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I think its a good topic.  The answer is yes.  We dont know everything there is to know right now about how the universe works.  I believe that in 100 or so years the so called "light barrier" will have been broken somehow.  Think of how much we didnt know 100 years ago.  Back then sending men into orbit was a fanatsy.  Granted we havent come very far since we did achieve orbit, but that is due entirely to poor priorities not lack of ability.  We should have colonies on Mars by now and be exploring the outer Solar System.  We would if the govt had been giving the space program enough money.

The "light barrier" will not hold us back if we take the time and effort to solve the problem.  My personal opinion, based on my limited knowledge of physics, is that we will learn to use the curvature of space-time in such a way that we will move between 2 points very quickly without moving through all of the points in between.  Although its also possible that we will discover that Einstein's equations break down in certain extreme conditions (much like Newton's do) and we will exploit that to move fast enough to reach other stars.

In any event, none of this will happen unless we choose to spend the time and resources necessary to achieve this level of technology.  Most people today dont see this as a priority.  Its a shame because the danger of something happening like the movie "Deep Impact" is just as real as the danger of Saddam Hussien is except that its a danger to everyone on the planet.  It should be a huge priority because the survival of the human race is why we are all here.  We are extremely vulnerable on only one planet and we need to expand to ensure our survival.  The dinosaurs ruled the planet for millions of years but never got off it, and now we study their bones.  I hope the human race has a better future.

You left out an important option in your poll.  A faster than light drive is not required to reach the stars.  A sublight drive is perfectly adequate as long as a generation or two of living in space is provided for.  We could populate the stars with today's tech.  We merely lack the will and the need.

D'oh! I wasn't thinking about that. You are right, it would only take several generations living aboard an "ark" or something, but it is still possible. Too bad I can't edit the poll now.

it will take a lot of new technology either way.
but also, some people have doubted that an ark would work, because you have a limited popultion aboard a constrained area. you will naturaly have rebellion, and many other factors which will not help the mission at all.
plus, the long term effects of living in space are yet unknown...
plus, if it takes several minutes to communicate with mars, it will take that much longer to talk to the "ark". unless we develop a lot of new technology, this seems impossible within the near future...

Of course it'll happen, it's only a matter of time. Although, come to think of it, man kind will probably be extinct by the time we would be able to reach the stars. If we had infinite time, it would definitely happen, but the way we're going, we probably won't be around for long enough.

I agree. We'll probably nuke ourselves to hell before we get beyond Mars.

I voted no, I side with Einstein on the whole FTL deal

It is only a matter of time before someone gets around that speed limit of 300000kms/s. All we have to do is be able to manipulate space time.

*Looks in crystal ball*

No. Never. Never ever.

I don't see the point of this thread.

Maybe it should be, "should we travel to the stars" and not "will we." Much hotter topic.

Like, should we focus on exploring before we fix ourselves? It ties in with the "Will we nuke ourselves before we get a chance" comment.

I don't see the point of this thread.

Maybe it should be, "should we travel to the stars" and not "will we." Much hotter topic.

Like, should we focus on exploring before we fix ourselves? It ties in with the "Will we nuke ourselves before we get a chance" comment.

Maybe exploring space could be the way that we fix the human race. If we had a common goal we could put aside some of the petty differences for the greater good. I would agree though that we need some maturing as a species, if we didn't we would probably start all kinds of trouble. However, when the human race comes out of its infancy, I believe it will one day, we should definately go and see what is out there.

According to some of the stuff I've read, the speed of light is not an absolute barrier to space travel. You can travel faster or slower than the speed of light, but not at the speed of light. How you accelerate to speeds faster than light without being at the speed of light for an instant is a mystery to me.

Also, on Earth there are some things that travel faster than light: atomic particles called tachyons, and in waveguides there are patterns of electromagnetic fields which travel faster than light, but there is no way to use them to send a message. (Waveguides are rectangular-section metal pipes used to deliver Super-High Frequency radio waves to an antenna.)

Arthur C Clarke wrote an essay called "Things ThatGo Faster Than Light" and I'm sure that Isaac Asimov will have something about this in his collections of essays.

If you have a way to accelerate continuously, you can reach the speed of light in a little over a year.  At that sort of speed relativistic time dilation becomes something measurable. The apparent time inside the spaceship is shorter than the time outside. What is a ten year trip at the speed of light seems to be only a couple of years inside the ship.

Time For The Stars by Robert Heinlein as an easy way to get to understand this stuff. It's the first juvenile novel I've read that has an equation from Albert Einstein in it.

I think that the world's scientists should collaborate in a scheme to make it seem like we were contacted by aliens from outer space, then they make us build a giant machine, then they put someone in and use it and she comes back immediately and says that she went somewhere but she was only gone for an instant so everyone thinks she's lying but she has 17 hours of blank video tape so how'd that happen, huh?

That's what I think.

I think that the world's scientists should collaborate in a scheme to make it seem like we were contacted by aliens from outer space, then they make us build a giant machine, then they put someone in and use it and she comes back immediately and says that she went somewhere but she was only gone for an instant so everyone thinks she's lying but she has 17 hours of blank video tape so how'd that happen, huh?

That's what I think.

And they could make a movie about it?

Well, write a book first.

At the rate we're finding planets these days, I wouldn't be surprised if most stars have planets and further that most of those have a suitable planet for us.  Suitable being broadly defined as somewhat better than Mars in atmosphere, water and gravitational field strength.  I think we'll wait until the next generation of scopes can firmly pin down the near certainty of a suitable planet around a particular star.  Then we'll build an ark and send it off.