From: Terry W. Colvin (fortean1@mindspring.com)
Date: Tue Jun 10 2003 - 18:31:48 MDT
"Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" wrote:
>
> Terry W. Colvin wrote:
> > --- In forteana@yahoogroups.com, Barbara Barrett <barbarabarrett@o...> wrote:
> >
> >>Applying propigation of forces math to gravity to determine its "speed"
> >>seems very silly to me. I'd liken it to someone asking what is the
> >>velocity of the distance between say London and Manchester!
> >>
> >>Really I find it inconcievable how anyone could think of gravity as
> >>having a "speed"; gravity is a by-product of mass acting upon spacetime,
> >>so it's just "there"; it dosn't travel at any speed. It's spimply
> >>convinient to think of it as a "force" even though it isn't really.
> >
> > Speed of gravity becomes important if (when) we ever figure out how
> > to deflect or negate it, especially if the technology is going to be
> > applied to large structures or machines. It's also important when
> > using inertia modification techniques to reduce internal stresses in
> > large devices moving at speed.
> >
> > The fact that "gravity" is (currently) an all-pervading force means
> > that determining its speed of propagation is currently moot, but when
> > you start monkeying about with it then speed of propagation becomes
> > important. Heck, it could even turn out to be a bit like light on
> > discworld and actually propagate very slowly, say at a brisk walking
> > speed. Your "Mass acting upon spacetime" model is still just a
> > theory. Gravity may have existed before the rest of the Universe was
> > created, in which case it would have had plenty of time to spread
> > itself about before everything else.
>
> Terry, this is complete gibberish. Why are you forwarding it to the
> Extropians list? As a cautionary tale?
>
> --
> Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
> Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
Eliezer, just spreading the wealth and unaware it was complete gibberish.
I'm not a physicist or cosmologist.
Terry
-- Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@mindspring.com > Alternate: < fortean1@msn.com > Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html > Sites: * Fortean Times * Mystic's Haven * TLCB * U.S. Message Text Formatting (USMTF) Program ------------ Member: Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood (TLCB) Mailing List TLCB Web Site: < http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org >[Vietnam veterans, Allies, CIA/NSA, and "steenkeen" contractors are welcome.]
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