A real Starship Enterprise in 20 years?

Its fun watching armchair theoretical physicists duke it out.

 

Wow, that is naive. I think they need to figure out how to get their website to work properly (right now it's not responding) before they try and build the Enterprise.

 

More credible discussion in a good Astronomy Club. Whereas, you diddles are busy playing sci-fi(& getting nowhere fast), members of Astronomy Clubs actually partake in the Universe, show others how to do it, & occasionally help in some science investigations.

 

I am officially jealous.

 

Say that to Arthur C. Clarke then read "A Fall of Moon Dust" and see what playing at sci-fi has accomplished. :thumb:

 

All it takes at Fred's is a different POV.

 

Just as long as none of the Starships are powered by a Lutz Drive!

 

The web site is back up. The most inspirational idea for space exploits I've seen in a long time. The biggest problem I see, besides getting it funded, is by the time it gets built it will be obsolete. That is if you believe that Science and Technology is progressing at exponential rates, as the Singularists believe.

Another problem is that although it would do everything that we need to do in space, it is so massive and energy expensive, that it would be quite wasteful trying to do the easier tasks.

 

Lutz Drive - it is used by the Borg!!!

DBCassidy

 

Singularists* think there is a special place on the exponential curve...

They also think that Science and Technology 'happen', rather than people actually having to invent Science and Technology. And sometimes you have to actually build the dang thing, to see that advance.

* - the ones I know personally anyway.

 

Is the "Special Place" you refer to, the knee of the curve, where advances go from seemingly Linear too Exponential rates? I can't wait! But your point is valid, at some point you have build, if just to test all the theory.

Over on the BuildtheEnterprize web site one person has suggested building smaller ships so that they can be modified and advanced more easily (like the Nimitz Aircraft Carriers). DTE-Dan's recomended ship is so huge and expensive that future advances may make such a huge ship not needed anymore, yet you're stuck with this original design.

 

Yes, in every graph you see, 'we' are always right there at the 'knee'. The trouble is, that no matter when you draw a graph like that, you will always seem to be at the knee. Put yourself back in the 1800s, draw a graph (as I am certain somebody did) and there you will be, right at the knee. Do the same for 2100s. The whole graph is exponential though.

On the other hand, do what every good engineer does when they encounter percentage growth, plot it on a log scale graph. Now it looks like a straight line. There is nothing special happening where we are, it is all exactly the same.

 

they transported a proton of light about a inch last year for the first time...let me find a link