[FOM] why should we, in computer science, be excited about the possibility of speeds exceeding speed of light

[Tom Dunion]

On Nov. 22 Vladik Kreinovich said:

>Reasonable solutions with causal anomalies were discovered in many physical theories. For example, in
>general relativity, the curved space-time generated by a sufficiently massive cylinder that rotates sufficiently fast
>contains a closed timelike curve (causal anomaly). In string theory, a theory that describes elementary particles
>as non-point objects ("strings"), seemingly interactions between such particles sometime lead to the possibility to
>influence the past (i.e., to a causal anomaly). It was also shown that modern cosmological theories, in which the
>current cosmological expansion is preceded by a short period of exponentially fast growth ("inflation"), also lead
>to the possibility of a causal anomaly. An interested reader can find the detailed description of these causal
>anomalies, e.g., in Kip Thorne's book and in the papers referenced in this book.

>The main obstacle to accepting acausal phenomena used to be paradoxes associated with time travel...

In favor of the existence of acausal anomalies is also the phenomenon
of attested precognitive events where
the actor makes a decision to initiate some chain of events leading to
a perceived (not imagined) future event,
because of awareness of that very event.   I think the most coherent
explanation of such anomalies is derived from
David's Bohm's work on the implicate order.

In turn, beliefs we form about phenomena from the realm of Physics can
impact our views regarding Foundations.

-- TD