From: nospam@127.0.0.1   
      
   Alain Fournier  writes:   
      
   [trimming down a bit]   
      
   > On Sep/24/2020 at 04:14, David Spain wrote :   
   >> Anything that fits inside the transporter beam? Essentially using quantum   
   >> mechanics and spooky action-at-a-distance to get around the light speed   
   >> hangup. I've always thought that if you can essentially assemble something   
   >> in zero elapsed time anywhere in the universe, that's probably the best way   
   >> to travel. The trick is getting the receivers where you want them.   
   >>   
   > I thought about this some more. I was wondering what would be the best   
   payload   
   > for an Alcubierre drive. But the answer to my question might very well be no   
   > payload at all. If at destination they can detect that an Alcubierre drive   
   has   
   > arrived, and know when and/or where that has happened, even if the drive   
   > contains nothing, information can be transmitted this way. And since the size   
   > of the drive seems to be a limiting factor, if you reduce the payload to   
   > nothing, you don't have to bother making the drive big enough to carry it.   
      
   And I've thought about my response a bit more as well. It would be somewhat   
   silly and naive to think that we humans would necessarily be the first   
   inventors of a Star-gate. So essentially the issue of receivers sort of solves   
   itself! The answer is any civilization that is sufficiently advanced to create   
   this technology will have a receiver at their location by definition! This   
   also neatly solves the Star Trek Prime Directive issue as well, since there is   
   already a significant barrier to entry and requires a level of technological   
   sophistication on the part of each party that is amenable to first contacts.   
      
   Also you can prevent hostilities and invasion by hostile aliens simply by   
   turning your receiver off! Of course this presumes one has invented one's own   
   Star-gate and that some interloper hasn't sneaked one into your system via   
   light-sail over a gazillion years that you don't know about!   
      
   Dave   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)