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> Keep in mind that anything is possible if the Cosmological Principle turns out to be false, and if we can travel far enough to escape our local zone. This is

> Keep in mind that anything is possible if the Cosmological Principle turns out to be false, and if we can travel far enough to escape our local zone. This is... overly optimistic. To say the least, it depends on exactly which laws change with location, and how far. That is to say, we could conceivably know for a fact that the Cosmological Principle is false, but still know that there is nowhere in the universe that time travel is possible, or that it's impossible to prevent the end of the universe. The only way "everything is possible" is in the conditional sense that we don't know what's possible yet, but you don't need to invoke the CP for that at all.

Terr_ 2y ago
Alternately, we might discover that our "normal rules" don't rule everywhere, but that they will always rule us, because the rule-set is spreading at-or-above the speed of light while simultaneously preventing us from being able to exceed it P.S.: Even if we could... Don't cross the seams. It would be bad. Try to imagine all life as you it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light. Total protonic reversal.
- andrewflnr 2y ago
  Speaking of the dangers of going to other zones of physics, and related fiction: Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds has this concept where the different zones are all on Earth. So that's fun.
  - Terr_ 2y ago
    Also the the "Zones of Thought" from the eponymous Vernor Vinge series [0], where different regions permit (or hinder) levels of information theory and error-rates and intelligence. The "slow zone" of Earth permits biological intelligence, but curbs AI in a way that indirectly prevents FTL travel or communications. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep
- tEMporality7 2y ago
  > but that they will always rule us, because the rule-set is spreading at-or-above the speed of light while simultaneously preventing us from being able to exceed it The rule-set would essentially be a field, I guess?
- nonrandomstring 2y ago
  Hmm. In these sort of thought experiments it would seem a bit much to suppose that 100 light years from Earth there's a sign on the hyperspace freeway that says "Quantum Gravity Ends Here" or "c = 299792458m/s Please Drive Carefully". More like physical constants vary imperceptibly over vast distances. And, given this continuity if you built an instrument to measure stuff and took it to another zone it would show the same readings as everything else would adjust to allow it to exist and be observed. cool thread
- skissane 2y ago
  > Alternately, we might discover that our "normal rules" don't rule everywhere, but that they will always rule us, because the rule-set is spreading at-or-above the speed of light while simultaneously preventing us from being able to exceed it You don't even need to assume it is spreading. You just need to assume that it is locally true in our spacetime neighbourhood. Make that neighbourhood big enough – e.g. a googolplex parsecs by a googolplex years – and it is implausible we'd ever be able to escape it, even if its boundaries were completely static.

Terr_ 2y ago

Alternately, we might discover that our "normal rules" don't rule everywhere, but that they will always rule us, because the rule-set is spreading at-or-above the speed of light while simultaneously preventing us from being able to exceed it P.S.: Even if we could... Don't cross the seams. It would be bad. Try to imagine all life as you it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light. Total protonic reversal.

andrewflnr 2y ago
Speaking of the dangers of going to other zones of physics, and related fiction: Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds has this concept where the different zones are all on Earth. So that's fun.
- Terr_ 2y ago
  Also the the "Zones of Thought" from the eponymous Vernor Vinge series [0], where different regions permit (or hinder) levels of information theory and error-rates and intelligence. The "slow zone" of Earth permits biological intelligence, but curbs AI in a way that indirectly prevents FTL travel or communications. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep
tEMporality7 2y ago
> but that they will always rule us, because the rule-set is spreading at-or-above the speed of light while simultaneously preventing us from being able to exceed it The rule-set would essentially be a field, I guess?
nonrandomstring 2y ago
Hmm. In these sort of thought experiments it would seem a bit much to suppose that 100 light years from Earth there's a sign on the hyperspace freeway that says "Quantum Gravity Ends Here" or "c = 299792458m/s Please Drive Carefully". More like physical constants vary imperceptibly over vast distances. And, given this continuity if you built an instrument to measure stuff and took it to another zone it would show the same readings as everything else would adjust to allow it to exist and be observed. cool thread
skissane 2y ago
> Alternately, we might discover that our "normal rules" don't rule everywhere, but that they will always rule us, because the rule-set is spreading at-or-above the speed of light while simultaneously preventing us from being able to exceed it You don't even need to assume it is spreading. You just need to assume that it is locally true in our spacetime neighbourhood. Make that neighbourhood big enough – e.g. a googolplex parsecs by a googolplex years – and it is implausible we'd ever be able to escape it, even if its boundaries were completely static.