Re: In search of the perfect Disassembler

T.M. Sommers wrote:
> snowman wrote:
> > btw - as for your assertion that "speed of light cannot be exceeded" -
> > quantum mechanics suggests that tachyons are able to exceed the speed
of
> > light. Whether you believe tachyon particles exist is another matter
> > completely.
>
> Normal matter cannot exceed the speed of light. If tachyons
> exist, broken speed limits will be the least of our worries.

Actually, re-read your physics textbooks and you will note a _very crucial_
"semantic" in the way it's phrased...

Nothing may accelerate up to and exceed the speed of light...this is
because it requires more and more energy to accelerate further until, at
the speed of light itself, you require "infinite energy"...which is an
impossible condition to ever satisfy...hence, you cannot _accelerate passed
the speed of light_...

There is nothing in the "theory", though, to specifically "prohibit" the
"theoretical possibility" of something that's _ALREADY_ travelling faster
than light speed...these supposed "tachyons"...note that a "tachyon" does
NOT break this "rule", as, if it does exist, the point about it is that it
is _already_ travelling faster than light...if it were to start "sub-light"
then that's when this "rule" applies because it relates to the "energy"
needed to accelerate faster...this grows and grows exponentially, as you
get closer and closer to "lightspeed", until at light speed (yes, _AT_
"lightspeed", hence, even _matching_ "lightspeed" - let alone exceeding
it - is not possible either), the "requires energy" becomes
"infinite"...and logic dictates that "infinite energy" is something you can
never satisfy...you know, no matter how much you "feed" in, you've _STILL_
got an "infinity" more to go...it's "unreachable", by definition...

[ Note that most sci-fi shows have "picked up on this" and, hence, "warp
engines" bend spacetime itself in Star Trek (the idea is to "bend
spacetime" so that it's physically "closer" rather than actually "going
faster" :), which is where the term "warp" derives from, of course, as in
the warp engine "warps" spacetime, like it was melting a vinyl record and
"warping" it...the "Stargate" uses "wormholes" (some basic idea of "bending
spacetime", except "wormholes" might very well exist "naturally"...though,
not any "stable wormholes", so it's all "interest but useless" that
wormholes might pop in and out of existence all the time...interesting that
this happens...can't actually make use of it for any practical...indeed,
"wormholes" that spontaneously open at the quantum level, do so for the
"Planck time" and are the "Planck length" in size...hence, it is impossible
for anything to actually "fall through" them because that's the "shortest
time possible" and the "shortest distance possible"...so, it's not open
long enough for anything to ever go through it and, even if it was, it's,
by definition, too small for anything to actually fit inside it...the
proverbial "useless fact" there :)...of course, this is all "fiction" and
so is complete nonsense...BUT they often try to make it "sound plausible"
as far as they can manage, so the ideas are often based on actual physics
(well, sometimes...other times, it's total nonsense from start to finish,
without a single explanation for any of it :)...even if they then take some
major "artistic licence" to totally screw around with it and invent
"devices" that can "warp spacetime"...you know, as if this was
"easy"...although, what concerns me more is how "not safe" that idea is
(you press the wrong button on the "console" and suddenly your head - and
just your head - is "warped" to the far side of the galaxy, while the rest
of the ship stays just where it is...oh dear! Oh dear, oh dear...now,
_THAT_ wasn't supposed to happen! ;)...

And why do they fire "photons"? That means they are firing nothing more
than "disco lights" at each other! No, really, that's true...a "photon" is
the elementary "light" particle (okay, "particle / wave duality" because of
all that "it's both at the same time" nonsense...is it a wave? Is it a
particle? No, it's Superman! ;)...they are shooting each other with "disco
lights"! It's got no appreciable "mass" to it, so how on Earth does it
knock anyone over or bash any holes in those Klingon ships? I mean, you try
it with a torch...point it at someone then try to "knock them over" by
"firing photons" at them (this, by the way, just means turning the torch
"on" and shining some light on them...as you will see, they do not get
"stunned" or "knocked over" or anything by this...their face, though, is
much easier to see in the dark...which might be useful...perhaps :)...this
is totally silly when, on board, they apparently have an "engine" that's
capable of "warping spacetime" itself inside a "bubble"...ummm, might I
make a "suggestion" for a better weapon to use against Klingons than
"traffic disco lights"? Pop their ship into a "warp bubble" and then, well,
just _RANDOMLY_ mess "spacetime" into some weird shapes inside the "bubble"
(turn "up" into "left", "right" into "forward, "down" into "Stoke
Newington" and so forth (indeed, why stop at "space"? Turn "yesterday" into
"a week next Tuesday" while you're at it ;), so that "spacetime" itself
makes absolutely no sense whatsoever inside this "bubble" and everything is
shuffled around like it was a raffle ticket inside one of those "tombola"
thingies ;)...that'll rip them apart in all directions...and, then, just to
keep things "neat and tidy", squash it all down - kind of like crushing a
car - into a neat "pellet"...you could use it for "fuel" or
something...though, be careful! Don't go squashing them down below the
"Schwarzschild radius"! This is NOT a good idea, while you're anywhere near
it...hint: Do the words "black hole" ring any bells? As I say, the thing I
find most disturbing about these "sci-fi" shows is the "casual" way they do
absurdly "dangerous" things...you mess around with "warp bubbles" in Earth
orbit and - oops - shrink something below that "Schwarzschild
radius"...then - BANG! - "goodbye Earth"...indeed, goodbye the Sun, goodbye
Mercury, goodbyte the solar system, goodbye this entire part of the
galaxy...so, don't think it's any "safer" doing it in "Mars orbit"
instead...it isn't...these are NOT small "forces" you're playing around
with, Captain Kirk! I think you should probably stick with just firing your
"disco lights" and kissing green coloured alien women who like dancing to
insane bongo druming instead, Mr.Shatner...actualy, that's another point?
What was this obsession in the '60s with "belly dancing to insane bongo
drumming"? It's also in "One Million Years B.C." and tons of other '60s
shows and movies...I don't know...it probably requires dangerously high
levels of LSD or something to even begin to comprehend what that's all
about... ]

Anyway, the "revelation" about Einstein's work - from an "overall" and
"scientific" point of view - is actually more to do with him starting the
whole "grand unified theory" stuff...he "unified" space and time into
"spacetime" (which is the most "obvious" bit of "unification" :)...BUT,
also, that's the implication of the famous "E = mc^2" equation...everyone
knows that one but the point is that it shows a direct "equivalence" of
"mass" with "energy"...so, he was "unifying" there too...

And since then, the "electromagnetic force", "weak nuclear force" and
"strong nuclear force" have been "unified" too...that is, it's "different
facets of the same elementary force"...gravity is the fourth and elusive
thing that needs to also be "unified" with the other three...no-one's
worked out how to do that yet, though...

But this is the real "revelation" and arguably most important thing of
Einstein's work...he proposed a "unified model" where, in fact, everything
turns out to be just "different facets of the same thing"...the whole thing
can be reduced to "one big geometry problem"...or, at least, that's the way
things are headed and, so far, Einstein seems to be "on the money" with his
basic "unified" idea...

This is all leading - they Hope, anyway - to what's got the most
over-the-top and absurd name in all of history...the so-called "theory of
everything"...relax, despite how "grand" that name sounds, it's not about
answering "life, the universe and everything" (which we know is "42",
anyway :)...it's actually just about taking all the currently separate
"pieces" - quantum physics, thermodynamics, gravity, etc., etc. - and
"sticking them altogether" into "one big theory"...one Hopes, though, that
the person who decided to call it "the theory of everything" was being a
touch "ironic" or "sarcastic" or something...but I wouldn't put money on
it, as there really are some terribly "arrogant" scientists out there...it
should be read as: "the (one singular) theory of everything (that physics
currently knows about)" and then you get the "gist" better...just means
that you don't do "thermodynamics" as a "separate subject" to doing
"gravity" or "electromagnetism"...it's, like, "one big theory" with a set
of "equations" that actually covers the whole lot in one go...with
"unification", this idea would be quite possible..."in theory",
anyhow...history shows that every time they say "we've nearly covered it
all", that's when 7 new branches of physics appear from nowhere...you know,
"we've nearly finished it all...we just need to clear up this little bit
here"...and that "little bit" explodes, upon investigation, into an
entirely new branch of "physics" - quantum mechanics - that, oh dear, has
no relation to anything you've done before and is, well, all a bit
"weird"...

If you like, the physicists often forget that "Murphy's Law" is another
"universal law" to "unify" into what they are doing...which, of course,
dictates that the second someone says aloud "we've almost finished", this
is when "the observer" - due to quantum effects - inadvertantly causes the
universe to become ten times more complicated than it was previously...

Yes, this was a Douglas Adams' joke in "Hitchhiker's Guide" that if you
possess the "question" and "answer" to the universe simultaneously, this
triggers the universe to become ten times more complicated than it was
before and you have to start all over again...

But one of the "geeky" but amusing things with most of the jokes in
"Hitchhiker's Guide" was that Douglas Adams "borrowed" some actually very
real nonsense - "improbability drives" based on how everything in quantum
physics ends up as a "probability" and then engaging the "drive" causes
rockets to spontaneously "morph" into a whale and a flowerpot because this
is all "terribly improbable", to use that "calm whilst talking about
absolutely absurd things" tone of voice that "the book" has throughout -
and just "twisted" it ever-so-slightly into total surrealism...giving it
all a touch of "plausibility", even though it's clearly utterly insane for
the universe to work this way...but, then again, take a look "browse" over
some of the weirder part of "quantum mechanics" and all the stuff in
"Hitchhiker's" starts to even seem "realistic"...as, apparently, the
universe really is exactly that "weird"...and I think the final thing
science will discover is how "Murphy's Law" is entirely _VALID_, which is
an "observation" that itself spontaneously triggers the universe to become
"even more weird"...and then you have to start all over again...just like
the Douglas Adams' joke...

I like to generalise this - which, you'll note, implicitly "unifies"
Murphy's Law into my "alternative theory that everything is weird" (ATTEIW;
pronounced "achoo!", so it sounds like you're sneezing heavily :) - into my
"unified" approach: "Everything, in the end, is deeply ironic"...it's all
essentially one big "paradox"...and we should never actually ever "prove"
this or we'd all spontaneously "vanish", as the universe "realises" it
couldn't possibly exist in the first place...so, ssshhh! Don't say it
aloud...remember, it's part of quantum mechanics: The very act of
"observing" effects the thing you observe...

And in the distant future, some scientist - perhaps an alien, perhaps
human - will invent a "time machine"...and, somehow, they've worked out a
way around the "can't go back in time before the invention of the time
machine" problem...so, having created this wonderous machine, what do they
decide to set as their "destination"? Well, of course, they want to see
"the Big Bang", right? So, they set the "time co-ordinates"...except, of
course, there's nothing there...the universe doesn't actually exist and it
never came into being, you see...huh?!? How does that work? Simple, because
the instant the "time traveller" appears at the beginning of time to "have
a look at how it all started", they _BECOME_ the very "trigger" for "the
Big Bang" themselves...they are "mass" and they bring "spacetime" along
with them and all the "law of physics"...hence, the universe "explodes" out
of their very existence in the void...the "laws of physics" that applies to
them "explodes" to become the "fundamental laws" for the entire universe...

Yeah, it's a total paradox...the universe created itself...by
accident...BUT, as any physicist who studies "time travel" will tell you,
this is a "consistent" solution to the problem of creation, which does not
violate "causality"...what created the universe? Why, the universe created
the universe, of course! This is similar to the "billard balls" view of a
"consistent" time travel that doesn't violate "causality"...

Imagine a billard table and there's the white cue ball...now, there is a
"wormhole" in the middle pockets of the table...when the cue ball falls
into the middle pocket on the left, it appears out of the pocket on the
right, rolls along the table, hits itself (earlier in time) and then knocks
its earlier self into the pocket...this is "recursive" and, hence, entirely
"consistent"...this, of course, is impossible...also, note, it's implicitly
a "perpetual motion device", which, of course, is also impossible...

Hence, when the "time traveller" thinks "I'll just pop back and see what
was happening at the beginning of time" they start the "big bang"...which,
of course, after billions and billions of years, leads ultimately to this
"time traveller" being born, inventing a "time machine" and then travelling
back in time...

This, of course, is completely impossible...but at least, as "paradoxes"
go, it's a "consistent paradox"...which is nice...

You'll note that once all the physicists agreed that light was a constant,
they measure it and, oh dear, it appears it's not as "constant" as first
imagined...and it's changed over time...see? The instant everyone's in
broad agreement, the "deep irony" (or Murphy's Law, if you prefer that
"special theory" to my "general theory" :) kicks in and light ceases to be
"constant"...just to "annoy" everyone...

Or when they all broadly say "okay, we'll go with this Big Bang
theory...right, now all we need to do is work out by how much the universe
is slowing down"...they take the measurement and, oh dear, it's _speeding
up_, which totally does not make the slightest bit of sense by anyone's
"theories" at all...

When the physicists last said "we've nearly worked out everything", then -
BANG! - "quantum mechanics" appears...a whole new and totally different and
alien branch of physics...another century or so of more work...and, unknown
to physicists, when the words "theory of everything" were first uttered,
this spontaneously caused things to get a whole lot more complicated (the
"Higgs Boson" did exist...but, upon hearing this "arrogance", the universe
decided it would replace it with something else far more complicated
that'll take another few centuries to comprehend...just because that's kind
of "ironic" and, thus, very funny ;)...

No, sorry, T.M.'s "on the money" here, I'm afraid...because he did say
"normal matter" in his reply (which just means that which is "sub-light" to
begin with)...

As for tachyons, I don't see there's an actual problem with them
existing...just that us "forward motion in time" people are going to have
immense headaches trying to work out what the hell is going on...things are
confusing enough when everything can only go _forward_ in time...if they
can start going backwards in time and "paradoxes" spring up
everywhere...then, well, your granny isn't safe...billard balls start
flying around in all directions...and, basically, screw all that...it's
much too complicated...I mean, the plot of "Back to the Future" was tricky
enough to follow and that completely ignored "chaos theory" (as all those
"time travel" things do...if you went back in time, then you would not need
to do a single thing whatsoever to "violate causality"...your very
existence has already done that...you know, the air has been displaced (so,
if someone was going to later breath that air, you've altered the future!
:)...and let's not forget "War of the Worlds", shall we? You've just
brought back loads of "future germs" and "future bacteria" with you...which
then breed and evolve...so, by the time you get back, everyone's died of
some "black death" superbug...oops...

Sorry, "choas theory"...butterflies and tornadoes...you can't even appear
in the past for a millisecond, without that causing an irrepairable
"ripple" in time that changes everything...so, no, you can't even "go back
and fix it" because you'll just set off yet another "ripple"...

This, indeed, is the headache which has made Stephen Hawking change his
mind all the time...one day, he says "yeah, it's possible...can't find
anything that prohibits time travel"...and then, the next day, he wakes up,
realises its all completely insane and then is convinced it couldn't
possibly be true...but then looks at the equations again...no, it does all
seem quite possible according to the figures here...

I liked the article in "New Scientist" (March UK edition) where the main
article was "13 things that don't make sense" and then lists a whole bunch
of stuff that science has found but has absolutely no idea how it could
possibly be true...stuff that totally and utterly screws up all the
"theories" and "thinking" because, as it says, none of it makes any
sense...you know, the stuff scientists "don't talk about" because it's all
rather annoying and embarassing...

One of those listed is the "not-so-constant constants"...apparently, the
speed of light has changed...even though it's a universal
"constant"...which is terribly "inconsiderate" of it, don't you think? I
mean, all these scientists are working hard...and then it goes and does
this, messing it all up...how "rude"! :)

Beth :)


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