For reasons inexplicable, I seem to be becoming more and more interested in all things astro.* It's just so very very deep. I know some of you also find this stuff fascinating as well, so a devoted thread seemed appropriate. I promise to be as civil as possible in any future explanations to IP about what spacetime is and is not.** What are some of your favorite websites/resources on this stuff? I really like this one: http://www.physics-astronomy.com/ And I'll start the show here with an interesting question dealt with by a couple articles I just read on that site: are we simply a video game -- or computer simulation -- of some more advanced lifeform? http://www.physics-astronomy.com/2016/04/you-are-simulation-physics-can-prove-it.html#.WtBjQojwaU http://www.physics-astronomy.com/2018/01/we-are-living-in-ancestor-simulation-of.html#.WtBk0IjwaUk I believe this question falls into the category "things that we can literally never know". And so discussions on the topic are essentially pure thought experiments. But that doesn't mean they aren't worth having. Other questions that we might just literally be unable to ever answer? How about: is our universe just one of many in a multiverse? Are there parallel realities -- possible infinitely many -- to our own? What happened before the big bang? Will the expanding universe ever get to be as massive as your mother's gaping vagina? ....just a few off the top of my head. Who are our favorite scientists in the field?*** Who prevails in a battle royale between general relativity and quantum mechanics? Will they ever learn to play nice? Is dark energy a thing? Is dark matter a thing? Do dark lives matter? https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy Is Planet 9 a thing? If so, what's the over/under on # of years until we find it?it? https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/planet-nine-or-planet-nein/547907/ Does KidB think more highly of string theory the idea in physics or string theory the terrible jam band?**** Discuss away on all of the above and infinitely more. __________ *except for the baseball team out of Houston as baseball is one of the least interesting things in all the theorized multiverse. **Teaser: space and time are neither the exact same thing nor "two sides of the same coin". ***Please don't say Neil Degrasse Tyson. Look, I get that he's a pretty cool dude and basically a celebrity at this point, but his niche is clearly that of science communicator and not "guy trying to figure out answers to hard questions". He knows it, I know it, freaking Marsellus knows it. And KidB is cool with that, as it's an important role, but just wants to call a spade a spade. (I mean, why hang out in the lab all day thinking deeeeep thoughts about dark energy and shit when you get balls deeeeeeeep in Katy Perry. That question was rhetorical.) ****The phrase "terrible jam band" is redundant, by the way.
Some general background articles on the current state of irreconciliation: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/nov/04/relativity-quantum-mechanics-universe-physicists https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/...um-mechanics-need-to-be-unified/#2e38042a4aa2 https://futurism.com/new-research-may-reconcile-general-relativity-and-quantum-mechanics/
The guy that wrote these articles knew exactly what he was doing with the headline. I appreciate his absolute disregard for subtlety. http://www.physics-astronomy.com/2017/04/hubble-just-spotted-something-massive.html#.WtB46ojwaUk http://www.physics-astronomy.com/2017/06/nasa-wants-to-probe-uranus-in-search-of.html#.WtB4-4jwaUk
Dark Matter/Energy is definitely a thing, but the name 'Dark Matter' and 'Dark Energy' are a bit of a bad thing, really, as it denotes knowledge. The truth of the matter (pardon the pun) is that we know it exists because we can see it doing things, but we have not the first clue as to what it is, hence the name 'dark', meaning it doesn't interact with anything that we can scan it with. As for the whole simulation/hologram thing, I don't know. I find that to be too much of a 'what if we are just a brain in a jar' and is not worthy of thought. UNLESS there was a way to actually test it and I am dubious that this is even possible. I do think that quantum mechanics and relativity will eventually get along (because they have to, they both seem to exist, and thus MUST get along). Perhaps it will take another Newton/Einstein to come along and take us in a completely different direction to get them to jibe, but it will happen, if it is possible for three-dimensional beings like us to understand it. I believe that quantum mechanics will ultimately win out as the basis for everything small and large. EDIT: Oh, my guy is Lawrence Krauss. Can be a bit of a jerk, but most rock stars are. My favorite historical guy, however, is Sir Isaac Newton. Dude was off the charts smart.
I have nothing of worthwhile contribution to this thread other than agreeing that this channel is high quality.
Here's some websites for you to shit on: http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2015/12/what-is-spacetime-really/ https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_relativity_spacetime.html
If you want proof that we're living in a simulation, look no farther than big data. I can buy a hard drive and some paper towels and Amazon automatically knows my wife is pregnant. Companies have figured out how to access pieces of memory allocated to my simulated self. They're tapping into the matrix through buffer overflows, its biodigital jazz man.
One of my favorite discussions revolves around the Fermi paradox. Here's an accessible and fun read detailing the intricacies: https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html I believe (but of course can't be anywhere close to certain) that civilizations far ahead of ours exist but not in such a way that we could detect them and/or it's such a needle in a haystack as to be virtually impossible. It's important to remember just how incomprehensibly expansive the known universe is. For example: Traveling at the speed of light, one could traverse the equator approximately seven and a half times in the course of a single second. However, a trip from earth to the most distant known star would take over thirteen billion years at the same speed. That's a fact that should be taught in every school across this country to spark wonder and humility. Of course it's also possible that our level of intelligence is a complete one-off fluke. This seems ridiculously solipsistic and improbable but you never know. Maybe we are among the very first sapient creatures.
Are you aware of the Silurian Hypothesis? It sort of dovetails with the fermi paradox/Drak Equation stuff, but closer to home: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1804.03748.pdf
That's a new one. Answering those kinds of questions on earth will hopefully prepare us down the road in accessing other planets.
I had always assumed we would know due to radio-isotope signals, but I suppose that wouldn't necessarily show up geologically, from what they said. It also assumes they would detonate nuclear weapons, which is probably not a common thing to do? Or at least maybe not? Who knows.
I learned a little about all this stuff a few years ago. I've forgotten most of it. Spooky Action at a Distance is a good book I read. So is the Fabric of the Cosmos. Our universe is an odd place.
