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The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

phys.org

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Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#51

Post by dmbche »

eru wrote: post #43
sammalloy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before the light pollution got really bad where I live due to development, provided it wasn’t cloudy, I could see the Milky Way every night for about 15 years. Now, it’s gone due to lax rules and regulations due to commercial security light fixtures which throw light in all direction at night to deter thieves. It’s pretty upsetting, but even worse, most people I talk to don’t even notice it’s gone. That’s almost more…

Well, I've never seen the milky way in the sky with my own eyes.

I highly recommend looking for a protected night sky zone near you and going to see it at least once - it really is nothing that pictures can translate!

https://www.darksky.org/our-work/conservation/idsp/finder/

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#52

Post by api »

eru wrote: post #49
api wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of doing the whole hell thing, which God decided was kind of harsh, they just moved us into a shitty timeline run by hack writers. It's kind of like what's done with a show that somehow hasn't been cancelled yet but where all the good writers and a few of the lead actors have moved on. Their ideas are shit like: "I've got it! Let's make Donald Trump President! Then we'll have Donald Trump and the MyPillow guy…

Wider your horizon a bit. By and large, the world is getting better and better for more and more people. To take your first example: American political theatre is small fry compared to billions lifting themselves out of abject poverty.

The world is getting better (for many) but it's also getting weirder and crazier. Both can be true.

I have this hypothesis that the weirdness and craziness is a symptom of early stage post-scarcity. Scarcity constrains things. Without it we will just spread out across the state space of possibilities like an oil slick, doing all kinds of insane and crazy things for increasingly complex and bizarre reasons. The more resources we have the more the question ceases to be "why" and becomes "why not?"

I call this the singLOLarity hypothesis.

A real post-scarcity future won't look like Star Trek. It'll look a little more like Lexx.

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

If we are ever visited by super-advanced aliens, they will be really weird. Maybe they really are flying around in pimped-out spaceships with multi-color neon running lights mutilating our cattle for the lulz. The question is not "why?" It's "why not?"

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#53

Post by fooker »

egypturnash wrote: post #28
dzdt wrote: post #5

Sounds like a "guess" rather than a "solution". They have noticed a numerical coincidence and formed a hypothesis. Without additional evidence tying the 819-day count to astronomical observations its not particularly convincing.

There's basically no surviving Mayan literature, thanks to the hard work of the Catholic church. So good luck finding more evidence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization#Writing_and_...

It's a miracle that India was spared this fate.

All thanks to the East India Company being a soulless megacorp devoted to profits instead of religious zeal like the other colonists.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#54

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

voz_ wrote: post #44
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Science doesn't have some super clear, strict, reductive definition like the "scientific method" you may have been taught in school. The idea that all science must make or test predictions is just based on an old misinterpretation of the philosophy of Karl Popper, mainly by physicists. The only real general requirement I think you can make is that all science involves some level of interrogation and study of the phys…

This is a nonsense definition. Science absolutely must follow the scientific method. What you are talking about is natural philosophy and protosciences - its the difference between alchemy and chemistry - which is all the difference in the world.

And what is the scientific method, in your mind, exactly?

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#55

Post by aledalgrande »

dmbche wrote: post #51
eru wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I've never seen the milky way in the sky with my own eyes.

I highly recommend looking for a protected night sky zone near you and going to see it at least once - it really is nothing that pictures can translate! https://www.darksky.org/our-work/conservation/idsp/finder/

Damn, nothing in Vancouver eh

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#57

Post by trinsic2 »

dmbche wrote: post #51
eru wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I've never seen the milky way in the sky with my own eyes.

I highly recommend looking for a protected night sky zone near you and going to see it at least once - it really is nothing that pictures can translate! https://www.darksky.org/our-work/conservation/idsp/finder/

That sounds like a good idea. I didnt even know they existed in areas where there are cities.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#58

Post by dmbche »

aledalgrande wrote: post #55
dmbche wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I highly recommend looking for a protected night sky zone near you and going to see it at least once - it really is nothing that pictures can translate! https://www.darksky.org/our-work/conservation/idsp/finder/

Damn, nothing in Vancouver eh

You can look around or call local park services, I'm seeing that Mont-Megantic, an observatory with federally peotected sky, isn't on their map. I'll look for a canadian ressource (for myself too!)

Edit: I'm wrong, Mont-Megantic is the first International Dark Sky Reserve - they worked to get it protected federally because they research telescope design. Dang - I think they are quite rare.

Maybe you can send an email to your local university's Astronomy department? I'm sure they'll be able to direct you to a good spot!

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#59

Post by waboremo »

voz_ wrote: post #44
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Science doesn't have some super clear, strict, reductive definition like the "scientific method" you may have been taught in school. The idea that all science must make or test predictions is just based on an old misinterpretation of the philosophy of Karl Popper, mainly by physicists. The only real general requirement I think you can make is that all science involves some level of interrogation and study of the phys…

This is a nonsense definition. Science absolutely must follow the scientific method. What you are talking about is natural philosophy and protosciences - its the difference between alchemy and chemistry - which is all the difference in the world.

The difference you are describing aren't that great and haven't been established that long even within the confines of modern history.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#60

Post by voz_ »

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #54
voz_ wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a nonsense definition. Science absolutely must follow the scientific method. What you are talking about is natural philosophy and protosciences - its the difference between alchemy and chemistry - which is all the difference in the world.

And what is the scientific method, in your mind, exactly?

I am not taking your bait, because to quote you:

> Science doesn't have some super clear, strict, reductive definition like the "scientific method" you may have been taught in school.

This is peak anti-intellectualism, this is the exact kind of school bashing that Isaac Asimov warned us about.

There is no definition of it "in my mind", this is not about opinion vs opinion here, friend.

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