questions to drive you insane..

[Vigilante]

I have a lot more but cant remember a lot of them...well i felt like driving some of you insane like darkstar =).....here's stuff do think about
-Does space ever end? Is it inside of smething else..and is that inside of something else?
-Does size really matter? Does the size of a brain really matter at how smart you can be?
-If numbers are infinite, and you can go to to whatever decimal place you want..doesnt that mean that there is infinite time between minutes, seconds, hours etc...

 

[63]

think of this...before the universe was created....what does "absolute nothing" look like? I mean if there is nothing....then what do you picture in your head? Im picturing a shapeless black void....but yet that is something...

 

[Vigilante]

yeah..but its also nothing

 

[Brian Damage]

- Space, I think, is much like a higher-dimensional sphere... no matter which direction you point your finger, you're always pointing at yourself...

- I don't think anyone can answer this definitively yet. I think brain complexity is more important than brain size, though the size of individual neurons and dendrites must come into it somewhere.

- Apparently the smallest period of time possible is the "planck time", which is really really short.

 

[blahblahblah]

Why does nothingness have to be black? Why can't it be purple or yellow? :upstare:

The time question is the easiest one to answer. Time itself is constant, you are simply breaking it down to smaller units to measure it. So time will never change, it just gets broken down to smaller parts to measure stuff.

Brain Size helps, up to a certain point, because our brain size allows us not only to do basic functions (eat, sleep, etc.) but allows us to have the excess capacity to perform higher functions (read, write, think, etc). Having a large brain is only one part of the puzzle, enviornment is just as important for determining intelligence and knowledge.

As for space, I am sure there is plenty of it, so no need to worry about that.

 

[Dedalus]

questions that drive you insane...

"where are you going"
"what time will you be home"
"can i come round and drink some tequila"



oh wait i seem to have missed the point...

 

[Shippi]

We can't comprehend nothingness because we've never, ever seen nothing.

"If numbers are infinite, and you can go to to whatever decimal place you want..doesnt that mean that there is infinite time between minutes, seconds, hours etc..."

That's always confused me... 100/3 is 33.33333... recurring, right? (I suck at maths. If it's wrong, meh)

Well, if the .333333... goes on forever, surely that's larger than 100? It's nothing to worry about because it doesn't really effect anything. (does it?)

Days, hours, minutes etc were all created by us to make life easier. Just because there's infinate decimal thingies between seconds doesn't mean that we should make time stand still or whatever, what's the point?

 

[63]

We can't comprehend nothingness because we've never, ever seen nothing.

My point exactly...

Well, if the .333333... goes on forever, surely that's larger than 100?

numbers on the other side of a "." are negative, or are simply decimal places if i'm remebering correctly, so .33333 is no where near the size of 100.

 

[Lil' Timmy]

I have a lot more but cant remember a lot of them...well i felt like driving some of you insane like darkstar =).....here's stuff do think about
-Does space ever end? Is it inside of smething else..and is that inside of something else?
-Does size really matter? Does the size of a brain really matter at how smart you can be?
-If numbers are infinite, and you can go to to whatever decimal place you want..doesnt that mean that there is infinite time between minutes, seconds, hours etc...

1) it's not yet possible to say. most physicists believe the universe (space) is finite, but unbounded. and example of a finite, unbound object would be a sphere, or a torus. i believe einstienian physics points to a finite, unbounded universe. but there are lots of theories.

2) practically, no. numerous studies have been done, and there appears to be no correlation between the size of an individuals brain, and that individuals intelligence (within a given species), assuming the brains are undamaged. the notion of "encephalization quotient" is pretty outdated, afaik.

3) that's the traditional wisdom, that time is a continuum. however, current research is being done by stephen wolfram (and others i'm sure) on "discrete time", which is essentially looking for a fundamental element (length) of time.

i'm not insane yet.. i think epistemolgical questions are more like to play with my mind than physical universe questions

EDIT!! MATHEMATICS!!: yikes guys! 100/3 is indeed 33.3333... the numbers on the right side of the decimal are not "negative"! they're fractions. .3=3/10 .03=3/100. you know that SixThree.

i personally don't get the confusion about 0.3333 being greater than 100, i mean, it's measureably less than 0.34, so logically it's not. remember, 'infinity' not a number and it can't be measured/described in the same way as a number can.

 

[Dedalus]

we had a big massive discussion on this a while back and they wouldn't believe me when i said 0.33 x 3 = 0.99 and not 1. to get to 1 you have to state a cut-off point somewhere. once you initiate a cut-off point you can express it as a fraction 1/3. 0.3333 recurring cannot be expressed as a fraction...ever. you have to stop it somewhere, then it will equal 1/3. if you do 1/3 x 3, it will equal 1, fine, perfect. now punch in 0.3333333333 x 3 into your calculator. it will spit out 0.9999999 etc. recurring numbers go on forever, but they're impractical so that's why we round it off after around 9 significant figures.

other examples of infinity, pi, natural log, and stupidity (you saw that one coming, i knew it).

 

[spookymooky]

Since maybe sixth grader ive tried to think of extra dimensions but have never been able to. I think: point = 0 dimension. Okay add length: line = 1 dimension. Okay, add width: plane = 2 dimension. Okay, add height: cube = 3 dimension. Okay, add...what? Time is my guess for 4th dimension, but I cant really picture it. What is 4, 5, 6, etc. dimensional?

(good forum topics today)

 

[Pauly]

Why does nothingness have to be black? Why can't it be purple or yellow? :upstare:

Because if their is nothing, then their is no light, and purple or yellow is seen when an object absorbs all colors of the spectrum except Purple or Yellow, which tells you that if their is nothing, then there is no light, then there is no color, and black is the absence of color, white is when all teh colors of specturm are abosrbed. :naughty: interesting?

Am i right!? :naughty:
This text right here on the screen is actually absorbing all colors from the spectrum of light except magenta, which is reflected and the human eye can only see the reflected light! I am on a role

 

[Dedalus]

Since maybe sixth grader ive tried to think of extra dimensions but have never been able to. I think: point = 0 dimension. Okay add length: line = 1 dimension. Okay, add width: plane = 2 dimension. Okay, add height: cube = 3 dimension. Okay, add...what? Time is my guess for 4th dimension, but I cant really picture it. What is 4, 5, 6, etc. dimensional?

(good forum topics today)

some people use time as the fourth dimension.

it doesn't really help with everyday calculus.

the other dimensions spring from String Theory (http://superstringtheory.com/). it's difficult to get your head round but makes perfect sense once it clicks into place.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

I wonder...What happens to light when it reaches the edge of the universe (if indeed an edge exists). Does the light simply flow out, suggesting that in fact that isnt the end... does it bend round again effectively creating a perfect mirror...Perhaps it just swirls around the edge of the universe for ever.

 

[Fat Tony!]

Yeah ok well the space thing. Space has an approximate size but, if you believe the big bang theory then space is every expanding. Expanding into what? Its filling a space. What is that space? Or perhaps its like a balloon. But even so when a balloon expands it needs space to expand. There is an approximate value for the size of the universe but its a bit hard to measure something if you dont even know if it has a boundary,can only work on estimates and the universe is expanding so it would be changing every second.

I think the size of your brain has some effect on intelligence but its only one factor.

There isnt infinite time between 2 seconds or whatever, there is 2 seconds between 2 seconds. But if you talk about how long it takes to do something, say if you take 1 second to press a button. It would infact take 1.333333222252525255255363 etc... seconds to do it but eventually there would be a point where preciseness (is that a word ) is at its maximum point. So nope no infinities there at all.

 

[Pauly]

I wonder...What happens to light when it reaches the edge of the universe (if indeed an edge exists). Does the light simply flow out, suggesting that in fact that isnt the end... does it bend round again effectively creating a perfect mirror...Perhaps it just swirls around the edge of the universe for ever.

Wouldn't it be weird if that the whole universe we are in is actually a cell of an organism?! We think the universe is huge when it could actually just be a small particle in a bigger world.

 

[Shippi]

EDIT!! MATHEMATICS!!: yikes guys! 100/3 is indeed 33.3333... the numbers on the right side of the decimal are not "negative"! they're fractions. .3=3/10 .03=3/100. you know that SixThree.

i personally don't get the confusion about 0.3333 being greater than 100, i mean, it's measureably less than 0.34, so logically it's not. remember, 'infinity' not a number and it can't be measured/described in the same way as a number can.

lol, maths isn't my strongest subject at all. I'm only 14 and we haven't been taught anything besides 'basic' maths yet (which is confusing enough!) We use decimals all the time, but we don't understand them completely. Meh

 

[Maxi]

Yes very, But I wonder... since the universe is existing, and if it is expanding, in what or where is it expanding to/from?

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Yeah...trying to think outside of the universe is difficult. The way i would describe doing it is, looking at it out of the corner of your mind. Like when you can see something, but only out of the corner of your eye.

 

[Pauly]

Yes very, But I wonder... since the universe is existing, and if it is expanding, in what or where is it expanding to/from?

From oblivion. An infinite void.
The Human mind is a very funny thing. Humans can not or it is very hard for most of them to believe in anything that is infinite. Thats just how humans are.

 

[A2597]

I have a lot more but cant remember a lot of them...well i felt like driving some of you insane like darkstar =).....here's stuff do think about
-Does space ever end? Is it inside of smething else..and is that inside of something else?

In our plane of reality? No. Space is infinate. our universe ends, and beyond that is space...nothingness.

-Does size really matter? Does the size of a brain really matter at how smart you can be?
Absolutly, but only in correlation to the size of the species it is in. For example, an ant's brain wouldn't be able to keep track of a human body, much less learn.

-If numbers are infinite, and you can go to to whatever decimal place you want..doesnt that mean that there is infinite time between minutes, seconds, hours etc...
Yep, there is an infinate amount of time between each milisecond.

curse this stupid ten charechtor limit...answers in quote....

 

[ComradeBadger]

Irrational numbers. Can you rationalise one?

 

[Dedalus]

are you guys just asking questions or do you want some solid answers?

*jumps up and down and points to the string theory website*

http://superstringtheory.com/




disclaimer: 'solid answers', meaning proved mathematically and shown to be true through experiments.

might take you a whlie to read it though.

 

[spookymooky]

Yeah ok well the space thing. Space has an approximate size but, if you believe the big bang theory then space is every expanding. Expanding into what? Its filling a space. What is that space? Or perhaps its like a balloon. But even so when a balloon expands it needs space to expand. There is an approximate value for the size of the universe but its a bit hard to measure something if you dont even know if it has a boundary,can only work on estimates and the universe is expanding so it would be changing every second.

I think the size of your brain has some effect on intelligence but its only one factor.

There isnt infinite time between 2 seconds or whatever, there is 2 seconds between 2 seconds. But if you talk about how long it takes to do something, say if you take 1 second to press a button. It would infact take 1.333333222252525255255363 etc... seconds to do it but eventually there would be a point where preciseness (is that a word ) is at its maximum point. So nope no infinities there at all.

All very well put, Fat Tony, remind me to listen to you more often.

Also brain size has some effect on intelligence, or why would humans have such big brains in respect to theirs size? Its so big, in fact that humans have so much difficulry in childbirth (including death) because of it. If it werent important it would have been "naturally de-selected" if you subscribe to darwin. We could have extremely complex, but tiny brains, and still be as intelligent, but this seems to have worked better.

 

[Dedalus]

Irrational numbers. Can you rationalise one?

i remember doing that in college. you have to use some bastard complicated formulae and do a lot of hand work. although technically an irrational can never be rational, you can prove it mathematically, so yeah...yay maths for being so sure of itself.....

 

[A2597]

oh, going back to the fourth dimention, it is indeed, time.

think of line, then width/length, then height, then movement.

past that...probebly how things interact...

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Some people now believe that evolution is down to the genes rather than natural selection...but thats a different kettle of fish altogether.

 

[Pauly]

oh, going back to the fourth dimention, it is indeed, time.

think of line, then width/length, then height, then movement.

past that...probebly how things interact...

What about John Titor!? He said that Time is not just one line
Their are infinite amount of timelimes(parellel universes) And u cannot travel back in time on your own line..only by (basically warping) onto another line.
If John Titor was real , that is.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

That sounds much like a book called i think, Timeline. Basically they would jump into what was effectively a different dimension which happened to be exactly like the year 1420 of our dimension. However, for some reason what they did there had an effect on out present...even though it was meant to be seperate from out timeline.

 

[Dedalus]

If John Titor was real , that is.

we'll find out in a few months

 

[Lil' Timmy]

"nothingness", like infinity is an abstract concept that can't be described in terms of physical properties. nothingness is no more black than it is white (or magenta), it's nonsensical to talk of it in such a way. don't confuse nothingness with a void-space, b/c even a void space has definable dimensions, true "nothingness" would not. you could not percieve nothingess in anyway, b/c there'd be no substance or energy to it to interact with the observable world.

SHIPPI: no prob, at 14 i think you're a bit young to be in on this discussion anyway

also, guys, the question of continuous time is just a recasting of xeno's paradox (google it). it's not a question of there being infinite time (eternity) within a second, just a question of how you can describe that time.

 

[mortiz]

The question that really drives me up the wall eh?

Well it certainly isn't a philosophical question. It's when people ask me "What are you doing?" or the variant "So what have you been doing recently?". I've just starteded responding "Well recently I've been sat on my arse scratching my bollocks"

Personally, outside of 'space' I don't believe there to be 'nothing', I believe there to be milkshakes and cookies for all. I personally believe space to have boundries, since it's theorized that space does infact bend and distorte (technically it doesn't subscribe to the rules of our 3 dimensional world), I believe if you started at earth, headed far enough in one direction you would end up back at earth, eventually. Although by the time you could do that, the universe would probably return to the size of a pin prick.

 

[himself]

what happens after death? will you be living on in heaven, or will you be erased, not existing anymore? can you imagine that? not to be anymore. thats just too freaking hard for me.

 

[Lil' Timmy]

what happens after death? will you be living on in heaven, or will you be erased, not existing anymore? can you imagine that? not to be anymore. thats just too freaking hard for me.

logically speaking, it is not possible to imagine your on non-existence. all of your imagining is done from a point of view, which implies a 'viewer' or observer. literally to imagine a thing presuposes your presence to observe that thing. you can't imagine yourself not existing, because you have to exist in order to observe (both physically and conceptually) if you exist.

 

[himself]

yes, but i keep trying.. eww

/me smashes head on table

 

[Lil' Timmy]

let me know if you make any break-throughs
(pun noted, if not intended)

 

[DEATH eVADER]

As an engineer, I work on the principle of "Nothing is created nor destroyed, but transferred" some crap like that. But you have definately screwed my head now

 

[Anthraxxx]

Questions that drive you insane:

What are girls really thinking, and what do they want?

What's more fun than throwing a baby off a cliff?

How much wood could a woodchuck chop, mill, and put into piles before eventually dying?

 

[Gergor]

We can't comprehend nothingness because we've never, ever seen nothing.

Well, if the .333333... goes on forever, surely that's larger than 100? It's nothing to worry about because it doesn't really effect anything. (does it?)

For one thing, it would be impossible for us to see nothingness, because our existence would negate nothingness, so in other words it is impossible for us to ever comprehend nothingness.

On the repeating decimals:

with every iteration, the amount that is added gets smaller and smaller, so it "approaches" 100 forever but never actually reaches it. It's like standing in front of a wall and taking a step, then taking another half the size of the first one, then another half the size of that one, and so on- You will never reach the wall.

 

[A2597]

moving on to questions...

"Whats up?"

man I hate that question.