Deep Thoughts

[Danoff]

Without motion (down to the smallest scale; molecular, atomic, etc), time ceases to exist. Time is therefore just a record of motion.

Depends on what you mean by "time". You could as easily say space is just a record of time. Spacetime is one integrated thing. Peeling off time out of spacetime is like peeling off vertical out of spacetime, sure you can name it separately, but it's an integral part of the whole. Motion cannot exist without space, and motion cannot exist without time. Motion cannot exist without spacetime.

It's important to remember that spacetime appears quantum and is something we are quantumly entangled with, just like the rest of matter. Below a certain threshold, the Planck length and Planck time, space and time are not something we can entangle with, and exist essentially as a distributed wave function just like everything else.

At its most fundamental, matter and energy are one and exist as a wave of probability. At its most fundamental space and time are one and exist as a wave of probability.

 

[TexRex]

I'm not sure where else this might belong and I suspect it's not deserving of its own thread, so I'll post here that I've been diving into the Pessimists' Archive and its collection of newspaper clippings of foreboding about technological advancements [largely] of the early twentieth century.

Here's a fun one to entice:

Perils of Long Distance Telephone Calls

The Los Angeles Times • Los Angeles, California • 29 Jul 1904, Fri • Page 16 Tap to enlarge: 🗞 In 1904 The Los Angeles Times warned of a future where long distance calls were common: “It is going to make life a little more serious when the human voice can go ricocheting from Cape Cod to the free...

pessimistsarchive.substack.com

This is similar but with a much more narrow focus. It's also more absurd, and as a result, more humorous. It's also pretty short and well worth the few clicks it requires.

 

[Danoff]

What if I told you that you like clouds because you live on Earth and you're supposed to like that kind of weather and be calmed by it. Works well for natural selection. Make hay while the sun in shining and all that...

The awe and inspiration that we find in the universe comes from within, not from the universe. That only makes it better.

 

[W3H5]

For one to use the expression “You drive like a grandma” seems highly critical and derogatory. It’s a phrase I’ve used often myself. More often than not I replace “a grandma” with “my mother-in-law”.

To use the expression “You drive like a grandpa” could possibly be the highest praises one could receive in regards to roadcraft.

I guess this is subjective, and to some may not apply.

I’ve never heard anyone profess “You drive like a grandpa” but if I did, I’d be flattered.

 

[Adamgp]

For one to use the expression “You drive like a grandma” seems highly critical and derogatory. It’s a phrase I’ve used often myself. More often than not I replace “a grandma” with “my mother-in-law”.

 

[Pupik]

Live in Florida for a few decades and you'll dispel all of these myths very quickly and the standard tropes will largely apply.

 

[m76]

For one to use the expression “You drive like a grandma” seems highly critical and derogatory. It’s a phrase I’ve used often myself. More often than not I replace “a grandma” with “my mother-in-law”.

To use the expression “You drive like a grandpa” could possibly be the highest praises one could receive in regards to roadcraft.

I guess this is subjective, and to some may not apply.

I’ve never heard anyone profess “You drive like a grandpa” but if I did, I’d be flattered.

When someone says you drive like a grandpa it doesn't mean you drive like any one specific grandpa, it means you drive like an average elderly driver. And it is not praise I assure you.

 

[Com Fox]

Rewatching Monsters Inc. and Monsters University and something hit me with them. How do they get all the information of the children and send it to the company to use for Scaring, and they probably have to regularly update the bio on the Children too? They say scaring the Children is dangerous work since they think they're toxic but what about the Monsters having to work as Children survalience in order to get the information for the Scarers?

 

[Pupik]

Rewatching Monsters Inc. and Monsters University and something hit me with them. How do they get all the information of the children and send it to the company to use for Scaring, and they probably have to regularly update the bio on the Children too? They say scaring the Children is dangerous work since they think they're toxic but what about the Monsters having to work as Children survalience in order to get the information for the Scarers?

They get the information from Santa Claus and occasional surveys sent out to parents.

 

[W3H5]

They get the information from Santa Claus

So this got me deep thinking on whether Old Sandy Claws is a wizard, warlock, sorcerer, or other, since he’s clearly a spell caster/magic user.

Edit: probably not a warlock as he doesn’t seem inherently evil.

 

[Com Fox]

They get the information from Santa Claus and occasional surveys sent out to parents.

But doesn't stat still require some form of human interaction with the monsters to obtain that information?

Not to mention if Parents are filling out surveys for them, then that sounds like a conspiracy worse than what Waternoose was doing

 

[HenrySwanson]

Anyone played The Stanley Parable?

If you look it up on wiki you'll see it's a game where you can explore various paths in (mostly) an office building, choosing to follow or ignore a narrators instructions at different points leading to many different endings. When you reach an ending, the game begins again and you can take another approach to try and find another ending. Through the experiences you may question just how much choice you, as a player really have and whether there is any way to "win" the game.

One ending however, is particularly disturbing to me (spoilers obviously):



While it isn't classed as a horror game, I thought the message contained within it is one of the most depressing and frightening situations I've encountered second only to the P.T. demo and the film 1408.

What would you do if you found yourself in such a reality?

 

[Danoff]

What would you do if you found yourself in such a reality?

What reality do you mean exactly? One which you realize is a dream that you can't wake up from?

 

[W3H5]

One which you realize is a dream that you can't wake up from?

 

[Pupik]

But doesn't stat still require some form of human interaction with the monsters to obtain that information?

Not to mention if Parents are filling out surveys for them, then that sounds like a conspiracy worse than what Waternoose was doing

Well, they were always worried about contamination from children, so I suppose handling the surveys from adults is okay. This is what I was told in the waiting areas of the maternity ward, so I am not at liberty to disclose too much more than that...but there are manilla envelops that get passed back and forth in dark places, all to keep the children obedient and those monsters remaining in the shadows.

This is why parenting is tough work.

 

[HenrySwanson]

What reality do you mean exactly? One which you realize is a dream that you can't wake up from?

Not a dream, more the realisation that nothing else is real, and everything is there for your benefit/detriment. It's the fact that everyone you loved or loved you is just a fake; that all the things you have done and will ever do is pointless and you are just an observer in this world "pushing buttons"; that when you die you just restart in this world and you have no idea how to win or escape.

Exploring this idea some more I came across this:

LANGUAGE WARNING

You Are God

yourconstruct3.blogspot.com

Have you spent your whole life looking for God? You have finally found him, he is you. Have you spent your whole life wondering if God exists? Wonder no more, he is you. And you've spent your whole life trying to deny it. When I say you are God, I mean it literally. You are him, the shaper. The maker of all that is, all that was, and all that will ever be. You are the sole creator of the universe. I am not being metaphorical or saying that God is some type of universal consciousness. This is not some type of feel good, new age, everyone is god stuff. Only you are God.

It's more than just the Matrix, since in that universe there are other humans who can think independently, and could be seen more as a type of purgatory but with no real objective (unlike the game Visage where the point was to show the protagonist his past sins).

It's easy to see how becoming trapped in this state could be one of the worst kinds of hell.

 

[W3H5]

It's easy to see how becoming trapped in this state could be one of the worst kinds of hell.

Hell is understanding the nature of the universe and knowing we’re helpless to do anything.

Godliness is understanding that you can affect it, even in the most minuscule way.

Pale blue dot, my arse.

Slightly off-white galaxy, if you ask me. But nobody asked me.

I have the pleasure (if you can call it that) of explaining to my students how 0 is not actually a number, while still expecting them to use it in equations, and that numbers are infinite, yet we still deal with the smaller end of the scale starting from 1.

“Why aren’t we dealing with bigger numbers” they cry.
“Because it’s all Bollox” I reply.

We have 0 and we have 1. Anything else is just a variation.

That’s why the abacus is useless.

If you’re looking for God in nature, your a pagan. If you find God in Nature, you’re a heretic.

 

[HenrySwanson]

Hell is understanding the nature of the universe and knowing we’re helpless to do anything.

Godliness is understanding that you can affect it, even in the most minuscule way.

What would a combination of both be?

Say I understand the nature of it - i.e. that the whole universe and its entire history is centered on you and you're on a pre-determined path - but also every "choice" you make affects that universe.

 

[W3H5]

What would a combination of both be?

The equilibrium required for nirvana?

I’d posit that conscious awareness of the universe has 0 impact on it, the cosmos, fundamentally.
But it has a profound impact on the conscious mind that perceives an awareness of the cosmos, from beginning to end.

 

[Danoff]

Not a dream, more the realisation that nothing else is real, and everything is there for your benefit/detriment. It's the fact that everyone you loved or loved you is just a fake; that all the things you have done and will ever do is pointless and you are just an observer in this world "pushing buttons"; that when you die you just restart in this world and you have no idea how to win or escape.

Exploring this idea some more I came across this:

LANGUAGE WARNING

You Are God

yourconstruct3.blogspot.com

Have you spent your whole life looking for God? You have finally found him, he is you. Have you spent your whole life wondering if God exists? Wonder no more, he is you. And you've spent your whole life trying to deny it. When I say you are God, I mean it literally. You are him, the shaper. The maker of all that is, all that was, and all that will ever be. You are the sole creator of the universe. I am not being metaphorical or saying that God is some type of universal consciousness. This is not some type of feel good, new age, everyone is god stuff. Only you are God.

It's more than just the Matrix, since in that universe there are other humans who can think independently, and could be seen more as a type of purgatory but with no real objective (unlike the game Visage where the point was to show the protagonist his past sins).

It's easy to see how becoming trapped in this state could be one of the worst kinds of hell.

I'm not entirely sure that's the meaning in the video. The video says he's killing himself, and they're trying to get him to stop. There are people outside of his reality that understand who he is and are trying to help him. It doesn't sound like a god.

I wonder what you mean by everyone you've ever love/loved being "fake". I mean, define real for a minute and distinguish it from what you're calling fake. In a sense, we all live in a reality that's "orchestrated", not necessarily by god, but by lots of ongoing processes. Your own body was created by those processes, as are your desires and the desires of those around you. In a very real sense, you ARE the sole creator of your universe.

I guess I need you to further distinguish what you mean from our current existence.

 

[Exorcet]

Not a dream, more the realisation that nothing else is real, and everything is there for your benefit/detriment. It's the fact that everyone you loved or loved you is just a fake; that all the things you have done and will ever do is pointless and you are just an observer in this world "pushing buttons"; that when you die you just restart in this world and you have no idea how to win or escape.

The world in the game is real. It's just not what it may appear to be. That isn't all that different from reality.

When you say that the people in the game are fake, I suppose you mean that they have no conscious or awareness, but you can never be sure that anyone has those traits but you anyway. Even in reality.

Consciousness is also unnecessary in the formation of emotional attachment. Humans can become attached to many things from other humans to animals, cars, toys, nature, etc. With the advancement of AI and robots, we're more and more likely to see "souless" lifeless things taking the roles of friends and possibly even spouses or soulmates.

As far as your actions being pointless, well that's up to you. If you found them totally pointless, I'd think you'd not bother doing anything at all. Looking for some kind of absolute objective meaning doesn't really make sense. The universe would go on, largely without being impacted by you (your influence is limited to a bubble defined by the speed of light x your age, which is tiny) whether you ended up curing cancer or lived your entire life in your parents' basement. I don't think much matters except whether you've enjoyed living and haven't purposely tried to hurt anyone else. Assuming that what I'm experience is "true" reality, I don't know how to win it or how to escape it, so it's not unlike the game in that sense.

Exploring this idea some more I came across this:

LANGUAGE WARNING

You Are God

yourconstruct3.blogspot.com

Have you spent your whole life looking for God? You have finally found him, he is you. Have you spent your whole life wondering if God exists? Wonder no more, he is you. And you've spent your whole life trying to deny it. When I say you are God, I mean it literally. You are him, the shaper. The maker of all that is, all that was, and all that will ever be. You are the sole creator of the universe. I am not being metaphorical or saying that God is some type of universal consciousness. This is not some type of feel good, new age, everyone is god stuff. Only you are God.

It's more than just the Matrix, since in that universe there are other humans who can think independently, and could be seen more as a type of purgatory but with no real objective (unlike the game Visage where the point was to show the protagonist his past sins).

It's easy to see how becoming trapped in this state could be one of the worst kinds of hell.

Being god is about as far from hell as I can imagine. You'd be able to address any problem you have. I don't see the game as being in a godlike state. It's very reminiscent of being human though. We don't have any objectives, except the ones we give ourselves. I think that's for the best. Christianity wants the world to be the other way. I was constantly told growing up that God could swoop in at any moment and tell me what my purpose was. This was, despite being a super devout Christian, my childhood nightmare. I know what I wanted my life to be. All I could I think about was God showing up one day and telling me I'd have to go live in a remote temple somewhere, and that I'd have to listen and give up my dreams of being an engineer. Thankfully there is no god nor an objective goal for me to chase after, so I'm free to do whatever I want.

 

[Pupik]

I can see where one gets a little hopeless and starts to feel like they're in someone else's simulation, but it's been a long, long time since I felt that way.

But there are times, usually in a nearly blissful state – or a very content one – that I find myself thinking "is this real?", "am I alive?", "I am wonderfully disconnected from earthly attachment, yet in the field of all of these entanglements that have brought be to this special and fleeting moment". It feels like you're alive but the encompassing ease of it all makes me wonder if I'm not really alive, but certainly a long way from death.

I start to cross the last thought out and just enjoy things but make sure I'm paying just enough attention so that I can have that weightless feeling once more.

 

[Com Fox]

If anyone has seen the TV Show, Dinotrux. If you think about it, despite the friendly surface and positive tone throughout, it is incredibly morbid.

Death threats and anything related to death in the show is changed to being "turned to scrap" as the characters are all machines and even have scavenger species of Scrapters and Scrapadactyls who just take apart everyone else. This makes the characters building stuff out of scrap (and they say they are building out of scrap) really concerning as they are building from other Dinotrux's dead bodys and limbs. Even adding minor scrap stuff in just for decoration. Which in comparison is like adding corpses and human limbs onto your house for decoration.

 

[ScottPuss20]

If anyone has seen the TV Show, Dinotrux. If you think about it, despite the friendly surface and positive tone throughout, it is incredibly morbid.

Death threats and anything related to death in the show is changed to being "turned to scrap" as the characters are all machines and even have scavenger species of Scrapters and Scrapadactyls who just take apart everyone else. This makes the characters building stuff out of scrap (and they say they are building out of scrap) really concerning as they are building from other Dinotrux's dead bodys and limbs. Even adding minor scrap stuff in just for decoration. Which in comparison is like adding corpses and human limbs onto your house for decoration.

This just sounds like Thomas The Tank Engine. Sort of. Trains get scrapped and their remains are strewn around the place.

 

[Danoff]

What if I told you that you like clouds because you live on Earth and you're supposed to like that kind of weather and be calmed by it. Works well for natural selection. Make hay while the sun in shining and all that...

The awe and inspiration that we find in the universe comes from within, not from the universe. That only makes it better.

Another point to be made about this XKCD comic. The universe doesn't "get the complex fluid dynamics right", it just occurs. We humans attempt to work out clunky math equations (and they are some of the most clunky) that closely approximate complex fluid dynamics. But the universe isn't trying to make those equations work, it just occurs. It's zero work.

 

[Danoff]

I was watching a lady with a dog walking down the sidewalk just now. She was talking to someone who was walking kinda nearby. Her dog kept yanking at the leash and jumping to try to get to the man she was talking to, she kept pulling the dog away, annoyed and somewhat embarrassed probably at the dog's unruly behavior.

I know from personal experience that a dog trying to jump on people is tough thing for owners. People don't want a dog jumping on them first thing, and training a dog to stop doing that is actually pretty hard - because it requires stopping and training when a dog sees a new (or infrequent) person, and that is often not a convenient time to do a training exercise. I think most people just wait until the dog gets older and more mellow and then the training is no longer needed.

Ok, deep thought time.

The dog is jumping toward the man because the dog perceives the friendly attitude that the lady has with the man and wants to ingratiate itself with the man. We humans have bred dogs to behave in this way. Dogs and humans are social animals, and dog breeding has cultivated that kind of tribal - this group is ok - mentality. A dog does better if the whole tribe likes it and will give it scraps. So if the people the dog is friendly with are friendly with others, the dog naturally is friendly to them. People are part of the pack.

From that perspective, it's tough to watch this animal try to make good on its breeding and instincts to go be playful and joyous with this obviously friendly new man, but constantly get yanked away. No matter how much the owner protests, the dog can just tell that the owner is not threatened by this new stranger, and so they so badly want to make friends and get scraps. There was a time when the dog just did its dog things. But now this is "my" dog, and everyone is friendly. The pack is larger, but the pack is smaller - and the social requirement is that your enthusiasm is even more narrowly focused.

You can see an evolution in human behavior in the way the dog lags behind.

 

[wfooshee]

When you're the "stranger" being approached, it's sometimes hard to tell if the dog is friendly and wants to welcome you to1 the pack, or if the dog is investigating a possible threat. Obviously, if it's snarling and barking, it wants to destroy you to protect its owner, but if it just wants to get closer to make that determination, you might not know for sure. Unfortunately, a lot of the owners don't know, either, so they default to the keep-the-dog-away-from-strangers mode.

When I'm the stranger, I'll ask them if I can meet the dog, to let them know I have no issues being jumped on or greeted, and leave it up to them to go ahead and allow the dog to approach me. I won't approach the dog, I'll let it come to me, in its own time. If it decides, "never mind," then they go on their merry way. I've had a neighborhood dog take 4 or 5 of these incidents before accepting me. Nearly always, the dog starts the approach when allowed, then either is 100% like I'm a long-lost bestie, or they get a bit timid as they get closer.

The only time I'm really wary of a stranger's dog is when it's one that could very easily have been trained as protective, and you can usually tell that from their behavior. If they're staying close to their owner, eyes on me, staying between me and their owner and waiting for a command, Imma leave the dog alone. Peace, my brother.

If the dog is simply showing aggression because I'm a stranger but the dog is obviously not trained for that (it's not obeying owner commands,) I will still try to meet the dog with submissive behavior. If I can befriend it, then the aggressiveness disappears in the future; win-win.

None of that works for a person who's truly afraid of dogs, though.

 

[Omnis]

I was watching a lady with a dog walking down the sidewalk just now. She was talking to someone who was walking kinda nearby. Her dog kept yanking at the leash and jumping to try to get to the man she was talking to, she kept pulling the dog away, annoyed and somewhat embarrassed probably at the dog's unruly behavior.

I know from personal experience that a dog trying to jump on people is tough thing for owners. People don't want a dog jumping on them first thing, and training a dog to stop doing that is actually pretty hard - because it requires stopping and training when a dog sees a new (or infrequent) person, and that is often not a convenient time to do a training exercise. I think most people just wait until the dog gets older and more mellow and then the training is no longer needed.

Ok, deep thought time.

The dog is jumping toward the man because the dog perceives the friendly attitude that the lady has with the man and wants to ingratiate itself with the man. We humans have bred dogs to behave in this way. Dogs and humans are social animals, and dog breeding has cultivated that kind of tribal - this group is ok - mentality. A dog does better if the whole tribe likes it and will give it scraps. So if the people the dog is friendly with are friendly with others, the dog naturally is friendly to them. People are part of the pack.

From that perspective, it's tough to watch this animal try to make good on its breeding and instincts to go be playful and joyous with this obviously friendly new man, but constantly get yanked away. No matter how much the owner protests, the dog can just tell that the owner is not threatened by this new stranger, and so they so badly want to make friends and get scraps. There was a time when the dog just did its dog things. But now this is "my" dog, and everyone is friendly. The pack is larger, but the pack is smaller - and the social requirement is that your enthusiasm is even more narrowly focused.

You can see an evolution in human behavior in the way the dog lags behind.

Ball?

 

[Danoff]

Quantum mechanics reveals that the most fundamental aspect of reality is not whether something DOES exist, but whether it CAN exist.

 

[W3H5]

Quantum mechanics reveals that the most fundamental aspect of reality is not whether something DOES exist, but whether it CAN exist.

Quantum is another universe beyond our classical universe.

Things need not necessarily “exist” in the way we perceive existence. Take dark energy, can it exist without form or composition?
It has a perceivable effect on the universal fabric but is seemingly nonexistent for all intents and purposes.

I think quantum science, as a field, is going to have to lean heavily on philosophy for conclusions.