From: utzoo!decvax!pur-ee!purdue!Physics:els
Newsgroups: net.space
Title: Re: FTL
Article-I.D.: pur-phy.430
Posted: Mon Aug  9 10:42:51 1982
Received: Tue Aug 10 04:38:35 1982



     I have heard some serious scientific talk about FTL.  I am currently 
trying to track down something definite, as so far all I've heard has been
just enough to whet my appetite.  Someone mentioned an article in Science
Digest.  That article was written by Alan Holt, who if memory serves, recently
left NASA's Johnson Space Center to run his own consulting firm.
    When I find something, I'll post it.  I'd like to see *serious* discussion
about FTL, not things that should be on sf-lovers, and also I'd like these
to see some restraint used by the supposedly educated people who have been
treating the whole idea of FTL with the same attitude as the Inquisition 
treated Galileo.  The one thing education (esp. physics) should teach is that
cherished, time-honored ideas fall by the wayside as our understanding of the
Universe expands.  There is no way of telling where the new ideas will come
from.  If all that comes of the study of FTL is that it is proved conclusively
that it can't be done, then something valuable has still come of it.  Along
the way, perhaps we'll learn something valuable about the laws of physics.
    Perhaps we should move the truly serious discussion of FTL to net.physics.


                            els[Eric Strobel]
                            pur-ee!pur-phy!els