Posted on 12/02/2018 5:13:05 AM PST by LibWhacker
Thank you for being so intellectually honest as to include the proviso "as far as I can see."
The question is now: How far can you see?
I don't wish to denigrate your academic accomplishments (you don't cite them, so for all I know you could have a Bachelor's in Agriculture, etc.) - but are you really qualified at all to even begin to understand the Science behind this data, and its possible implications?
Regards,
Fiat Lux
you know when you look in a hole and see the bottom it is only the beginning..man knows nothing
Not many on FR.
Anyhow, 52! is another really cool number.
What is that number, you might ask?
52! can also be written as 8.0658175e+67.
Most of us would know this number as the possible combinations when shuffling a deck of cards. It is a number that is so massively huge that it is unlikely that any two decks of cards, ever, in all of humanity, have been shuffled the same, or ever will.
I was curious and looked it up. Most on FR would ask, "Who cares?" I cared.
Why?
Before the EoR (Epoch of Reionisation), space was opaque. - Darkness was upon the face of the waters.
Then something came along and ionised all the neutral hydrogen, so that radiation - including light - could stream freely through the Universe. - And God said, "Let there be light."
That’s almost as many as fraudulent demonrat ballots.....
The were used to bias the grid on vacuum tubes in battery powered radios.
The advent of transistors ultimately removed the need. No need, no market, no market, no more production...
To be fair, the exponent is 84, that’s twice as good as 42...
“O Deep Thought computer," he said, "the task we have designed you to perform is this. We want you to tell us...." he paused, "The Answer."
"The Answer?" said Deep Thought. "The Answer to what?"
"Life!" urged Fook. "The Universe!" said Lunkwill. "Everything!" they said in chorus.
Deep Thought paused for a moment's reflection. "Tricky," he said finally. "But can you do it?" Again, a significant pause. "Yes," said Deep Thought, "I can do it."
"There is an answer?" said Fook with breathless excitement.
"Yes," said Deep Thought. "Life, the Universe, and Everything. There is an answer. But, I'll have to think about it."
... Fook glanced impatiently at his watch. ;“How long?;” he said.
;“Seven and a half million years,;” said Deep Thought.
Lunkwill and Fook blinked at each other. ;“Seven and a half million years...!;” they cried in chorus.
;“Yes,;” declaimed Deep Thought, ;“I said I;’d have to think about it, didn;’t I?"
[Seven and a half million years later.... Fook and Lunkwill are long gone, but their descendents continue what they started]
"We are the ones who will hear," said Phouchg, "the answer to the great question of Life....!"
"The Universe...!" said Loonquawl.
"And Everything...!"
"Shhh," said Loonquawl with a slight gesture.
"I think Deep Thought is preparing to speak!"
There was a moment's expectant pause while panels slowly came to life on the front of the console. Lights flashed on and off experimentally and settled down into a businesslike pattern. A soft low hum came from the communication channel.
"Good Morning," said Deep Thought at last.
"Er..good morning, O Deep Thought" said Loonquawl nervously, "do you have...er, that is..."
"An Answer for you?" interrupted Deep Thought majestically. "Yes, I have."
The two men shivered with expectancy. Their waiting had not been in vain. "There really is one?" breathed Phouchg.
"There really is one," confirmed Deep Thought. "To Everything? To the great Question of Life, the Universe and everything?"
"Yes." Both of the men had been trained for this moment, their lives had been a preparation for it, they had been selected at birth as those who would witness the answer, but even so they found themselves gasping and squirming like excited children.
"And you're ready to give it to us?" urged Loonsuawl.
"I am."
"Now?"
"Now," said Deep Thought.
They both licked their dry lips.
"Though I don't think," added Deep Thought. "that you're going to like it."
"Doesn't matter!" said Phouchg. "We must know it! Now!"
"Now?" inquired Deep Thought.
"Yes! Now..."
"All right," said the computer, and settled into silence again.
The two men fidgeted. The tension was unbearable.
"You're really not going to like it," observed Deep Thought.
"Tell us!"
"All right," said Deep Thought. "The Answer to the Great Question..."
"Yes..!"
"Of Life, the Universe and Everything..." said Deep Thought.
"Yes...!"
"Is..." said Deep Thought, and paused.
"Yes...!"
"Is..."
"Yes...!!!...?"
"Forty-two," said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.”
from Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Given all the variables and all the assumptions, this is the epitome of “scientific wild-a**ed guess” or SWAG...
They must have a lot of extra fingers and toes to count that high....
The unaided eye can discern the Andromeda galaxy.
That's 780 kiloparsecs (2.5 million light-years) from Earth.
If you that’s a big number, it’s nothing to the odds that it’s right.
They forgot to count anti-photons that are traveling in the opposite direction.
“At some point, don’t you have enough zeroes?” To paraphrase The Big Zero.
How long does it take a trillion monkeys to count to a trillion?
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