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