Cool stuff... - Page 2

Xrystal · 04-27-10, 02:10 PM

Rofl... Imagine London to Denver... Leave London at 3pm and arrive in Denver at 6pm with a 10hr flight rofl.

Chmee · 04-27-10, 05:37 PM

According to Jake Burroughs, the number of universes accessible to humans is the Number of the Beast - which is not "six hundred and sixty and six", but six to the sixth to the sixth power, which is on the order of ten to the 28th. That's a lot of universes! He also hypothesized that any universe which a sophont has imagined exists. See Robert Heinlein's The Number of the Beast.

spiel2001 · 04-27-10, 07:21 PM

Didn't I read somewhere that the 666 as the number of the beast is actually incorrect and that the correct translation is 999 -- which would make that number significantly larger still.

Interesting thought all the same.

Chmee · 04-28-10, 08:46 AM

It's 6^6^6 because Jake's "universe twister" deals with 3 spacial axes (the usual x, y, and z) and 3 time-like axes (where Relativity has only one). What the device does is rotate (or translate along one or more of) the axes to give you access to the different universes.

I can sorta get my head around this idea (a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!) but nine dimensions really makes my head hurt!

spiel2001 · 04-28-10, 12:26 PM

Well... String Theory and the overarching Membrane Theory operate either in 10 or 11 dimensions. I wish I could remember exactly. I think I originally said 11, but it might be 9 and 10 where the String Theory researchers were working in 9 dimensions and poopooing the idea of the 10th until they ended up coming up with something like 6 different string theories and the 10th dimension was the one that glued them all together. Something like that.

Chmee · 04-29-10, 03:48 PM

There were at one time (and may still be) different versions of string theory with different numbers of dimensions. I think they've sorta settled on 11 for now though.

What's really interesting to me is how they keep coming up with smaller and smaller "basic building blocks". Atoms, protons, neutrons and electrons, quarks, strings, I think there's even supposed to be something that makes strings. What's next?

spiel2001 · 04-29-10, 05:25 PM

True that.

I had a conversation with someone not too terribly long ago who thought I was an idiot for not accepting that there was nothing left for science to discover. That our science is now "so good" that there's no possibility for things to be different than we accept them to be.

I said "like a flat earth" to which he replied, "we're smarter than that now."

To which I responded "apparently not"

He didn't get it.

Xrystal · 04-29-10, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by spiel2001

True that.

I had a conversation with someone not too terribly long ago who thought I was an idiot for not accepting that there was nothing left for science to discover. That our science is now "so good" that there's no possibility for things to be different than we accept them to be.

I said "like a flat earth" to which he replied, "we're smarter than that now."

To which I responded "apparently not"

He didn't get it.

rofl neither do I .. although, based on how advanced the mayans were .. I'm sure theres a lot for us mere mortals to discover.

spiel2001 · 04-29-10, 07:03 PM

If it helps to explain...

People used to think they were smart, the world was flat and it was silly to think otherwise.

The person I was debating is unwilling to accept the world is not as it is currently described (i.e. flat) but thinks we're "smarter now" and wouldn't be as silly as the flat worlders were.

My point was that he wasn't smart enough to realize that, like the flat worlders, we may find that the world is not as we describe it to be.

Personally... I think physics has come a long long long way... but not far enough yet to have discovered the world isn't flat (metaphorically speaking).

Chmee · 04-29-10, 07:21 PM

Anyone who think "science", or any particular science, knows everything about its subject, isn't thinking.

voodoodad · 04-29-10, 08:35 PM

A few years ago, there was a book titled "The End of Science" by John Horgan. In the book he claimed that we (humanity in general, and science in particular) had discovered just about everything we could and that the spread of information brought about by the internet was actually bringing an end to the innovations and ideas discovered during the 20th century. He said that the internet would eventually lead to everyone thinking the same things and would squash new ideas before they even were thought of.

My only thought was how could someone be so arrogant. Sharing ideas and opinions is the way science has always worked,and now with all the possibilities of global communication this sharing can only need to a new golden age of discovery/

Seer · 04-30-10, 01:26 AM

People who think there's nothing left for science to discover are funny

Since when are discovering and understanding the same anyway ? :-p
And what do people think that huge magnet that was build recently is used for.

And why do people still die from cancer or aids, since medical science has nothing left to discover.. Unless off course one implies there's nothing that could cure it..

And let me know when we have explored 1% of the known universe. Not looked at it with some telescope but been there.

We even still discover new animal species on this planet, not that long ago a tribe of humans were found that we didn't know existed until then..

Chmee · 04-30-10, 12:10 PM

Is that the tribe that was living in the NYC sewer system?

spiel2001 · 04-30-10, 01:38 PM

No... that would be our cousin species Homo Homelsicus.

Dramber · 05-02-10, 09:02 AM

I thought they were Homo Voodoodadius?

voodoodad · 05-02-10, 11:54 AM

Hey!!!!!!!!!