That which is faster than light

So what's faster than the speed of light?

Answer: THOUGHT

Well think about it... you can visualize in your mind any location you wish and can be there in a flash... it's the power of thought that makes that happen.

There are no boundaries or laws prohibiting you from going, no distance to great. Your mind can take you anywhere in the universe just as fast as you can think it, faster than light can.

Maybe this is how we can bridge the divide of the enormity of space. No wormholes or LHC's needed. Our mind is neither physical nor tangible yet it does exist and it does play a key role in how we interpret "reality".

The world exists in your mind. True, we come to depend on our 5 senses to relay information to our brain about the world around us, but in the end it gets processed in our mind, does it not?

Perhaps in a deep state of meditation one may be able to actually feel the world they're imagining in their mind, through thought, without actually physically being there.

Do we really need our physical bodies to travel to the farthest reaches of the universe? What if predetermined information about other worlds, as observed with our space probes and such, was "downloaded" into our minds. Information about atmospheres, temperatures, and geographies, etc... With this information and the ability to manipulate one's own mind, perhaps we could experience that world as it is... like a dream but as real as if you were actually standing there...



Thought and thinking are mental forms and processes, respectively ("thought" is both). Thinking allows beings to model the world and to represent it according to their objectives, plans, ends and desires. Words referring to similar concepts and processes include cognition, sentience, consciousness, idea, and imagination.
en.wikipedia.org...

Can thought take complete control over neurological activity in our brain, so that our perceptual experiences are less dependent on the actual stimuli which arrive at our various sensory organs from the external world, and more dependent on perhaps self created stimuli? IOW do we need our physical selves to experience other reality's?

Food for thought...

Oh, and I always loved this:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d5ac436d2578.jpg[/atsimg]

One is micro millimeters across, the other is billions of light years across, yet they look nearly identical... coincidence I'm sure

Mind over matter right?

I like your idea very much. Ultimately we could trick ourselves into believing we were anywhere, and as you say -- biochemically -- there would be no difference. But does it make a difference to me? In part.

Ultimately we may be able to experience almost anything authentically, but there would always be that knowledge that it was in fact a dream. The joy of traveling and experiencing to me, is exactly that, to have traveled.

Very interesting.

Kudos to you for bringing up a VERY interesting subject!

Check this out, similar planes of thought - www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thought may very well be the only way to achieve faster than light speeds.

Sorry, but thought has been suggested before... It's not even close to the speed of sound, nevermind the speed of light.

The speed at which neural impulses travel from neuron-to-neuron have, in fact, been measured at a snail's pace of around 200 mph.

I mean, that's pretty damned fast for biological processes of any kind, but it's nowhere near lightspeed.

— Doc Velocity

reply to post by Doc Velocity


I think you missed what the OP meant regarding thought. The scenario he unveils is one where you can conjure wherever you wish to be, and be there (not physically, but in a kind of simulation) as quickly as you can think it up. Obviously this would include aids of some kind. He mentions "downloading" data directly to your brain which would complete a realistic simulation.

reply to post by Doc Velocity


I read a book by Evan Walker Harris called The Physics of Consciousness wherein he makes a very good case for consciousness being a quantum effect - with electrons tunneling from one end of the brain to the other. Tunneling suggests movement faster than light... At least from stop to stop...

So thought could very well be faster than light.

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
Sorry, but thought has been suggested before... It's not even close to the speed of sound, nevermind the speed of light.

The speed at which neural impulses travel from neuron-to-neuron have, in fact, been measured at a snail's pace of around 200 mph.

I mean, that's pretty damned fast for biological processes of any kind, but it's nowhere near lightspeed.

— Doc Velocity

Technically, yes - Discover Article, BUT....this could be affected by our system of measurement...and it is proven that thought speeds up based on experience.

I could certainly think about travelling to a planet 30 light years away faster than actually doing it, right? And how can anyone prove that I haven't actually done it? (what's the difference)

reply to post by Doc Velocity


Actually under certain conditions neural impulses can travel at around 2,000 mph.


As far as the OP goes, I see what you are saying but the only reason that our thought process is able to seemingly instantly travel anywhere in reality is because it is all virtual and non-real in our brain. It isn't based on real world physics because it is only simply thought. So IMHO just because you can think of instantly teleporting to Mars you still couldn't, at least not physically because the laws of physics still apply to your physical self. Of course maybe with a few billion years of brain evolution anything could be possible, but for now I think our best bet is to use technology for our propulsion and communication needs.

Using that reasoning thought could then be considered the first 100% reliable form of contraception.
But then it wouldn't be long before the thought police arrested me for the time I spent with Eva Longoria last night without her permission.
Still, it was worth it. :-)

Originally posted by PhotonEffect
So what's faster than the speed of light?

Answer: THOUGHT

Your answer is: Tachyon, which is a hypothetical elementary particle which is only capable of traveling faster than the speed of light.

[edit on 9-1-2010 by Itop1]

Originally posted by Amaterasu
reply to post by Doc Velocity

 

I read a book by Evan Walker Harris called The Physics of Consciousness wherein he makes a very good case for consciousness being a quantum effect - with electrons tunneling from one end of the brain to the other. Tunneling suggests movement faster than light... At least from stop to stop... So thought could very well be faster than light.

I, too, am a proponent of the theory that the human brain is a "quantum antenna" — that is to say, something about the brain is able to tune in information on a subspace level. This could, theoretically, account for such phenomena as telepathy, clairvoyance, prophetic visions, etc. Perhaps even telekinesis.

However, this is still not an indicator of the "speed of thought"... Information is information, and I personally think that it can be transmitted beyond and exist outside of three-dimensional physics.

You might liken this to theoretical travel through a wormhole, which would allow information to instantaneously "travel" from one side of the universe to the other, without exceeding the speed of light. This is not "faster than light travel"; it is, rather, travel at very conventional velocities, passing through a singularity from one point in space to another.

Now, if something about the human brain constitutes one end of a wormhole, then I think information could, possibly, travel incomprehensible distances across Space and Time and be received by the human brain, which then translates the information into more comprehensible human thought.

In this respect, you might be correct in calling the human brain a quantum antenna, but it wouldn't be correct to identify the information received as thought at the speed of light.

— Doc Velocity

emotions are faster than thoughts

Here check out Professor Hameroff's research on the quantum brain -- indeed consciousness is faster than light -- but that's not the same as "thought" per se.

naturalresonancerevolution.blogspot.com...

reply to post by PhotonEffect

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
I, too, am a proponent of the theory that the human brain is a "quantum antenna" — that is to say, something about the brain is able to tune in information on a subspace level. This could, theoretically, account for such phenomena as telepathy, clairvoyance, prophetic visions, etc. Perhaps even telekinesis.

However, this is still not an indicator of the "speed of thought"... Information is information, and I personally think that it can be transmitted beyond and exist outside of three-dimensional physics.

You might liken this to theoretical travel through a wormhole, which would allow information to instantaneously "travel" from one side of the universe to the other, without exceeding the speed of light. This is not "faster than light travel"; it is, rather, travel at very conventional velocities, passing through a singularity from one point in space to another.

Who's to say that all conventional motion isn't just an illusion of continuity that actually functions on the same principle of popping in and out of "wormholes" of existence? Already physicists are saying matter is constantly flickering "on" and "off" and what is apparently an atom really only takes on that form some/most of the time, but not all.

reply to post by Oscitate


Yes I tend to agree with you, it seems much better to actually go to a place and experience it than just plain imagine it...

But what about a place you've traveled to already? In this respect you could imagine that place and be there instantly in your mind, with just casual thinking...

When you think about a wheat beer with a slice of lemon, can't you almost taste it if you concentrate on it just enough?... or perhaps when thinking about fresh ground coffee, can't you can almost imagine the smell of that... or your favorite song.. well you get what I'm saying...

You may not need to actually depend solely on your sensory organs to create a real place in your mind, one complete with sight, sound, touch, taste and smell- as if you were there

Whether you're thinking about the Eiffel tower or standing right in front of it, it all takes place in your mind anyway

reply to post by Signals


Thanks for the link, I'll have a look

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
Sorry, but thought has been suggested before... It's not even close to the speed of sound, nevermind the speed of light.

The speed at which neural impulses travel from neuron-to-neuron have, in fact, been measured at a snail's pace of around 200 mph.

I mean, that's pretty damned fast for biological processes of any kind, but it's nowhere near lightspeed.

— Doc Velocity

Yes, but how fast does it take for you to visualize a place in your mind?

Now supposing you could visualize quite clearly in your mind an earth like planet some 10,000 light years away... haven't you (hypothetically of course) just taken yourself there instantly, quicker than light could get there from where your standing?

In the physical sense it's impossible, but not for your mind.

But, as has already been observed, memories and imaginings are little more than virtual reality models, which are as easy to visit as launching any PlayStation video game. We can access memories at a speed of about 200 mph, which seems like an instant to us, because the neural circuitry involved is only a matter of centimeters in physical length.

Also, our memories are subject to degradation and merging over the years — some of your fondest memories may, in fact, be mergers of several separate memories, possibly years apart but combined and distorted into a single memory.

Since this is known to be the case, then instantaneously going to visit the Eiffel tower and enjoy a wheat beer in your mind may be an excursion to a place and time that does not and never did actually exist. Or it might be likened to bi-locating, traveling to two or more separate destinations simultaneously — which defies a lot more than the mere speed of light.

Still, when you're talking about virtual reality, the physical laws of a VR model are easily manipulated or hacked by those who constructed the model, yes?

— Doc Velocity





[edit on 1/10/2010 by Doc Velocity]