I ask a great deal of questions, many of them hypothetical. Most times it's to spark conversation at a party or to play around with an idea. Some of the trouble I run into when asking questions is that I will unintentionally uncover pompous fools.
You know the type, guys who are fools and are covering for it by impressing on people as to how wonderful they are with all this self-flattery and trying to prove they are correct by holding the same opinion at the end of a conversation as they did at the beginning.
Take for example when someone asks, "So, you believe in the Big Bang Theory then?"
Chances are this person is going to have an idea about astrophysics that is less than accurate.
After bracing yourself for absurdity, you can take the time to discuss observational evidence, the expansion of the Universe and if they knew that the static on their television is caused by radiation left over from the Big Bang, but these points are not helpful when dealing with a pompous fool.
The pompous fool will argue back nonsense, "You weren't there, so how could you know?""What happened before the Big Bang?" and "How do you know TV static isn't ghosts?"
Uh huh.
There's a difference between arguing a hypothetical for the sake of creating a fertile ground for iterative problem solving and being an obstinate tosspot only interested in being able to find new ways to interpret your own ideas.
Showing posts with label universe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label universe. Show all posts
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Google is... Round 2
While wasting more time typing random phrases and questions into the Google search bar something occurred to me.
The aggregate of searches typed into Google is a window into the human condition.
The questions people ask, their desperation for answers about the unknown; these are the similarities about being human that might be exactly what people need to get past the shallow differences that are created by our post-modern world.
What are people searching for when they turn to the Internet...
Self reflection
Express feelings
Review morality
Search for help
Probe the unknown
Speculate on the mysteries that surround them
Question the limits of the physical world
Make statements about life
Discuss the Universe
Figure out who that dude in tights is
The aggregate of searches typed into Google is a window into the human condition.
The questions people ask, their desperation for answers about the unknown; these are the similarities about being human that might be exactly what people need to get past the shallow differences that are created by our post-modern world.
What are people searching for when they turn to the Internet...
Self reflection
Express feelings
Review morality
Search for help
Probe the unknown
Speculate on the mysteries that surround them
Question the limits of the physical world
Make statements about life
Discuss the Universe
Figure out who that dude in tights is
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Irritated Flatlanders
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126911.300-our-world-may-be-a-giant-hologram.html
I've read this article twice now and so far have taken away the notion that people become quite incredulous at a hypothesis that violates Newton's Clockwork Universe (like the second law of thermodynamics).
People like classical mechanics, the laws of motion, and universal gravitation. These are things that can be observed by the average person and make everything appear to be in order (nevermind how that order does not allow for free will).
Quantum Mechanics becomes incredibly frustrating, what with all its subatomic particles, uncertainty principles, and living-dead cats. Now QM hits us with the possibility of actually being two-dimensional...
"Fermilab scientists have found anomalous "holographic noise" in their GEO600 gravitational-wave detector that suggests the possibility that we live in a hologram."
Chances are offense is really taken at the word "hologram" and not at the articles attack on the reader's perception of physics.
Somehow "hologram" has become synonymous with a falsehood rather than what it actually means.
I blame 80s cartoons for that.
So, instead of questioning what would happen if you dropped a planck length in a dark theatre (and how much planck time it would take to recover it), people instead question whether or not this means they should bother going into work on Monday.
To me, this article explains a lot about gravity.
People walk around with the common misconception that we can freely move about in three-dimensions.
Aside from physically jumping into the air, movement in the third dimension is somewhat limited without the assistance of airplanes, stairs, and trees.
If we actually existed as bits of information being beamed across the Universe from a two-dimensional plane, it's easy to imagine how moving off of this 2D plane would be difficult, but not impossible.
Even though I'm not sure about this holographic space-time I'm not outraged by it.
These ideas and notions don't come out of nowhere. They are based on previous discoveries, theories, and equations found to be true about our Universe.
I've read this article twice now and so far have taken away the notion that people become quite incredulous at a hypothesis that violates Newton's Clockwork Universe (like the second law of thermodynamics).
People like classical mechanics, the laws of motion, and universal gravitation. These are things that can be observed by the average person and make everything appear to be in order (nevermind how that order does not allow for free will).
Quantum Mechanics becomes incredibly frustrating, what with all its subatomic particles, uncertainty principles, and living-dead cats. Now QM hits us with the possibility of actually being two-dimensional...
"Fermilab scientists have found anomalous "holographic noise" in their GEO600 gravitational-wave detector that suggests the possibility that we live in a hologram."
Chances are offense is really taken at the word "hologram" and not at the articles attack on the reader's perception of physics.
Somehow "hologram" has become synonymous with a falsehood rather than what it actually means.
I blame 80s cartoons for that.
So, instead of questioning what would happen if you dropped a planck length in a dark theatre (and how much planck time it would take to recover it), people instead question whether or not this means they should bother going into work on Monday.
To me, this article explains a lot about gravity.
People walk around with the common misconception that we can freely move about in three-dimensions.
Aside from physically jumping into the air, movement in the third dimension is somewhat limited without the assistance of airplanes, stairs, and trees.
If we actually existed as bits of information being beamed across the Universe from a two-dimensional plane, it's easy to imagine how moving off of this 2D plane would be difficult, but not impossible.
Even though I'm not sure about this holographic space-time I'm not outraged by it.
These ideas and notions don't come out of nowhere. They are based on previous discoveries, theories, and equations found to be true about our Universe.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The Prime Directive
"Magic is any sufficiently advanced technology."
-Arthur C. Clarke
"As I've said many times, the future is already here. It's just not very evenly distributed."
-William Gibson
Using the term “magic,” like using the word “indescribable,” does a better job at describing what a person doesn’t understand rather than it does in giving an account of the characteristics of the object in question.
It is 2009, or it is 1430, depending on what calendar you are using. In fact, I’m sure there are additional calendars out there that give other ways to consider the matter of the billions of years that have actually passed.
But nevermind all that, what am I actually bothered by?
I am bothered by this:
Woman suspected of witchcraft burned alive
In Star Trek there is something called the Prime Directive, and it states:
“There can be no interference with the internal affairs of other civilizations, consistent with the historical real world concept of Westphalian sovereignty.”
It's a nice idea, however I can’t help but think, “That’s bullshit.”
My problem is I don’t believe all cultures or beliefs deserve respect, not really. I may find a culture interesting and worth studying in order to discover more about the human condition, however that does not mean it deserves respect, especially if a culture believes in magic and perceives it to be punishable by death.
I respect Science and the pursuit of the truth of the Universe.
And yes, I realize that the above sentence sounds like something an anime character would proclaim before entering a battle, but I’m very sincere when I say that I am profoundly saddened by events like the one above and place the blame on the lack of scientific knowledge and the abuse of the word ‘respect’ by cultures and beliefs that don’t deserve any.
-Arthur C. Clarke
"As I've said many times, the future is already here. It's just not very evenly distributed."
-William Gibson
Using the term “magic,” like using the word “indescribable,” does a better job at describing what a person doesn’t understand rather than it does in giving an account of the characteristics of the object in question.
It is 2009, or it is 1430, depending on what calendar you are using. In fact, I’m sure there are additional calendars out there that give other ways to consider the matter of the billions of years that have actually passed.
But nevermind all that, what am I actually bothered by?
I am bothered by this:
Woman suspected of witchcraft burned alive
In Star Trek there is something called the Prime Directive, and it states:
“There can be no interference with the internal affairs of other civilizations, consistent with the historical real world concept of Westphalian sovereignty.”
It's a nice idea, however I can’t help but think, “That’s bullshit.”
My problem is I don’t believe all cultures or beliefs deserve respect, not really. I may find a culture interesting and worth studying in order to discover more about the human condition, however that does not mean it deserves respect, especially if a culture believes in magic and perceives it to be punishable by death.
I respect Science and the pursuit of the truth of the Universe.
And yes, I realize that the above sentence sounds like something an anime character would proclaim before entering a battle, but I’m very sincere when I say that I am profoundly saddened by events like the one above and place the blame on the lack of scientific knowledge and the abuse of the word ‘respect’ by cultures and beliefs that don’t deserve any.
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