Orville was probably talking about people who were saying at the time that it was impossible for humans to take flight. That is not a statement about what is true, it is a statement about what is possible. It's sobering to think someone so smart as Orville Wright could get the two confused. Is it theoretically possible to travel to another planet? Sure! Is it practically possible? Not a chance. The difference between what is true and what is possible.
Again, it is a matter of logistics. To experiment and build a craft that can float on air here on terra firma is one thing. To build a craft that can travel to another planet we cannot see and study from here over the vast period of time it would take to get there, not to mention the time dilation that would occur, in one lifetime, and be able to communicate back to say we succeeded, while the people who sent us are still alive, well, that is quite another. I can empty my pool with a garden hose, but I'd be a fool to try to empty lake Erie. I can write a program to keep track of my computer assets. I cannot make a computer to calculate the answer to life, the Universe, Everything! :-) Bob On Mar 27, 2012, at 4:38 AM, Mick Collins wrote: > Talking about presumptuous, Bob, well here's a good quotation to keep in mind. > > If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really > true, there would be little hope of advance. -- Orville Wright > > > > >> Message: 12 >> Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:28:29 -0700 >> From: Bob Sneidar <b...@twft.com> >> To: How to use LiveCode <use-livecode@lists.runrev.com> >> Subject: Re: ANN and OT: Calling All SETI Enthusiasts >> Message-ID: <2b937175-9284-4c54-9232-ac35c1bdd...@twft.com> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >> The assumptions in discussions like these are extremely numerous, >> approaching the very number of stars themselves. Why for instance, should we >> suppose that any alien life form is similar to us? What if an intelligent >> life form was aquatic, and lived on a planet where the atmosphere was deadly >> to them? What possible motive could they have to develop radio technology in >> the first place, and who can assume that our radio technology would even >> work in their atmosphere? What if the magnetic flux field of their planet >> was so strong, or the chemical makeup so different that radio transmissions >> of our kind would never even penetrate it, never mind be something they >> would deploy? What if their great superior reasoning led them to conclude >> that the time, efforts and resources to even attempt to travel at or near >> light speeds, or else attempt to bend space-time was so vast, and the >> probability of failure to find a race like enough to themselves so great, >> and the time dilation that would occur so devastating to any hope of >> communicating or traveling back to where they came from, that it became a >> common child's joke amongst the great races of the universe without them >> even knowing it between them? So many "what if's", so little time-space. Our >> minds are so small that they cannot comprehend how many factors go into >> making our planet exactly the planet it is. There are so many balances, both >> terrestrial and extra-terrestrial, which if unbalanced by so much as 5% or >> less would render human life on this planet absolutely impossible. And we >> hope to find a planet so like ours, and then hope that life on that planet >> has evolved (the greatest begging of a question that ever there was) so like >> us as to allow any communication at all? This discussion can happen at all >> because of the human mind's inability to focus on and balance very many >> things at one time and measure a thesis against all other things that could >> weigh upon it. We simply do not possess the wisdom and mental faculty to >> treat such a subject. No, my friends, I think all conversation along these >> lines is so incredibly presumptuous, it is staggering when you really begin >> to think of everything we take as a given or gloss over when discussing such >> things. Sorry all you Star Trek fans, and anyone else I have likely >> offended. I love science fiction as much as the next person, but I think any >> race of beings wise enough to comprehend the real logistics of space travel >> or communication across such great distances would conclude right away that >> it was a total waste of their limited resources, better spent on improving >> their own state of affairs. (Let the flames begin!;-) >> Bob > > > > _______________________________________________ > use-livecode mailing list > use-livecode@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription > preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
