Light speed barrier broken?

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Platapus

It is rather arrogant for anyone to claim that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light simply because we have never been able to detect anything traveling faster.

I think that is not the reason the claim is being supported. It is being assumed that the speed of loight is an absolute barrier because of the implication we figure in case it would be possible to accelerate an object with mass to the speed of light. An object, in this theory, that accelerates to lightspeed, gains mass, until at lightspeed it would have gained infinite mass. Which would bring our whole cosmologic model of the universe to a collapse.

And it is this model that is "at risk" here if they confirm the finding of certain neutrinos going faster than light. It would let collapse a whole rats tail of attached conclusions that today are considered as almost untouchable. Time travel in reverse, for example. The model of time-space continuums as they get thought out on basis of Einstein's model. Possibly our current understanding of gravity. And who knows what infinte number of doors it would openh on possible ideas about space travel (which does not mean that any possibilities from that insight would become reality in the forseeable number of human generations - many earthly, material, profane and human reasons speak against that).

Mookie said confirming this finding would be one of the greatest scientific discoveries ever. I tend to think in the field of scientific theory-building that is still some kind of an "understatement". Even if for the time being it would be of theoretic value only - we and our children will continue to play pool by the old rules of Newtonian physics.

What would come of this possible chnage in paradigm over let's say the next 400 years, remains to be seen. But we would need to survive as a) a technological high civilization and b) as a surviving biological species for that ammount of time. And at least the first imo is in doubt, considering the next 400 years.

So even when the finding of the present days may be revolutionary - whether they will translate into materialised technological revolutions as well in the end, is something totally different. Becasue in the end people still live by bread and water, oxygene and warmth, health and protection from the elments - not theoretic insight into complex physics. And in these "profane" necessities lies ther answer to the question whether we will survive the next half millenia or not.

Alpha Centauri must wait.