What sonic black holes say about real ones

#1

Post by Phithagoras » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 5:27 AM UTC

What sonic black holes say about real ones
quantamagazine.org

Re: What sonic black holes say about real ones

#2

Post by JackFr » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 3:50 PM UTC

Absolute pure amateur here with no expertise or special knowledge, but could this work lead to new insights about the emergence of turbulent flows, or is thaat currently very well understood?

Re: What sonic black holes say about real ones

#3

Post by hammock » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 3:59 PM UTC

I read the wikipedia article for sonic black holes before reading this article, and got a decent understanding. Then I came back to this article and just wanted to comment that the graphics are really good and nailed my understanding in an even better way.

Re: What sonic black holes say about real ones

#4

Post by phreeza » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 4:02 PM UTC

JackFr wrote: post #2

Absolute pure amateur here with no expertise or special knowledge, but could this work lead to new insights about the emergence of turbulent flows, or is thaat currently very well understood?

I think it's one of the situations where the fundamentals are well understood (Navier Stokes equation) but the emergent behavior is so complex that many aspects remain poorly understood.

Re: What sonic black holes say about real ones

#5

Post by neom » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 4:11 PM UTC

Is there a good word that describes the somewhat uncomfortable feeling one gets in their stomach when thinking about the magnitude and complexity of reality? Is humbled a feeling? I can't thinking of anything good in English, wondering if any other languages have this word (like how Saudade is in Portuguese)

Re: What sonic black holes say about real ones

#6

Post by krastanov » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 4:26 PM UTC

neom wrote: post #5

Is there a good word that describes the somewhat uncomfortable feeling one gets in their stomach when thinking about the magnitude and complexity of reality? Is humbled a feeling? I can't thinking of anything good in English, wondering if any other languages have this word (like how Saudade is in Portuguese)

Existential dread? It can be a pretty exciting feeling. I like how the Kurtzgesagt educational channel on YouTube has it permeate their cosmology/astronomy videos. They even addressed it explicitly in their "nihilistic optimism" video.

Re: What sonic black holes say about real ones

#7

Post by _Microft » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 4:32 PM UTC

neom wrote: post #5

Is there a good word that describes the somewhat uncomfortable feeling one gets in their stomach when thinking about the magnitude and complexity of reality? Is humbled a feeling? I can't thinking of anything good in English, wondering if any other languages have this word (like how Saudade is in Portuguese)

Maybe you mean "awe"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awe

Re: What sonic black holes say about real ones

#8

Post by kadoban » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 4:34 PM UTC

krastanov wrote: post #6

neom wrote: post #5

Is there a good word that describes the somewhat uncomfortable feeling one gets in their stomach when thinking about the magnitude and complexity of reality? Is humbled a feeling? I can't thinking of anything good in English, wondering if any other languages have this word (like how Saudade is in Portuguese)

Existential dread? It can be a pretty exciting feeling. I like how the Kurtzgesagt educational channel on YouTube has it permeate their cosmology/astronomy videos. They even addressed it explicitly in their "nihilistic optimism" video.

If you like that feeling, read Stephen Baxter's work. Existential dread is the main character in a lot of it, it's quite something. The Xeelee Sequence especially comes to mind.

Re: What sonic black holes say about real ones

#9

Post by Phithagoras » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 4:36 PM UTC

neom wrote: post #5

Is there a good word that describes the somewhat uncomfortable feeling one gets in their stomach when thinking about the magnitude and complexity of reality? Is humbled a feeling? I can't thinking of anything good in English, wondering if any other languages have this word (like how Saudade is in Portuguese)

Some might call it the sublime:

"fascinated but also a bit unsettled" "existentially insignificant but strangely exalted" “delightful horror” and a “sort of tranquility tinged with terror.”

from https://erraticus.co/2018/12/04/sublime-experience-kant-scho...

Re: What sonic black holes say about real ones

#10

Post by krastanov » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 4:37 PM UTC

kadoban wrote: post #8

krastanov wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Existential dread? It can be a pretty exciting feeling. I like how the Kurtzgesagt educational channel on YouTube has it permeate their cosmology/astronomy videos. They even addressed it explicitly in their "nihilistic optimism" video.

If you like that feeling, read Stephen Baxter's work. Existential dread is the main character in a lot of it, it's quite something. The Xeelee Sequence especially comes to mind.

My go to is works by Greg Egan (e.g. Diaspora and Schild's Ladder and Permutation City). Thanks for the suggestion, I will check out Baxter.