|
Raenir Salazar posted:There are many legendary lost places. El Dorado, the Nightless City, the Underwater Palace, Shangri-La, the Kingdom of Sheba, Koschei had an mystical island, Camelot has become something like this; Ireland has the Land of Shadows, there's a few others I imagine. SMH mentioning Camelot and not Avalon, which is like, right there.
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2020 15:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 13, 2024 00:42 |
|
|
El Dorado was a person, and was only distorted into a place by greedy idiots who refused to listen to people around them correctly pointing out all the reasons it was a myth.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2020 00:28
|
|
|
Arglebargle III posted:El Dorado was a person, and was only distorted into a place by greedy idiots who refused to listen to people around them correctly pointing out all the reasons it was a myth. Sometimes myth has power in it being a myth and what people believe in. Hence the loads of people dying trying to find that particular city.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2020 02:22
|
|
|
dex_sda posted:I see where you're coming from but "cause precedes effect" is such a fundamental rule of logic that I cannot envision a consistent system without it, and whatever universe is, it is a consistent system I don’t see why you couldn’t get a consistent system out of some other metric. To steal the terminology from a popular TV show, have causality flow downhill from spacetime events with high atron energy. So if you have a typical atron-powered time machine, you can kill your grandfather. And his death doesn’t cause you not to exist. Because, of the contradictory causal paths, yours has higher atron energy. But then the time police show up in their souped-up high-atron vehicle, and they can both both arrest you before you kill him, and show the video of you killing him at the trial.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2020 13:06
|
|
|
dex_sda posted:I see where you're coming from but "cause precedes effect" is such a fundamental rule of logic that I cannot envision a consistent system without it, and whatever universe is, it is a consistent system Don't read up on neurology. How brains work may scare you to death! I'm joking, of course. The "cause" in this case is just simply below the surface of your consciousness. We just aren't equipped to notice the cause happening before the effect. Our consciousness retro-actively rewriting events to make sure we don't notice effects seemingly happening before their causes is a blessing in disguise, even though it's scary to learn that when you want to do something, your body is already executing long before your conscious self decides to go ahead.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2020 13:39
|
|
|
Libluini posted:Don't read up on neurology. How brains work may scare you to death! An interesting thing in con artistry (yeah I know stuff about it, what of it), in particular fake psychics, is that at the start, you do your cold reads and your hot reads. You guess what to say based on clues on the person and let them lead you to the answer. But after a while, you become good at it. And there comes a moment, where you gain insight that just pops into your head. You can instantly guess who the person is and what they want to talk about. But you don't know how. Two outcomes are possible at this point: either you are aware of this occupational hazard of con artists and analyse, in depth, the situation, and you realise your brain simply made the deduction based on clearly identifiable clues without you noticing the process, because it became so automatic. Or, you actually start believing that you are psychic. Con artists even have a term for it, it's called "being a shut-eye." Anyway, what were we talking about?
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2020 14:21
|
|
|
I don’t know if you’re just referencing the short lived tv show or if that’s a real thing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2020 14:54
|
|
|
So are Isekai plausible? So far if stable wormholes did exist, they would have time travel implications connecting between two points in our own spacetime; would these implications cease to be an issue if instead of a point in our universe, it connected to an alternate universe? Could a different universe exist in which if the laws of physics were slightly different but still similar, could "magic" exist? How do higher dimension universes work, can they contain a "lower" dimensional universe? So A person can travel from our 4D universe to a 5D universe and continue to exist but now there's some extra "sense"? Like you feel like you're walking upside down now?
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2020 02:07
|
|
|
Raenir Salazar posted:So are Isekai plausible? I guess there's some theories that dark energy isn't actually something in our universe, but a collision point with another universe that is causing a pull in our spacetime. It's not exactly something we can ever verify though since the point of contact would be beyond the light barrier already iirc. And even then it's unknown whether there could actually be a route between them. e: Also well. "Magic" existing somewhere would indicate such a different set of rules to the universe you probably wouldn't survive in there anyway. It doesn't take a lot of loving around with fundamental physical laws to make you explode into gluons or whatever, probably taking out half the planet as you go. Nurge fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Mar 15, 2020 |
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2020 15:28
|
|
|
Nurge posted:I guess there's some theories that dark energy isn't actually something in our universe, but a collision point with another universe that is causing a pull in our spacetime. It's not exactly something we can ever verify though since the point of contact would be beyond the light barrier already iirc. And even then it's unknown whether there could actually be a route between them. Wouldn't a low gravity environment society appear to be magic due to all the hovering buildings?
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2020 17:44
|
|
|
WAR CRIME GIGOLO posted:Wouldn't a low gravity environment society appear to be magic due to all the hovering buildings? It's questionable whether you'd want hovering buildings anyway. You'll still need to expend energy to keep them up there, and they'll get hosed up if your systems fail. Anyway I get the idea but I assumed we were talking about actual "magic" as in pulling rabbits out of your rear end or whatever, which would require something else entirely. Or very good nanotech. I mean it's entirely possible to become what people now would consider god-like in our universe. All you need is machines that can move atoms around and a good control system for them. You're still going to be limited by the fundamental physics though. If you want "magic" that's shaping the world through thought or ritual or whatever instead of technology the universe would have to have an entirely different set of rules. As far as we know anyway. Maybe there's some dude somewhere out in the trillions of galaxies that has a gland that can control gravity somehow or something and doesn't need those machines to shuffle atoms to whatever configuration they want. That'd probably count as a pretty magical. I guess we can't exactly discount stuff like that. It just seems super unlikely. Nurge fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Mar 15, 2020 |
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2020 18:12
|
|
|
I think you need to define "magic". If this other universe has different laws of physics then its inhabitants might be able to do weird poo poo that seems magic to us, but in their universe it'd just be science. Regarding dark matter, is it possible that it's matter that exists in some other spatial dimensions that humans just aren't capable of observing or directly interacting with? So there's something "there" but we can't see "there" but that something still has mass that affects the dimensions we can see?
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2020 23:18
|
|
|
Wafflecopper posted:I think you need to define "magic". If this other universe has different laws of physics then its inhabitants might be able to do weird poo poo that seems magic to us, but in their universe it'd just be science. The current leading theory is that the extra spatial dimensions are too small to measure and too small to really have a direct effect on most things in our universe. Of course that's all just theoretical nonsense so who knows, but if I understand it correctly it doesn't seem likely that there are higher dimensions that would actually influence our universe directly in that kind of way. e: Also to clarify I meant dark energy. Dark matter is something else we can't really figure out, but leading theory there is simply intergalactic plasma/hydrogen.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2020 23:25
|
|
|
Hold up for a second. What if everything was just tiny, vibrating multidimensional strings?Nurge posted:Dark matter is something else we can't really figure out, but leading theory there is simply intergalactic plasma/hydrogen.  no, that is absolutely not the leading theory.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2020 00:33
|
|
|
eXXon posted:Hold up for a second. What if everything was just tiny, vibrating multidimensional strings? No you're right I was confusing two different things. That's the hypothesis for the solution to the missing matter problem. Apologies.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2020 17:03
|
|
|
Dark matter is just the accumulated mass of Dyson spheres in the galaxy
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2020 15:32
|
|
|
CAROL posted:Dark matter is just the accumulated mass of Dyson spheres in the galaxy I think I read this on tvtropes.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2020 09:01
|
|
|
Raenir Salazar posted:I think I read this on tvtropes. Please never own me like this again
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2020 11:42
|
|
|
CAROL posted:Please never own me like this again Thanks to the 13th amendment, this is true.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2020 14:20
|
|
|
CAROL posted:Dark matter is just the accumulated mass of Dyson spheres in the galaxy Raenir Salazar posted:I think I read this on tvtropes. CAROL posted:Please never own me like this again Raenir Salazar posted:Thanks to the 13th amendment, this is true. I needed a good laugh
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2020 05:34
|
|
|
Hahahaha
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2020 09:40
|
|
|
"Please don't own me, please don't own me!" I cry as I collapse into a singularity.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2020 18:09
|
|
|
has anyone posted that in all that is going on trump just signed an order to mine the moon?
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2020 20:50
|
|
|
I'm pretty sure I read about it on these forums somewhere. Don't get your hopes up, it's just distraction from the fact we are not landing anyone on the moon in the next 5 years..
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2020 21:25
|
|
|
Everyone who is capable of doing so must immediately begin mining the moon. There, done. What was so hard about that?
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2020 22:24
|
|
|
We're at about the point in humanity's decline where we're done sending things into space, aside from maybe another few decades of probes. Maybe China will keep it up for a while.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2020 22:42
|
|
|
Antifa Turkeesian posted:We're at about the point in humanity's decline where we're done sending things into space, aside from maybe another few decades of probes. Maybe China will keep it up for a while. Why? Do we have another civilization or species to compare ourselves to in space exploration? How did you come to this Malthusian conclusion? Sorry, I'm being patronising but I also don't know a better way to express my point. I vaguely remember a similar discussion here. If there was, I'll shut up and look for it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2020 23:51
|
|
|
Antifa Turkeesian posted:We're at about the point in humanity's decline where we're done sending things into space, aside from maybe another few decades of probes. Maybe China will keep it up for a while. Where's the decline? Every decade since the industrial revolution has brought better working and living conditions to the average person in the western world, and fair chunks of the rest of the world as well. Light dips during the world wars.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2020 04:12
|
|
|
Antifa Turkeesian posted:We're at about the point in humanity's decline where we're done sending things into space, aside from maybe another few decades of probes. Maybe China will keep it up for a while. I don't believe this is really true either (no surprise there), like even from the perspective of climate change screwing Humanity, the ability to send stuff into orbit, and exploring/exploiting the solar system will become more urgent for materials, not less. Again to paraphrase the communist manifesto, capitalists will turn their eyes towards unexplored and unexploited frontiers, scouring every corner of creation, to further kick the can of workers revolution at home a little further down the road.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2020 04:19
|
|
|
Nurge posted:Where's the decline? Every decade since the industrial revolution has brought better working and living conditions to the average person in the western world, and fair chunks of the rest of the world as well. Light dips during the world wars. We're nearly at the climate precipice, aka the prime suspect for The Great Filter, and are doing nothing about it. Also, quit reading pinker that  is considered a total hack in the field.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2020 04:34
|
|
|
StratGoatCom posted:We're nearly at the climate precipice, aka the prime suspect for The Great Filter, Perhaps capitalism itself is a filter - it's something that could apply much more universally to other species  I know I've said as much before but I know about as well as anyone else.E: I'm being a bit of a loving stickler America Inc. fucked around with this message at 05:35 on Apr 11, 2020 |
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2020 05:24
|
|
|
It’s popular to predict the decline of man/the inevitable doomsday because you get to feel powerful by making people fee scared and you get to jerk off to your own self importance. Not sure why this is the thread people keep doing it in though.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2020 06:50
|
|
|
Captain Monkey posted:Not sure why this is the thread people keep doing it in though. It's pretty easy to make up whatever Altered Carbon-type dystopia that tickles one's fancy, and there's rarely a definitive way to prove those false, so the argument can go on forever.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2020 07:11
|
|
|
Captain Monkey posted:It’s popular to predict the decline of man/the inevitable doomsday because you get to feel powerful by making people fee scared and you get to jerk off to your own self importance. Don't you understand that *I* am the peak of history? The whole universe existed to produce me and will be done roughly the time I die. Future? feh, this is my story and we all die when I do.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2020 12:29
|
|
|
Captain Monkey posted:It’s popular to predict the decline of man/the inevitable doomsday because you get to feel powerful by making people fee scared and you get to jerk off to your own self importance.  We got 50-60 years of soil left, the clathrate gun is cocked, and we're having fascist irruptions everywhere. I don't have patience for folks who stick their head in the sand.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2020 14:03
|
|
|
It's important, however, to distinguish Great Filter type events - e.g. existential risks - and events that are "merely" profoundly devastating to civilizations, those known as catastrophic risks. As Nick Bostrom put it, the naive assumption is something that kills of 99.9% of humanity is only 1/10th less bad than something that kills of 100% of humanity, but in actuality, something that eradicates 100% of humanity is infinitely, incalculably worse. Are you certain that climate change - even abrupt, cataclysmic climate change that pushes us above 1000 ppm CO2 and we have tropical weather to the poles like a new Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum - is truly an existential risk? And how? Same for the other risks you mentioned. For what it's worth, I think the Great Filter is behind us, and it is the development of advanced technological civilization. We've seen intelligent life arise independently of humans multiple times on earth, but I think that civilization is a unique aberration. It could very well be that this is the norm all across the universe as well. DrSunshine fucked around with this message at 14:15 on Apr 11, 2020 |
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2020 14:10
|
|
|
DrSunshine posted:It's important, however, to distinguish Great Filter type events - e.g. existential risks - and events that are "merely" profoundly devastating to civilizations, those known as catastrophic risks. As Nick Bostrom put it, the naive assumption is something that kills of 99.9% of humanity is only 1/10th less bad than something that kills of 100% of humanity, but in actuality, something that eradicates 100% of humanity is infinitely, incalculably worse. The great filter is what prevents civs from contacting each other; doesn't mean they die off, it's just that they can't or won't any more. Given the uses of fossil fuels in establishing advanced civ, and their disruption of the world... well, they're the leading culprit for good reason, classic developmental trap.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2020 14:15
|
|
|
StratGoatCom posted:
^2Plenty in every generation have predicted the end times from the start of human civilization, and they've always been wrong. One day they will be right, but that doesn't make your odds any better.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2020 14:33
|
|
|
ashpanash posted:
Name literally one generation that had scientific backing for the "end times" as you so ridiculously describe them.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2020 14:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 13, 2024 00:42 |
|
|
Classon Ave. Robot posted:Name literally one generation that had scientific backing for the "end times" as you so ridiculously describe them. No scientific claims are saying climate change are the end of times. They are claiming that it's very bad, and will hurt huge numbers of people, but there is no science saying "everyone dies and civilization ends"
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2020 14:41
|
|