They enticed an opinion on alien invasions in this article from the scientific community Invaders. The surprising thread throughout the piece runs more to ‘The Terminator’ rather than ‘E.T.’ in describing possible alien landings. Beings more attuned to toasters would make the long voyages to our galaxy because of the radiation involved crossing space and the universal speed limit of light which would mean many years of travel. Scientists have scoffed at Star Trek’s warp speed since the beginning. I’m not sure of their feelings about worm holes and star gates but I imagine they’re not too fond of those theories either. The article’s pretty entertaining though, and presents many aspects needed for writing captivating stories with space travel motif. I have a tendency to accept almost any premise in science fiction if the story and characters highlight the writing.
Yeah, I can suspend my disbelief very well for SF. It's the story more than anything. It's also pretty arrogant I think for physicists to assume we'll discover no new ways of getting around in space. We've still got a lot to learn
ReplyDeleteIt's that tricky speed of light thing, Charles. According to prevailing scientific theory there can't be anything faster. I wonder about particle beam acceleration like they use in the Hadron Collider, but maybe they're right and we'll have to hope or hope against finding a wormhole or star gate.
ReplyDeleteI guess I have a few issues with this guy's view of things. Mostly based on the fact that he assumes any visitors would suffer from the same physical limitations, length of life, and modes of travel or limited understanding of quantum physics that we have.
ReplyDeleteAnd the AI takeover idea...well, if we build such powerful synthetic life without necessary failsafes, we'd pretty much deserve what we got.
I agree with your take on the article, Raine. It seems the only time the scientific community can entertain fictitious renderings is when they're related to global warming. :)
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