Re: Warp drive possible?

Michael S. Lorrey (mike@lorrey.com)
Tue, 22 Jun 1999 21:18:52 -0400

Sasha Chislenko wrote:
>
> At 04:53 AM 6/12/99 , John McPherson wrote:
>
> > Here is a article referring to a paper by Chris Van Den Broeck
> > who claims to have discovered a feasible method of FTL drive.
> >
> > The paper abstract is available for download at:
> > http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/gr-qc/9905084
> >
> > The Wired article also has a reference to quantum teleportation.
>
> The biggest problem there, as I see, is fitting macro objects into
> micro-volumes.
>
> But why do we want to send macro-objects, in the first place?
> If we just want to have them on the other side, there may be other
> options.
> One: if the destination has sufficient intelligence, just send
> them a stream of FTL information packets with instructions how
> to assemble the needed object, and an acceptable security assurance
> and payment protocols.
> Two: if the recipient site is not intelligent enough, send the minimal
> data sufficient for building a bootstrapping core for the desired
> object, and then rely on this core for further construction and negotiation
> with the locals.
>
> If the recipient site is absolutely dumb, you may have to send a larger-
> than-nanoscopic GenericBootstrappingCore there, which can take some effort.
> Hopefully, after a little while, the Universe will be covered with a grid
> of intelligent recipients, and this problem will no longer arise; all new
> universes can be constructed that way too. (Maybe, ours already was?)
>
> Finally, we are left with the problem of a functional object confined in
> a specific material carrier that cannot be separated from it for vanity
> (original art work), engineering (a human) or identity-perception
> reasons. These issues should be largely resolved by the time the
> FTL communication system is launched, and should certainly not be
> a problem for any agencies worth of possessing such technology :-)

So how would you generate these warp bubbles with no mass in them and propel them at FTL speeds? You will need some sort of warp drive inside the bubble, unless they are being generated by a transmitter, pumping them out like smoke rings. Would transmitted bubbles be a coherently pulsed collimated stream or would they disperse in a wide probablistic pattern? How would we here on earth receive bubbles transmitted by other worlds? We obviously need some of this exotic matter to do so, so did he publish any ideas on how to make this exotic matter?

Mike Lorrey