[Monty J. Harder]

On 12 Sep 2007 15:31:52 -0000, jared at hatwhite.com <jared at hatwhite.com>
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The laws of thermodynamics won't be repealed in entirety, but they may be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.
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