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It's kind of astounding given we're just dumb people on a dumb planet moving at uninteresting speeds or distances or times that we can predict the result of a n
by daxfohl 9y ago
It's kind of astounding given we're just dumb people on a dumb planet moving at uninteresting speeds or distances or times that we can predict the result of a neutron star collision and be right. Especially when our physics breaks down at those energy and gravity levels.
- niwri 9y agoUninteresting speeds that allow for us to even exist at all. Maybe not so uninteresting :) (I know what you meant though).
- labster 9y agoHey! Don't insult my planet! The people here... can't argue that one.
- Mz 9y agoVisiting Vulcans doing the field portion of their degree in Human Studies can. #notreallymyplanet
- cool_username 9y ago> we can predict the result of a neutron star collision and be right To be fair, what we're predicting happened long ago in the past... predictions about the past are always easier :)
- daxfohl 9y agoTouche
- colordrops 9y agoThe speeds, distances, and times are only uninteresting because you are familiar with them. They are all both unimaginably large and unbearably miniscule depending on the context.
- nerdponx 9y agoI remember hearing/reading a few times that we exist right around the median order of magnitude of things im the universe. So we might actually be interesting if only because we are unusually mediocre.
- gtr32x 9y agoI think another way to think about it is that we are able to discover a world with a scale such that we are mediocre because it's more convenient for us to place ourselves at such position. What if there exists an alternative dimension on a quark with its own universe is yet something we are able to uncover.
- rhizome 9y agoThey got their own problems.
- tedsanders 9y agoHmm, sort of but not really. Looks like the median log length scale is ~10^-7 m, which seems pretty far from our size of ~1m. Length of universe: unknown Length of observable universe: ~10^27 m Length of person: ~1 m Planck length: ~10^-37 m Smaller things: unknown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(volume) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(volume)
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- jameshart 9y agoWe're just a vaguely coherent temporary collection of membranes holding a puddle of water together round some selfish DNA, though. The clever stuff is all protein folds and chromosomes which is going on right around that magnitude. Not coincidentally, it's also right where you find the wavelengths of visible light - because structures of that kind of size are what both our eyes, and most of the things we're interested in are made out of.
- pdonis 9y ago> Especially when our physics breaks down at those energy and gravity levels. No, it doesn't. Neutron stars seem like very dense objects with very strong gravity to us, but their density and gravity is still well within the boundaries where our current physical theories work well. As the accuracy of these predictions illustrates.
- daxfohl 9y agoOkay, was wondering about that. Still, it's a neutron friggin star. A star, made out of neutrons. Colliding with another. Galaxies away. And we got it right. Down to very small details. The more I think about it, the more my mind is blown. Physics: what happens when neutron stars collide? vs CS: how do I exit vim? :)
- diegoperini 9y agoHow do you really?