THE BEACON
The Spiraling Glass Bottle: Physics and Cosmic Bartering
The discussion begins with Brotato_Potatonator proposing a technical theory for faster-than-light travel involving the manipulation of the permittivity of free space, leading reptiliandude to pose a challenge: what does humanity have of value to trade for such advanced knowledge? While garbotalk and others brainstorm non-monetary exports like art, music, and Helium-3 to replace the current system of extraterrestrial “theft,” the conversation shifts back to physics via a cryptic metaphor. Reptiliandude dismisses standard laboratory assumptions by “kicking a glass bottle down a flight of stairs,” eventually hinting that these “bottles”—likely a stand-in for craft or particles—resist shattering and change their “pitch” or frequency when they are spinning or spiraling during descent. This suggestively links the mechanics of interstellar travel to angular momentum and frequency modulation rather than simple linear acceleration.
THE BEACON
The Spiraling Glass Bottle: Physics and Cosmic Bartering
The discussion begins with Brotato_Potatonator proposing a technical theory for faster-than-light travel involving the manipulation of the permittivity of free space, leading reptiliandude to pose a challenge: what does humanity have of value to trade for such advanced knowledge? While garbotalk and others brainstorm non-monetary exports like art, music, and Helium-3 to replace the current system of extraterrestrial “theft,” the conversation shifts back to physics via a cryptic metaphor. Reptiliandude dismisses standard laboratory assumptions by “kicking a glass bottle down a flight of stairs,” eventually hinting that these “bottles”—likely a stand-in for craft or particles—resist shattering and change their “pitch” or frequency when they are spinning or spiraling during descent. This suggestively links the mechanics of interstellar travel to angular momentum and frequency modulation rather than simple linear acceleration.
Image: A contemporary circular glass table with stepped spiral base, in the manner of Danny Lane (Photo by Burstow and Hewett via easyliveauction.com)
Source: RD (via GT), "Put your questions here so Reptiliandude can find them!" r/reptiliandude, Reddit, (28 June 2017) https://www.reddit.com/r/reptiliandude/comments/6jvn4t/put_your_questions_here_so_reptiliandude_can_find/
Brotato_Potatonator: I’m a bit late here, but I’ve been wanting to ask this question: Does faster than light travel use some sort of mechanism to manipulate the permittivity of free space? If so, what are the basics of this mechanism?
reptiliandude: What’s in it for me if I explain it to you?
Do you have something of value that you wish to trade?
(Just play along with me on this, because I’m going somewhere with it)
garbotalk: The point is, we need something of value to trade that is not our monetary system, or our immunities.
Question: What can we trade that has value that they couldn’t just easy steal as they do, food? Just spitballing ideas here lol.
garbotalk: I’ve got an organ still in my garage!
We can trade things they steal now. Our creative abilities for music, literature, art, food, recipes, medicines, vaccines, fashion, products, inventions like musical instruments, mined elements, fish, etc.
Of course, they get them for free or for gold now, which is nearly worthless.
RD has suggested mining helium 3 on the moon, or creating a monetary system with real value. But that’s on us.
Brotato_Potatonator: C’mon, throw me a bone here! I’ve read that the permittivity of free space was derived from the force acting on two parallel wires carrying current. I haven’t come across any experiments testing the assumption that this constant can’t be manipulated. I’ve been thinking about an experiment: accelerate a charged capacitor while measuring the voltage across it. If the permittivity of free space changes under acceleration, you should be able to see a difference in capacitance via the measured voltage. I’m making a few assumptions, such that acceleration is the same as gravity, that gravity either changes or is the product of distortions in electromagnetic properties of free space, and that extreme acceleration is needed-because if the effect was too obvious, someone would have measured it before. Any thoughts?
Kicks glass bottle down flight of ‘stairs.’
ACuriousHumanBeing:Would it have anything then to do with the energy levels of the particles? Where one level goes up or down depending how you throw energy at it?
Brotato_Potatonator: Glass is a dielectric. So lowering the permittivity is done with a dielectric of some sort. All dielectrics man knows of raise the permittivity…
I wonder if glass makes a good enclosure.
reptiliandude: I find that ‘glass bottles’ are much less likely to shatter if they are ‘spinning’ as they travel/spiral down the ‘stairs.’
They also produce a different ‘pitch’ when they are struck.
