Adventure Gamers - Forums

chrissie - 18 July 2014 12:35 PM

Why is travelling at speeds faster than light against the laws of relativity?

Because the laws of relativity states that no object can move at a speed faster then the speed of light For a more detail explanation you will have to ask Einstein or read an article on the subject or ask someone who are more well versed in Relativity than I am (I know enough to understand the basics, but not enough to explain it).

Interestingly enough there is a loophole, Relativity states that no object can move faster than the speed of light, but not that space itself can’t move faster than the speed of light. In fact according to the Inflation Theory the universe itself actually did expand at a speed faster than light for a very short time right after Big Bang, and some has speculated that it might be possible to travel to other stars at faster than light speed (FTL), simply by moving space itself instead of moving the space ship, though others protest and claims that that would require more energy than the total amount of energy in the universe. Either way it has nothing to do with the warp drives of Star Trek.

This of course leads us to Fermi’s paradox
There is a silly high number of galaxies in the universe, each galaxy has a very high number of stars in it, and it looks like most stars have a planetary system. I would be highly unlikely that earth is the only planet where life has developed and evolved into intelligent life that uses technology, and most of these stars are much much older than the sun and earth are. So by all probability the universe should be full of space faring aliens - So were are they and why haven’t we meet them yet?

One of the solutions to the paradox is that FTL speeds are either theoretical or practically impossible!
Either way this won’t be settled in our lifetime, and is for now only possible in Sci-Fi.

chrissie - 18 July 2014 12:35 PM

I didn’t watch many of the later ‘Star Trek’ spin-offs but I think it’s pretty obvious that the way the transporter works is that it’s a little bit like emailing/downloading large files - you have to split the components of the people 1st & either send them in bits (you do see them disappearing into bits & reappearing as bits coming together)  or maybe technology in star Trek will move on & condense the people into a ‘zipped’ form that automatically unzips them at destination - well it makes sense to me!

This would conflict with Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, I will spare you the physics but it basically means that if it worked like that, then it would be a lossy data compression like jpeg and mpeg, and not a lossless compression like zip. In other words what would step out in the other end would be an approximation of the person teleported, but not 100% the same person, at least not on the elementary particle level. Basically you can’t convert a physical object into pure information without loosing some of the information. 

chrissie - 18 July 2014 12:35 PM

I don’t really need to know how a warp drive works just that it’s a resource of the futuristic Starship Enterprise to travel fast when needed & agree with Gene Roddenberry!

Yeah I completely agree with both you and Gene Roddenberry.
Star Trek is a space opera about “Boldly going where no man has gone before”, and captain Kirk almost single handedly saving the galaxy and/or the pretty alien girl or whatever, and not about science and technology.

Similar with Gray Matter, as a piece of fiction it works best when not trying to explain things, but simply letting them happen.

Sefir - 18 July 2014 12:45 PM

No. Mainly it was the fact that I feared (and, somehow, I still do) that this whole conversation about science, beliefs, fiction, etc has many similarities with the “science vs religion” usual debate, a subject very sensitive, able to destroy a thread if not treated carefully.

Ah, I understand, and have in fact tried very hard to stay away from any “science vs religion” or “facts vs belief” comments, for the very same reason.

Anyway back to Gray Matter and what I actually wanted to post today, before I got sidetracked

The Cutscenes

I really like the cutscenes in this game!
When it was released the game got a lot of flak because of the cutscenes, and people thought they looked cheap etc. Personally I originally didn’t mind them but it is only now that I have learned to appreciate them.

I have over the years developed a distaste for long and elaborate cutscenes, and believe that cutscenes are a poor way of telling a story in a game. But this is not the case in GM, here the cutscenes are always short and precise, and most importantaly, are only used to show elements that really couldn’t be shown through the actual gameplay, like Styles memory of Laura or the paranormal events.

The fact that they are also in a graphical style that is distinctively different from the rest of the game, and are sort of condensed into only showing us what we need to know instead of a realtime depiction of the events, only adds to the experience imo.

P.s. Nice poem lyrics Diego
Now, you do realise that we expect a youtube video or soundfile of you playing and singing this song before the end of this playthrough, don’t you?
Ohh… Wait a minute… What did I just do If Diego gets sidetracked now, he will never actually finish this playthrough and it would be my fault.

chrissie - 18 July 2014 12:35 PM

Why is travelling at speeds faster than light against the laws of relativity? It’s a speed that we don’t yet have the technology to compete with let alone surpass but Star Trek is set in the future - I don’t really need to know how a warp drive works just that it’s a resource of the futuristic Starship Enterprise to travel fast when needed & agree with Gene Roddenberry!

It’d be impossible outside of a vacuum, for physical reasons, let alone relativistic ones…

Sefir - 18 July 2014 12:45 PM

No. Mainly it was the fact that I feared (and, somehow, I still do) that this whole conversation about science, beliefs, fiction, etc has many similarities with the “science vs religion” usual debate, a subject very sensitive, able to destroy a thread if not treated carefully. But I liked the discussion nevertheless.

That’s because this is a community playthrough, not an average thread…

Iznogood - 18 July 2014 02:00 PM

One of the solutions to the paradox is that FTL speeds are either theoretical or practically impossible!
Either way this won’t be settled in our lifetime, and is for now only possible in Sci-Fi.

I thought that Fermi’s paradox still stood, even without FTL travel? Sure, it’d take longer, but given the age of the universe that shouldn’t make a difference…

chrissie - 18 July 2014 08:22 AM

That’s lovely diego - are you working on a tune to go with it?

Iznogood - 18 July 2014 03:14 PM

Now, you do realise that we expect a youtube video or soundfile of you playing and singing this song before the end of this playthrough, don’t you?

Hehe… I haven’t planned the music for it. But will a cover of a main theme work? (it’s IMPOSSIBLE not to get that tune stuck in your head)

TimovieMan - 18 July 2014 05:42 PM

It’d be impossible outside of a vacuum, for physical reasons, let alone relativistic ones…[/url]

That might be true. But, as Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the New York Hayden Planetarium, said in a recent PBS broadcast, space is no more a geometric plane than is wind. Thus, if the planar distance from point A to point B is one light year, what would happen if the space plane became a space sine curve?

The distance between points A and B would become exponentially shorter. And one light year of “planar” travel might take less than an hour.

Didn’t like GM. Am not playing the CPT. But I am lurking, and just had to butt in. 

The “brain & computer” puzzle at the end of the 5th chapter is one of the best “deductive” puzzles I’ve encountered lately, even though I’m sorry to say I needed a nudge for it. It’s all not all my fault though, as the game kept Timmons Park non-grayed out when in truth I did everything there, and diverted my attention.

TimovieMan - 18 July 2014 05:42 PM

It’d be impossible outside of a vacuum, for physical reasons, let alone relativistic ones…

Even deep space is not a complete or true vacuum, there are always some stray particles straying around, and the solar system is basically littered with particles from the sun.

And the impact force of a spaceship travelling at 0.9C having a head on collision with even a single hydrogen molecule travelling at 0.9C in the opposite direction would be… well I have absolutely no idea and I’m too lazy to look up a formula for calculating it But at that speed pretty much any kind of collision would be catastrophic.

TimovieMan - 18 July 2014 05:42 PM

I thought that Fermi’s paradox still stood, even without FTL travel? Sure, it’d take longer, but given the age of the universe it shouldn’t make a difference…

Think about it, if the trip takes you one million years, then you don’t just pop in for a cup of tea. If on the other hand it is only a two hour drive and you were already in the neighbourhood….

It doesn’t in itself completely remove the paradox, but it does greatly reduce the chance for coming in contact with aliens, and makes the current situation more plausible.

Other possible explanations for Fermi’s paradox:

1) We are truly alone in the universe.
Improbable but not impossible.

2) They simply don’t want to meet us - Star Trek’s Prime Directive
I don’t buy it, hell even in Star Trek they broke the directive on a daily basis.

3) Extinction of technological advanced civilizations
There is an army of advanced machines called Reapers sleeping in deep space between the galaxies, every 50,000 years or so they wake up, and “harvest” any civilization advanced enough to master spaceflight, leaving the less advanced species alone until the next harvest.

A surprisingly popular explanation among scientists… well not the Reaper part, but the idea that technological advanced civilizations only survive for a very brief time, before becoming extinct.

rtrooney - 18 July 2014 09:09 PM

That might be true. But, as Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the New York Hayden Planetarium, said in a recent PBS broadcast, space is no more a geometric plane than is wind. Thus, if the planar distance from point A to point B is one light year, what would happen if the space plane became a space sine curve?

The distance between points A and B would become exponentially shorter. And one light year of “planar” travel might take less than an hour.

Another loophole, that requires more than the normal three spacial dimensions.

Now how did a CP of Gray Matter turn into a discussion of spaceflight surely it can’t be my fault

diego - 18 July 2014 07:20 PM

Hehe… I haven’t planned the music for it. But will a cover of a main theme work? (it’s IMPOSSIBLE not to get that tune stuck in your head)

Yep.

diego - 19 July 2014 10:03 AM

The “brain & computer” puzzle at the end of the 5th chapter is one of the best “deductive” puzzles I’ve encountered lately

I’m not sure I agree, I remember when I first played the game, I just toyed around with the controls, when I suddenly hid the all red, without having the slightest idea what I was doing or why. So it can certainly be solved simply using brute force, but I guess solving it the way it was meant, does require some deduction.

JJ is really about the best character writer in video games. The dialogue is just wonderful and and even though some of the side-characters are a bit exaggerated, it doesn’t bother me but rather fits well the general atmosphere and such. And there are just so many little things that may be irrelevant or even a bit silly (like the whole rabbit part) but just make everything feel so much more alive and not gamey. It would be easy to overdo or do wrong, too, but she manages to make it very natural. There are no games where I’ve felt as immersed and connected as JJ games.

This is very true. Gray Matter is actually a very good adventure game and in this play-though we get to see it shine.

No matter how awful the reviews are for Moebius, I’m still looking forward to GK1 20th anniversary edition - this maybe JJs best adventure game of all time and very popular.

chrissie - 16 July 2014 01:14 PM

It does seem that in the 5th Chapter that there are 2 different types of phenomena happening - one where the soul of a departed person may live on & make limited contact to the living & one that’s reportedly too powerful for the deceased to wield as explained by one of David’s friends/acquaintances. Did anyone else get the impression that David was starting to get freaked out by what he thought were physical manifestations of Laura & was having 2nd thoughts about it going that far?

It’s interesting you ask that, because by the time we take control of David we’re NOT fully acquainted with his research, with his “thoughts”, emotions… nor what does he expect to acquire, and even though if there was signs of a second thought, I’d still think he’s ready to go through a drastic measures.

Also, I do see GM as both a scientific and supernatural story (with the thriller genre holding it all together). I’m only halfway through, so I’m not sure which side of the scale will show more weight at the end, but even now I like how it all mixes together. Sure, I wouldn’t call GM a “sci-fi”, but sci-fi has a long history of “guessing”, “predicting” or as WitchOfDoubt says “what-ifs”. But most precisely, I would call it - “imagining”, the way Jules Verne and others were “imagining” things way before they would happen. Let me quote a great view on an “imagination” from a local game reviewer:

“Imagination is the mover of everything. Activity, or person, where there is no imagination present shouldn’t really deserve any of my attention. Work, where you can’t improvise, where it’s not expected of you to give any of your personal mark or creative input, isn’t work but slavery. A person, who does not wish to “play” (in any sense) probably exists only as a projection picture in my field of view.”

So, even though I might agree with Iznogood that a sci-fi rarely gets it “right” on the short term, it IS still that core idea that has driven the science forward. You know, I’m sure someone was writing and making movies 50-100 years ago about people communicating with real-time video, it’s just that he didn’t call it “Skype”.

BTW, as I already said, I really liked the 5th chapter mostly because of a “park section”. As said, there’re no many puzzles here, but the “flashback” “puzzle”, even though it is based on pure guessing (or am I missing something?) was nicely done, just to see if your instinct & visual clues can tie up the dots together.

Also, from now on I’ll be more careful to inspect stuffs like letters, documents…

Iznogood - 17 July 2014 05:52 PM

This is also the chapter where Styles get fleshed out a bit more, up until now he has been a bit 2-dimensional but now we get to see other sides of him like his insecurity and the doubts that he also has. I especially enjoyed this scene, where he his to interact with a child, but despite obviously not having much experience in this, manages to do it without being arrogant or loosing his temper and even opens up in a way he would never do to an another adult, you could argue that he has no choice, but he still handles it with tact.

True, but something else strikes me in that scene: majority of adventure game scenes with children DON’T get it right in the dialog section. Even movies often fell in the trap of giving children “unnatural” way of thinking, speaking… Here, the child doesn’t even answer your questions, it’s just the mask she’s concerned about, which is probably exactly what would have happened in real life.

Some random “excerpts” from my “Print-screen album”:

I’m potato? I’m… POLECAT?

This scene brings memory of Nibiru (what is it that the all-knowing, wise guys we seek info from always seem to be having ancient masks hung on their walls?)

My favorite scene. I’m DYING to see what’s inside that spare room!

Could it be an easter egg as a tribute to Team17? (1+7=8)

If you say it one more time…

I don’t trust this guy!!

I have no idea what just happened here!