For those of us and anyone who thinks that contemporary science is confident that the speed of light is impossible to be reached or exceeded by a body, and also, that time slows down, mass grows and lengths shrink with an increase in velocity (I was taught so in high school, then the astronomy class in university did not change that):
The academic view: It is indeed known that the special theory of relativity does not necessarily prove the speed of light cannot be exceeded. [RP, Rosser]
The popular view: The speed of light in a vacuum is the fastest that anything in the universe can travel. [JM, Z&Z]
[...]
Recent trends in thinking view the distortions of the special theory of relativity as only appearances, unable to affect human physiology or the intrinsic dimensions of objects. Indeed, it appears that Einstein himself finally came to that view in 1921. While particles in a particle accelerator really are limited to the speed of light, it is easy to show that is because the motor - comprised of accelerating coils and electrodes - is fixed to the laboratory. The same is true for proposed ships propelled by light pressure from the sun. The sun is the ship's motor and its speed reference. But what about Einstein's sweeping generalisation: "From this...we conclude that...[c] can neither be reached nor exceeded"?
In case of a rocket or jet where the motor travels with the ship, how and why such vessels should be limited to light-speed relative to an Earth-bound laboratory or to the sun or to anything remains a mystery.
From chapter 1 of the book "Begin the Adventure / How to Break the Light Barrier by A.D. 2070", by H. B. Tilton, F. Smarandache (second edition), 2005,
http://www.gallup.unm.edu/~smarandache/ ... nture2.pdf, (If the link is broken or inaccessible, the file is mirrorred locally
here.)
We come here to reason together, not to defend trun or engage in fantasy. More than anyone, Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 to 18 April 1955) set the tone, as it remains to this day, for humankind's starflight aspirations. In 1916, pursuant to his 1905 landmark paper, he wrote:
"From this we conclude that... the velocity of c plays the part of a limiting velocity, which can neither be reached nor exceeded by any real body."
A primary purpose of this conference is to closely examine those most damning words of Einstein which nearly everyone accepted.
[...]
Ask yourself: Do you understand all you know about relativity, or do you just accept large parts of it on faith? Do you have faith that the traveling twin will age less than his stay-at-home sibling? Is that what the dilation of time with velocity means? [...] Isn't unquestioning adherence to faith and acceptance called religion? It's true that not many among us can spare the time to acquire a full independent understanding of relativity; but one must know that a myriad of scientists CAN be wrong; the constancy of the speed of light as spelled out by the second postulate does NOT equate to a light barrier and time travel in the popular sense, although a sampling of popular and scientific opinion shows that nearly everyone believes it does. It is a popular notion, alright. But perhaps it is only a contemporary myth. Such action is not built into the mathematics.
From "Today's Take on Einstein's Relativity, Proceedings of Pima Community College Conference", 2005, edited by H. B. Tilton, F. Smarandache,
http://www.gallup.unm.edu/~smarandache/ ... Tucson.pdf. (If the link is broken or inaccessible, the file is mirrorred locally
here.)
