The Good Quote
Open menu
Quotes
Authors
Topics
More
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
Home
Authors
Barney Oliver
Scientist
About the author
No one can deny the excitement of visiting another world.
Barney Oliver,
Scientist
#World
#Excitement
Years of science fiction have produced a mindset that it is human destiny to expand from Earth, to the Moon, to Mars, to the stars.
Barney Oliver,
Scientist
#Years
#Earth
#Science
#Stars
#Destiny
#Moon
#Fiction
The sun and its retinue of planets drift as a group through the vast gulfs of space that separate the stars.
Barney Oliver,
Scientist
#Stars
#Sun
#Space
Present annual world energy consumption is about equal to the annihilation energy of 4 tons of matter.
Barney Oliver,
Scientist
#World
#Present
#Energy
It would be a pity if, frustrated by the price of travel, we elected to become a society that never made contact, that never gave SETI a fair chance.
Barney Oliver,
Scientist
#Chance
#Society
#Pity
#Travel
In the past, on Earth, it has largely been to exploit foreign resources and to expand the domestic territory.
Barney Oliver,
Scientist
#Past
#Earth
If interstellar travel is as time- or energy- demanding as the above figures indicate, it is far from obvious what the motive for colonization might be.
Barney Oliver,
Scientist
#Time
#Motive
#Energy
#Obvious
#Travel
Antimatter is not a source of energy for us, it's a method of storing energy, compact but inefficient.
Barney Oliver,
Scientist
#Energy
Above all, I would not expect a wise race, at great expense, to set loose an army of self-replicating robots.
Barney Oliver,
Scientist
#Self
#Race
#Army
The factor most ignored in discussing interstellar flight is the kinetic energy that must be invested in the ship to make its tons of matter move at a substantial fraction of the speed of light.
Barney Oliver,
Scientist
#Light
#Energy