Re: starship-design: Quantum Gravity

[Zenon Kulpa <zkulpa@zmit1.ippt.gov.pl>]

> From: "L. Parker" <lparker@cacaphony.net>
> To: "'LIT Starship Design Group'" <starship-design@lists.uoregon.edu>
> 
> I apologize if this is old news to anybody, but it sounds interesting 
> since it relates (slightly) to this group's objective - 
> 
> [...]
> 
> The idea that space and time may not be continuous but are built, 
> like matter, from very tiny "atomic building blocks" is not new-it was 
> proposed previously by Roger Penrose, of Oxford University and Penn State, 
> and other physicists and mathematicians. The work of Rovelli and Smolin 
> is, however, the first to show that these discrete structures are required 
> by the laws of quantum mechanics and relativity theory. 
> 
> [...]
>
If that proves to be true (whatever "true" exactly means),
it will relate to our objective quite significantly.

Namely, it will mean that our Universe is like a 3(or more)-D
cellular automaton (just like a giant version of Conway's game "Life"),
which in turn will mean that FTL is really impossible 
(and explain why - you cannot shift bits in your computer
faster than one tick of your master clock...).

Moreover, then all will have to go digital... ;-))

-- Zenon