I think the accelerated frame of refernce of the starship in question and its unique historical trace through spacetime provides the preferred frame of reference needed by the boost to work. Past that ask GRT experts like White or Woodward.AcesHigh wrote:Paul, as you may know, these Sonny White news you posted here were reproduced at NextBigFuture, and there are over 50 comments to the post.
these ones interested me... can you explain, please?
jonathanmccabe • 2 days ago
Say the space ship has a velocity of 0.1c to the left to one observer, and 0.1c to the right to another observer, in what dirrection is the 10c after the boost is applied? I would have said relative velocity but that is so 1800s.
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Brett_Bellmore • 2 days ago • parent
THAT, I would say, is a key question. This whole, "Throw the switch, and you're going a hundred times faster" business begs the question of, a hundred times faster relative to what coordinate system? You can't go a hundred times faster in EVERY coordinate system, so the very idea suggests a preferred frame of reference. Which would make a hash of general relativity.
I'm comfortable with making a hash of general relativity, (ANY theory is subject to falling to contrary evidence.) but it would be a pretty big deal.
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drewmandan • 2 days ago • parent
It's not a big deal. Even though the theory is built on relativity, it turns out that 99.999999% (not an exaggeration) of spacetime is all in the same frame that is conveniently referred to as "flat space". So although it's possible that there's someone falling into a black hole (or some other weird section of curved spacetime) somewhere that sees something different, almost everyone will agree on what they see.
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Brett_Bellmore • a day ago • parent
I think you've missed the point: Imagine you're sitting out in inter-galactic space, (To make the spacetime as flat as it gets.) between two galaxies which are approaching each other. You're traveling simultaneously towards both galaxies at 100kps, because they're approaching each other at 200kps.
You throw the switch. Suddenly your speed is "boosted" by a factor of 100 times. You're now going 10,000kps towards one galaxy, and... 10,000kps towards the other??? Can't happen, that would require the galaxies to change their relative speeds, too.
"Multiplying" your speed by a "boost" is a nonsensical concept without a preferred frame of reference to decide which way you end up going.
Now, I could see this reducing the amount of thrust needed to accelerate after the drive is engaged, it could do something like that without violating relativity. But it can't change your speed when you throw the switch.
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drewmandan • 19 hours ago • parent −
Brett_Bellmore: Does the boost have a direction?
Best,