From: utzoo!decvax!duke!harpo!ihps3!ihnss!knudsen Newsgroups: net.misc Title: Laws of Physics, enforcement of Article-I.D.: ihnss.129 Posted: Fri Aug 6 11:03:35 1982 Received: Sun Aug 8 08:07:06 1982 Serious query: Are laws of physics "enforced" instantaneously and at all times and places? Uniformly? Suppose some collision starts a subatomic particle moving faster than light. Can it go faster for a few femtoseconds (or whatever) until the Law catches up with it? Semi-serious: Imagine two parallel universes with the ssame physical laws, but with different values for the constants. If you set up some kind of bridge between the two, might the values of constants near that bridge tend to be pulled in the direction of the other universe's values? Isaac Asimov wrote a great novel "The Gods Themselves" based on this (actually it was a great parody of Transactional Analysis pop psychology, so was both soft and hard sf). Not-serious: Before engaging warp drive or jumping to hyperspace, do Ahuru and Han Solo call ahead on subspace channel 19 for reports on Einstein's Space Police cruisers? How closely packed in space are God's speed traps (back to the serious version)? --mike knudsen ihnss!knudsen