5 ms·
> It’s also fun to remember that this event happened 26,000 years ago. This is one of my favorite (but also the most daunting) things about space. It is so awe
by kickopotomus 7y ago
> It’s also fun to remember that this event happened 26,000 years ago.
This is one of my favorite (but also the most daunting) things about space. It is so awesome (and bizarre) that we can essentially observe the past. In this case, the event occurred sometime around when humans were figuring out how to make baskets[1].
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_human_prehistory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_human_prehistory
- pacala 7y agoAlternatively, the present is the weighted average of past causal influences. This event had no causal influence over the humans figuring out how to make baskets. From Earth perspective, the event just happened.
- ggggtez 7y ago>weighted average No, the averages ignore input order. Reality is order dependent.
- DecoPerson 7y agoSo a photon emitted/reflected by some human weaving a basket may have just interacted with the Milky Way's supermassive black hole!
- bouncycastle 7y ago...and a gamma ray burst from some distant galaxy that will strike Earth sometime in the future causing a great catastrophy could have already happened while the human was putting on the finishing touches on the basket.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- JohnJamesRambo 7y agoI really like this thought.
- BurningFrog 7y agoYou might not be ready for this, but: The past is the only thing we can observe!
- lioeters 7y agoHmm, isn't the present the only thing we can observe? All the past we see is whatever effect left over now.
- ddingus 7y agoLatency between perception or measurement and reality insures we are always behind. The info has to take time to travel.
- bojo 7y agoWell, to be incredibly pedantic, it takes time for the light being reflected off of things to reach your eyes and be processed by your brain, so you are always observing the past even if it isn’t remotely perceivable :)
- lioeters 7y agoGood point, I did think about the latency after I posted the comment. (Apparently about 13ms between photons hitting the eyes and the brain recognizing it.) Would the statement stand if it were updated to say, "The (presentMoment - latency) is the only thing we can observe"? Perhaps "experience" instead of "observe" would have fit better - although, experience by definition is only in the present, otherwise it would be a memory. Then a counter argument might be: everything is memory, even the current moment being experienced. I suppose that sliver of "now" might be infinitesmal, approaching zero..
- kickopotomus 7y agoYeah but that's being rather disingenuous. 99.9% of the time, the time difference between when an event occurs and when we perceive it is negligible. In situations on the universal scale, it is incredible to know that no matter what, we will only be able to see the distant past (thousands to millions of years) for most other celestial bodies.
- bgeeek 7y agoAnd some of them fish that were around then are... well, still fish. Not sure I like the reference of humans in the example :)