FTL? Beam me up.

 
""You could say it's peanuts, but it's not. It's something that we can measure rather accurately with a small uncertainty," Ereditato told The Associated Press.

If the experiment is independently repeated - most likely by teams in the United States or Japan - then it would require a fundamental rethink of modern physics."  Forbes

-------------------------------

Ahah!  I knew it all the time!  Einstein?  There always seemed to me to be flaws in his equations. 

All of us Asimov, Pournelle and Drake readers will be vindicated.  I want to ship over in "Hammer's Slammers," or "Falkenberg's Legion," or maybe those Germans in one of the David Drake books, you know, the Panzer guys.

Sigh...  pl

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/09/23/science-eu-breaking-light-speed_8697484.html

Comments

[r.whitman]

Heinlein readers grok this too. The champagne bottles are out ot Lucas Studios.

[Jose]

Paramount Studios will put his news in a clip for the next Star Trek movie for sure...Mr Sulu, Warp 6 engage...lol

Seriously, the Big Bang created reality faster than the speed of light so this must have been predicted by others before.

For the Rick Perry supporters, The Creator does not need to follow the of Phyics during the Genesis or after.

[HankP]

I hate to rain on your parade, but it's unlikely that the particles actually traveled faster than light. For one thing, it doesn't match with other neutrino observations made over the years. For example, if this measurement was true, we'd expect to see a neutrino flash several years before the light arrived from a supernova. So far, we haven't seen that. I'm afraid it's much more likely that this is a measurement or equipment issue.

[YT]

Col. sir,

I'm always confounded by the (pure) sciences.

I count myself lucky I'm able to comprehend the numeral 999,999. Astronomical figures above that, are just simply beyond me. Hey, I mean I've only the equivalent of a high-school education.

It must take tremendous amount of time to ceaselessly meditate on what the great Col. "Genghis" John studied.

The breadth of his undertakings in the literary realm is simply astoundin' for lesser minds like yours truly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del%27s_incompleteness_theorems

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_law_of_thermodynamics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_%28military_strategist%29

The article you've linked will take me probably 'nother couple of hours to digest.

[Douglass Schmacher]

Asimov himself found Einstein very persuasive. Still, we can hope this result holds up.

"There always seemed to me to be flaws in his equations."

The idea that you can't go faster than light is based on three assumptions: (1) All observers work under the same laws of physics, (2) All observers measure the same value for the speed of light, (3) In "cause and effect", the cause always comes first.

If these results hold up, one of these assumptions is wrong, or we've been making a 4th bad assumption and didn't realize it. Anyone interested in taking bets?

[DFS]

Be careful what you wish for. You might wind up starring in one of David Drake's really grim ones, like Through the Breach.

(I met Drake a couple of times here in Chapel Hill when we happened to be at the old local comic shop at the same time. Very nice fellow and a real character when he's in the mood for it.)

[Arun]

Two useful links:- read them in order:

http://www.science20.com/quantum_diaries_survivor/sixsigma_signal_superluminal_neutrinos_opera-82744

http://profmattstrassler.com/2011/09/23/some-comments-on-the-faster-than-light-neutrinos/

[turcopolier]

All

I was hoping for a discussion of military science fiction. pl

[Babak Makkinejad]

You might want to read the "Lost Regiment" series:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Regiment

[walrus]

Sadly someone has already said "check your measurements" but the post was dated Sept 23 2015.

There is a slight modification to relativity suggested by a certain Alexander Franklin Mayer that would account for this observation.

According to that, it may be possible to explain the observation as a timing error between neutrino source and receiver. That is that the neutrinos are moving at the speed of light but that there is a very slight clock delay caused by the curvature of space in a gravitational field that accounts for the 60 ns interval.

I've let him know about this and it is up to him to see if 732 km would cause a 60ns delay.

[walrus]

P.S. I'll settle for playing Sigourney Weavers cat in Alien.

[turcopolier]

Walrus

I identify with the corporal. pl

[turcopolier]

Babak

Thanks. I will read them. pl

[alnval]

Col. Lang:

Phui! It's just cold fusion all over again!

[fred]

The co-dominium seemed an interesting idea, certainly the political/corporate corruption seems to still ring true; with an core of folks with integrity trying to hold civilization together long enough to prevent another dark age. I wonder what they would write today?

[Medicine Man]

I liked Corporal Hicks but upon reflection I think Sargent Apone was my favorite character. I liked how he was basically the one running the platoon, not Lt. Gorman.

Pity the latter two movies of that series were so poor. The setup for the third Aliens movie was particularly cheap; killing off most of the characters from the 2nd film for banal drama. What a waste.

[Medicine Man]

On the subject of military fiction, I've heard that David Weber's Honor Harrington novels are rather entertaining. I plan on picking a few up to see if I like his writing style.

[turcopolier]

MM

I thought the costuming for the marines was poor. Bits and pieces of junk, i would have advised them gratis. pl

[Grimgrin]

The speed of light is only constant in a perfect vacuum. Increase the density of the material and the speed of light is variable (A Bose-Einstein condensate got it down to 38 miles an hour). My bet would be they've discovered some new mechanism affecting the way light propagates near a supernova, rather than superluminal neutrinos. Although this is just semi-informed speculation on my part.

What counts as military sci-fi? Particularly since wars and warfare are such common elements in the genre.

For depictions of future warfare, I like Ian M. Bank's sci-fi, particularly the Culture novels. The Culture (yes, they are as arrogant as the name implies) are a loose collection of god like AI's called Minds, and their sentient biological pets. While it probably wouldn't count as military sci fi, Banks spends a lot of time on the hows and whys of fighting a war when you live in a post scarcity hedonistic society with near infinite technological power, the individuals it chooses, sometimes unknowingly, sometimes unwillingly to fight it's wars, and how it goes about fighting them.

[turcopolier]

grimgrin

"the individuals it chooses, sometimes unknowingly, sometimes unwillingly to fight it's wars",

Nobody in my family was "chosen.' we chose. condottiere. pl

[Babak Makkinejad]

Good observation.

The detector for Proton Decay did not pick up any such precursor event signal in 1987 when the 1987a Supernova Event occurred.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1987A

Warp travel based on field equations of General Relativity is a theoretical possibility. But from an engineering perpective, an impossibility since it requires teh creation of of spaces with negative energy density

[Grimgrin]

pl: That's one of the main objections characters in the books have to the Culture as an entity.

It's also a function of the fact that the Culture a post scarcity society, where nearly anything is available so long as it doesn't involve harming an unwilling sentient being. Serving in their version of the military is one of the few things you can't get by asking for it. As such, service in the Culture's military is the most valuable thing the average human in the Culture can hope for.

Like I said it probably doesn't count as military sci-fi.

Thinking of kind-of military science fiction, I'm also curious if anyone here has ever read any of Cordwainer Smith's sci fi, and if so what they thought of it.

[Bill H.]

"I was hoping for a discussion of military science fiction."

How about "Starship Troopers" as one of the best books and worst movies of all time?

[Medicine Man]

Col.,

An English schoolteacher of my acquaintance (Liverpudlian I think) had a similar point of view regarding the uniforms in Aliens; a big eyeroll when Vasquez hopped out of the dropship with the sleeves torn out of her jacket and no body armor worn on any extremities.

The Vasquez character did have "El riesgo siempre vive!" written on her armor though, which is pretty cool. "The Risk always Survives" basically; most likely a play on the SAS motto.

[turcopolier]

BillH

Agree on the book. I first read it when I was 18. As for the film, I liked the shower room scene. pl