xkcd

tomandlu

Here's mine after 20 mins arsing around...

l a d s
a c r e
t i e r
e d g e

tomandlu

Eebster the Great wrote: It also makes me wonder what is the defining distinction between carnivores and omnivores if even a "hypercarnivore" can get nearly a third of its energy from plants.

At a guess, an omnivore can survive purely on a herbivore diet, but a carnivore must have meat.

tomandlu

p1t1o wrote:Please don't accidentally disprove all of existence guys, I just started looking for a house.

As long as it's not in Orqwith, you should be fine...

tomandlu

That's ridiculous, thus the premise must be false, and thus the identically-premised argument about the *start* of the universe must be false. There was no start, the universe is an eternal thing. This is starting to remind me of Bolztmann's Brain... I'd agree (I think) - since the conclusion to th...

tomandlu

The universe cannot be infinitely old, since if it was, it could never have reached the present moment - true or false? I really don't see how B follows from A, and people taking guesses seem to be thinking very differently from you. I think the keyword is "old". With no starting point, c...

tomandlu

doogly wrote:What you are proposing is that because there is an infinite extent in one direction, there cannot exist points at some finite distance from the origin. This makes no sense.

I was more thinking of infinite in both directions - it started an infinite amount of time ago being the significant point.

tomandlu

There are an infinite number of points between 0 and 1, and yet Zeno's arguments are still flawed. There are also an infinite number of points between zero and infinity. If the tortoise started with a 1% lead, the hare would never have caught it... What I'm saying is that, yes, it's silly to split ...

tomandlu

The universe cannot be infinitely old, since if it was, it could never have reached the present moment - true or false? Extremely false. This is like classic Zeno level nonsense. Aren't (most/all?) of Zeno's Paradoxes about creating infinities out of finite things? This seems to be the opposite IYS...

tomandlu

The universe cannot be infinitely old, since if it was, it could never have reached the present moment - true or false?

tomandlu

When people are attacked by dogs, they usually do not fight back and attempt to escape instead or dislodge the jaws, which is futile. But if they were determined to kill it from the outset, things would go very differently. If dogs just fastened their jaws and then remained fairly static, then I mi...

tomandlu

I mean that a large universe which develops into a vacuum with a surprise brain in the middle is still more likely than a large universe with such low entropy that not only do you get a brain, but also planets and stars and stuff. Because the former is far higher entropy. Is it? In the latter case,...

tomandlu

speising wrote:it really depends on the initiative rolls.

Also, not being a halfling...

tomandlu

p1t1o wrote:Humans walk after them. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting)

So... Slasher movies are surprisingly realistic?

As to the original question - dunno, but I'm fairly confident that the reason we 'beat' the wolves has nothing to do with one-on-one grudge matches.

tomandlu

Rather than resort to statistical improbabilities, wouldn't it be a better starting point to hypothesise a small, localised fluctuation in entropy that acts as a seed for a wider disruption? TBH I'm still confused as to the whole basis of the argument (although someone posted a link to a pdf I keep ...

tomandlu

Of course we're talking about a single mind. You can't claim to have independent observations of other things besides your mind, can you? You may, "but this is silly, this is like brain-in-vat arguments, these are not worthwhile to consider as a realistic model for things," and the answer...

tomandlu

elasto wrote:That's why I claim life is special

I don't think BBs relate to abiogenesis, but I may have got the wrong end of the stick.

tomandlu

Most of them. The thing is, brains tend to be significantly smaller than the entire universe. Ultimately, this is an argument about entropy, and a low entropy universe is much, much less probable than a low entropy brain no matter how it is arranged . Consider that in reality, your extremely improb...

tomandlu

When we speak of the probability of a BB vs an OO, don’t forget that we are speaking of the de novo origin of one—if that mind reproduces and thus generates a community or ecosystem of its kind, then that still counts as a single origin—e.g. there is one origin of homo Sapiens despite over a hundre...

tomandlu

2, yes, it's very unlikely, but if your universe model includes an infinite duration spent just living at thermal equilibrium having thermal fluctuations, then however unlikely your BB is more likely than an OO. infinity * small number > big number Okay - but would I be right in saying we would hav...

tomandlu

There's a few things about this that bug me - can someone enlighten me? The contention seems to be that, if the existence of the universe depended on a random fluctuation of total entropy, then BBs, absurd as they are, are more likely than actual brains. However... ⋅ What does it mean when...

tomandlu

Many thanks all - some very useful stuff there (as well as a few trips down memory lane...)

tomandlu

Given the three laws: ⋅ What's to stop anyone shouting out "all robots must immediately destroy themselves"? ⋅ What's to stop anyone 'stealing' a robot with a simple order? Finally, and slightly OT, does anyone know if the laws considered copyright of Asimov's estate or...

tomandlu

Also keep in mind that in the specific example you gave, what makes the difference is not the inertial motion of the spaceships and earth, but their acceleration ... It's that change in speed, acceleration, that results in the spaceships' clocks being behind when then rejoin the earth in its state ...

tomandlu

I think the best answer is "nope". Under special relativity, all inertial frames are equivalent. Sure, in your reference frame you measure the clocks in the other reference frame as running slow, but, in the other reference frame they measure the clocks in your reference frame as running ...

tomandlu

I thinkt he best answer is "it's not that special." There is a sort of important analog for a kind-of-special frame used in cosmology -- if you operate at a scale where the universe is just a homogeneous bulk, then there is a frame in which that bulk is at rest. This frame is pretty speci...

tomandlu

I'm still trying to turn this into something I understand rather than just accept, and that's led me into something else that's now bugging me. One of the principals of relativity is that there are no privileged frames of reference, but isn't there one special frame of reference where time, relative...

tomandlu

I'm a bit curious as to where the economic/superpower margin is, such that Electro is worth hiring to save the occasional costs during surge demand, but not worth replacing the whole power system? As an aside, in Frank Miller's slightly underrated "The Dark Knight Strikes Again" (aka &quo...

tomandlu

Naively, it seems to me that time's arrow is a result of the third law and the uncertainty principle, and as such, is a macroscopic thing. Consider an explosion; a classical case of increasing entropy. During the explosion (like at most any other time), the future is likely to be more disordered. J...

tomandlu

Someone correct me if Im wrong, but: If there is an entity present capable of observing a particle, you are not in a maximum-entropy-state universe. If you're in a minimum-entropy-state universe, there are no particles to look at...yet. So the answer is either: yes, you can tell, or; the question d...

tomandlu

You are asking a question about a single particle quantum state in the first sentence, and the state of the universe in the second, so could you connect some dots? For simplicity's sake, single particles, but I'm also thinking of ratios - i.e. any statement about the whole that can be inferred from...

tomandlu

To take a left-turn, magic in Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian Warlord Chronicles * is based on never being quite sure whether it was magic or not (and when it most looks like magic, the curtain is very quickly pulled back). Nothing that happens can't be explained as a combination of coincidence, knowle...

tomandlu

BTW can you tell, looking at an individual quantum particle, whether it exists in a universe of maximum or minimum entropy? Basically, is there a difference between the quantum state* of a young universe, and a universe that's reached full entropy? * a somewhat vague description, but hopefully yswim...

tomandlu

PM 2Ring wrote:That sounds like Cramer's Transactional Interpretation of QM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transacti ... rpretation which has always been one of my favourites.

HIs SF book sounds like it might be fun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%27s_Bridge_(novel)

tomandlu

gmalivuk wrote:More like the other way around. SR says spacetime behaves a certain way and from that you can derive what happens with space and what happens with time.

So, yes? (i.e. nothing else involved?)

tomandlu

I read an article that suggested that quantum entanglement could be explained without spooky action if causality breaks down at the quantum level - i.e. a particle sends a message back in time to its twin about how it should spin, etc. If true, IYHO would this qualify as a major revision of QM or ju...

tomandlu

Can I check something? Does the distortion of the light-cone grid arise naturally from what happens to space and time in special relativity? i.e. can those grids be derived from those two aspects of SR alone, or is another factor required?

tomandlu

Okay, and in all honesty, although I believe in the principle that FTL breaks causality, I never get it. So, given my original specification, how would I, for instance, arrange to give myself the combination of a safe when the only record of the combination was inside the safe? When you receive the...

tomandlu

Yeah - started watching it on the recommendation of my daughter. I find the faux-nihilism a bit relentless, but it's great fun.

tomandlu

Okay, and in all honesty, although I believe in the principle that FTL breaks causality, I never get it.

So, given my original specification, how would I, for instance, arrange to give myself the combination of a safe when the only record of the combination was inside the safe?

tomandlu

I'm sure I've asked this before, but I'm damned if I can find it... A short SF story, where a man in the US wilderness stumbles across an alien machine that's collecting living samples. It pursues the man, and when he's finally caught after a long chase, he's released as the exercise has put him bel...

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