Re: The NEW hard science fiction

In article <slrndvaca4.k0j.andy+usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
andy+usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx says...
In <1140139925.687248.258780@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Gene Ward Smith <genewardsmith@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
You don't object to a physicist using FTL or time travel, but she can't
use psi? Get real.

FTL, at least, is a good deal more plausible than psi. With FTL, you at least
have the excuse that we don't quite know everything about high-energy physics
yet, and maybe one of those things we don't know yet allows for FTL. Psi,
on the other hand, is constrained to involve only physics on energy scales
accessible to human biology. We do pretty much know all of the physics
involved there, and there isn't anything one could plausibly implement psi
out of.

We do know that the symmetries of special relativity are pretty well
observed by ordinary particles. That means that any paths they can
travel leading to FTL transmission are pretty much totally suppressed
under normal circumstances. (If they weren't, we'd know about it.)
It's fairly plausible that messing up the vacuum enough to alter this
state of affairs would involve some seriously high energies!

Psi, on the other hand... well, it's not utterly absurd to propose that
brains could take advantage of subtle quantum effects. Suppose there
is a preferred history leading towards some ultimate destiny at the end
of time; the selection process could well manifest in the form of
prophecies, telepathy, perhaps even time-travel - events implausible in
terms of conventional thermodynamics. [Dan Simmons' _Hyperion_ books
are predicated on something like this.]

[I would argue, not entirely in jest, that the problem of whether God
exists may be equivalent to the problem of whether state vector
resolution is physical. Or perhaps it just gives you a choice of god-
types, active Judeao-Christian types for the monoverse, some sort of
Buddhist conception for the multiverse.]

- Gerry Quinn

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: The NEW hard science fiction
    ... FTL, at least, is a good deal more plausible than psi. ... have the excuse that we don't quite know everything about high-energy physics ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: The NEW hard science fiction
    ... uses lots of psi in her novels. ... You don't object to a physicist using FTL or time travel, ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: The NEW hard science fiction
    ... uses lots of psi in her novels. ... I object to the time travel. ... FTL is a necessary evil in creating ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • 10 questions on QM postulates
    ... I am an undergrad physics student who just completed a course in modern physics ... How can it be shown that the gradient (of psi when operating) times ?ihbar ... 9)Does psi have a dimension Can psi itself ever end up being ... I understand that this postulate leads to the Pauli exclusion principle, ...
    (sci.physics.research)
  • Re: Quantum Mechanics according to Mark Mccutcheon
    ... The reason I want first to have rough idea of the physics ... everything such as using psi amplifier if the needs arise. ... clairvoyants like Gregory who can temporarily disable ... psychics can temporarily lose their ability. ...
    (sci.physics)
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