The universe seems to have a fractal structure. At every scale we can look there is a huge amount of detail.
Not true at all there’s limits in terms of scale in both directions.
There is limits?
Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
161–170 of 234 posts
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah fair, it's tough to say; they're simulating a few non-obvious things too, like ball spin, but it's possible it's mostly graphics. I think my overall point still stands, but you might be right. ETA: I would like to point out that my dad was debating buying one of those virtual pinball tables, and so we played one at a mall, it was decidedly not fun. The physics were way too floaty, and didn't feel good at all. It…
I bet it has nothing to do with the graphics or the physics and everything to do with the fact that you can't feel the ball. There's vibrations that can be felt when you play with a real pinball machine.
That's definitely part of it, but even when I play Pinball FX on my laptop with a keyboard, it still feels better than the one I tried at the mall.
The one I felt at the mall kind of felt like I was playing on the moon. The ball felt really floaty and the way the ball bounced off the walls and bumpers just didn't feel or look right.
Adding some kind of "thumper" feedback would have certainly helped the experience though.
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ball spin would be trivial to simulate. The only way I could see the physics getting at all expensive is if they went overboard with fluid dynamics
Simulating airdrag and turbulence the compute-intensive way: simulating all of the air inside the pinball machine! You've got a few tens of liters of gaseous molecules to keep track of, should be enough to slow down most computers I would guess! But I would be very surprised if any pinball software actually does that!
No one does it yet! Someone should import OpenFOAM into Unreal and make this happen. I want my pinball experience to require a dedicated server to help it.
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#164A bit tangential, but I have been playing the game "Pinball FX" a lot. I really like it (and especially its spin-off/expansion Pinball M), but it's surprisingly taxing on my computer. I mentioned this to a friend, and he was kind of confused, understandably so, and said "...it's pinball...why is that taxing?" It's not a dumb question, we have had virtual pinball games since the Atari 2600 at least, and even pretty fu…
Good story for getting a handle on the idea. It kind of reminded me of fractals and how we find some parallels between phenomena at every scale, e.g. galaxies and rotating water as it flows down your drain.
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah fair, it's tough to say; they're simulating a few non-obvious things too, like ball spin, but it's possible it's mostly graphics. I think my overall point still stands, but you might be right. ETA: I would like to point out that my dad was debating buying one of those virtual pinball tables, and so we played one at a mall, it was decidedly not fun. The physics were way too floaty, and didn't feel good at all. It…
Have you seen the virtual pinball tables that emulate depth by tracking your head? It's a great effect
It sounds cool, but because you won't be getting different views from both eyes, I can imagine the brain is probably going to be fairly confused by it.
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#166> If you wish to not get stuck, seek to perceive what you have not yet perceived This may seem like impractical advice. How does one increase the scope of perception? Personally, I’ve found that a meditation practice leads to this.
Don’t ignore any question is the strategy I’ve found. The problem is that some questions fall just below the conscious threshold. Meditation seems to help dredge up the questions and take them seriously.
For me meditation makes me better at, let’s call it meta-thinking. Being aware of what I’m thinking, instead of just thinking.
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#167The universe seems to have a fractal structure. At every scale we can look there is a huge amount of detail.
I'd be cautious about the word "fractal" misleading us into looking for a scale-spanning pattern that dictates both large and small details simultaneously. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and fine features occur for different reasons than coarse features.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=gB9n2gHsHN4 (3B1B: Fractals are typically not self-similar)
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#168And this is one of the main utilitarian arguments for diversity in teams. If everybody has the same socio-cultural background, it's harder to leave the frame.
It seems like you want a diversity /of/ teams, not specifically /in/ teams, as human competition is the best known way to advance the scope of the frame in general.
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#169This is what the DOGE guys don’t understand: even if it seems you can easily replace something, you will find out that the devil is in the detail.
This is what the critics fail to understand: this all should be documented because it's public work. There should be no "secret sauce" in the bureaucracy nor should the process be so abstract and complex that the hidden details are the most pertinent ones.
Government should not involve arcane wizardry nor should imputed mastery of it be held as an excuse to prevent it's modification to meet the will of the voters.
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's a gif on how a real pinball bumper works: https://www.reddit.com/r/mechanical_gifs/comments/aflmj7/how... It's not really a rigid body, it's a dynamic component that squeezes the ball.
Nah. This is easily emulated with an impulse force. The outcome a nanosecond after the ball leaves the bumper is just an impulse. Users can't tell the difference.
While that could be an acceptable simplification on the aforementioned Amiga, it breaks down when multiple balls are in play, if the friction between the top and bottom plate differ (introducing spin) or when the ball doesn't hit the bumper exactly straight on the y axis.
Generally speaking, there are many ways you can simplify the game by sacrificing precison. This is exactly the kind of detail the original article is about. Ones simplified model of the world is always incomplete, and there are always surprising ways in which it will fall short.