5 ms·

Yeah, I'd be a lot more worried about that big ball of fire that scientists all agree will one day consume us.

garmaine 7y ago
Yeah, this'll rightly induce some anxiety! https://twitter.com/universal_sci/status/1217314288085479426 https://twitter.com/universal_sci/status/1217314288085479426
- m4rtink 7y ago
  Nothing a bit of stellar lifting can't fix. ;-)
hinkley 7y ago
The one I'm terrified of is the switch where the laws of physics all change at the speed of light. We will simply cease to exist and not even see it coming.
- fwip 7y ago
  Don't worry, we won't notice it either, if it does happen. :)
- garmaine 7y ago
  Nah you’d never see it coming and have no prior for believing in it, so not scary. What is scary: a super intelligence alien race enveloping all matter into Dyson swarms. You’d see stars shifting into uniform infrared emissions in an expanding sphere at nearly the speed of light. Suddenly the stars go dim... and then it reaches you.
  - crooked-v 7y ago
    Well, that gets into game theory stuff, though. For example, one could say that logically any aggressively expansive intelligent species on that scale should take the position of being friendly and supporting to lesser-advanced intelligent species by default, as a way to encourage other more-advanced species than them to take the same position. The real danger would be a super but unintelligent race doing the same (think "giant space ants"), since they wouldn't have philosophy department chairs.
    - Moodles 7y ago
      Why would that encourage any higher intelligence aliens to do the same?
      - crooked-v 7y ago
        If you're smart enough to think about it logically, you're probably also smart enough to realize there's always a bigger fish. The exception would be the fanatically oriented, as acting in opposition to logic is part of the basic premise.
        garmaine 7y ago
        A bigger fish would have already taken over the universe.
        crooked-v 7y ago
        The universe is really, really big.
    - gpderetta 7y ago
      Think Rorschach from Blindsight.
  - ssijak 7y ago
    I am a simple man, I am just afraid of sharks and box jellyfishes.
- prutschman 7y ago
  Have you read "Schild's Ladder" by Greg Egan?
  - Filligree 7y ago
    It's a great book. I might be the only person in the universe writing fanfiction of it, so I'm biased, but I think it's one of his best. Can't quite make myself claim it's better than Orthogonal.
- joshschreuder 7y ago
  Is this in reference to a particular named theory or just a random musing?
  - ben_w 7y ago
    Sounds like they’re referring to vacuum decay: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum
- foxrider 7y ago
  Ech, I'km ok with that, becauase we eouldn't really experince it. There are much grimmer things out there
- fungicide 7y ago
  Depends where it happens. The speed of light is quite slow relative to the size of the universe. So Higgs field collapse could happen a long way away and take millennia to reach us. Perhaps as the collapse propagates across the in universe it meets some huge energy event which pushes the Higgs field up again and rescues matter.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

Yeah, this'll rightly induce some anxiety! https://twitter.com/universal_sci/status/1217314288085479426 https://twitter.com/universal_sci/status/1217314288085479426

m4rtink 7y ago
Nothing a bit of stellar lifting can't fix. ;-)

hinkley 7y ago

The one I'm terrified of is the switch where the laws of physics all change at the speed of light. We will simply cease to exist and not even see it coming.

fwip 7y ago
Don't worry, we won't notice it either, if it does happen. :)
garmaine 7y ago
Nah you’d never see it coming and have no prior for believing in it, so not scary. What is scary: a super intelligence alien race enveloping all matter into Dyson swarms. You’d see stars shifting into uniform infrared emissions in an expanding sphere at nearly the speed of light. Suddenly the stars go dim... and then it reaches you.
- crooked-v 7y ago
  Well, that gets into game theory stuff, though. For example, one could say that logically any aggressively expansive intelligent species on that scale should take the position of being friendly and supporting to lesser-advanced intelligent species by default, as a way to encourage other more-advanced species than them to take the same position. The real danger would be a super but unintelligent race doing the same (think "giant space ants"), since they wouldn't have philosophy department chairs.
  - Moodles 7y ago
    Why would that encourage any higher intelligence aliens to do the same?
    - crooked-v 7y ago
      If you're smart enough to think about it logically, you're probably also smart enough to realize there's always a bigger fish. The exception would be the fanatically oriented, as acting in opposition to logic is part of the basic premise.
      - garmaine 7y ago
        A bigger fish would have already taken over the universe.
        crooked-v 7y ago
        The universe is really, really big.
  - gpderetta 7y ago
    Think Rorschach from Blindsight.
- ssijak 7y ago
  I am a simple man, I am just afraid of sharks and box jellyfishes.
prutschman 7y ago
Have you read "Schild's Ladder" by Greg Egan?
- Filligree 7y ago
  It's a great book. I might be the only person in the universe writing fanfiction of it, so I'm biased, but I think it's one of his best. Can't quite make myself claim it's better than Orthogonal.
joshschreuder 7y ago
Is this in reference to a particular named theory or just a random musing?
- ben_w 7y ago
  Sounds like they’re referring to vacuum decay: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum
foxrider 7y ago
Ech, I'km ok with that, becauase we eouldn't really experince it. There are much grimmer things out there
fungicide 7y ago
Depends where it happens. The speed of light is quite slow relative to the size of the universe. So Higgs field collapse could happen a long way away and take millennia to reach us. Perhaps as the collapse propagates across the in universe it meets some huge energy event which pushes the Higgs field up again and rescues matter.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]