Our universe is so rad!

[Simple Torture]

20 seconds in and already I have a question. About the rubber sheet and ball idea. How can something all around us be brought down to thinking about it as a flat sheet. It can't be flat if its surrounding us completely 360 and in all degrees

I think that's definitely an inherent limit of the analogy. Best to limit thinking about "the sheet" when thinking about solar systems (and to a lesser extent, galaxies), since they're all on basically the same plane and orbiting the same center of mass.

If you really want to get freaky-deaky, you can do some research into how every atom in the universe is exerting a gravitational pull on every other atom. That's right: there's an atom in your left pinky toe that's pulling on an atom on the other side of the Andromeda galaxy--the affect is way, way too small for any instrument we have to measure, but those sorts of predictions match up with everything else about gravity that's been observed. Now the sheet doesn't seem like so big a deal, does it?

Hold on I have to pack a bowl.

We'll wait.

Alright all set.

Every atom packed into that bowl is exerting gravitational force on every atom of Jack Williams' toenail fungus.

[Norah]

20 seconds in and already I have a question. About the rubber sheet and ball idea. How can something all around us be brought down to thinking about it as a flat sheet. It can't be flat if its surrounding us completely 360 and in all degrees

I think that's definitely an inherent limit of the analogy. Best to limit thinking about "the sheet" when thinking about solar systems (and to a lesser extent, galaxies), since they're all on basically the same plane and orbiting the same center of mass.

If you really want to get freaky-deaky, you can do some research into how every atom in the universe is exerting a gravitational pull on every other atom. That's right: there's an atom in your left pinky toe that's pulling on an atom on the other side of the Andromeda galaxy--the affect is way, way too small for any instrument we have to measure, but those sorts of predictions match up with everything else about gravity that's been observed. Now the sheet doesn't seem like so big a deal, does it?

Hold on I have to pack a bowl.

We'll wait.

Alright all set.

Every atom packed into that bowl is exerting gravitational force on every atom of Jack Williams' toenail fungus.

What about Liz Walker's lip hair?

[@SkitchP]

What about Liz Walker's lip hair?

we say palette cleft in 2016, you insensitive prick.

[dimejinky99]

Weird thing is atoms are constantly moving. Jiggling in fact.

So you're not actually touching the seat. There's a tiny space in between you and the seat that encountering a small space and friction.

I don't get the idea that your pinkie is tied to an atom far side of the universe. I'm not ready to make that jump yet.

[Norah]

Also we're all mostly negative space.

[Simple Torture]

Just Google "dark matter." Go ahead; I'll wait.

[dimejinky99]

Is dark matter not just a term for a mathematical anomaly science as we understand it, can't explain?

[Simple Torture]

Is dark matter not just a term for a mathematical anomaly science as we understand it, can't explain?

Basically yes, and lots of discoveries--from planets, to strange types of stars, to quantum particles--start off as mathematical anomalies. So either dark matter is a thing we don't fully understand yet or the math is way off, which would be a whole other amazing discovery in itself.

[dimejinky99]

Were ants living on the ceiling in Sistine chapel. No understanding at all of what's around us.

[Mark Hamill]

Were ants living on the ceiling in Sistine chapel. No understanding at all of what's around us.

[Strat]

lol

[LoathedVermin72]

lol

[dimejinky99]

Hey pal!

[dimejinky99]

So. The laser powered ship to get to Alpha Centuari in 20 years. Pretty nifty no?

[Simple Torture]

So. The laser powered ship to get to Alpha Centuari in 20 years. Pretty nifty no?

I've only read a tiny bit about it so far, but it's an intriguing attempt to solve interstellar travel problems: instead of making ships bigger and faster, it's going to try and make them smaller.

I was reading the comments on Dr. Hawkings FB post about this, and it really brought out the loonies:

100 million dollars would sure help many here on earth. For a man who has a theory on everything why doesn't he understand space and time travel has nothing to do with propulsion and everything to do with thought and vibrational frequency. Time is a physical illusion. Past present and future are all happening simultaneously. Therefore there is no time or distance to travel. The fastest measurement of speed that exists is thought. There is nothing that exists without it, it is infinite. We don't need to go looking for life in the Universe. When we stop killing each other and become a civil species they will be here in a blink.

WTF?

[dimejinky99]

The size aspect was a good move. Making it small. We don't have to go. Not sure how they'll get any info gathered from the probes etc back to us though. Though I doubt it'll be the primary concern. You'd imagine colonisation would be though. Is there a worldwide governing body that gets to decide or can Hawking and his pals just send this up and off into space? I hope they can.


In the best sense, right now, we are all living on a future archaeological site. A dead planet loaded with artefacts of an extinct of long gone species. How we live is unsustainable and no signs of hope of us changing that. Should we go to other planets and ruin them too? We act like a bad virus so maybe it's a moral obligation for us to stay put. Questions questions.

Do we have astral archaeologists looking for remnants of long gone cultures on other worlds?

That cultural/evolution advancement grade thing might actually be a thing.

[dimejinky99]

That one. The fermi thing and the filter thing

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter

[Simple Torture]

We don't have to go. Not sure how they'll get any info gathered from the probes etc back to us though.

Well, the star is only 4 light years away--so if they're sending back radio waves, the round trip is only 8 years. The issue will again be size--how do you detect transmissions from something so small? (I've heard "iPhone-sized" tossed around) From what I understand, they're just going to trust that during the twenty years it's traveling, we develop the technology to build more sensitive telescopes/radioscopes.

[@SkitchP]

We don't have to go. Not sure how they'll get any info gathered from the probes etc back to us though.

Well, the star is only 4 light years away--so if they're sending back radio waves, the round trip is only 8 years. The issue will again be size--how do you detect transmissions from something so small? (I've heard "iPhone-sized" tossed around) From what I understand, they're just going to trust that during the twenty years it's traveling, we develop the technology to build more sensitive telescopes/radioscopes.

Considering that ten years ago the phrase "iphone sized" would have been meaningless, I have some confidence.

[Simple Torture]

We don't have to go. Not sure how they'll get any info gathered from the probes etc back to us though.

Well, the star is only 4 light years away--so if they're sending back radio waves, the round trip is only 8 years. The issue will again be size--how do you detect transmissions from something so small? (I've heard "iPhone-sized" tossed around) From what I understand, they're just going to trust that during the twenty years it's traveling, we develop the technology to build more sensitive telescopes/radioscopes.

Considering that ten years ago the phrase "iphone sized" would have been meaningless, I have some confidence.

Come to think of it, we'll have 24 years to build those new telescopes (20 years of travel for the craft, 4 years for their transmissions to arrive). So plenty of time!