kay wrote:Generally, cosmology has very little "payback" to humanity. But, the basic principles that have been developed in the search for cosmological truths have given us some pretty nifty advances that are used every day. Law of Gravitation. Theory of Electromagnetism. Theory of Relativity. The Laws of Thermodynamics. Practically everything we do these days makes use of these laws in one form or another. Finding out the truth about the fundamental building blocks of nature definitely falls within the heading of "Really Useful Things to Know". Working out whether the Universe will continue expanding or eventually collapse, on the other hand, falls into the category "Neat, but it's probably not gonna change my life". Working out how long it will take before the Sun starts ballooning into a red giant could fall into either category, depending on how close you are to that point in time.
Totally agree. I guess the trick is in the balance. "Wondering" doesn't strike me as worthy of public investment at this point in time (though it's wonderful to do on your own and may result in a happy life and/or the publishing of brilliant books)... but educated guesswork backed by the possibility of experimental proof... that's definitely worth throwing money at.
Gaining knowledge for the species is always beneficial (even if that knowledge leads to things like Nukes)... I can't remember which Astronaut it was said it when he was on the Moon:
"As I stand out here in the wonders of the unknown at Hadley, I sort of realise there's a fundamental truth to our nature: Man must explore. And this is exploration at its greatest."
Don't diss war! Man's greatest thought is on how to devise ways to kill each other, though serendepity gives us wonderful things such as the microwave, sterile water, medicines etc
Haha, amazing how much of our tech is standing on the shoulders of devices designed to fuck us up in ever more efficient and/or horrible ways.
I was reading about 16th Century Spanish sacred sculpture the other day... apparently a lot of people went "missing" to allow them to understand anatomy well enough to make breathtaking statues.
One piece that was in the National Gallery last month is holding a brain, sculpted in exquisite detail based on that of a criminal that had been hanged. I thought it was interesting that they naturally assumed a criminal's brain would look the same as a saint's.....
Rambling. Lots of rambling.
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:00 pm
by kay
magma wrote:One piece that was in the National Gallery last month is holding a brain, sculpted in exquisite detail based on that of a criminal that had been hanged. I thought it was interesting that they naturally assumed a criminal's brain would look the same as a saint's.....
Wasn't that before they worked out that the brain was the seat of all thought (and therefore the soul), as opposed to the heart?
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:23 pm
by magma
kay wrote:
magma wrote:One piece that was in the National Gallery last month is holding a brain, sculpted in exquisite detail based on that of a criminal that had been hanged. I thought it was interesting that they naturally assumed a criminal's brain would look the same as a saint's.....
Wasn't that before they worked out that the brain was the seat of all thought (and therefore the soul), as opposed to the heart?
I guess it might have been a belief of the faith at the time... but didn't Hippocrates have the brain pegged way before then?
It was a pretty dark scene, I think they quite liked the separation of body and soul... Nasty depiction of death and stuff showing that the body is left empty... Perhaps they assumed that none of the personality was left in the brain/heart after you'd died.
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:30 pm
by BLAHBLAHJAH
That's the rough principal of reincarnation and 'the spirit molecule'.
Anyway, back on track, all that scientific drivle can scarily and simply be placed into terms of living a life through a computer... Whereby a 2d monitor screen serves much more than just looking at it. Creepy. Reality and life really are just a strange way in which fragments come together.
I'm not so sure about the hologram theory applied to space and time though; it's based too much on light reflection/absorption, which is just a result of chemical 3d structures. I guess it can be twisted to make sense, but why bother!
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:53 pm
by kay
Hologram theory doesn't really have anything to do with light reflection/absorption - that's just a convenient analogy to use to describe the way the theory works. It basically maps a 4D "volume" on to a 3D "surface". In the same way that holograms work - you map a 3D object on to a 2D surface. You're still able to examine the 3D object in its true 3D form, but it exists on a 2D plane. Light here is a form of information. In other words, the information that describes the 3D form is retained in the lower dimensional 2D surface. In the same way, this theory suggests that the information that is stored in our 3D universe can be reconstructed to give information about the true 4D (or higher) universe.
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:40 pm
by parson
it ain't just a theory.
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 11:58 pm
by rbnc
Project_B wrote:I've read the hypothesis before, its interesting but it's still *just* a hypothesis. So i'm sticking with being a 3 dimensional cross section of the 4th for now.
This. But corrected, slightly
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 12:57 am
by rbnc
parson wrote:just a theory.
Define just a theory.
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 1:45 am
by parson
just a theory is something that is suspected to be true. more than just a theory implies something many people know to be true.
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:59 pm
by bassbum
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:15 pm
by parson
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:16 pm
by feral witchchild
parson wrote:
wut
.....wut
EDIT: wut
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:17 pm
by parson
whoops wrong thread
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:18 pm
by feral witchchild
parson wrote:whoops wrong thread
wtf is that, man?
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:18 pm
by bassbum
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:19 pm
by parson
couple years ago certain people on the news started morphing into striped lizard people. it only happened when hi def tv got converted into youtube. people were posting up videos constantly and weird shit started happening with the news channels and then they all got deleted from youtube. news stations said to get news direct from the website because there was viruses going around in the videos and to not watch em.
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:21 pm
by feral witchchild
Wow, I just watched the video, that's fucking creepy, wtf.
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:23 pm
by bassbum
parson wrote:couple years ago certain people on the news started morphing into striped lizard people. it only happened when hi def tv got converted into youtube. people were posting up videos constantly and weird shit started happening with the news channels and then they all got deleted from youtube. news stations said to get news direct from the website because there was viruses going around in the videos and to not watch em.
do any of the videos still exist?
I want to see one.
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:26 pm
by feral witchchild
bassbum wrote:
parson wrote:couple years ago certain people on the news started morphing into striped lizard people. it only happened when hi def tv got converted into youtube. people were posting up videos constantly and weird shit started happening with the news channels and then they all got deleted from youtube. news stations said to get news direct from the website because there was viruses going around in the videos and to not watch em.
do any of the videos still exist?
It could just be some kind of signal distortion but it's odd how it seems to be completely localized to her face. Nothing else has any strange shift in colors or textures like that.
Re: Our world may be a giant hologram
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:29 pm
by parson
happened to lots of people on the news. a police chief, various newscasters, and public figures like jenna bush and winnie cooper.
