Asri-unix.549 net.space utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!menlo70!sri-unix!WEBB@CMU-20C Sat Jan 16 17:45:19 1982 Physical laws From: Jon Webb The Michelson-Morley experiment was one of the major problems that led to the creation of the theory of special relativity, but if it turned out to be in error today we would still have to keep a lot of relativity around. This is because physicists observe every day things that are consistent with the "strange" predictions of relativity, like time dilation and increase in mass with velocity. They observe these things in particle accelarators. So just finding an error in M-M won't make it possible to build FTL ships after all. The same thing applies much more strongly to things like the Dean Drive, of course. If we're going to find ways around the obstacles we've encountered, those ways will probably be at the frontiers of science, not way back someplace which has been overlooked by mankind and Mother Nature all these millenia. Jon ------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.