Re: Tech building

Jonathan L Cunningham wrote:
Logan Kearsley <chrono.surfer@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Jonathan L Cunningham" <spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1hlnob6.qs9b6hfpnqyrN%spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[*] There's at least one SF short, where, when they finally invent a
hyperdrive, it turns out that the speed of light is *slower* in
hyperspace, and quite useless for space travel :-).
Were the speed of light to be significantly slower in hyperspace, that would
make me just as happy as being significantly higher. The reason being, if
the speed of light is higher, you still have to expend oodles of energy to
accelerate to high speeds, but if the speed of light is slower, you can get
relativistic effects that reduce your subjective journey time with less
input of energy.

Hmmm.

But, sadly, it couldn't be possible either.

To expand on what I said earlier:

Imagine we are here, and you are on a planet orbiting Sirius, 8 or so
light years away. The "distance" (interval) between us is undefined
unless we specify *when* we take the measurements. For a photon, which
travels at the speed photons travel at, this "distance" is exactly zero
and takes no time. That is, the "interval" between when it is sent
(the space and time coordinates) and when it arrives is mathematically
equal to zero. [And the photon experiences no time. Curious and a bit
boggling, but apparently true.]

In hyperspace, unless the speed of light exactly matches, the distance
will be non-zero: either timelike if the speed of light is greater, or
spacelike if less.[*]

I'm not quite clear what you're trying to say here. Which distance?

So the two spaces are a different "shape" and can *not* be fitted
together.

*balk* er... mapping? There's nothing unreasonable about assuming that universal constants can change with depth into hyperspace. There's *also* no reason to assume they stay constant in our space, so even if the universe is infinite (in which case your mapping statement could be a problem) it could be resolved by local variation.

It's like (but worse) trying to draw an accurate map of the
globe on a flat *** of paper. That analogy might suggest a fudge (I
just realised) which might let you handwave around the problem, but it's
not something I've previously thought about.


Jonathan
[*] Or t'other way about. I've had a little too much beer this evening
to think about it clearly enough to be sure.



Gruff

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