Sure, but by that logic we could discuss life in other universes, which won’t get us anywhere since it’s impossible to go to or in any way interact with them (at least, so far). If you can come up with a possible way for life to evolve with exotic elements, then we can possibly predict if and where such life could evolve. But, from the information we have now, life as we know it requires water, so that’s all there is to discuss. Anything else is impossible to predict or dispute, so it’s out of the realm of science.
There was a time when we (humanity) accepted it as FACT the sun revolved around the world.
Who’s to say three hundred years from now that we had the whole E=mc[sup]2[/sup] thing wrong.
In fact Einstein himself said: (going from memory here so go easy on me)
"A smart man can look at the face of a watch and know that there is something mechanical inside the watch that makes it work.
An even smarter man can look at that watch and think up a design to make said watch work. But that design that the man thinks of (even though it would work) doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s actually the same design inside said watch."
Now I’m not saying E=mc[sup]2[/sup] is absolutely wrong (among other theories). All I’m saying is we need to leave room for the possibillity that it could be wrong.
We don’t think we are alone. But the chances are we may as well be. We’re a tiny, tiny planet in an eeeenormous amount of space. On a scale that is practically impossible for the human mind to grasp.
So the idea that some aliens have amazingly happened to stumbled across us, and are keeping it a big secret is pretty ridiculous. (And the idea they’re keeping it a big secret with the cooperation of one country’s Government is even more ludicrous.)
What concerns me about all the calculations and science about the likelihood of life on other planets is that they are based on a sample of exactly one. That doesn’t seem to me to be nearly enough to be either statistically valid or scientifically certain.
Since I believe that God enjoys variety, I have to question why anyone would think that He would make only one form of intelligent life.
There is always a possibility that any scientific theory can be overturned by superior evidence. But the theory of general relativity and by implication the impossibility of FTL travel has been so well established by numerous experiments that it’s highy unlikely to be overturned.
BTW, your italicizing the word “theory” indicates that you have a faulty understanding of its meaning. Most laymen think that a theory is just a wild guess, but in science it has the opposite meaning; a scientific theory is a conceptual framework supported by a vast array of experimental and observational data. It is as concrete as ideas in science get.
As attractive as the idea of spaceflight to other worlds is, one has to face the overwhelming physical and engineering difficulties barring its realization.
Gobear pretty much covered it nicely, but I wanted to add; Science builds on old ideas and while some ideas in science are discarded completely, most ideas are built upon older ideas (gravity for example). In other words, while it’s remotely possible that relativity could be wrong, I’d say it’s as near to impossible as something can get, that it’s completely wrong.
Many people seem to think that all scientists stolidly accept theories like relativity as undisputed fact and anyone who thinks they might be wrong is deemed ignorant and not worth listening to. It’s quite the opposite, in fact. Numerous experiments over the last few decades have been set up to try and prove general relativity wrong. A probe was sent up a couple weeks ago to test it yet again. Every time, the results have coincided with the theory.
As has been said, scientific theories are never proven correct, they just fail to be proven wrong. The Big Bang model, for example, has its problems, and some like to jump all over its inconsistencies and proclaim the entire theory to be bogus. The Big Bang model is accepted merely because no one has introduced anything that fits observations better, it’s the best we’ve got. Science is a process, always changing, never ending.
So, to the best of our knowledge, it is impossible to go faster than light. It won’t do us any good saying “maybe we’re wrong” because no one can come up with any sort of mechanism that would allow us to do it. Even purely theoretical methods have flaws beyond mere engineering limitations. But don’t you worry, there are many scientists out there who would love to be the first to prove Einstein wrong.