Theories abound & math suggests, but based on what we actually know now, nope, can't exceed the speed of light. Do we have any evidence that anything has ever exceeded the speed of light? <-- That's a real question.

Anybody know of real evidence that the speed of light has ever actually been exceeded?

In this universe, nothing moves faster than the speed of light. (Unless you're talking about poorly-understood effects at the quantum level.)

As for neutrinos moving faster than the speed of light: err, no. They oscillate and shape-shift and move almost at the speed of light--but never quite get there. (They can penetrate the Earth like a red-hot micro-bullet through butter, however, which I find fascinating enough.)

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21899-neutrinos-dont-outpace-light-but-they-do-shapeshift.html#.VGL2gjTF_6M 

There is a bizarre quantum effect which Einstein called "spooky action at a distance"--the seemingly instantaneous interaction of entangled particles (photons) which Chinese scientists have measured as occurring at 10,000 times the speed of light. Again, a phenomenon which is poorly understood at present.

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/150207-chinese-physicists-measure-speed-of-einsteins-spooky-action-at-a-distance-at-least-10000-times-faster-than-light 

Everything else: science fiction.

But consider this: at its most basic level, reality is order emerging from virtual particles popping in and out of existence. Ponder that for a while . . .

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-blake/top-10-physics-findings-that-will-tangle-your-brain_b_5022866.html 

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 11/12/2014, 1:40 AM--

YAY Carl! Common sense and hope.

"In this universe, nothing moves faster than the speed of light."

&

"But consider this: at its most basic level, reality is order emerging from virtual particles popping in and out of existence. Ponder that for a while . . .

Wait! That explains it! I've always thought of it as the universe hiccupping. You know, you do something and then everything says no, you did not? You lay something down and abruptly it's not there? You briefly remember something and then the memory fades and things are not the way you thought they were a moment ago? Well, the universe hiccupped and reality changed.

Besides, only the hidebound believe our present universe is explainable by laws that flow immutably from its origin to the present. To quote from my own book, The Phoenix Diary, (why not )

“The consequences of the Big Bang should have flowed like rows of falling dominoes; the physical universe should be predictable. But it ain’t, because intelligent life forms are messing with it.”

 – Ambrose Phoenix

Quantum foam: Turns out the "bedrock of existence" is a now-you-see-'em, now-you-don't fizzing pop-corked champagne fountain of effervescent indeterminacy and flashing split-second particles. From this Alice-in-Wonderland frothing: a universe.

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 11/12/2014, 5:09 PM--

Given the size of the universe, and the age, if it was possible it would have been discovered long ago by someone, who, if exploration is actually practical, would have increased geometrically in population. So we would know about them if only by the radio signals that would be flying every which way. But they're not. The SETI project has been looking for stray signals for years and has found nothing.

Look at it another way. Why would anyone fund such an operation? Governments have no real desire or need, given that any colony they would establish would become self-sufficient and tell the home world to go to hell. So it would be an investment with no return. Exploration here advances science, and that pays dividends. But exploring another planet, aside from being expensive, wouldn't pay back the investment.

And industry has no promise of a ROI that would make funding such an operation viable from a bookkeeping POV.

And interstellar trade is absurd. The cost of transport would exceed the cost of making it locally. Add in the fact that a returning explorer could well bring back a dozen things worse than ebola, per trip, and it stops looking all that attractive, other than in story.

And that's from someone who writes sci-fi, and loves reading it.

@Jay: All excellent points. Moreover, there is a growing body of evidence and emerging consensus of scientific thought that given the known age of the universe (fairly young) and the regularity with which gamma-ray bursts, supernovas and other cosmic disasters strike that any scientifically-advanced alien civilization may have been wiped out long before it had a chance to reach stage II or III. Leastwise, any scientifically-advanced alien civilization in our particular corner of the cosmos. 

I was reading a rather extensively documented and persuasively-reasoned article this month in a science mag currently out on the stands (sorry; don't recall the exact title of the magazine) which set forth a fairly convincing, if oddly depressing, argument to just this point.

A brief, similar example found online: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Alien-Life-May-Have-Been-Wiped-Out-by-Explosions-217136.shtml

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 11/14/2014, 2:16 AM--

Well, people also provided unequivocal proof that a bee can't fly because it's wing area is too small. So while I'm strongly in the "hell no," camp, I also recognize that a sincere belief in anything has nothing to do with it being an accurate belief—and that not all that long ago the definition of computer was, "one who computes."

And I'm not really one to talk, because one of my novels details aliens arriving in space-going office building.

Jay Greenstein wrote

"...one of my novels details aliens arriving in space-going office building."

That image'll turn Carl's mind to Quantum Foam.

Made me flash on Monty Python's Accountancy Shanty!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YUiBBltOg4

That's great, Jay. 

--edited by GD Deckard on 11/13/2014, 9:38 PM--

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 12/9/2014, 9:42 PM--

Fermi vs William of Occam

 Well, that article explains alot. I believed Douglas Adams when he told me that all intergalactic maps showed big red "X"s around Earth to ward off interstellar travelers. But now, I find it's the Fermi Paradox, or, the contradiction between our belief in extra terrestrial travelers and the lack of evidence for such a belief. 'Course, back when I was a high schooler learning about empirical science we didn't have Fermi to give us a paradox. But we did have that Franciscan rascal Occam to offer an explanation:

Occam's razor "states that among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. Other, more complicated solutions may ultimately prove correct, but - in the absence of certainty - the fewer assumptions that are made, the better." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_razor]

Simply put, there is no evidence of interstellar travelers because there ain't any interstellar travelers.

Thanks for kick-starting this discussion, Carl  It goes to the deeper questions of what we believe and why.

Everything is relative.....time, space, all of it.

I once tried a science fiction novel. It never got past 4 or 5 pages because I just can't write them.

It began with someone looking at a slide in a microscope. Our entire universe was the specimen or blob on the slide. I don't recall where I planned to take it.

--edited by ChuckB on 12/18/2014, 5:43 PM--

Great start, ChuckB

"It began with someone looking at a slide in a microscope. Our entire universe was the specimen or blob on the slide."

Lessee... how could we develop that?

Maybe... the someone looking is a god & the blob is a virus? OMG we're replicating through the multi-verse, destroying all others!

Or... the dog licks the slide and we're heading down the colon to become -er, no. I don't like where that's going.

How about... the blob signals the observer, who tells his coworkers who have him locked up. Make the story a parable about the foibles of logical behavior.

Any other ideas? Anybody?

The universe has a way of throwing us curves--about the time someone (scientist, preacher, whoever) lays down the law about something, contrary evidence starts showing up.   Decades back, I read an article by Dirac in NATURE--naturally can't recall the year, but I do recall the article because it was hovering at the then-margin of my ability to comprehend the math in it--dealing with what later became some of the quantum issues mentioned here.   And a friend of mine, a former astrophysicist once told me that in his opinion, there were escape holes in the theory that FTL was impossible.  Maybeso, maybe not.  

But from the point of view of a writer, science fiction isn't just stories limited to what is possible or theoretically possible according to science.  Some of what we write may turn out to be absolutely impossible forever...and some may turn out to be possible at some future time (past our own lifetime)...and some may be technically possible, but politically impossible, or economically impossible. 

@Elizabeth Moon: I agree. The terrifying regularity with which planet-sterilizing gamma ray bursts sweep the known universe is but one notable fact amongst the myriad-millions known to our race. I never meant to posit this phenomenon as a final answer to the question of whether or not other intelligent life exists in the cosmos; merely to bring this latest finding to the attention of those considering the question.

You are also quite right that the writer of science fiction is free to incorporate this latest finding into their work or ignore it as they wish. For my part, I find the knowledge that such events occur with clockwork regularity a sobering thought indeed. Upon reading the article I reflected: How astonishing, poignant and paradigm-shifting a finding it would be to learn with definitive certitude that we are all alone in this particular corner of the cosmos, the human race the only intelligent species on the scene. (Though others may arrive/evolve later.) 

What if the role of the noble, galaxy-trotting alien culture bringing the benefits of advanced scientific knowledge to others falls to us? 

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 12/29/2014, 10:33 AM--

Thanks Elizabeth. As usual, you are spot on.

One thing that strikes me about this discussion is the purely science centricity. I am (we are) part of this equation and the deeper question might be how would we know whether or not the universe allows FTL travel? I've yet to be convinced that the sum total of the universe(s) is scientifically provable. So while I prefer hard sci-fi, I'm happy to admit that fantasy may hold some answers.