Recent content by Asok_Green

Could there be a little more discussion about whether QM says the cat really is in superposition of both states? I was under the impression that the whole point of the thought experiment was to illustrate that if we could shield a system from quantum decoherence, superposition could extend to...

Ah, okay. I hadn't intended for a TEC to be used to generate the power. I was thinking more along the lines of a turbine, though maybe that's irrelevant, I don't know; I think it's clear we're moving beyond the limited scope of my understanding. I'm curious, though: If the turbine were more...

Hmm. I may not know the right words to say it, but when I said that the temperature gradient averages out to something close to Y, what I meant was that the hot side of the thermocouple is made hotter by the same amount the cold side is made colder, so that seems to be a wash. And the energy...

This isn’t what you think. I’m not out to ignore or challenge the laws of thermodynamics and I have no free energy fantasies. This is just a thought experiment for anyone willing to indulge a layperson. For those of you thinking, “Go educate yourself. Read a physics book and stop wasting my...

Yes. The entire system wouldn't break down in the same instant, but ships in regions of space receiving one signal couldn't travel to regions of space receiving both signals, and ships in regions of space receiving both signals couldn't travel anywhere. As the light cone of the second signal...

True, but the stated design already prevents you from crossing areas of space receiving signals from a different frame of reference. If you were at a point in space receiving two signals from different frames of reference, the drive wouldn't be able to take you anywhere.

The signal needs to be continuously broadcast, so your second description is spot-on. If the emitter had been broadcasting from one frame of reference, and was then accelerated (changed frames of reference), this would be just as disruptive as if it were turned off, because the signal...

No, the (invisible) signal moves in all directions at the speed of light, like radio waves. By "outside," I mean beyond the leading edge of the signal. If the signal had only been transmitted for five years, a ship could only travel to star systems five lights years or closer to the object...

I didn't realize I was responding to a physics guru. A couple of lines clearing up my design probably would have been enough. Let's pretend I was explaining it to the forum at large, then. At any rate, I hope I haven't offended you. Wasn't trying to.

That's not my intention. I don't want time travel to be possible at all in my fictional universe, because of its implications for causality. But unfortunately, relativity shows FTL travel to be the same thing as time travel. There are a few ways to get around this, but as you'll see, it quickly...

I enjoy a good space opera and have always wanted to write my own, but at the heart of most space operas, even the relatively “hard” sci-fi ones, lurks the FTL drive. Plots just don’t advance well without them. But if relativity is correct, then FTL is the same thing as time travel, which leads...

I took a physics class in high school, and considering how little I’ve since exercised the skills I learned in the class, I must say I’m pretty proud of myself for having come this far. But now I’ve hit a wall. I enjoy reading and writing science fiction, but to write good science fiction you...