't pretend to understand them. Something about more than 12 dimensions and in some space moves in mysterious ways which could be exploited to get to anywhere in the universe.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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lamna
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So rather than go "up" or "forward" to get to your star you go "Smlorb" or "The Dimension of Icy Madness" to your star? Well it sounds plausible to an idiot like me, though how I have no idea.

And I would be a better overlord.
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34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
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Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
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Holben
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Doubt it. You'd let the hero smish you cos you'd give him a lecture about spec ev before shooting him.
And going to a dimension of Icy Madness... where would that get you when you phased back?
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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