Is THIS your idea of an intelligent conversation?

We never said it was about intelligent conversations, we said it was about civilized, reasonable, non-spam discussions.

Helium is the second most abundant material in the universe and together with hydrogen it makes up almost 99.9% of all atoms. Oxygen is the third most abundant, making up 0.048% of all atoms.
But yeah, the universe is so huge it is very unlikely for there not to be any extraterrestrial life. However, the universe is also so very empty that it is very unlikely for us to make any contact with this life.

Oxygen is the second most abundant compound, I think.

Oxygen is an atom, not a compound.

I'm an idiot, I meant to say water.

I read a few weeks ago that scientists think that it's possible to go faster than the speed of light by creating a "warp bubble" around the spacecraft.  The warp bubble would be sort of like a rift in space-time or something and would travel faster than light, pulling the spacecraft along with it.

EDIT:
Also, there are other propulsion methods, like matter-anitmatter annihilation, but those would be much slower than a warp bubble.

Distance in space is measured by light years. You would have to travel 4 times the speed of light to get to Pluto in one year.
To get out of the milky way in one year would require 42 thousand times the speed of light.
Put simply, we're not getting out of the milky way any time soon

True, but I was talking about getting out of the solar system, not the galaxy.  I don't even see any reason why we would want to leave the galaxy, because it's really big and definitely has enough space for us to do what we want.

The Alcubierre drive (aka spacetime bubble travel) is impossible for three very important reasons:

1. Energy requirement. I think by now the absolute best estimates require energy equal to the mass-energy of Jupiter to create such a bubble. That is simply not happening.
2. Temperatures. Inside the bubble the temperature gets extremely high. Because no information can be send out of the bubble, there is no way to cool it down either.
3. It requires tachyonic particles. These are particles that have negative mass. If you think this sounds strange, you are correct because such particles don't exist. They might be possible, but they have never been found to exist. These are absolutely required for the drive and if they can't be created in sufficient quantities, it is impossible to make such a drive.

As I see it, there are several levels of impossible:
1. Infeasible. While it can be done with relative ease, the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages, so there is no reason to ever use it. Biofuels from corn are an example of this. While a renewable source of energy, they are far less efficient than solar panels and require precious fertile ground that needs to be used for food production.
2. Technologically improbable. While from a scientific standpoint there is nothing in the way of the technology, there are major problems with it that prevent its use. Fusion reactors are an example of this. They have done small scale tests on this, but because of material limitations this is currently impossible to use on full scale. It might become possible several decades into the future, or these problems might never be overcome and the technology will never see use.
3. Scientifically improbable. Our current knowledge of science prevents this from being possible, but the impossibilities are small enough that it is not entirely unreasonable to think that at some point in the future there might be a scientific breakthrough that would make it possible again. Full mass annihilation reactors are an example of this. While we know that mass can be fully converted to energy, under the current scientific theory this is impossible to do with any net energy gains. A new mechanism needs to be found to allow such a conversion before this becomes possible to even consider.
4. Scientifically or mathematically impossible. It can't be done. It is in direct contradiction with the most basic scientific laws. The only way for this to become possible, is if a major groundbreaking discovery is made which unravels the complete scientific framework. Creation of energy from nothing would be an example of this. Conservation of energy prevents free energy from being made. And because the concept of conservation of energy is mathematically related to the symmetry of time (the universe can be described with laws and constants which don't change in time), which is such a fundamental principle with no reason to assume being false, that it should never even be considered.

The Alcubierre drive (and any other FTL or time travelling vehicles) fit nicely into category 3. While this might change at some point in the future, currently these things are even theoretically impossible.



The distance from Earth to Pluto varies between 0.0004 and 0.0008 light years. I think you mean the distance to closest star (Proxima Centauri) which is about 4.2 light years away.

The article said that by increasing the thickness of the bubble, the energy requirement would be lowered to something about the size of Voyager 1.

You're right, one recent model does lower energy requirements to 700 kg c^2. Which is about as much energy as the US produces in a year. This means the energy requirement is still absurdly large.

I read this morning in the Science News that scientists can teleport photons.  The researchers used 2 photons and entangled them using a property called orbital angular momentum and encoded quantum information into polarization, a second property of the sender's entangled photon.  The rest of the article is just as incomprehensible... I really have no idea how any of it works. I suppose I have much to learn about quantum physics and stuff.  Anyways, it's cool.

Quantum teleportation has been known about for several decades. That is nothing new. The only problem is that it is uncontrollable. You can teleport quantum information, but you can't direct it.
Though it does surprise me they use photons for this. Electrons are far better for this. Or are you talking about that experiment from TU Delft (b'vo Delft)?

Wait, quantum teleportation already existed?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymB7nCZoo_o

I'm working on the krotel. Right now, I'm building the rooms on the third floor. They look very swaig. Check them out at /warp krotel.

Also, I finished watching Darker Than Black and Steins;Gate. Also very swaig.

I'm working on the 15-Track Roller Coaster. Right now, I'm building the 14th track. It looks very swaig. Check it out at... Wait there isn't a warp. Just follow the +ZNER south from Spawn City and you'll get there soon enough.

Also, I finished watching Season 2 of Arrested Development and Season 1 of Merlin. Also very swaig.

How far is it?

I'm at -5654, have I gone too far?

EDIT: Just realized you said +ZNER, I'm an idiot

I don't think it's that far. You might have missed it a while back. It's just before you go on that 2nd massive bridge over the huge ocean.

EDIT: Can people teleport to other players' homes? If so, I've set my home there.

Yes, people can teleport to other people's homes.  Just do /home (player).

may I be added to the thread now that I am back?

No you haven't seen Cat From Outer Space

I've seen, like, a whole 15 minutes of it

Okay fine you can be an Honorary member