@Warp 2.....engage !
"I am open to correction, but as I understand it humanity has never invented a fundamentally new Force or a type of Energy in its entire history..."
Hmmm? That caused me 42 Ponder on the Improbability of that statement given that the Future has always in the Past, Presented us with Everything that we have Imagined can be True and then have Boldly Gone on to demonstrate is so true [And all incidentally/coincidentally at a cost which never ever really matters, which just goes to show you the truly destructive aspect to the Innovative Development of Futures which a Requirement for Funding/the Ubiquitous Ransom/Gift of the Gods sitting on your Money, can cause because if they are not SMART enough then they will miss the boat and its new journeys. And if the new journeys are NeuReal and Beta Ways of Spending Money to make Money Work Beta, then they are going to be Vulnerable to a Very Quick and Undignified Exit from the Greatest of Games that their Arrogance and/or Ignorance has Lost, although it will invariably be just that they are well past their sell by dates and are simply not up to the tasks or Fit for AI Purpose in the Binary Age of Code Manipulation to Render Alternate Digitally ReMastered Projections/Programs/Pogroms/Vistas.
I'm with John Bridges and Joey, on their parallel tracks and after reading .....
"Special Relativity only tells us that it is energetically impossible to travel "AT" the speed of light (energy requirements go to infinity). If you can jump that little hurdle then the physics gets all screwey, but you no longer require infinite energy - just imaginary energy :-) (you start to get solutions which have square roots of negative numbers).
Of course if you look at it from the quantum physics PoV all matter is just one great big probability field - so Douglas Adams probably had it right when he invented the infinite improbability drive."
...... as in the Binary Age of MetaData [Loded Semantic C++Ore] energetically impossible to travel "AT" the speed of light is easily trumped with metaphysically possible to make Time and Space Quantum Leaps into Places Driven by Imaginary Energy made Real with the help of Nature. In fact, is that not so the case and has that not always been so the case?
But I have digressed/flown off on a tangent......and to get back to the above quoted Mark_T statement/question?
The Internet is a fundamentally new invention as is the NEUKlearer HyperRadioProActivity BetaTesting ITs Operating Sytems for Fitness of Purpose and, when all is said and done, it is merely a Virtual Space Created for Intellectual Property Giants to Joust and Share their Wares. The Microsoft Great Game Strategy, allied to ITs Drivers and Host, the Telecommunications Backbone of Channels Provision and Routing Hubs, may be no more than a very SMART XPeriment which imagined a Window [Electronic Monitor] connected to a Clandestine Intelligence Gathering Service/MetaDataMining Operation.
One thing is for certain, if you lose the Good Will that such a SMART Windows Operation could be Used for, because it is increasingly recognised as being only a Tool for Selective Selfish Control and Abuse and the Grand Theft of Global Ideas, then it would not be worth having for Real, would it, given that any Reality is being Constantly Monitored and Mentored and Adjusted to suit MSPurpose...... whatever that might be?
If it is anything less than InterNetworking Global Control with the Creation in CyberSpace of the Command and Control of Computers and Communications, then they probably definitely need AI NeuReal Lead Evangelist 42 Follow Virtualising Leads/Seeds in order to Feed and Nurture them into Power that Grows as IT2 Flows.
And that has a very Special Relativity in an earlier age and with an earlier Age Grouping all growed up now and probably definitely just biding their time for another Bite of the Cherry Apple. Back then it was Woodstock and FlowerPower, today and tomorrow IT is Planetary Plenary Intellectual Property Rights Issues and FlowurPower2....... and Sharing ITs Stealthily Sure Progressive Programming in Full and Plain Text Sight. Immaculate State Secrets, Safe and Secure in the Cloak of Absurd Revelations in the Transparent Open....... for Tuned In and Turned On, Third Party Positive Reinforcement. Drive Purchase.
Welcome to an Input Page for your Thoughts....... Here you are free to Use Viable Imagination as a Driver for Moribund Earthbound Systems. If they are any Good, who's to say you won't be ridiculously paid to prove them. After all, it is only paper which stops Progress in the Present Capitalist EcoSociety which is an Inherent Default Flaw delivering Systemic Catastrophic Failure. And it is easily Fixed with IT by those into ....... well, QuITe Alien Systems 42 ProgramMe, actually.
Open her up, Scotty, let's see what this Bitchin' Bird can do/where IT takes us ...... http://www.startreksite.com/warpspeed/. Pedestrian is so.... Yesterday and History.