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Old 08-26-2015, 09:35 AM   #29
safisher
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Default Re: [Spaceships] Heat Signature, Cloaking Device, and Stealth Hull

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mailanka View Post
I think this comment speaks strongly to how you feel about the situation. You feel that people who note physics (you complained about people criticizing your incomplete understanding of science earlier) are using "special secret knowledge" to prove you wrong, and when people try to connect, you feel "patronized." If an argument is made against your position, you dismiss it, rather than address it.
This is more of the patronizing approach. It might surprise you to note that a) I have taken a physics course, b) I have read all of the Atomic Rockets arguments, ad nauseum, c) that I clearly understand the laws, as we now understand it, which prohibit the rather simplified issue as described by "there ain't no stealth in space." My purpose on the forums here is not to debate you about the laws of physics; I couldn't care less about what you think about the subject. My purpose is simply to remind the others posting and reading here that hard physics blowhards existed in the 1890s, and were not to happy when Einstein upended their apple carts. Of course 100% stealth in space viewed from all angles at all times is TL^. But there's a lot we don't know about the universe and we are on the cusp, perhaps, of some incredible re-interpretations. This is after all, the point of scientific research. That's why TL^ exists in GURPS. But really, we can already nip away at a total prohibition of stealth with discussions of disguise, drifting without engine power, emitting in one direction away from the enemy, using heat sinks such as ice, etc. Those are "stealth tactics" even if they have very very limited utility in certain very specific circumstances. I say all of this not because I think I have a clue as to how all of this will work out in the future, but rather as someone who has studied the philosophy and history of science, e.g., Kuhn and Popper. Your insistence that I must explain my tentative assertions to satisfy your demands, is well, predictable, and comical. I'll let science do that, perhaps, in due time.
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