Previous post in this Debunking Series.
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This video was broadcast on G4TV, September 19th 2012.
http://www.g4tv.com/videos/60838/dr-eric-w-davis-on-new-light-speed-breaking-science/
Major Notes from the Video are:
a. Dr. Eric Davis, Senior Research Physicist at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Austin TX.
b. Use exotic energy, quantum energy from vacuum energy, to generate warp drive by surfing space.
c. Surfing on space at faster than the velocity of light.
d. Theory requires stupendous amount of vacuum energy.
e. Sonny White (correct name?) suggests that it could be done with much less energy.
f. Disruptive innovations can happen at any time.
g. Richard Obousy of Icarus Interstellar Inc, using string quantum theory shows that the limit of velocity is 10E32 x c (velocity of light) using quantum string theories.
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Need to bear in mind that for interstellar travel to become a reality three factors must be realized.
1) Costs:
From the video this group has not been able to quantify their costs.
2) Technological Feasibility:
As Dr Eric Davis states it might take anywhere from a 100 year to 200 years for this technology to become a reality, but you never know that some disruptive innovation might change all that.
There is another problem with this. Dr. Robert Nemiroff’s Three Photon Observation, which suggests that quantum foam may not exists, therefore falsifying the ability to do interstellar travel in this manner.
Actually come to think about Dr. Eric Davis was describing Dr. Miguel Alcubierre work but substituting Alcubierre’s General Relativity tensors solutions with ‘string quantum’ theory.
3) Safety: Don’t know how to navigate or how to protect crew.
That is a fail on all three counts.
Finally, if I remember correctly, the string theories sits on top of quantum theory and therefore all the discoveries in quantum theory have been translated into string theories. But the string theories by themselves have not been able to predict any new physical behavior, in an ‘a priori’ manner.
For a simple description of quantum foam and vacuum energy see, here.
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I put forward a test for these type of proposals, in the comments section of an earlier posting,
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2012/10/debunking-antimatter-rockets-for-interstellar-travel
And here it is, if you had a few millions dollars can you demonstrate experimental feasibility as a propulsion device?
If the answer is ‘no’ then it is debunked if it is ‘yes’ then let’s get the funding. From Dr Eric Davis comments it is clear that the answer is ‘no’.
Appreciate your comments & feedback.
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Benjamin T Solomon is the author & principal investigator of the 12-year study into the theoretical & technological feasibility of gravitation modification, titled An Introduction to Gravity Modification, to achieve interstellar travel in our lifetimes. For more information visit iSETI LLC, Interstellar Space Exploration Technology Initiative.
Solomon is inviting all serious participants to his LinkedIn Group Interstellar Travel & Gravity Modification.
I was hoping for some responses, by late evening.
This is an interesting video purely from an intellectual perspective as it illustrates how expectations can channel our efforts, or may be the other way around, that our efforts confine our expectations.
Obviously, Eric Davis, Richard Obousy and company, really believe that interstellar travel is 200 years, away.
If we do not buy into these expectations, we have a different approach to searching for feasible theories and technologies, as per Cost-Feasibility-Safety approach.
Quantum mechanics is not just cnetour-intuitive — it’s scary. One of the ways the physicists talk about the implications of quantum mechanics on the real world is by saying “there is no deep reality”. They mean that below a certain level, everything is probabilistic. It’s not just that an electron has not yet exposed it’s state to the world — it’s that it *has no state* for large portions of its existence. Same for the other particles that make up our everyday world. My own translation of that interpretation is that at the particle level, “there ain’t nuthin’ down there”. It gave me nightmares when I realized that, and sometimes still does.