It is time for me to update the one paper that I really got Internet recognition for. Stand up philosophy allows me to fill this space three times a week with something that occasionally gets read. That is all that I am here for and I am happy to have this opportunity. What I was recognized for, in the non fiction category, is my warp theory paper. Some of my fiction did draw an audience; however, interest has dried up and I am still getting comments on my warp theory paper.

The first edition of the paper had more objectives that it should have had. I did some cataloging of the different theories when I probably should have focused on the core of the subject instead. Maybe that was a mistake. In any case, the first edition of my paper is already indexed on the Internet and may as well serve as a foundation for my later theorizing. If I can inspire some original thought on the subject, then I will consider myself blessed.

Limitations imposed by age, drive and many things that I could influence only marginally mean that I am unlikely to ever actually build the field-frame system. History is unlikely to even remember me. But, that is not what I was put upon this Earth for. It is the things that you do not see the value in that are often your greatest achievements when the value of your life is tabulated.

There are two physical constraints, as I understand them, that prevent an engine from breaching the light speed limit. The first of these is the inertial moment. As an object nears the speed of light, its apparent mass increases until the mass reaches infinity at the speed of light. There is not enough energy within the universe to move an object of infinite mass much less accelerate it past the speed of light. When force is divided by infinity, to give acceleration, the result is zero.

Secondly, there is time dilation to overcome. At the speed of light, time stands still. Since acceleration is always in distance divided by time squared, the result is a divide by 0 fault in the equation. Zero squared is either zero or close enough in practice. All the force in the universe pushing a body for zero seconds of time will not be able to move it.

Notice that both of these effects require that the source of acceleration be within the body that is moving at the speed of light. Trying to chase the body in order to reach it and accelerate it past the speed of light would require that the propulsive force be moving past the speed of light. That is highly unlikely. An object that is moving at the speed of light is in its own frame of reference and independent of the external frame of reference.

This is the end of what I am going to cover in this tirade. My goal in writing these short pieces is partially to see if I can draw new readers to the comic and partly so that we can actually be posting some secrets of the universe to this site. What good would a site named “Secrets of the Universe” be if we did not slip in a few actual secrets every so often? I will not tell if you do not.

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