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I stumbled across "the last question" by Asimov and was struck dumb for a second.  It's a short story - a quick read. 

http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html

march 

Hahah, that is really good. I've never read that, at least not that I can recollect. Thanks for the read.

This is one of Asimovs best. A great read with a very cool twist at the end.

Yeah, that's bizarre how he mixes Religion? with technology. What's strange is, he should know that there is no such thing as time; hmm, I guess that makes sense anyway.

That's no necessarily true. While time is a unit of measurement created by man, the passing of ages is an existing phenomenon. Call it time if you like, it is there. And theories in time travel seem to be getting closer and closer to really hitting something. I stil don't believe you can travel back in time, but time can be measured differently. According to Einsteins theory of relativity, if someone were to travel at the speed of light for a year (year for that person), they would come back to Earth to find far more than a year has passed while he has only aged one year.

glad you guys liked it and even MORE glad that it sparked an intellectual debate - one very similar to one Alexp and I had on our way back from Gencon.  I'm on DEPs side, and alexp and Madglee are on the same side.  It is a great story though.

march

I was gonna say the same thing, the Ender series deals with "relativistic travel" and how you can spend a "week" on a star ship at near-light-speed, however in reality, decades have passed. i believe, that with no scientific backing or support, that travelling at the speed of light can alter the time aboard versus the real time that has passed. Remember, i have no support for this, its more of an "imagination" thing...

If you're interested in this subject, check out some books by Stephen Hawkins. The man is a genious and he is able to break down the details without using the scientific jargon that normally puts off a casual reader.

But Einstein's theory of relativity was disproved, and I say that with quotes because it's all theoretical, by Superstring theory. Check out the "Elegant Universe" by someone, I seem to have forgotten. Time does not actually exist, it only seems to because we are not moving at the speed of light, but in a Universal view, it cannot; therefore, there is no beginning or end to the Universe.

Yeah, that is interesting, but you have to determine, as the "Elegant Universe" points out in layman's terms without all the math, who is actually moving? Are you moving away in a rocketship or is the Earth moving away from you? There is no difference.

I got like 200 pages into that book and apparently I'm either not smart enough, or too drunk, too understand it well enough to explain, but check it out.

The String Theory is still very much in it's infancy. If it is correct, it will disprove Einstiens Theory of Relativity. It still sounds like quakery to me.

http://superstringtheory.com/basics/index.html - Read up on it here, for those interested.

Einstein is totally wrong!!!!!!!! I believe in String Theory!!!!!!!!1
It's the only way my Sci-Fi Fantasy is logically plausible. Ships warp the threads of space and time to make everything around them closer, therefore allowing for quicker travel. The reason the entire space-time continuum isn't wrinkled is because only the separate threads are affected.

Yeah, I'm still working on it. It's still a good theory, wouldn't you say?

Dude, Pass the knowledge on.  You a major in physics? :D

...Maaaybe. That, or I read too much Sci-Fi, especially Star Trek and Halo.

Einstiens theory of Relativity has never been actually proved wrong, scientists are still testing to find out how accurate they are. The theory has never failed yet, except in regions such as black holes, etc.. which are quantum theory's domain. Just because the two are near irreconcilable does not prove that Relativity is wrong.