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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   3515 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 18, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Yes, no physics according to our current level understanding. If you were to travel back in time to the Paleolithic Period and show a cave person a smartphone they'd believe the very same thing. And I'd bet you'd get the same reaction if you traveled back in time to around the Industrial Revolution and showed an engineer your smartphone - they'd say that there's no physics that would make this work, and they'd probably think you're a magician. Sure, this is essentially handwaving, but it'd be myopic to say FTL will never be possible just because that's what we think based on everything we currently know in the year 2023. And whether you realize it or not, you saying that another advanced civilization couldn't possibly exist because you can't see artificial structures/ signals we presume a sufficiently capable species is bound to make based on our current understanding is also handwaving.

I think there’s a difference here in that the argument that a being a million years ahead of us can do Y because it’s more advanced is a pretty poor argument, again, unless we, using current science and mathematics have some reason to suspect that Y is at least a possibility. In suggesting that physics says Y is impossible and therefore unless given a solid reason for doubting Y being impossible is wrong. And unfortunately E=mc^2 is a pretty well established tested and tried law of physics.

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