Proving our universe is one among many would be a fourth Copernican revolution
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Re: Proving our universe is one among many would be a fourth Copernican revolution
#2The middle of the article reminded me of Asimov:
The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way...
Re: Proving our universe is one among many would be a fourth Copernican revolution
#3The middle of the article reminded me of Asimov: The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way... http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html
That's a classic, for sure!
Re: Proving our universe is one among many would be a fourth Copernican revolution
#4The middle of the article reminded me of Asimov: The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way... http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html
It always interested me that this could be Asimov's (1956) response to Arthur C Clarke's (1953), 9 Billion Names of God, where the stars went out.
Re: Proving our universe is one among many would be a fourth Copernican revolution
#5> if the universe stretches far enough, everything could happen The article says this. Is this an assertion that the number of things that could happen is finite, or is it an assertion that the number of elements in one infinite set is greater than or equal to the number in another infinite set? Which infinity is equal to the number of things that could happen? How many dimensions would the universe need so that the number of things that would happen in it would equal the number of things that could happen in the most inclusive case?
Re: Proving our universe is one among many would be a fourth Copernican revolution
#6[deleted]
Re: Proving our universe is one among many would be a fourth Copernican revolution
#7> We can only see a finite volume—a finite number of galaxies. That’s essentially because there’s a horizon, a shell around us, delineating the greatest distance from which light can reach us. But that shell has no more physical significance than the circle that delineates your horizon if you’re in the middle of the ocean.
No, that's not true. You can rise above the surface of the ocean. Barring some major unforeseen revolution in our understanding of physics, you cannot transmit information faster than light. The oceans horizon is grounded in a technological limit, but the cosmological horizon is grounded in a fundamental physical limit.
Re: Proving our universe is one among many would be a fourth Copernican revolution
#8> We can only see a finite volume—a finite number of galaxies. That’s essentially because there’s a horizon, a shell around us, delineating the greatest distance from which light can reach us. But that shell has no more physical significance than the circle that delineates your horizon if you’re in the middle of the ocean. No, that's not true. You can rise above the surface of the ocean. Barring some major unforeseen…
it only has physical significance from our perspective.
Re: Proving our universe is one among many would be a fourth Copernican revolution
#9> We can only see a finite volume—a finite number of galaxies. That’s essentially because there’s a horizon, a shell around us, delineating the greatest distance from which light can reach us. But that shell has no more physical significance than the circle that delineates your horizon if you’re in the middle of the ocean. No, that's not true. You can rise above the surface of the ocean. Barring some major unforeseen…
it only has physical significance from our perspective.
Well, yeah, but our perspective is the only one that can possibly matter for us. There may be unicorns and leprechauns out beyond our light cone for all we know, but what possible reason would there be to care?
Re: Proving our universe is one among many would be a fourth Copernican revolution
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
it only has physical significance from our perspective.
Well, yeah, but our perspective is the only one that can possibly matter for us. There may be unicorns and leprechauns out beyond our light cone for all we know, but what possible reason would there be to care?
What happens on the far side of the moon doesn't matter for us, either, but we still looked.