Re: OT: Alien Contact
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Some how my disturbed mind conjured up a movie image of a gangster trying to ride a horse. He gets so frustrated and points his gun at the horses head. Well, of course the animal doesn't recognize the threat and doesn't respond.
So maybe we are to stupid to be conquered yet.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">don't remember exact quote or who said it but it is something like: "the exact proof that there is an intelligent life out there is that no one tried to contact us " http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: OT: Alien Contact
 

i think that was from a calvin and hobes comic strip, as calvin is looking at a sawed off tree stump, littered with empty beer cans.

Re: OT: Alien Contact
 

There is little to no possibility of being visited by an alien race because it would be quite impractical to get to earth from another star system. It is impossible to travel faster than light, or even anywhere near the speed of light. It would take centuries to get here from the nearest stars, and there is no way those stars could support life on any planets that could be around them. Alpha Centauri and its companion stars probably don't even have any planets, much less ones that could support life. So, any life-supporting planets are going to be much farther away, making a trip here even less practical. Warp points (or frequent worm holes, which is what warp points would be, really) do not exist in reality, so that nullifies the possibility of bypassing most of interstellar space on the trip here.

Re: OT: Alien Contact
 

Fyron, you're being so much of a skeptic you're starting to look like a speculator yourself.

We have not tried to accelerate past C. We don't -know- for sure what happens. Yes, we have theory. Yes, have have tests that support it, and observations that do the same. But we haven't done it. Remember how the sound barrier got its name.

The same applies even more so to other FTL methods, especially the ones you mentioned. Lack of proof is not proof of abscene.

Phoenix-D

Re: OT: Alien Contact
 

I'm sure there are a lot of wacky crackpots trying to literally accelerate past C, at the moment.

Then there's the serious scientists with their super-high energy particle accelerators who don't even bother with the idea.

Re: OT: Alien Contact
 

There is a world of difference between the limits of the sound barrier and the speed of light.

Re: OT: Alien Contact
 

Wow... this thread is a hotplate ready to explode. Nice to see nobody stepping on anybody elses toes though.

Fyron is quite the skeptic. Amazing isn't it?

As for faster then light, you could travel faster then light, because light has variable velocity and as such you just slow down some light.....

Yah, I know, it is stupid but I had to say it.

As for science, remember this is current science we talk about, there was a time when current science told us the world was flat (I love cliches) We can't really talk about the future in certainties because nobody, unless your phsycic, in which case, what are next weeks lotery numbers?

Re: OT: Alien Contact
 

What light has variable velocity?

Re: OT: Alien Contact
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I thought all light has variable velocity - it depends on the medium. That is the whole principle behind a prism IIRC....

Re: OT: Alien Contact
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, I agree.
If the research of "faster than sound" would be 5K research points then the research of "Faster than Light" would be somwhere around 5B.
Who knows, maybe there are other barriers before the speed of light. Or maybe the speed of light is not a barrier. One thing is sure, we are light years away from an engine that come even close.