Re: [OT] Black holes for interstellar travel (Re: OT: Relativity misunderstood)

[Wes Groleau <wwgrol@ftw.rsc.raytheon.com>]

And the topic strays further.....

> > Even worse is the notion that black holes are the answer
> > to interstellar travel.

> If you don't mind travelling to a star in another universe - and
> only one-way - black holes could be useful for interstellar
> travel.  Despite the general understanding of black holes, it
> seems that the time you will be exposed to infinite forces
> passing through a black hole is sufficiently short not to harm
> you.

The notion that a black hole is a discontinuity making possible
an instantaneous transfer to another location is a hypothesis,
not a theory.  Has anyone ever volunteered to experimentally
test this hypothesis?  Has anyone figured out a way to transmit
the results of the experiment back to earth?

There are indeed scientists who have reasonable-sounding arguments
that a black hole may be such a discontinuity.  But anyone who
thinks such a discontinuity will make interstellar travel feasible
may be a paperback or magazine writer or TV star, but not a scientist.

Suppose we find that first volunteer.  If he should somehow live
long enough (yeah, cryogenic suspended animation--another "reasonable
idea" that is still a pipe dream or worse) to reach a black hole,
the project that sent him there will have been suspended and forgotten
by then.

What is the smallest known distance between any black hole and
any place humans MIGHT want to live at or travel to?  Second
smallest?  Add those distances together.  How long will the
one-way trip take, assuming the black hole part is instantaneous?

-- 
Wes Groleau, pessimist pro-tem
http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~wgroleau