Posted by Carlos on July 20, 1998 at 17:21:35:
The cover story of the most recent issue of Discover magazine discusses speculations of various scientists on the possibility of faster than light travel. One of the sections was about a Bernhard Haisch, who thinks he has explained inertia.
Inertia is a principle that is usually accepted as just existing - things in motion stay in motion, things at rest stay at rest. But why? Haisch and others say it is due to virtual photons continuously zapping in and out of empty space; this energy resists the acceleration of mass, creating inertia.
This idea purports to do away with the need for quantum mechanics. As one article on the site linked below asks: "Is it possible that quantum mechanics is classical physics done in the presence of a zero-point field?"
This was a new concept to me, and I am curious if others have read of it and can provide further insight.