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Originally Posted by crossova
 @ modding a ship w/ NOS and turbo. 
But just because we, humans, are not yet able to create a mode of travel that can reach speeds of light and faster, does not mean another life form has not already mastered it. |
The universal speed limit is not a polite suggestion. It is
physically impossible to accelerate past this speed; Dr. Einstein told us so.
As I said above, Einstein's famous equation (E=MC<sup>2</sup>) is a function that describes energy as related to mass. The speed of light is a constant; it never changes. That makes our two variables energy (E) and mass (M).
In order for the equation to remain true, as an object gains energy to accelerate, something on the other side has to change in order to balance the equation out. Yet we also know that the speed of light never changes; therefore, we can deduce that as an object accelerates it gains mass.
So why does that mean we can't go faster than the speed of light?
Basically, because the speed of light is a constant, as energy increases mass must increase also. The calculations get a bit complicated, but essentially we can say that in order to increase an object's velocity we must apply an amount of energy (also known as a force) dependent on the object's mass; or, in other words, it takes more work to move heavy stuff. We know this, because we know that it's harder to lift a cinderblock than it is an empty cardboard box of the same size. The two objects have the same volume, but very different mass.
And now, the breakthrough. Since we know that it takes more energy to increase an object's velocity if the object has more mass and we know that an object's mass increases as it's energy increases, we know that causing an object to accelerate will by default make the object harder to accelerate further. The practical limit based on that oh-so-famous equation turns out to be the speed of light; we can get infinitely close to it, but we can never actually get there. This is true in every part of the universe, as the thoery of relativity states that the laws of physics are the same for everyone.
So no, there are no aliens flying around at faster than light speeds. They can't break the rules anymore than we can. The general science fiction answer to this is to try to find a way around the rules; that's where discussion of things like wormholes, space-time bending, alternate dimensions and the like comes into play.