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Astronomers Deal Blow To Quantum Theories Of Time, Space, Gravity
Space Daily ^
| Huntsville - Mar 28, 2003
| Editorial Staff
Posted on 03/28/2003 5:49:29 PM PST by vannrox
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To: vannrox
Does this mean the Flux Capacitor needs more or less than 1.21 jigowatts of electricity?
201
posted on
03/29/2003 9:47:01 PM PST
by
DaGman
To: freedom9
Time is nothing more than measurement relative to observation. I too have often wondered if time is truly a "dimension" or merely the result of "activity" such as an electron revolving around its nucleus and expanding that concept outward from there. Once there is activity or motion of some sort time then becomes only how we observe it and measure it. Ive read excellent discussions about this on Space.com.
202
posted on
03/29/2003 10:17:40 PM PST
by
WRhine
To: PatrickHenry
"Yes. But I hold out free will as a grand exception. I can't explain it. It just is." I would like to believe in free will. I really would. But when I translate claims of having free will into English, I get:
"My outputs are not functions of my inputs."
"Very well, then--what are they functions of?"
Cosmic rays? Heisenberg uncertainty? In any case there is a cause, and a random robot is still a robot.
Note that unpredictability is not the same as undeterminism; i.e., unpredictability is a statement about human limitations; the orbits of the planets were unpredictable until Ptolemy, Kepler, Copernicus, et al. But they were still deterministic!
--Boris
203
posted on
03/30/2003 8:17:14 AM PST
by
boris
(Education is always painful; pain is always educational)
To: boris
There was a young man who said, "Damn!
It is borne upon me that I am
An engine that moves
In predestinate grooves,
I'm not even a bus, I'm a tram."
- Maurice E. Hare (1886-1967)
204
posted on
03/30/2003 8:34:28 AM PST
by
Doctor Stochastic
(Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
To: boris
I would like to believe in free will. I really would. But when I translate claims of having free will into English, I get: "My outputs are not functions of my inputs." "Very well, then--what are they functions of?"
Indeed, a classic problem. I am unlikely to be the bearer of the long-sought answer. My humble opinion is this: When faced with the possibility of ordering that pizza or not ordering it, it is entirely possible (quite likely, really) that both alternatives are the product of pre-existing inputs into the "system" that is my brain. The decision can go either way, and neither outcome is uncaused. That seems to take care of part of your question (the "no inputs" part).
As for the actual decision ("pizza or no pizza") ... there's the deepest question. It may be undetermined, as with so many QM experiments. But because we are conscious of the functioning of our brains, we "watch" the decision being made, and we have the feeling that we actually made the decision -- when in reality (whatever that means) all we did was go along for the ride.
I don't believe this. I think we really do make decisions. But I don't know how to demonstrate it. The Objectivists take free will as an axiom, so they don't need to worry about proving it. Perhaps they're on the right track.
205
posted on
03/30/2003 8:38:38 AM PST
by
PatrickHenry
(Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.)
To: Doctor Stochastic
"My life's course is guided--
Decided--
By limits drawn
On charts of my past ways
And pathways--
Since I was born."
--Emerson, Lake & Palmer, lyrics written for finale of "Pictures at an Exhibition", The Great Gate of Kiev
--Boris
206
posted on
03/30/2003 9:33:50 AM PST
by
boris
(Education is always painful; pain is always educational)
To: PatrickHenry
As for the actual decision ("pizza or no pizza") This is not an example of a decision. If you have to ask, the answer is "pizza."
To: friendly
"The Eye of God and the photographs of Hubble behold a clarity beyond our understanding." A very profound statement friend...
To: VadeRetro
What's for lunch?
The answer is always "CHON".
It's what's for dinner, too.
--Boris
209
posted on
03/30/2003 9:39:51 AM PST
by
boris
(Education is always painful; pain is always educational)
To: boris
Not AGAIN tonight!!??
To: freedom9
Did you not read my last reply? That's exactly what I said! Mass can be converted to energy and back. But only those particles with mass have gravity (in general). You need to educate yourself a bit on the basics of physics...
To: soycd
cause and effect, or vice versa.. :)
212
posted on
03/30/2003 10:05:49 AM PST
by
skinkinthegrass
(Just because your paranoid,doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :)
To: Dimensio
Read the WELL WORLD trilogy...it could work.
213
posted on
03/30/2003 10:12:28 AM PST
by
skinkinthegrass
(Just because your paranoid,doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :)
To: TopQuark
They are messing with my existence again...One second your here, PSSST!!! ,Your an goner... :)
214
posted on
03/30/2003 10:17:57 AM PST
by
skinkinthegrass
(Just because your paranoid,doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :)
To: AMDG&BVMH
"Or changes the dang cat litter."...Now that is a decidely unpleasant aspect. Take, instead, rabbits. Rabbit "output" is beneficial to the environment and gardeners love it.Yeah, The rabbits recycle, too.
215
posted on
03/30/2003 10:26:35 AM PST
by
skinkinthegrass
(Just because your paranoid,doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :)
To: PatrickHenry
As for the actual decision ("pizza or no pizza") ... there's the deepest question. The solution to your conundrum is found by assuming that the PIZZA makes the decision, not you. The pizza has free will; it decides whether or not it wants to be eaten by you. You are just along for the ride.
;-)
To: FireTrack
And there is more: Recent experiments strongly suggest that the speed of light increases as one approaches "the Big Bang." I actually am writing an essay as to what this implies.
To: longshadow
The pizza has free will; it decides whether or not it wants to be eaten by you. You are just along for the ride. Why am I reminded of an old girl friend? It must be spring in the air.
218
posted on
03/30/2003 12:56:18 PM PST
by
PatrickHenry
(Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.)
To: skinkinthegrass
"Yeah, The rabbits recycle, too"
Just read an article that rabbits are born with the ambition to die, and it is the rabbit raiser's job to thwart that ambition. SO: It's a good thing they do recyle - tho' not always as easily as one would presume . . . In terms of I/O, and the usefulness of the O, they are one of the most efficiently designed biological systems I have heard of. (Provided they live, or die in a manner to be recycled).
It's a good thing Schroedinger's example was a cat. Would hate to see a cute bun-bun in a complex function of alive and dead. They would tend I guess to the dead end . . .
To: skinkinthegrass
"Read the WELL WORLD trilogy...it could work." Chalker's 'trilogy' is something like 7 or 8 books by now, and as most such efforts do, the ones after the first went downhill fast.
I actually corresponded with him, pointing out terrible inconsistencies between the 'rules' laid down in the first book, which appeared in later ones. He just plain forgot his own rules.
Midnight at the Well of Souls was OK; I would not read past the third. Waste of time.
Sort of like Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld in this respect, or Piers Anthony's Cluster.
BTW, have you noticed Chalker's fixation on people being transformed into other things? After a while it gets old.
--Boris
220
posted on
03/30/2003 2:17:33 PM PST
by
boris
(Education is always painful; pain is always educational)
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