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From: rob@hhb.UUCP (Robert R Stegmann)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: FTL travel
Message-ID: <161@hhb.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 24-May-84 13:23:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: hhb.161
Posted: Thu May 24 13:23:58 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 1-Jun-84 05:16:48 EDT
Organization: HHB-Softron, Mahwah, NJ
Lines: 52



	The Earth is flat!
	The Earth is fixed at the center of the Universe!
	If God had meant man to fly, He would have given him wings!
	The first man to walk on the moon will be engulfed by dust!
	Perpetual motion is unattainable!
	The speed of light can never be exceeded!

	A use of 'negative data', often expressed as a general
proscription, is to save people the trouble of seriously
pursuing paths of investigation which others have shown to be
fruitless.  The weight of such a proscription is based upon the
credibility of the issuer, as well as the strength of the logical
argument supporting his position.
	Historically, many such injunctions were based upon 'gut
feelings' and 'common knowledge' rather than experiment and reason.
They were held either by people with vested interests in preserving
the extant status quo, or people unwilling or unable to do more than
parrot the views of others.  Those brave souls who dared to challenge
public opinion did so at their own expense and risk, and were rarely
rewarded for their efforts, or vindicated within their lifetimes.
	Regardless of how many blanket proscriptions have been shown
to be groundless in the past, and regardless of how satisfying the
tales of an underdog's vindication might be, however, modern man
must fight public ignorance in a different theatre, where the villains
are not so villainous and the public not so ignorant.
	First, Einstein was certainly neither uninformed nor did he
have a vested interest in a universal speed limit.  Second, his
argument is based upon solid logic, supported by experimental
evidence.  Third, his 'followers' are not merely evangelists seeking
to spread his gospel and silence blasphemers.
	Possibly the most serious effect of adherance to Einstein's
ideas by the modern scientific community, is NOT that it will cause
them to view with skepticism ideas about FTL travel, but that it might
cause them to actively shun all such ideas, and possibly overlook a
valid one!  Modern research requires huge sums of money, and the
people who allocate funds are influenced primarily by the majority
views of the scientific community.  Society simply cannot afford to
pursue what experts hold to be blind alleys in research.
	But it is as important today as in the past, nay, more so, that
'heretical' views not be totally ignored by the community!  So while
it is unfair and even naive to analogise 'FTL travel is impossible'
with 'The Earth is flat', it remains as unwise as ever to accept any
doctrine to the point where all nonconforming thought is extinguished.

					rob

{decvax,ihnp4,allegra}!philabs!hhb!rob