There is no gravity; the Universe is having a bad hair day

[FreeTrav]

What ramifications on our interpretation of Traveller settings does this have, if any?

 

[DFW]

None really as it doesn't change reality. It is just theoretical musings. Not even a theory at this point.

 

[rust]

I suspect that it would not have any major consequences. It describes a
new explanation for the existence of the force we call gravity, but it does
not touch upon the effects of this force - which would be difficult anyway,
as thousands of experiments have demonstrated that this force works al-
most exactly as we think and predict, at least on the scale we can use for
our experiments.

 

[lastbesthope]

For most of real life it doesn't matter what causes 'gravity', the fact that it exists is sufficient.

LBH

 

[FreeTrav]

Indeed, in reality, there won't be much effect; it's mostly theoretical musings at this point - but in the Traveller milieu, manipulation of gravity is reality, and while the science behind it has always been handwaved away, I'm sure that people have come up with their own 'theories' of how it works - so, in essence, I guess I'm asking what sort of in-game theories for gravity manipulation might the ideas from the Times article give rise to?

 

[DFW]

Indeed, in reality, there won't be much effect; it's mostly theoretical musings at this point - but in the Traveller milieu, manipulation of gravity is reality, and while the science behind it has always been handwaved away, I'm sure that people have come up with their own 'theories' of how it works - so, in essence, I guess I'm asking what sort of in-game theories for gravity manipulation might the ideas from the Times article give rise to?

From what I read , not many. He needs to refine it more.

 

[rust]

I guess I'm asking what sort of in-game theories for gravity manipulation might the ideas from the Times article give rise to?

I do not have the slightest shadow of an idea. However, since according to
the article even many of the experts did not understand what the author
attempted to communicate, I am at least in good company with that.

 

[Captain Jonah]

This just seems to be the steady increase in tech level leading us to tech 9 and gravity plates and drives.
Created gravity is a staple of sci fi, it has to come from somewhere and if you think about it the only possible way to create it in ships is to use a method of generation that doesn't rely on mass so if he can expand the theory and source gravity from some form of non mass based quantum attraction then Branson’s passenger space plane may be out of date before it gets worn out.
Lets see if he can make something of it.

 

[MarkB]

It could be an easy way to justify the cheap development of contra-grav technologies, but beyond that it really doesn't have much impact. Whatever its source, gravity has to be present and reasonably consistent throughout the known universe in order for it to exist as we observe it to.

 

[FreeTrav]

Indeed. There is no question that something causes the behavior we observe and attribute to "gravity"; the question that we are interested in - both in real life, and in the Traveller milieu - is "How does it work?", in the sense of "What is interacting in what way with what else that explains the behavior we see?". In the real world, new ideas such as those mentioned in the Times article may lead to experiments, hypotheses, and eventually a theory that will admit of the development of tools to manipulate this interaction we call "gravity"; in the Traveller milieu, perhaps they already have - and perhaps it explains such handwaved gravity manipulations as the air-raft and the (pre-TNE) "thrusters". It's the latter that I was really asking about in the initial post of the thread... but I've said that already...

 

[BP]

Not treating gravity as a fundamental force, but rather a consequence (effect or side-effect) of the universe (besides possibly appealing to TOEist and answering the inability to integrate gravity with the rest of the forces) means that no fundamental unit (particle) of gravity would exist.

This would negate the use of gravitons/anti-gravitons to support aspects of gravitics in Traveller.

At the same time, it would make gravitic propulsion irrespective of gravity wells (i.e. 6G wether near a planet, or in 'empty space) more 'explainable'.

I like the idea of using both (like particle vs wave aspects), myself

(P.S. this concept is hardly new or original. The media is always 'discovering' things!)

 

[alex_greene]

Bear in mind that the period between late May and early September is traditionally known as The Silly Season in journalism. This being the time of year where traditional news other than sporting events is few and far between, journalists have always fallen back upon the time-honoured trick of making up any old bozzox for filler and passing it off as genuine news.

 

[BP]

That would be late May to late May.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

The "surfing dog" syndrome (sometimes called the "skateboarding duck").

I typically say that the offending item/concept/physics' underlying principles were discovered at a slightly higher TL than we possess if anyone asks about hard science (that isn't obvious) in the game'.

One can always fall back on 'Baldrick's General Theory of Handwavium' too.

 

[BP]

GTH.