Charles L. Adler > Quotes

“To be blunt: computers are ten trillion times less energy efficient than they could be, which is why they keep improving by leaps and bounds, whereas cars are within a factor of two of being as efficient as they could be, which is why improving cars is difficult.”
― Charles L. Adler, Wizards, Aliens, and Starships: Physics and Math in Fantasy and Science Fiction

“Three major technical issues have to be overcome in designing a spacecraft using nuclear bombs: shielding the passengers from the radiation produced in blowing up a nuclear bomb every second or so behind them; keeping the average thrust low enough so that people wouldn’t be smashed to jelly by the high acceleration; and designing a system to throw a nuclear bomb behind the ship once a second and detonate it there—a difficult design problem.”
― Charles L. Adler, Wizards, Aliens, and Starships: Physics and Math in Fantasy and Science Fiction

“Most readers might now expect a closing paragraph in which I extoll the nonscientific benefits of manned space exploration: the thrill of the exploration of the unknown; the idea that mankind needs new frontiers if it is not to stagnate; the worry that if mankind is stuck on one planet, a disaster could destroy us. These are appealing ideas. But manned space exploration clearly will not happen unless we find better ways of getting off-planet and creating homelike places elsewhere. I’d like to construct an analogy: we are in the same situation with regard to manned spaceflight today as Charles Babbage was with respect to computing in the 1860s. He invented the basic ideas for the modern computer and tried to implement them using the mechanical technology of his day. The technology was marginally not good enough to allow his analytical engine to be built. We seem to be in the same situation today: chemical rockets with exhaust speeds of a few thousand meters per second are marginally good enough to launch unmanned probes traveling slowly through the Solar System but are completely inadequate for manned missions.”
― Charles L. Adler, Wizards, Aliens, and Starships: Physics and Math in Fantasy and Science Fiction