From: "david gebhardt" <david.gebhardt@canrem.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech
Subject: guts in star trek
Date: 14 Aug 92 10:53:57 EST
Reply-To: "david gebhardt" <david.gebhardt@canrem.com>
Distribution: rec
Organization: Canada Remote Systems

On 08-12-92 at 6:03pm, ;;;;7202 wrote to All:

;2>I always get confused when I watch "The Nth Degree" and see that scene
;2>of Barclay with Einstein discussing grand unification theories as if
;2>this is something not yet understood.  And then Geordi comes along

Well, there's a big difference between having a good understanding of
something and applying it to a problem. It is quite possible that they
have developed the warp drive without developing a unified field
theory.

The unified field theory would probably be one of the greatest (if not
the greatest) scientific breakthroughs of all time. The difficulty
lies in the fact that it is such a large problem and involves very
complex mathematical formulas.

Plus, I think a lot of people feel that if Einstein couldn't solve it,
who can? Part of this is due to the fact that the theories of
relativity are perceived as difficult for most people to comprehend.
And let's face it, they are tough to go through, even if you have a
good scientific and mathematical background.

With computers, it may be possible to solve this problem eventually.
But it somehow wouldn't surprise me if they were still working on it
500 or 1000 years from now. By the same token, some group might solve it
next month, but I'd bet my money on a longer rather than shorter time
frame. I think there's still a lot to learn before a unified field theory
can be worked out.

I'm probably going to bore you with this (not to mention go off topic),
but there are three prime examples of two other difficulties that arise.
In the late 1800's, Arrhenius wrote a thesis on his theory of
molecular dissociation. The examiners thought that it was so
preposterous that he nearly failed in his bid for a doctorate. But he
and a few other scientists continued to work on it, and 19 years later
he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his theory.

Mendeleyev had a similar problem when he developed the periodic table.
He left blank spaces for elements that had not yet been discovered, and
becuse of this other scientists ridiculed him. He even went so far as to
predict the properties of the missing elements. Yet he was later
vindicated when these elements were discovered.

Michael Farady had a different problem. Humphry Davy, who discovered
him, was jealous of Faraday and did whatever he could to sabotage
Faraday's experiments.

There is so much jealousy and in-fighting that goes on that it is very
difficult to weed out what's right and what's incorrect. This can be
made even more difficult when someone of influence lends his weight to
an incorrect theory, or doesn't accept a new and revolutionary concept.
The result is that many of the lesser lights fall in behind him and
attempt to ostracize the person who developed the idea.

;2>And even though the mathematics is at quite a higher level, having
;2>Barclay talking to Einstein seems almost the same as a physicist

I think the point of this is that Einstein put a phenomenal amount of
work into developing a unified field theory. Someone's probably going
to correct me, but I would guess that to the general public:

a) Einstein would be regarded as the most brilliant scientist of all
   time (mainly because of the genaral and specific theories of
   relativity);
b) most people who have heard of the unified field theory (but don't
   know a lot about it) would be able to attach Einstein's name to this,
   if they could even name someone who worked on it.

I can't remember everything about it, but I do know that the purpose of
the theory is to come up with one set of equations that can be applied
to electric, magnetic and gravitational fields (I'm sure there are some
other things involved, and that's the part I can't recall offhand).

David Gebhardt
ComputerPlus
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