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From: mazlack@ernie.BERKELEY.EDU (Lawrence J. &)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: Unified Field Theory and space travel
Message-ID: <10847@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Wed, 30-Oct-85 16:28:26 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.10847
Posted: Wed Oct 30 16:28:26 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 2-Nov-85 01:36:55 EST
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Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: mazlack@ernie.UUCP (Lawrence J. Mazlack)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 35

>>>interested in the speed of light being a limiting factor for space travel.
>>>Most people agree that as long as speed-of-light restrictions apply, it is
>>>impractical for intelligent life forms to travel to different star systems
>>>(unless, of course, their solar system is about to blow up).
>>
>>Most people are wrong!  Interstellar flight at sublight speeds is almost
>>certainly practical with forseeable technology.  A few years out of one's
>>life is not an impossible price to pay to get to a place with room to grow.
>>One will not casually visit other star systems at sublight, but colonization
>>is quite practical.
>
>I've gotten quite a few flames of this nature. I misrepresented my own views.
>So I guess I deserve it. I realize that space travel at close-to-light speeds
>is feasible in the foreseeable future. It may even be practical for colonization
>or research. However, travel to any star system at nonrelativistic speeds will
>take a LONG TIME and require some clever mechanism to support humans for the
>trip duration. However, if those humans do not intend to return, then they can
>travel at nearly the speed of light and into the future at the same time. They
>are gambling that technology won't find a better way to do this in the time
>that slipped by. These people might find much more advanced humans already at
>their destination when they get there.
>

If someone travels at near light speed, isn't elapsed time for she/he
less than the elapsed time for someone traveling at a much slower speed.
If so, it wouldn't be too bad a deal for the traveller in terms of life-time
spent - although the society that sent him/her would undergo considerable
change.  Whether or not there could be economic payoffs would depend on the
time frame of the investor.  For example, forest product companies plant trees
that will not be harvested for 15 years while other investors think in terms
of weeks or minutes for their payoffs.

If I'm right on the relativistic time differentiation, can anyone tell me how
to actually calculate the difference???
  ...Larry Mazlack  MAZLACK@ERNIE.BERKELEY.EDU