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From: gsmith@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (Gene Ward Smith)
Newsgroups: net.space,net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: SETI vs. starflight
Message-ID: <11783@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Mon, 10-Feb-86 07:59:01 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.11783
Posted: Mon Feb 10 07:59:01 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 12-Feb-86 01:09:34 EST
References: <6315@utzoo.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: gsmith@brahms.UUCP (Gene Ward Smith)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 32
Keywords: Robert Forward
Xref: lsuc net.space:1514 net.sf-lovers:5945

In article <6315@utzoo.UUCP> henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) writes:

>Robert Forward,who has studied the matter [starflight] professionally as a USAF
>consultant on advanced space propulsion, says that antimatter propulsion
>is within our reach with today's technology.  Antimatter production would

  I must confess to a very considerable lack of knowledge about star travel.
But this posting brought to mind a book I read recently, "The Flight of the
Dragonfly" I think it was called. It was by Robert Forward, and it featured
aliens with vast mathematical abilities. Apparantly, Forward had the idea
when writing this book that he knew something about mathematics, and 
nobody told him differently. The result was my nomination for the funniest
sf novel since "The Butterfly Kid". Gag me with a functor! I thought I 
would die laughing. Anyway, I was wondering, does someone out there know
enough about this to tell the rest of us if Forward is talking through his
hat again (it kind of sounds like it to me, but as I say, I really don't
know) or does he know what he is talking about (this time).

>"Their" absence here is a considerable mystery, which has occasioned much
>debate in recent years, but the "extreme cost" of interstellar travel just
>does not suffice as an explanation.

  Maybe "they" are a long way away?

>"Antimatter rockets will take us to the stars.  *This is no longer
>science fiction*." -- Forward

  Thank God it's not science fiction -- that way it stands a chance of
being true. :-}

ucbvax!brahms!gsmith    Gene Ward Smith/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720
ucbvax!weyl!gsmith      "When Ubizmo talks, people listen."