[extropy-chat] Re: towards the Sun?

[Damien Broderick]

Serafino tipped me off to these interesting papers:

>http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/gr-qc/0409117
>http://www.arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0409615

The first proposes:

<Sakharov's conjecture is that space-time curvature is determined by the 
distribution of vacuum energy. We'll adopt a similar hypothesis: that 
gravitational potentials correspond to regions of diminished vacuum energy, 
which determines the velocity of quantum-mechanical waves. Like the speed 
of sound in a gas, the velocity is less where energy density is lower [12].>

It is amusing that this inverts Vinge's schema in the Zoned Galaxy 
sequence, and perhaps in Poul Anderson's classic BRAIN WAVE.  It might 
imply that the ferocious fluxes in the center of galaxies is where we'll 
find the fastest minds.

Damien Broderick