JCC Warp Power's Chicago Pile Moment May Be Upon Us

Do you...do you understand what nonphysical is?

 

No its not. Until the construction of the Chicago Pile, nuclear power was strictly theortical. The purpose of the Chicago Pile can be summed up in three words roof. of. Concept.

That's what this is. Proof of concept. The math says that warp power is possible in theory. This the first attempt to put theory into practice.

 

i got your proof of concept right here: *gestures suggestively towards crotch*

 

And what exactly is that supposed to mean?

 

The proof of concept is his penis.

 

Oh yeah, real intelligent.

 

My penis is in MENSA.

 

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between what we knew about nuclear physics at the time of the Manhattan project and what we know about "warp power," Ewok.

A lot more than math said that nuclear reactions were sustainable at the time. In addition, they weren't relying on something so nonsensical like negative mass.

 

all im sayin is ive warped the fabric of a few realities in my day

 

But what if the mass is having a really bad day?

 

I don't pretend to be a nuclear physicist, but at least I can recognize an analogy when I see one. You might want to think about that before you start jumping all over other people.

 

the elusive "darth guy particles"

 

Funny, because Sean is a physicist, and he is recognizing a bad analogy because he sees one.

 

Let's take a look at your analogy:

Nuclear Physics' Chicago Pile: The Manhatten project successfully builds a self-sustaining nuclear reactor.

Warp Physics' Chicago Pile: The Unrealistic project successfully builds a warp drive.

Unless you're suggesting we're close to building a warp drive, how exactly is "warp power's chicago pile moment upon us?"

 

Now here's a thought. What if we powered the warp reactor with the science knowledge of sci-fi fandom? It's non-physical, generally negative, has an exotic relationship to reality, and it's got to weigh more than 1,600 lbs.

Failing that, maybe we could just power the drive with dreams and wishes?

 

How is it a bad analogy? Yes there was lots of experimentation and lots of theoretical calculation that said that nuclear power should be possible, but there is a difference between "should be" and reality. At some point someone had to go and build a nuclear reactor. No one has ever tried to build a working FTL drive, not even as a bench top model. As far as I've ever heard, the Alcuberrie drive has only ever ever existed as a strictly theoretical construct. It comes down the fact that while yes, it may be small in scale and won't actually take us anywhere, the fact is that someone is ACTUALLY building it. So yes, comparisons to the Chicago Pile are not unwarrented.

 

I can't respect the human race if we don't get our act together enough to colonize the stars.

 

You don't get it, there is no experimentation or theoretical calculation that says warp power is possible.

 

If you read that article and comprehended it you would notice that NO ONE is building a bench top model. What they maybe might be doing is using a laser to perturb an impossibly small amount of space time to see if the stuff even wiggles. And you'd notice that person you claim is achieving this "Chicago Pile Moment" actually states that he hopes that he is waiting for a Chicago Pile Moment to happen.

Also, we knew the reactor could and would work. As far as we know a "warp drive" of this type physically CAN'T work in our reality.

 

We'll pay for it with dragon's gold purified in the Well of Eternity by the fairy gods.

 

And I guess the folks funding and conducting this research are all off their rocker because Sean says so?

We know the pitfalls and surprise surprise so do they. Despite that it is hardly worthless research considering every actual working physicist in the world will to you we don't know everything.

 

Chemistry and physics has always been a bit over my head (give me a fetal pig dissection anyday), so pass the popcorn and we'll watch this debate together.

 

On a meta level, this whole debate is essentially Enlightenment vs. Romanticism worldview. The Romanticists being represented by people like Wocky and Vivec.

 

Well it's probably not costing them much and there aren't really any pitfalls to doing abstract math in a vacuum so....