On 12 Sep 2007 15:31:52 -0000, [email protected] [email protected] wrote:
That means that all basic assumptions can be refactored, because the
thought experiment is entirely theoretical, and anything can happen. Just
as changing a single axiom of Euclidean geometry changes EVERYTHING,
which is precisely why it doesn't work that way in science. Einstein's work didn't make Newton's suddenly invalid. Newtonian mechanics works well within measurable error so long as the relative velocities don't get too high, and you stay away from star-sized gravity wells.
The laws of thermodynamics won't be repealed in entirety, but they may be understood to be special cases of other laws that cover things we haven't seen yet. And that's the key. There may well be other forms of energy that we haven't seen yet. Because we haven't seen them, we can't do anything with them.
Go:del proved in mathematics that _any_ well-developed system cannot
prove some of its own assumptions, and therefore they must be accepted without proof, meaning that we accept them on a basis which is really quite similar to "faith." Once this enters the thought experiment anything is possible. And yet all of this is entirely logical so far.
When we apply mathematics to the universe, we don't do so on 'faith', but based on repeatable experiments, careful measurements, and logical inference from those measurements to derive the laws. Pure Mathematics gets to cheat by starting with the fundamental laws, from which the special cases all can be generated. Science has to start with the raw data and try to figure out the laws. Where math may allow some things, science may forbid them. For instance, we've yet to detect anything with negative mass.
1. Realize that our current concept of light is flawed, and it is actually
a gas in a larger system.
Conjuring up the possibility of a future theory, based not on any observed phenomena that don't fit the existing theories, but simply upon the "wouldn't it be cool if there were some magical energy all around us, that we could use to become independent of fossil fuels, but not nuclear because that's part of the MilitaryIndistrialComplex" is a gas, too. The sort that comes from the south end of a northbound bull.
2. See that whatever is a gas can become a liquid, and whatever is
a liquid can become a solid.
At atmospheric pressure, carbon dioxide gas cannot become a liquid. There may be some magical conditions under which light can be a gas, liquid, or solid, but those conditions have yet to be found.
If we had ham, we could have ham and eggs, if we had eggs.
The laws of thermodynamics allow us to move energy around in various ways, but does not permit creating it from nothing. You find that hidden energy and how to use it, great.
Meanwhile I'm much more interested in the supercapacitors that are supposed to allow electric cars to go 500 miles between 5-minute recharges. If I can buy one of those at a price point similar to an ICE car, I'm all over it, because if I drive 500 miles, I'll need to stop to use the bathroom or something for 5 minutes anyway. "Gas stations" will provide recharging stations where you can plug in, then go inside and buy cokes, smokes, chips and dips, lottery tickets and maybe even cricket wickets.