What will be the next big thing to change human history?

[jcpwn3r]

I'm thinking faster-than-light travel will be the next big thing.

.

physically impossible

At the speed of light, all matter gains mass, including light, though light has no mass.

so if an object with a substantial amount of mass reached the speed of light, it's mass would become so high, so fast, it would collapse in a matter of milliseconds into a super dense material, that has the potential to become a black hole that will suck up the earth and all things surrounding it.

Now IF you can get faster than the speed of light (which is a physical impossibility) you will be traveling into the future, because time is at the speed of light.

Now what MIGHT happen is we learn how to bend the fabric of space by creating super dense matter, folding the fabric together or ever making a hole through it, so that we can move a greater distance using the same sub-light speed velocity.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

I'm thinking faster-than-light travel will be the next big thing.

Seriously?

No, Seriously?

That's not possible as far as I know. Simply due to E=MC[sup]2[/sup]. If you're going faster than light, you have a ridiculous amount of energy, which relates to an even more obscene amount of mass.

The test ship is going to end up as a ridiculously fast moving black hole.

I'm thinking faster-than-light travel will be the next big thing.

.

physically impossible

At the speed of light, all matter gains mass, including light, though light has no mass.

so if an object with a substantial amount of mass reached the speed of light, it's mass would become so high, so fast, it would collapse in a matter of milliseconds into a super dense material, that has the potential to become a black hole that will suck up the earth and all things surrounding it.

Now IF you can get faster than the speed of light (which is a physical impossibility) you will be traveling into the future, because time is at the speed of light.

Now what MIGHT happen is we learn how to bend the fabric of space by creating super dense matter, folding the fabric together or ever making a hole through it, so that we can move a greater distance using the same sub-light speed velocity.

I thought we were talking about major events and technologies. Something that would change human history.

The stuff everyone else is talking about (nuclear fusion, disease curing, even sentient AI), that's incremental improvement. But traveling between two points more quickly than a photon, that is huge, that will change history.

And no I'm not talking about strapping the biggest drive you can manage to something and hoping it "breaks the light barrier." I have no idea how it will be achieved but if and when it is it will be known forever as one of humanities greatest achievements.

Also jcpwn3r, velocity is speed with a direction (saying speed velocity is redundant), and warping space as you described is still considered FTL travel. Because everything is relative to an observer outside the "warp bubble" your ship will be traveling at speeds greater than that of light.

Here's a little speculation on the subject of circumventing Einstein's Laws. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster-than-light#Justifications]

 

[Debron]

wow, there are actually quite some interesting theories in this thread.
Now what if we developed another human emotion. Something we cannot imagine yet, but will make us feel 'different'.

 

[Two-Headed Boy]

Zombies....you heard it from me first the apocalypse is coming
RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!
"War with North Korea. It sounds bad, but that's the most likely thing to happen, in which case we're all fucked."
Then the US will launch nukes for the Lulz

The zombie thing has to happen but, lets face it,i think everyone has thought of a (hopefully) watertight plan to survive, I know I have.

If not, there's always this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_Survival_Guide

 

[Two-Headed Boy]

wow, there are actually quite some interesting theories in this thread.
Now what if we developed another human emotion. Something we cannot imagine yet, but will make us feel 'different'.

I say we invent a new color that no one has ever seen before. And we can paint pictures like no other! Oh, and the old standby of flying cars is bound to happen one of these days...

 

[quack35]

Complete extermination by senseless nuclear warfare sounds pretty big.

 

[mythbuster343]

all the penguins in the arctic dancing with top hats and canes as the last polar ice cap slowly melts beneath them

I couldn't help but laugh a little... sorry

 

[JonasBrothersSuck]

3 words: Virtual fucking reality. No one will ever leave thier homes ever again!

 

[Debron]

Since it's hot news today; How about a virus like the Swine flu? Instead of war, don't you think a worldwide spread virus can change human history? Maybe wipe us all out?

 

[T3h Camp3r T3rr0r1st]

swine flu = ZOMBOCALYPSE!

no srsly I believe that this may be the Zombie flu!

just u wait!

or America fighting Pakistan then Nrth Korea joins in as an excuse to get the south then China joins in and so on until we have WWIII BUT! Australia and Switzerland (remaining Neutral) Will survive the nuclear "Fallout" and create a Utopia built around prawns and BBQs (I'm an Aussie can u tell?)

 

[Ceefax]

A complete collapse of the worlds social, financial and subsequently government institutions/structures.


...or ninja's with jetpacks. That would be pretty cool.