Appropriate goggles emoji is appropriate.

don't use the cheap ones :)

its for potential stray light

"MY EYES! THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING!"

i warned you .!.

I don't think betadine and a bandaid is going to help...

I couldn't resist laughing man, you killed it

Red sus

Theres a wonderful (read, eye-popping) CGI effect in the first series of The Expanse, where a man's head is 'disappeared' instantly in space by a hi=speed traveling chunk of debris. I was reminded of that when he described this.

Meh... I'll be impressed once they start using 1.21 gigawatts ...

He has a PhD

That's a high school level question smartass .

@@alexbartley3610 millions of people have a profile picture with them and their partner. It’s a normal thing. And it can be considered advertising your sexual preference.

This Comment section wack

@@MS69CHRIS fr

Damn that hits hardddd

And in the end philosophy.

@@untergehermuc You need a much bigger LASER for that transition

all biology is is physics

@@micahhunter5452 Well yeah, technically everything is physics.

stop watching movies, they are making you dumb

Going "wubwubwubwubbrrrrrrr LETS DO THIS!" and fires the gigawatt laser at some atoms

Thats oddly specific

I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. An awesome comment!

or to save the other bar customers from slipping so hard on the floor after all the chicks went Niagara

THIS IS AMERICA

@@chromiyum6849 If it was really America, he would have used cubic hamburgers.

Unacceptable, only olympic swimmingpools is approved as an american unit of volume. Still better than british, the last few years BBC insisted on using dinosaurs as a unit for everything, and just like other british products it doesnt work.

@@pflaffik I'm sorry, but that is absolute nonsense. The British have long used unladen swallows to perform various distance/time equations and not, my good Sir, dinosaurs as you so inaccurately implied. Now then. Good DAY!

EggyRepublic - I’m surprised he didn’t use the Australian unit of volume which is Sydney Harbours of water, given his Australian roots.

Fully agree!

*Biologically Organised Matter

bro, science in general is just matter trying to understand matter

@@shrooman768 That's the case mostly when discussing natural science rather than, let's say, formal science. And in natural science I'd say all branches are ultimately sourced within physics.

Consciousness.

For the way he speaked initially it appeared like he wasnt really all that thrilled by the interview, it's posible that this isnt his first interview and most people can barely understand what he is talking about so why even matter, his question about the infrared light wave lenght being bigger than the distortion caused by the gravitational wave surprised him for the best, you can see how lively he suddenly become

He is not in the demanding position so why bother .

Because he is an typical Indian

Or those that wear whatever suits them. They’re the real scientists

@@bhavikshah1946 I just thought that. Lololol dude my dad is a brown Asian and I was gonna say this. My dad is a giant Filipino and never irons anything lol

Issued safety equipment is mandatory

Chris Vellner safety is numba one priority

Rens and his crocs!

Damn I was just about to comment that lol, he kinda reminded me of Morpheus

lmfao, well played Sir.

@@ymbhiojtukburtbuyt568 maybe pr maybe not

Good thing Derek is a PHD in physics

I know that feeling. When I suddenly realize that the person I'm talking to understands and has some knowledge of their own on the subject, it's super exciting. Especially when you're used to explaining a thing every. single. time.

I was going to make the same comment :)

👍

The shades are maybe mandatory in the "laser zone".

@@Vallecaucanisimo There are a whole bunch of lasers in the real-time measurement system that damps external vibrations. There are more lasers to worry about than the one in the tube. They were standing next to a semi-functional scale model, far from LIGO. They have a very simple policy to protect people from the big beam. When people are working in that building, they shut off the beam. LIGO can't produce good data when there are people or other masses moving near by. The scale model is used to test ideas before they start working on the real thing. It is functional in the sense that it is comparing laser beams in a vacuum, and there are real sensors being tested. It is not functional in the sense that it can't detect a real gravity wave. They have some other mechanism to move the mirrors do they can test hardware and software.

@@Vallecaucanisimo No problem. Some graduate student once put a laser enclosure back together wrong in a distant university research lab, and bad things happened. So now the safety engineers at universities and national laboratories want everyone to be at least two mistakes away from blindness, death, or dismemberment.

Voice: Kent, wake up! Kent: Who is this? Voice: It’s Jesus Kent! Stop playing with yourself! Kent: It is god.

Future project being guarding us from black holes. Yessir absolute legend

He barely has human interaction. So he's lazy 😂

Did you measure it with gravitational waves?

@EZIO AUDITORE DA FIRENZE What does this have to do with anything? He's billion times smarter than you

@@SirNyanPanda its just a joke why so serious?

So how the frick you got the date may 12 lol

Not really. Science tends to be interdisciplinary, but still cool.

Mathematicians and physicists can end up everywhere because how pure their branch is.

jojojorisjhjosef lasers get involved in anything as long as you science hard enough.

Everything is physics. EVERYTHING. Geology is physics. Cosmology is physics. Chemistry is physics. Engineering is physics. Physiology is physics. Photonics is physics. Being a specialist does not invalidate the cornerstones by which all other disciplines operate.

why do you people have this urge to correct him? all he's saying is that it's interesting, not "incorrect"

Yes, because the gravitational waves haven't yet stretched the new light. At least, that's what I understood.

I don't know what you understood but it is different from what i understood which makes me feel im understanding the wrong thing.

I understood that they were making the tube 'boggier' to get through... (!) and not much else... As in.. I'm not sure how that then helps them with their comparison..

Yeah, and they measure the difference in time it took the new light to travel the stretche space in reference to the time it should have taken, since the wavelenght is fixed. But i feel like i dont understand it well enough.

yes, the key being that the gravitational wavelength is VERY long, so while it passes the light goes back and forth in the detector many times.

Thanks to UKpostsrs like you and Derek, the scientists doing this kind of incredible work are able to be showcased. I think a lot of personality is cut out (more often than not) when specialists like Rana Adhikari are interviewed by cable media or documentary creators. Showing him in a casual light shows the audience that anyone can be contributing to science if they work towards it hard enough. These kind of honest interviews bring a real human element to the world of science and I'm thankful the world has people like you, Derek, and Rana. Keep being awesome! :)

I like how you said it's just a Michelson interferometer

SmarterEveryDay found you!

gravity doesn't exist ukposts.info/have/v-deo/cWhln49prIR9zH0.html ukposts.info/have/v-deo/sGB2e3iWpm-Fu4E.html ukposts.info/have/v-deo/aH5-aadpaaBmt30.html ukposts.info/have/v-deo/pql1ma9uiImYyGg.html

i dont like him

ROTFL, that was a good one :D

also some people : earth is flat

Some people are born smart, some people are born stupid. And some of them just don't care what the truth is, but prefer to spout whatever comes to their minds instead. :) There's a person for anything.

and we don't are smarter people if we just believe in them not knowing the why that earth be round

Sphere not round

These people give us hope

Well, you have to apply for this money, so you need to show pretty solid motivation. There are tons of people competing for research grants and you have to explain why you and not the next person.

send them this video

They would need a time machine.

All you have to do is dream up something so absurd that sounds intelligent that will take forever to prove if provable that you have life long income for basically doing really nothing. That is what this is. If you are the only one that can prove it, you can go hunting ghosts all you like. Gravity is a function of wave energy, nothing more. Gravity is also not a pull force but a push force from within.

In fact, the vague and airy cliches that LIGO must rely upon to explain its particular power to transcend loopholes are no different than dishonesty. Dishonesty is the kernel upon which investment accrete. Hubris lately has been unprecidented.

Lol, did a pack of bacteria waitlisted him?

OuterRem that is who designed that project, easy A scientists that went on to secure govt grants

And that is why he doesn’t lecture.

Did you just said you would kill someone? I am calling the cops

Meh.

Oh you are a professor!?

The professor: 1:06

The measure of your understanding is your ability to explain it to others

I was just thinking about the Veritasium audience and our demographics. I wonder at what level does he tell his interviews to explain concepts and what level most of the viewership is comprised? I ain't no professor myself or nothing, but I pick up because I am able to understand the concept at a fundamental level. I had professors, actual professors, that failed to explain much less complex questions as well as these videos do. This channel is so great.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Also, how he makes those sounds :P

sounded almost like... a frog... which is called rana in spanish, lol

He needs to get a new shirt, too ;)

He's like a Pixar character, lol.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Bp P p

thats when I was Born.

Hahaha..He is Indian guy..thats why.

A lot of those folks do, the intelligent usually have their own morning rituals which is like a form of meditation if you think about it, whether it's sleeping in late or being productive early, everyone has a different circadian rhythm. Just a fun little rabbit hole that ur welcome to join me in

@@PlubusDomis We,We, Are creature's of habit s I gotta have it hahaha 😉

True 10 mm ≠ 0.1 mm :)

@Progressive Dude same, though it's Pokemon not CoD in my case.

seriously.... makes no sense

@John Loibl u don’t

@@dominic9517 lets say you are measuring a table that is 30 cm long with a measuring tape Is the the table 30.000001 cm or 29.999999 cm Now imagine one end of the table is milkway and the other end is alpha santori Is the distance and hair width longer or one hair width shorter

To look cool 😆 😎

"Mantra meditation for physicists."

gravitational mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmeme

Sandlot Rider À

I need to give answers 😂😂

This must mean I am a scientist too

When you are in an environment with that kind of laser power special anti-laser glasses are required. a single dust particle in the beam could deflect enough light to fry your retinas

:P yeah

lol.. The guy is a Nepali

He sounds American

pGpants indians ask all my friends for nudes, not my favourite

ElectroBarb who is ceo of google? microsoft? Adobe Systems? MasterCard..... see im not pretending we are god... but we are kinda cool not only us but we all on earth are amazing, beautiful peoples ;) accept every person's opinion.. and those who asked for n**es are kinda exceptions.. whom you found every where else too... lets not fight on these some words and enjoy the nature of science and explore through Veritasium

Sometimes i feel like the dumbest person in the room when im watching Veritasium alone

@@floreaciprian9742 well you can be both the smartest and the dumbest in the room at once!

@@floreaciprian9742 Schrödingers Intelligence 😆

​​@@floreaciprian9742 Quantum superposition says you can be both as long as there's no observator in the room

​@@floreaciprian9742 It's a 50/50 either I feel extremely dumb or very smort

Kissy kissy.

Veritasium Name should be pronounced as Rana Odhikari ( 'A' is pronounced in Bengali as 'O')

+Veritasium Next step will be using two slits for studying the diffraction of gravitational waves!!!

I believe the upgrade to 1MW they're implementing right now. The 1064 nm lasers have excellent stability, low noise and they are not huge - this makes them ideal for this purpose. BTW older g-wave interferometers used green lasers (that's why Rana's glasses were green).

Veritasium Hey why are you guys wearing the glasses in there? Some protection?

It's Okay To Be Smart I love your channel

I thought he said light was discrete, duh.

I want one of those - gonna troll my cat with a 1 megawatt :D

It's Okay To Be Smart the power of the laser itself is much lower but they resonate it in a cavity to build up to 1MW

Gameboygenius www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/ligos-ifo Seems like 750 kW can be stored in the arms.

haha

Because it's too small?

Can you measure it? *Changes size 100 times a second*

She gotta meausre it in milimeters

i clicked the time stamp and the advertisement i got was about consumer cellular saying “its that easy grandma” oh god oh no oh no

Reading your comment and laughing after watching such a complex and advanced explanation is kind of like the same feeling as walking into a warm room after hiking through the arctic for one hour

Stiggy Vandsrinskeen How? And why didn't they find anything?

Stiggy Vandsrinskeen Antropy is the problem my friend.

And there are those who throw candy away and cry why there is a printing mistake on its label.

Miika Mäentaus Maybe he lives inside a black hole

Lots of events are now routinely being detected. And I invite you to look at how some are now using puslars to do same thing at a galactic level.

That is the surprising part indeed! Good thing the interviewer asked explicitely how that works, and after a lame joke he clearly explained, well kind of clearly.

@@MisterWillow Hahaha that's so accurate! I also could understand the theory, somewhat, but the practicality is still unclear to me. Basically, I'm not enough acquainted with the field.

I can't wait til they can measure the pixels on the screen of the simulation we're part of.

@@nigglebit thing is, there aint much to understand.. an interaction so strong that had too much energy dispensed.. being it noticeable over our planet system noise. This energy flow wended up stretching spacetime in the direction it came from. simply then we measure two 90 degrees angle lengths using lasers. (called interferometer). which is able to pick on quantum distances being bended in reference to another (if one length is streched more than the other it will take the light from the laser a tiny bit more time causing it to when it comes back to interfere with the other light causing positive and negative patterns of interference seen as the final laser (getting brighter and darker) with different levels of intensity over time), which happened that we were able to measure with clarity. .

@@johnterpack3940 indeed haha that would be nice and along with that i would also like to know how the universe goes into edit mode by the creator of our simulation

Well he has a phD from MIT....need anything more to say?

@@rapianopenaldo1669 haha your Name

😂😆😁

here is a better video of your brown guy ukposts.info/have/v-deo/jpl-on2epW5oxZs.html

not gonna lie, they got us in the first half.

I'm sorry I put back the megawatt laser and stop vaporizing people please just stop showing up in the comment section

@JOYJIT ROY k...?

opposite wavelengths destroy each other, so when one of the lightwaves stretch they get more or less different, so more or less light survives so they can detect the difference by detecting the brightness of the resulting combined laser stream… probably

​@@janmamu8721 The beam splitter actually puts the photons into a superposition (similar to the double slit experiment), and then each photon will interfere with its own waveform. Photons can't interfere with each other, only themselves.

@@Jason9637 thanks!

A direct contact will vaporise you, which isn't always the case

The glasses do nothing!

@@cheemomugdoo6001 I didn't want to be that guy, but actually, there is a chance that a small reflection of the laser could leak somewhere and hit your eyes. Such light would blind you instantly even if you can't actually see it.

Sometimes your water tap accidentally gets a tiny leak. Its like a seat-belt for your eyes.

ITs oNLy a MoDEl!

Yes. Loved this part😂

5:30 is another one

Hahaha this is so good to see

Still better than Twilight.

Safir WE are the aliens smartphones. Chew on that mere mortal.

And those aliens died colliding with black hole

Thinking the same thing

I have this on my backyard

LMAO

Hmm... what part didn't you understand? I'd go so far and say they explained it pretty idiot proof...

glad to know you're all smart to understand every single part of this video😊😊 Smart enough to leave a comment bragging about it

Mp57navy. Wow. .!A true Michael Brown

I've heard of that but not seen it.

but why show less?

@@charliebingaman571 exactly. A huge chunk of the technology we use in our daily lives were accidentally discovered/invented because of these 'useless' projects, as they say.

@@charliebingaman571 Better than spending billions on war

@@charliebingaman571 go back to your trash can

Rocket science IS simple. Its like basic Physics. Anyone with a very basic knowledge of calculus can understand most of it. NASA is kinda lame.

@Mario Castillo THE ULTIMATE (AND CLEAR) MATHEMATICAL UNIFICATION (AND PROOF) REGARDING PHYSICS/PHYSICAL EXPERIENCE IS NOW DEMONSTRATED, AS E=MC2 IS F=MA: TIME DILATION ultimately proves (ON BALANCE) that E=mc2 IS F=ma, as ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity. This NECESSARILY represents, INVOLVES, AND DESCRIBES what is possible/potential AND actual IN BALANCE. (Importantly, balance and completeness go hand in hand.) The stars AND PLANETS are POINTS in the night sky. NOW, A PHOTON may be placed at the center of WHAT IS THE SUN (as A POINT, of course); AS the reduction of SPACE is offset by (or BALANCED with) the speed of light (c); AS E=mc2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. Indeed, ultimately and truly, TIME is NECESSARILY possible/potential AND actual IN BALANCE; AS E=MC2 IS F=MA; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. Very importantly, outer "space" involves full inertia; AND it is fully invisible AND black. GREAT. Accordingly, INSTANTANEITY is thus FUNDAMENTAL to what is the FULL and proper UNDERSTANDING of physics/PHYSICAL EXPERIENCE; AS E=mc2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity. It ALL CLEARLY makes perfect sense. Gravity IS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy. E=mc2 IS F=ma. ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. E=MC2 IS F=MA. GREAT !!! Gravity AND ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy are linked AND BALANCED opposites, AS E=mc2 is F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. Consider THE MAN who is standing on what is THE EARTH/GROUND. Touch AND feeling BLEND, AS E=mc2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. The stars AND PLANETS are POINTS in the night sky. GRAVITATIONAL force/ENERGY IS proportional to (or BALANCED with/as) inertia/INERTIAL RESISTANCE, AS E=mc2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. Gravity/acceleration involves BALANCED inertia/INERTIAL RESISTANCE, AS E=mc2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. Accordingly, the rotation of WHAT IS THE MOON matches it's revolution. Great. MOREOVER, a given PLANET (including what is THE EARTH) then sweeps out equal areas in equal times consistent WITH/AS F=ma, E=mc2, AND what is perpetual motion; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. Gravity IS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy. INSTANTANEITY is thus FUNDAMENTAL to what is the FULL and proper UNDERSTANDING of physics/physical experience, AS E=mc2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. This NECESSARILY represents, INVOLVES, AND DESCRIBES what is possible/potential AND actual IN BALANCE. Stellar clustering ALSO proves ON BALANCE that E=mc2 IS F=ma, AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity. Objects (including WHAT IS the falling MAN) fall at the SAME RATE (neglecting air resistance, of course), as E=mc2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. "Mass"/energy is gravity. ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. E=mc2 IS F=ma. THE DOME of a PERSON'S EYE is ALSO VISIBLE. (Notice the flat AND black space of what is THE EYE.) The stars AND PLANETS are POINTS in the night sky. The sky is blue, AND the Earth is blue. THE EARTH/ground AND THE SUN are E=mc2 AND F=ma IN BALANCE, AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS UNIVERSALLY PROVEN TO BE GRAVITY in what is a mathematically unified fashion. E=mc2 IS F=ma. The middle distance in/of/AS SPACE AND the full distance in/of/AS SPACE are NECESSARILY linked AND balanced. MAGNIFICENT !!!!!!!!!! INSTANTANEITY IS thus FUNDAMENTAL to what is the FULL and proper UNDERSTANDING of physics/physical experience, AS E=mc2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. Gravity IS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy. It is ALL CLEARLY proven. Again, the stars AND PLANETS are POINTS in the night sky. GREAT. Energy has/involves GRAVITY, AND ENERGY has/involves inertia/INERTIAL RESISTANCE. GRAVITATIONAL force/ENERGY IS proportional to (or BALANCED with/as) inertia/INERTIAL RESISTANCE, AS E=mc2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. Gravity/acceleration involves BALANCED inertia/INERTIAL RESISTANCE, AS E=mc2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. It is all CLEARLY proven !!!!!!!! TIME is NECESSARILY possible/potential AND actual IN BALANCE, AS E=MC2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. Gravity IS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy. GREAT !!!!!!!! BALANCE and completeness go hand in hand. By Frank DiMeglio

not really

1:25 The Alpha Centauri vs human hair comparison is killing me.

imagined

did they really or are u just racist maybe?

dontomaso11 are you kidding?

@@panimbryk I don't know if he's joking, but I think it's safe to say you don't need to take them seriously.

Marc, I agree with you. Very well explained. Lol especially if I could somewhat understand it.

I agree with Marc as well, I might be a little racist. Lol

1:07

Yeah, but also in cafes, classrooms, around kitchen tables, anywhere really. Doesn't have to be outdoors.

Yes, yes and yes!

gravity doesn't exist ukposts.info/have/v-deo/l3iSgKhwo7Clon0.html ukposts.info/have/v-deo/rZZedaGDpo-ElHU.html

pvtmiller you do know density doesn’t dictate which direction the objects move right? And the fact that we’re moving downwards already proves gravity...

but where do you find videos , this is not one of them

I live in Livingston. I was supposed to go on a field trip years ago, but it got canceled. Sad I never got to go.

@@tpm2637 rip ;_;

Made me laugh!

it's fureshi raitu

Yuo of win Noberu puraizu.

Underrated comment

He even made an appropriate gesture :)

I kinda disagree with the first part. As Veritasium points out, naively the detector's should not work because the gravitational wave stretches both the light beam and the arms (how can you measure something stretch with a ruler that also stretches?). So this explanation, which is the one almost universally presented, is wrong. Rana Adhikari comes closer to a plausible explanation by suggesting the fact that the light is moving makes the difference. However, as the curvature of spacetime, gravity is more like acceleration (which is why objects are weightless in free fall), so a full explanation is more subtle still. The best science paper I have seen on this is "Gauge invariance and the detection of gravitational radiation" by David Garfinkle, but it requires some knowledge of general relativity (and the underlying mathematics) to understand it completely.

That's why you have to go beyond the woolly prose and analyze it quantitatively. There is no way around the mathematics.

Jack, you seem like a smart guy, so I have a question for you. What would you call the study of how water reacts? The physics of water? And if an ancient water level shows water isn't affected by gravity over any terrain or distance. And always shows flat and level. How has science shown that the surface of water could bend around a sphere to form our oceans? To the best of my knowledge, water must be contained to pool. Thanks

Water reacts to the bending of space by gravity like everything else: it only appears flat over short distances, but if you look at a globe it's obvious that the oceans are not flat at all, as they follow the net gravitational attraction to the earth's center along with everything else, including us - unless you think that Australians feel like they're upside-down all the time!

a) the study of how water reacts would come under chemisty, what I think you meant to say is the study of how water flows or moves etc... and that would be fluid dynamics. b) water is indeed effected by gravity, and so as Jack said, over short distances (and even over large distances relative to every day human scale) this appears to make water and other fluids form a flat surface. However gravity can only be considered a linear uniform field on these small scales, and once you get to larger scales you need to re-evalute how gravity works, because if you don't you would indeed see water (and people and buildings) falling "down" off of the planet. In reality the Earths gravitational field at any point doesn't pull you or water "down" as down is just a frame of reference. Instead the gravitational fields pull you towards the centre of the Earth. By which logic, when you consider large bodies of water, such as the Pacific, which bend around the curvature of the Earth you can't consider gravity to be working on the entire ocean in one direction, but working on it individually at each point to pull it towards the centre. That said, in a way the water is still filling up a "pool" as you put it, but instead of the surface having to be flat, the surface is at a "level of equal potential". It's easier to explain with diagrams really.

Its funny that so many smart people cant see how this makes no sense

@@FFGG22E they might not be able to explain it all but just because it doesnt make sense for your little brain doesnt mean its wrong and I doubt you got a better theory

Wtf is with self-creators here

@@Videot99 it's a UKposts comment, no one cares about punctuation

Videot99 are you serious

ukposts.info/have/v-deo/cWhln49prIR9zH0.html ukposts.info/have/v-deo/sGB2e3iWpm-Fu4E.html ukposts.info/have/v-deo/aH5-aadpaaBmt30.html ukposts.info/have/v-deo/pql1ma9uiImYyGg.html

@@jclouds2257 I really cant tell if you are actually an idiot or you are just joking.

Maybe next time try Kryptonite...

The neon orange crocs

US gov be like

We didn't have this technology previously you weren't listening the professor said 20 years ago he would have thought this impossible. Its thoughts like yours that constantly limit scientific discovery.

+james d I dunno, maybe "eh, it's simple, lets just build that real quick" approach is a good thing, really...

It is impossible to attain 'alien civilization level of technology' as the moment we would ever reach such an instance people are immediately thinking 'oh the aliens might have something better', 'Oh you've learned how to reach 10% the speed of light? Aliens can go 99% of it', 'Oh you've reached light speed? Aliens have learned to manipulate wormholes', 'Oh you've learned how to manipulate wormholes? Aliens have learned how to create them'. It it is a never ending chase, today's technology is alien technology to people 100 years ago and the tech we'll have in 100 years would be alien tech to us.

And since we have never had contact with an alien race, wouldn't it be a trifle presumptive to discuss their scientific prowess?

beaconrider Alien technology isn't a reality it is a concept.