One of the problems has to do with the speed of light and the difficulties involved in trying to exceed it. You can’t. Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws. The Hingefreel people of Arkintoofle Minor did try to build spaceships that were powered by bad news but they didn’t work particularly well and were so extremely unwelcome whenever they arrived anywhere that there wasn’t really any point in being there.
Douglas Adams, Chapter 1, Mostly Harmless
Once again, Douglas Adams understanding human nature. The current evidence for him being right is Twitter - the instant-gratification toss-off bad news amplifier. Pacific tsunami panic messages spread by people sitting miles from a different coast. People are predictable.
