Mr Monkeybat

There are highly speculative ways to add extra special frames of reference to relativity allowing faster than light travel without causality violations or contradicting historical measurements. But such ideas can be viewed as too convenient, only when or if faster that light travel is achieved can it be proven whether is violates causality or not or is possible in the first place .

In other words send a message on another warp ship. Ha with warp ships the postal service becomes faster than radio or laser communications.

Having a spinning section and a zero g section connected together makes for complications where they join. The bearing has to be both airtight, and low friction, and reliable, and long lived.

Wolfram Alpha is quite useful for unit conversions: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=101.012211010+in+binary 7 digits in binary gives you 128 values which is less than 1% error. Every extra binary digit doubles the number of values and vus accuracy.

Also on a small station spinning rapidly you will get quite dizzy. A space station not made to spin can also get away with a much more lightweight structure, and is more suited to modular construction. Also micro gravity research is the main purpose of the space station.

The accumulation of traits that would not survive in the wild. Still lead to the species changing over time. A limbless ball of lard plugged into the hypernet would still likely be counted as a different species by the paleontology robot that digs up the fossils.

If your 10 just don't be too surprised if by the time your a fully qualified pilot, that all the pilots have been replaced by robots. Technically Its easier to program a robotic plane than it is to program a robotic car,

This is I think the best demonstration of what traveling close to the speed of light would look like I have seen. http://gamelab.mit.edu/games/a-slower-speed-of-light/ I'm no expert but it would seem warp drive would produce much of the same effects, perhaps more extremely. Compressing space in front would further blue shift the light while expanding space faster than the speed of light would prevent it from reaching you. But if you where to survive the warp bubble would have to be manipulated so that all the gamaray shifted, concentrated light and and hawking radiation piling up in front of you is bent away from you so it would be pitch black. The light piling up at the front of the warp bubble would have to somehow be shuffled of during flight so that it isn't all released in dangerous amounts when you stop.

Depends on what kind of morals you want. Morals are impossible to define and agree upon. Any set code will produce some undesirable effect over time.

Graphite is many pieces of graphene in a disorderly arrangement. Georgia Tech claims 100x copper conductivity for graphene interconnect http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/05/08/2009/46677/georgia-tech-claims-100x-copper-conductivity-for-graphene-interconnect.htm Yes they can http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2067118/Flexible-circuits-wonder-material-graphene-printed-ordinary-ink-jet-machine.html#axzz2Ke4pQdVh But to answer the OPs question a pencil line is probably made up of flakes to small and disorderly to make a wire. But this is something you could test yourself with a 9v battery an led, some wire and a heavy pencil line just be prepared for your page to catch on fire. Some of the first incandescent bulbs had there filament made out of graphite and I have seen a home made bulb made out of a pencil. They can spun into threads. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/145446-rice-creates-first-long-strong-flexible-and-conductive-carbon-nanotube-thread And such a thread can go through many a standard rope making machine. This can thread can make very compact and poweful electric motors and such cables could increase power line capacity there is very strong incentive for this research to be comercialised. Prototype product and materials with very desirable properties have been produce. The main obstacle has been the means to mass produce them. But great progress and developments have been made in the last few years or even just the last few months, IMHO we very likely see such carbon material used in commercial products both electrical and structural uses by the end of the decade, or even the next few years. The mass production problem is being solved. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/147456-researchers-successfully-grow-defect-free-graphene-commercial-uses-now-in-sight

Remember to take into account the electricity bill in your cost benefit analysis, the watts used by old computers for each calcultion are much higher than modern chips. so the expense of a single new computer instead of a bunch of parallel free old ones could claw more money back from the electricity bill. Especially a cheap power efficient computer like rasperry pi.

There is no universal good. What is good for the lion is evil for the antelope. So "would the Earth be better off" is a meaningless question better off for who? Humans disappearing would be good for some animals bad for some other like rats, and domesticated cat dogs etc. Allot of native species in the world would disappear. Without humans protecting them from introduced species. I certainly don't want to cease to exist or kill my decendents so I would not consider a without people better.

3d sound is easiest with headphones. There are plenty of 3d sound clips for use with headphones to be found on YouTube and elsewhere on the web, most commonly demonstrations are versions of the virtual barbershop. Look them up if you have not experienced them before they are quite effective all you need is headphones and the device you used to access this forum. I have watched a video on YouTube that demonstrated a way to do this with PC/laptop speakers without headphones using a clever use of interference patterns to block sounds to the opposite ear, the disadvantage is that is require the listener and speakers to be quite fixed in an ideal arrangement. And I think I have remembered enough keywords to find it again. I don't have enough time to watch it again right now so hopefully that's the right link.

When the piece of mass decays into photons the only frame of reference left will be that the photon. From the photons perspective at the speed of light no time passes and the universe is infinitely small, a singularity ready for the next big bang. A big crunch is not necessary for a cyclical universe.

How applicable are developments in carbon fiber like this in rocket body creation: http://www.gizmag.com/fraunhofer-laser-carbon-fiber-process/14635/ Or this article on cheaper stronger aerogels: http://www.gizmag.com/polymer-aerogel-stronger-flexible-nasa/23955/ A strong aerogel would seem a good way to combine the required insulation and lightweight structure when samwidged between two carbon fiber skins.

It seems extremely likely.

A chiuaua also shares 99.9% of his DNA with a Great Dane. You also share over half your DNA with a Banana. Obviously crude measures of genetic similarity tell you little about how similar a life form is in form and behavior. The figures given will also differ wildly depending on the criteria used to compare the DNA. Its best use is estimating the date of the common ancestor.

The bigger the population the larger the source of new mutations,and the human population is bigger than ever. At present the death rate is quite low providing limited selection t=but until recent Malthusian peasant agriculture provided plenty of death and selection for a new environment. The current low mortality just means that selection has shifted to fertility. The traits that lead to the most babies shall inherit the Earth. But the status quo is unstable it either leads to robots taking over or collapse and a new dark age, I have not decided which.

Googling strongest materials brings up this video. There are a couple mentioned here that I have not heard before. http://www.sciencedump.com/content/10-strongest-materials-known-man Amorphous alloys are the only one of those ten that can currently be produced in large quantities. but allot of research it going into diamond and graphene synthesis. Some products using graphene may be come on the market within a few years I recently saw an article on a new technique for spinning threads out of carbon nanotubes that looked promising. http://www.kurzweilai.net/new-carbon-nanotube-fiber-acts-like-textile-thread-conducts-electricity-and-heat-like-a-metal-wire

I agree with the article. I would also add that whenever a country legalized porn or the internet is introduced the number of rapes soon drops. Japan used to have the lowest rates of child abuse in the world they also had lots of animated child porn called Lolicon and shotocon, so they banned it like a civilized country and the rates of child abuse soon raised to the levels seen in the rest of the developed world.

About 12 years ago I was a teenager and had a dream that came true. Since then I have written down the dreams that I remember, which is not very many as I doze allot so I have usually forgotten them by the time I start moving. Of the dreams I noted as being "vivid" the majority have come true to exact detail. Some of the vivid dreams did not come true for me but did for over people I have read about in the news. The rest of the vivid dreams took place in historical settings. As a dyed in the wool atheist, precognition makes no kind of sense to me but there it is. So I have come to accept the existence/possibility of some psi/paranormal phenomenon, but not god(s) and religion.

Is this for a science fiction story? As super strong materials Graphene and carbon nanotubes are the height of speculative fashion. Harder than diamond with a fracture strength 200 times greater than steel this stuff is tough.

What about using internal struts spanning the fuel tank like a crossbeam instead of two skins.

Its simple biology, the reality of evolution is sexist. A man has little incentive to invest in the next generation if he has no certainty of his fatherhood, historically before DNA tests marrying a women who doesn't sleep around has been the only way to get some assurance on this issue. The womb is the main limiting factor in the fecundity of a marriage, so a woman's main assets in the mating game are her youth and virginity. But a man can provide no breast milk or placental fluids, biologically his only contribution is a single sperm which can be produced in old age, so a mans main asset in the mating game is his financial wealth, or in the paleolithic hunting ability both of which peak much later in life over 40, so he passes his time sowing his wild oats with easy women or war raids till then. Obviously in recent centuries things and selective pressures have changed a few times the spread of STDs in the age of sail probably selected for more monogamy inclined males. How human instincts will evolve in response to modern environment with access to genetic paternity test, contraception, enforced child support payments, and welfare programs who knows. It would take genetic engineering or many generations of selective breeding to remove these instincts to expect them to go away with a little bit education/propaganda is fantastical and action based on fantasy are dangerous.

These scientist are almost developing what you are talking about. http://www.gizmag.com/gas-ring-blowing-vortex-gun/21711/ Ball lightning demonstrates that stable plasma balls are possible. But for most applications solid projectiles are probably more useful. While the near instant travel time of lasers are more suited to shooting down aircraft missiles and mortars.