Anybody catch this? Physics guy on G4 talks Star Wars, Trek

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2007-01-25 02:25pm

Chris Gore from G4TV's Attack of the Show interviews Dr. Michio Kaku, professor of physics at the City University of New York -- and gets a lesson in the real science of Star Wars. Hilarity ensues! Watch more videos at FilmThreat.com! (Originally aired 06/10/2005.)

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2007-01-25 04:13pm

That physicist is clearly a sockpuppet of Darth Wong.

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2007-01-25 04:57pm

I'm a bit annoyed by Kaku's comments on nuclear weapons and lasers. He did not so much as hint the staggering amount of energy involved in blowing-up a planet. He could have at least said, "if we could hook-up the sun to a laser and let it charge for a while, then yeah it'd be possible."

Darth Servo · Post by **Darth Servo** » 2007-01-25 05:20pm

Well, at least we have a real physicist comming straight out and saying on TV that SW would kick ST's ass.

But why was this even necessary since no one goes around claiming SW tech is realistic? Its the trekkies who usually exclaim that we'll all have transporter equiped warp capable spaceships in the near future.

It was cool how they had a bit of the clip feature the old ANH arcade game.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-01-25 05:41pm

Sci-fi debates are a lot like the creationist debate. Most scientists have traditionally considered it not worth their while to participate because it's a silly debate that is considered more recreational than academic. There may also be some concern that one can dilute one's credibility by participating in something that is perceived as fluff.

Mind you, as creationists make more gains in the political arena the scientific attitude toward creationist debates is changing, but I can't see that happening for sci-fi debates. The majority of people who participate in the debate are going to be totally uneducated, just like the case in most evolution vs creation debates. The fact that all of the educated people tend to come down on one side of it doesn't bother them at all.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2007-01-26 08:35am

I remember one Discovery documentary where Kaku was describing type 2 and type 3 civilizations. As an example of type 2 he mentioned the Federation and for type 3 he used the Empire. He even went into a bit of detail describing the amount of star systems under each of their control Thats when I realized he is a warsie.

The Grim Squeaker · Post by **The Grim Squeaker** » 2007-01-26 10:34am

Sarevok wrote:I remember one Discovery documentary where Kaku was describing type 2 and type 3 civilizations. As an example of type 2 he mentioned the Federation and for type 3 he used the Empire. He even went into a bit of detail describing the amount of star systems under each of their control Thats when I realized he is a warsie.

Link? I'd like to see a good explanation of the Kardashev scale and its civilizations regardless

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2007-01-26 11:14am

The Empire isn't a Type III civilization. It doesn't continuously settle the entire galactic population of stars and have a Dyson Sphere around every single star or stellar corpse in the galaxy.

Its a high Type II, however. Star Trek's Fed is mid-way between Type I and Type II. Of course that difference is on the order of over ten orders of magnitude.

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2007-01-26 03:53pm

Adrian Laguna wrote:I'm a bit annoyed by Kaku's comments on nuclear weapons and lasers. He did not so much as hint the staggering amount of energy involved in blowing-up a planet. He could have at least said, "if we could hook-up the sun to a laser and let it charge for a while, then yeah it'd be possible."

I wish to clarify a bit. Kaku implied that humanity could make planet-cracking nukes. We can't, it's far beyond our technological capabilities. If we tried we might make it to the 200 megatons (for a single device), but that's about it at the moment. That's why it would have been better for him to suggest you'd need to hook the laser up to a star, it's a simple way of saying "yeah it's possible, but far beyond what we can accomplish".

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2007-01-26 08:29pm

Adrian Laguna wrote:
Adrian Laguna wrote:I'm a bit annoyed by Kaku's comments on nuclear weapons and lasers. He did not so much as hint the staggering amount of energy involved in blowing-up a planet. He could have at least said, "if we could hook-up the sun to a laser and let it charge for a while, then yeah it'd be possible."
I wish to clarify a bit. Kaku implied that humanity could make planet-cracking nukes. We can't, it's far beyond our technological capabilities. If we tried we might make it to the 200 megatons (for a single device), but that's about it at the moment. That's why it would have been better for him to suggest you'd need to hook the laser up to a star, it's a simple way of saying "yeah it's possible, but far beyond what we can accomplish".

I don't think he implied that. He stated that it was within the realm of physics which sounded like a very open ended answer.

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2007-01-26 09:12pm

After saying that if you get enough nukes and use them to power a laser you could blow-up a planet, Kaku says: "Now, we on the Earth don't design weapons like this because we don't need to. We have city busters already, we don't need to bust the Earth in half."

That is clearly misleading about the destructive abilities of current human technology.

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2007-01-26 09:47pm

Illuminatus Primus wrote:The Empire isn't a Type III civilization. It doesn't continuously settle the entire galactic population of stars and have a Dyson Sphere around every single star or stellar corpse in the galaxy.

Its a high Type II, however. Star Trek's Fed is mid-way between Type I and Type II. Of course that difference is on the order of over ten orders of magnitude.

They don't need to put a Dyson Sphere around every star in the galaxy, as the DS2 shows that they can achieve similar power outputs without bothering(taking 1e25 watts as an average stellar output, 1e38 joules as Death Star yield, and eight minutes for full charge for 2e35 watt output for 20 billion stars represented in the DS2). That the Hutts could build a Death Star equivalent in Darksabershows that the resources and fuel requirements involved are in no way crippling to the galactic economy, as does the fact that the DS2 was constructed in secret.

Population is a separate issue, but they should be easily able to meet the power requirements usually set forth for a type 3.

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2007-01-26 09:53pm

Adrian Laguna wrote:After saying that if you get enough nukes and use them to power a laser you could blow-up a planet, Kaku says: "Now, we on the Earth don't design weapons like this because we don't need to. We have city busters already, we don't need to bust the Earth in half."

That is clearly misleading about the destructive abilities of current human technology.

Sounds like the message he's trying to put forward there is that such a weapon would be pointless in our society. I can see where you're coming from, but I disagree that it was clearly misleading.