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Oct 20, 2012

The Kline Directive: Theoretical-Empirical Relationship (Part 2)

Posted by in categories: cosmology, defense, engineering, philosophy, physics, policy, scientific freedom, space

To achieve interstellar travel, the Kline Directive instructs us to be bold, to explore what others have not, to seek what others will not, to change what others dare not. To extend the boundaries of our knowledge, to advocate new methods, techniques and research, to sponsor change not status quo, on 5 fronts:

1. Legal Standing. 2. Safety Awareness. 3. Economic Viability. 4. Theoretical-Empirical Relationship. 5. Technological Feasibility.

From Part 1 … “that mathematics has become so sophisticated and so very successful that it can now be used to prove anything and everything, and therefore, the loss of certainty that mathematics will provide reasonability in guidance and correctness in answers to our questions in the sciences”.

We need to note that there are several different relationships between the mathematics of physics and the physics of the real world.

Continue reading “The Kline Directive: Theoretical-Empirical Relationship (Part 2)” »

Oct 18, 2012

“In Search of a Friend for the End of the World”…

Posted by in categories: existential risks, particle physics

http://www.cinemablographer.com/2012/06/last-night.html
… is too early a movie at the present time (although it is nice). I instead re-iterate that I cannot understand the stubbornness of a whole planet refusing to check whether the offered proof of danger contains an error or not. All of the planet’s media never behaved as irresponsibly before: to refuse checking is never intelligent or defensible in retrospect, or is it?

A German higher administrative court (OVG Münster, Az. 16 A 591/11) ruled definitively yesterday that the principle of reversal of the burden of proof is not applicable in this case: You have to prove that the potentially earth-eating black holes are actually being produced before you can lawfully object to the ongoing attempt at their production.

———————————————–

Let me re-iterate how I see the situation in a manner that is maximally self-critical in a Popperian sense:

Continue reading “‘In Search of a Friend for the End of the World’…” »

Oct 17, 2012

The Kline Directive: Theoretical-Empirical Relationship (Part 1)

Posted by in categories: business, cosmology, defense, economics, education, engineering, events, finance, human trajectories, particle physics, philosophy, physics, policy

To achieve interstellar travel, the Kline Directive instructs us to be bold, to explore what others have not, to seek what others will not, to change what others dare not. To extend the boundaries of our knowledge, to advocate new methods, techniques and research, to sponsor change not status quo, on 5 fronts:

1. Legal Standing. 2. Safety Awareness. 3. Economic Viability. 4. Theoretical-Empirical Relationship. 5. Technological Feasibility.

In Part 1 of this post I will explore Theoretical-Empirical Relationship. Not theoretical relationships, not empirical relationships but theoretical-empirical relationships. To do this let us remind ourselves what the late Prof. Morris Kline was getting at in his book Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty, that mathematics has become so sophisticated and so very successful that it can now be used to prove anything and everything, and therefore, the loss of certainty that mathematics will provide reasonability in guidance and correctness in answers to our questions in the sciences.

History of science shows that all three giants of science of their times, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton & Christiaan Huygens believed that light traveled in aether medium, but by the end of the 19th century there was enough experimental evidence to show aether could not be a valid concept. The primary experiment that changed our understanding of aether was the Michelson–Morley experiment of 1887, which once and for all proved that aether did not have the correct properties as the medium in which light travels.

Continue reading “The Kline Directive: Theoretical-Empirical Relationship (Part 1)” »

Oct 15, 2012

“Thanks for the Fish!” – paid to an Anonymous Group on the Internet

Posted by in categories: existential risks, particle physics

Today is Felix-Baumgartner day since creativity wins. And today, I saw an interesting dialog about my potentially planet-saving results on the Internet. The latter was conducted by amateur physicists ( http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?113769-Invited-%28pe…-R%F6ssler ) who thereby have earned great merit since the whole rest of the profession refuses to come out.

The young colleagues tried to convince themselves and their readers that my “Telemach” result, which has the planet-saving potential if flawless, violates textbook and wiki wisdom and therefore is bound to be false.

Nevertheless I am very grateful to Mr. “rpenner” (pseudonym) and his friends for their being the only scientists so far who dare come out in a not totally anonymous way.

The emphasis they place on the Rindler metric at the beginning is especially meritorious. The Rindler metric is arguably the most important post-Einsteinian discovery. It implies the Telemach theorem – on the truthfulness of which the survival of the planet is predicated as no one denies.

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Oct 14, 2012

The Kline Directive: Economic Viability

Posted by in categories: business, complex systems, defense, economics, education, engineering, finance, military, nuclear weapons, philosophy, physics, policy, scientific freedom, space, sustainability

To achieve interstellar travel, the Kline Directive instructs us to be bold, to explore what others have not, to seek what others will not, to change what others dare not. To extend the boundaries of our knowledge, to advocate new methods, techniques and research, to sponsor change not status quo, on 5 fronts:

1. Legal Standing. 2. Safety Awareness. 3. Economic Viability. 4. Theoretical-Empirical Relationship. 5. Technological Feasibility.

In this post I will explore Economic Viability. I have proposed the Interstellar Challenge Matrix (ICM) to guide us through the issues so that we can arrive at interstellar travel sooner, rather than later. Let us review the costs estimates of the various star drives just to reach the velocity of 0.1c, as detailed in previous blog posts:

Interstellar Challenge Matrix (Partial Matrix)

Propulsion Mechanism Legal? Costs Estimates
Conventional Fuel Rockets: Yes Greater than US$1.19E+14
Antimatter Propulsion: Do Not Know. Between US$1.25E+20 and US$6.25E+21
Atomic Bomb Pulse Detonation: Illegal. This technology was illegal as of 1963 per Partial Test Ban Treaty Between $2.6E12 and $25.6E12 . These are Project Orion original costs converted back to 2012 dollar. Requires anywhere between 300,000 and 30,000,000 bombs!!
Time Travel: Do Not Know. Requires Exotic Matter, therefore greater than antimatter propulsion costs of US$1.25E+20
Quantum Foam Based Propulsion: Do Not Know. Requires Exotic Matter, therefore greater than antimatter propulsion costs of US$1.25E+20
Small Black Hole Propulsion: Most Probably Illegal in the Future Using CERN to estimate. At least US$9E+9 per annual budget. CERN was founded 58 years ago in 1954. Therefore a guestimate of the total expenditure required to reach its current technological standing is US$1.4E11.

Note Atomic Bomb numbers were updated on 10/18/2012 after Robert Steinhaus commented that costs estimates “are excessively high and unrealistic”. I researched the topic and found Project Orion details the costs, of $2.6E12 to $25.6E12, which are worse than my estimates.

Continue reading “The Kline Directive: Economic Viability” »

Oct 14, 2012

Congratulations Skydiver Felix Baumgartner

Posted by in categories: business, complex systems, defense, engineering, events, fun, philosophy, physics, space

Congratulations Skydiver Felix Baumgartner, on the success of your 24 mile skydive. You proved that it is possible to bail out of a space ship and land on Earth safely.

The records are nice to have but the engineering was superb!

Oct 12, 2012

The Kline Directive: Safety Awareness

Posted by in categories: cosmology, defense, engineering, life extension, military, particle physics, physics, space, sustainability

To achieve interstellar travel, the Kline Directive instructs us to be bold, to explore what others have not, to seek what others will not, to change what others dare not. To extend the boundaries of our knowledge, to advocate new methods, techniques and research, to sponsor change not status quo, on 5 fronts:

1. Legal Standing. 2. Safety Awareness. 3. Economic Viability. 4. Theoretical-Empirical Relationship. 5. Technological Feasibility.

In this post I will explore Safety Awareness.

In the heady rush to propose academically acceptable ideas about new propulsions systems or star drives it is very easy to overlook safety considerations. The eminent cosmologist Carl Sagan said it best “So the problem is not to shield the payload, the problem is to shield the earth” (Planet. Space Sci., pp. 485 – 498, 1963)

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Oct 12, 2012

The Telemach Theorem impacts on the Anticipated Black Hole Formation at CERN

Posted by in categories: ethics, existential risks, particle physics

Summary

The Telemach theorem rests on Einstein’s 1907 work on the essence of gravity. It retains its grip on the most derived equations found in later years. The famous clock slowdown in gravity (of our own clocks down here compared to the clocks in the high-flying GPS-satellites) acquires three corollaries under the impact of quantum mechanics. Hence equally unnoticeable to us, all local lengths are expanded downstairs by the very same factor. And all local masses are decreased by the very same factor. And, owing to the constant ratios between mass and charge valid for the different particle classes, all charges are reduced by the very same factor down here. Thus, Time and Length and Mass and Charge are affected equally strongly. The result is easy to remember by recalling the name of Ulysses’ son: Telemach(us). Unfortunately, the theorem totally upsets the properties of black holes. The latter suddenly arise much more easily than hoped for in a famous ongoing experiment designed to produce them here on earth – and they simultaneously turn out to be invisible to CERN’s detectors. And once a specimen happens to be slow enough to stay inside earth, it eventually will settle down to grow due to a self-enhancing capturing effect exerted on quarks and leptons. While at first the pace of growth is ridiculously slow, problem is that this is an exponential process like compound interest. Every gain remains minute for quite a while but suddenly, there is this famous “knee” in the curve after but a few years’ time. Subsequently, earth is a 2-cm black hole that keeps the moon on its course by virtue of its unmitigated gravity. Up until now, no physicist was able to invalidate the theorem. The Cologne Administrative Court therefore gave the advice to hold a “safety conference” before continuing. This was on January 27, 2011. The greatest leap forward in the attempted production rate of black holes takes place these very days.

Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IULjmY7ZqFM

Oct 11, 2012

The Unlikely Option? An Industrial Base on Planet Mercury

Posted by in categories: engineering, futurism, habitats, space

At first glance, one would consider the proposition of a base on Mercury, our Sun’s closest satellite, as ludicrous. With daytime temperatures reaching up to 700K — hot enough to melt lead — while the dark side of the planet experiences a temperature average of 110K — far colder than anywhere on Earth, combined with the lack of any substantial atmosphere, and being deep in the Sun’s gravitational potential well, conditions seem unfavorable.

First impressions can be misleading however, as it is well known that polar areas do not experience the extreme daily variation in temperature, with temperatures in a more habitable range (< 273 K (0 °C)) and it has been anticipated there may even be deposits of ice inside craters. http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/ice/ice_mercury.html

And is not just habitable temperature and ice-water in its polar regions that make Mercury an interesting candidate for an industrial base. There are a number of other factors making it more favourable than either a Looner or Martian base:

Mercury is the second densest planet in our solar system — being just slightly less dense than our Earth — and is rich in valuable resources, the highest concentrations of many valuable minerals of any surface in the Solar System, in highly concentrated ores. Also, being the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury has vast amounts of solar power available, and there are predictions that Mercury’s soil may contain large amounts of helium-3, which could become an important source of clean nuclear fusion energy on Earth and a driver for the future economy of the Solar System. Therefore it is a strong candidate for an industrial base.

Continue reading “The Unlikely Option? An Industrial Base on Planet Mercury” »

Oct 10, 2012

The Kline Directive: Legal Standing

Posted by in categories: business, complex systems, defense, economics, engineering, ethics, finance, philosophy, physics, policy, space

To achieve interstellar travel, the Kline Directive instructs us to be bold, to explore what others have not, to seek what others will not, to change what others dare not. To extend the boundaries of our knowledge, to advocate new methods, techniques and research, to sponsor change not status quo, on 5 fronts:

1. Legal Standing. 2. Safety Awareness. 3. Economic Viability. 4. Theoretical-Empirical Relationship. 5. Technological Feasibility.

In this post I will explore Legal Standing.

With respect to space exploration, the first person I know of who pushed the limits of the law is Mr. Gregory W. Nemitz of The Eros Project. He started this project in March 2000. As a US taxpayer, Nemitz made the claim that he is the Owner of Asteroid 433, Eros, and published his claim about 11 months prior to NASA landing its “NEAR Shoemaker” spacecraft on this asteroid.

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