GameTrailers TV's Extended Cuts is appealing to our extremely nerdy side in the latest episode with their look at the science behind Mass Effect 2. Bioware's space epic is loaded with all sorts of science fiction and GT's Daniel Kayser gets the lowdown on how far we are from the fiction becoming reality.
Physicist Dr. Michio Kaku helps break down just what it will take to get some dream technology into our everyday lives and the whole segment is a real eye opener. The part about Biotics had me extremely fascinated. We always dream about telekinetic abilities, but I never once considered the way we'll be able to do it with Kaku's example.
Some very fascinating stuff, to say the least. Give it a look and let us know what you think!
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Would have been interesting to ask him what he thought about the concept of a single ship traveling FTL under it's own power. While he mentioned negative matter and wormholes in relation to Relativistic formulas, nobody has said anything specific about the ME universes giant techno-flaw. ME science implies sthat lowering the ships mass allows for faster than light travel within star clusters (not the mass relay travel) but even at ZERO mass, nothing can travel faster than light (within our own "dimension" or whatever you chose to call it).
I thought it humorous he kept making references to things that aren't Mass Effect. He literally brought up Harry Potter, Star Wars, Star Trek, Flash Gordon, and Dune. Jesus.
Supposedly ftl travel would rip us apart at the molecular level. Who really knows though.
As for telekinesis, we already have all that madness. Hell, we already have the goofy headsets for gimmicky games! Not to mention robot arm guy! So far though, those our our only options. Goofy, limited brainwave reading headsets, or electrodes wired directly to the brain (Yay invasive surgry!)
I'm hoping to work on a different type of brain/machine interface for a graduate project in the next few years. If only because I want to control a robot with my brain!
Br0th3rGr1mm: I believe the concept is that the mass is reduced beyond zero (ie, negative mass) I'm not a physicist so I don't know how practical that would actually be, or even possible, but your right it would have been an interesting question.
And FTL travel would rip us apart at the current stage of ships (micrometeors, radiation, etc) which I think combined with the proposed force fields would allow for some degree of protection, both from micrometeors, and from ship a hull breach (provided the plasma barrier can retain the pressure inside the ship).
Sorry for triple post, here is what I found on negative mass:
"Forward has proposed a design for spacecraft propulsion using negative mass that requires no energy input and no reaction mass to achieve arbitrarily high acceleration, though of course a major obstacle to the construction of such a spacecraft is the fact that negative mass remains purely hypothetical. See diametric drive."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exotic_matter#Forward.27s_analysis
Wow, they got Kaku talking about game's science? Instant win, this guy is fucking awesome. I read his book "A journey through Creation", also wanted to read physic of the impossible, but couldn't find it. Only three of his books are published in Russia which is a fucking shame, because I need more.
Kayser came across like a tool, but I liked Dr. Kauk quite a bit. He seemed very at ease and did a surprisingly good job of simplifying some incredibly complex and still very theoretical ideas in a way that was immediately understandable and identifiable. At the very least, knowing that we're only a few centuries away from routine space travel (and telekinesis, force-fields, and invisibility), I feel more compelled than ever to freeze my body when I die so I don't miss that shit.
Not a big fan of all of his advocacy, or his string theory stuff, or his optimism about what humanity's going to be able to do (it's about the real physics, man) but... it's a cool feature. Always fun to discuss where we actually are vs. where we wanna be.
That's where Element Zero comes in. In the ME universe, apparently exposing Element Zero (which doesn't exist naturally in this universe, that we know of; which is the flaw) to a common electrical current increases its mass to near infinite levels, enabling nearly instantaneous travel, because as mass increases exponentially, so does the speed at which the object will travel.
The Mass Accelerators are gravity sling-shots. If mass were to decrease, as far as the theories in the game are concerned, then the ship would go nowhere, because gravity, and therefore speed, is directly affected my the mass of the bodies. The higher the mass, the greater the gravitational pull, the greater the speed.
Also, Element Zero has be theorized about for a while, but how it would behave is effectively a mystery. It would be an atom composed of nothing but neutrons, and this sort of thing simply cannot be observed at present. It is theorized widely that it would an extremely dense material, but unable to form bonds with other atoms due to the lack of electrons. Honestly, there's a goddamned theory out there for damn near everything where this shit is concerned.
I'm playing right through ME2, and I have never played ME1. But when he is talking about Forcefields, there is clearly a vehicle section that seems to be from ME2. Can this be true?
Not at all, really, but if you take the computer and downscale the size, that's actually what Mass Effect does with biotics. The amps are, effectively, small computers, and implants are necessary for biotics to be used if I remember correctly. So he was about on mark with how it works, really.
Cloaking, already knew about it, but I also noticed the mention of superconductors. Intriguingly, yesterday I found news of UK researchers trying to use superconductors to create momentary defensive energy shields in place of armor and such against weapons like RPGs and whatnot by momentary pulses. Sounded pretty interesting, and something plausible. Also something partially like Mass Effect, or at the very least Halo.
Honestly, after his references to other fictional works and my personal knowledge of some of his own works, I want him to play both games, read the codex entries, and come back and do another one of these, as strange as it sounds. It was the way it was edited, I'm sure, but it seemed more like they gave him topics rather than explanations. I'd love to see his opinions on the technology after such a venture, as it actually seems grounded in reality and I'd like to hear form him how plausible it may be. So yeah.
@pbrand
Most scientists are open-minded guys and they're not full of themselves. He's talking about video games for a site about video games made for people who play games. And you're acting like he's defending a thesis.
Also he's saying that it could be possible in 200-300 years perspective. And in 200 years humanity went from riding horses to traveling into space.
So I guess if it was 1710 and he started talking about space traveling, you'd be the first one to throw a rock at him.
Awesome interview. Dr. Kaku is awesome, and it's great he discussed all this with you guys. Next, you should get Neil Degrasse Tyson to talk about Star Wars: TOR
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Contest:
8:00 AM on 03.23.2010
| 
As for telekinesis, we already have all that madness. Hell, we already have the goofy headsets for gimmicky games! Not to mention robot arm guy! So far though, those our our only options. Goofy, limited brainwave reading headsets, or electrodes wired directly to the brain (Yay invasive surgry!)
I'm hoping to work on a different type of brain/machine interface for a graduate project in the next few years. If only because I want to control a robot with my brain!
"Forward has proposed a design for spacecraft propulsion using negative mass that requires no energy input and no reaction mass to achieve arbitrarily high acceleration, though of course a major obstacle to the construction of such a spacecraft is the fact that negative mass remains purely hypothetical. See diametric drive."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exotic_matter#Forward.27s_analysis
Not a big fan of all of his advocacy, or his string theory stuff, or his optimism about what humanity's going to be able to do (it's about the real physics, man) but... it's a cool feature. Always fun to discuss where we actually are vs. where we wanna be.
How is that like "the Force"?
Mass would have to increase, not decrease.
That's where Element Zero comes in. In the ME universe, apparently exposing Element Zero (which doesn't exist naturally in this universe, that we know of; which is the flaw) to a common electrical current increases its mass to near infinite levels, enabling nearly instantaneous travel, because as mass increases exponentially, so does the speed at which the object will travel.
The Mass Accelerators are gravity sling-shots. If mass were to decrease, as far as the theories in the game are concerned, then the ship would go nowhere, because gravity, and therefore speed, is directly affected my the mass of the bodies. The higher the mass, the greater the gravitational pull, the greater the speed.
Also, Element Zero has be theorized about for a while, but how it would behave is effectively a mystery. It would be an atom composed of nothing but neutrons, and this sort of thing simply cannot be observed at present. It is theorized widely that it would an extremely dense material, but unable to form bonds with other atoms due to the lack of electrons. Honestly, there's a goddamned theory out there for damn near everything where this shit is concerned.
DLC
PS. Most of this is tripe.
Not at all, really, but if you take the computer and downscale the size, that's actually what Mass Effect does with biotics. The amps are, effectively, small computers, and implants are necessary for biotics to be used if I remember correctly. So he was about on mark with how it works, really.
Cloaking, already knew about it, but I also noticed the mention of superconductors. Intriguingly, yesterday I found news of UK researchers trying to use superconductors to create momentary defensive energy shields in place of armor and such against weapons like RPGs and whatnot by momentary pulses. Sounded pretty interesting, and something plausible. Also something partially like Mass Effect, or at the very least Halo.
Honestly, after his references to other fictional works and my personal knowledge of some of his own works, I want him to play both games, read the codex entries, and come back and do another one of these, as strange as it sounds. It was the way it was edited, I'm sure, but it seemed more like they gave him topics rather than explanations. I'd love to see his opinions on the technology after such a venture, as it actually seems grounded in reality and I'd like to hear form him how plausible it may be. So yeah.
Most scientists are open-minded guys and they're not full of themselves. He's talking about video games for a site about video games made for people who play games. And you're acting like he's defending a thesis.
Also he's saying that it could be possible in 200-300 years perspective. And in 200 years humanity went from riding horses to traveling into space.
So I guess if it was 1710 and he started talking about space traveling, you'd be the first one to throw a rock at him.