“but c’mon guys, this is FREAKING AMAZING. Extracting mass/energy from a vacuum? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I’m with you on that. It is amazing, and it would be great
if we learn in short order how we can apply that knowledge in ways that will have practical implications.
However, keeping in mind that it was almost three decades from Eintein’s work to the first atomic bombs, and how long after that before “nuclear energy” power plants, I do not expect too much from this news right away.
(I’m wondering if this changes what Einstein thought about “zero point” energy”.)
War is unfortunately the agent of “necessity” and financial catalyst that moves something very new from theory to application. Let’s hope some more peaceful endeavor is the catalyst for the practical use of this news.
Maybe the energy-wave expression of “virtual” particles can be exploited for a non-fictional version of what the Star Trek series referred to as “sub-space telecommunication”. [Folks at “Area 51” are you listening?]
sub space telecom - interesting - I was only thinking that they could create light to impinge on a solar cell thereby harnassing the energy for application....yours is more subtle - I like.