Kevin comments on Particles break light-speed limit? - Less Wrong

9 Post author: Kevin 23 September 2011 11:00AM

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Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 27 September 2011 10:09:49AM 15 points [-]

I'll take bets at 99-to-1 odds against any information propagating faster than c. Note that this is not a bet for the results being methodologically flawed in any particular way, though I would indeed guess some simple flaw. It is just a bet that when the dust settles, it will not be possible to send signals at a superluminal velocity using whatever is going on - that there will be no propagation of any cause-and-effect relation at faster than lightspeed.

My real probability is lower, but I think that anyone who'd bet against me at 999-to-1 will probably also bet at 99-to-1, so 99-to-1 is all I'm offering.

I will not accept more than $20,000 total of such bets.

Comment author: Kevin 29 September 2011 12:21:12PM 1 point [-]

I suggest clarifying the bet to say "information propagating faster than c as c is defined at the time of this bet". With that clarification, I can pay up front in cash for $202 as soon as possible.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 29 September 2011 05:21:40PM *  1 point [-]

There are many definitions of c - it appears as a constant in many different physical equations. Right now, all of these definitions are consistent. If you have a new physics where all these definitions remain consistent and you can still transmit information faster than c, then certainly I have lost the bet. Other cases would be harder to settle - I did state that weird physics along the lines of "this is why photons are slowed down in a vacuum by dark matter, but neutrinos aren't slowed" wouldn't win the bet.