From: PointedEars@web.de   
      
   Whisper wrote:   
   > On 9/02/2026 10:14 am, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:   
   >> a425couple wrote:   
   >>> from   
   >>> https://boingboing.net/2026/02/05/the-fantasy-of-starships-i   
   -no-more-realistic-than-magic.html   
   >>>   
   >>> The fantasy of starships is no more realistic than magic   
   >>>   
   >>> Ellsworth Toohey  1:16 pm Thu Feb 5, 2026   
   >>> Cover for  Cover for "Tiger, Tiger" by Alfred Bester   
   >>>   
   >>> Interstellar travel — the kind in Star Trek, Star Wars, Dune — will   
   >>> never happen.   
   >>   
   >> They said that of supersonic flight before, too.   
   >   
   > That was on planet earth.  It's not unusual for planet inhabitants to   
   > invent many different means of transport on their planet.  Once you get   
   > off earth forget it, humans ain't going anywhere.  If you want to see   
   > that happen keep reading sci fi and dreaming.   
      
   As I just indicated, similar bold predictions have been made before.  (Some   
   of them are legends, though, misinterpretations and false attributions.[0])   
      
   If history teaches us anything, it is that sooner or later they are shown to   
   be wrong.  For example, just 156 years ago, Jules Verne wrote stories that   
   are considered science-fiction today, about things and technologies that   
   were thought to be inconceivable at the time of writing:   
      
   * in "De la Terre à la Lune" (1865) ["From the Earth to the Moon" (1868)],   
     he described humans traveling to the Moon;   
      
   * in "Autour de la Lune" (1869/1870) ["Around the Moon" (1872)],   
     he described humans traveling around the Moon in a capsule;   
      
   * in "Vingt Mille Lieues sous les mers" (1869–70) ["Twenty Thousand Leagues   
     Under the Seas" (1871)] he described humans traveling in a submarine,   
     and about giant creatures that would live there.   
      
   Yet, today there is nothing fictional about submarines; and just a few days   
   ago the observation of a live giant jellyfish during a deep-sea exploration   
   was in the news.[1]   
      
   People have not only been going to and around the Moon, and returned (since   
   Apollo 8, 1968) but walked and drove on it (since Apollo 11, 1969); and they   
   are going to do so again.[2]  Rockets are now launched into outer space on a   
   daily basis; there are (unfortunately for astronomers) more than 10'000   
   artificial satellites (mostly Starlink satellites) in orbit.  And they can   
   land safely now to be reused, too -- something that until that became a   
   reality was only shown in (cheap) science-fiction films.   
      
   I find it an interesting historical coincidence that Verne's ideas became   
   true almost exactly 100 years after he formulated them.   
      
   I guess that you will not live to see your claim being shown wrong.   
   Unfortunately, probably neither will I.   
      
   It is clear that you do not know what you are talking about, and ISTM that   
   you do not want to know either: That you are just an ignorant, someone with   
   a closed mind who is attacking that which you do not understand or do not   
   have enough imagination to conceive.  And you are a pseudonymous Usenet   
   troll, too.   
      
   [0]   
      
      
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   [2]    
      
   --   
   PointedEars   
      
   Twitter: @PointedEars2   
   Please do not cc me. / Bitte keine Kopien per E-Mail.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)