GP's science thread

[KrazyHorse]

HE thy does attract that sort, but it also attracts really smart people.

[bipolarbear]

The thing that I both love and hate about theoretical physics is all of the stuff that they imply. Things like time travel through worm holes and all sorts of other crap. Like I love the sense of wonder and awe that comes with thinking that kind of stuff is possible, but I'd say that we're no closer to time travel than we were 50 years ago.

I guess it just pulls me out of reality and its nice but I always end up back where I was. I'm in a place where time travel and all those other cool things aren't possible.

That's the way lots of things are, they just let you let yourself dream a little deeper in reality. Essentially that's what a lottery ticket does. People pay to dream. And then as they continue buying, they have to buy more and more to keep believing on that same level that it is possible to win all that cash. Call me but I think its really weird that people are paying to dream.

Which, to sort of drag this back on topic, always makes me wonder how much VR would cost if it were ever successfully invented.

Really though that depends on what kid of VR we're talking about. Holodeck or something similar to total recall where they by pass the body and hit your brain.

Part of me wants to believe that it would follow the same tech thing and begin really expensive and from there go to increasingly cheap. Though again a lot of this depends on the quality and type of VR in question.

I think people would pay more for a holodeck experiecne than they would for the Total Recall implanted memory experience. Though I am always left wondering what the rpice would be if it was a sustained lucid state like in Vanilla Sky.

I think that would be 2nd most expensive.

Would these ever become home electronics devices? (wouldn't that be weird if all of a sudden reality dissolved and this was a VR sim you were testing at Circiut City?)

Clearly with the poularity of pornography on the interent any simulated reality experience in which the user could control it would have an amazing demand for at home use(oh god the furry poop fetish fantasies ). But there is much more money to be made if it is as a subscription service. Want proof? WoW.

If we ever got VR to the point where the entire experience could happen in a manner of minutes but seem much longer (as in a lucid state) though still be interactive with other humans, then Congress would have plenty of time to go ever every bill and piece of legislation in excruciating detail. Also we might be able to run a semi reliable nation sim so we could test how a new law might effect the world. (See what I'm saying about theoretical stuff? A week from now life isn't going to have the glimmer that comes with "What if...?")


sorry to rant I jsut think a lot about the possibilities of VR (and the pr0n )

[Jon Miller]

Oh, I agree

JM
(this is in response to KH, not to the post just above mine)

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
On the other hand, the promised atomic-powered toasters and flying cars are still not feasible.

What about atomic powered flying toasters?

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Vince278
So if we carry that to its logical conclusion maximum gravity equals maximum entropy.

Hmm... no.

[bipolarbear]

Isn't a microwave close enough to an atomic toaster? Jeez! Some people are so picky.

[Vince278]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Hmm... no.

Hmm... which part?

[Vince278]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
I'm always ready with a physics ***** slap whenever nonphysicists talk a big game.

Don't know what we'd do without you.

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by TCO
GEN?

Sorry, check out the currently running experiment in Hall A at Jefferson Lab (www.jlab.org).

Basically it is a measurement of the Electric Form Factor of the Neutron. A while back (later 90s) they discovered that the Proton form factors was different than they had thought (based upon models based upon this one measurement technique), and so they have been measuring the nucleons form factors in the hope of better understanding. Currently the best measurement (and the highest energy/momentum measurement) is at Q^2 ~ 1.5 GeV. We are measuring at 1.5 GeV, 2.5 Gev, and 3.5 GeV.

You can basically rewrite the normal form factors (F1 and F2 in standard texts) as the Electric and Magnetic Form Factors.

This will increase our understanding of the quark structure of the nucleon (in general) and the neutron (in particular).

Jon Miller

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Vince278
So if we carry that to its logical conclusion maximum gravity equals maximum entropy.

The problem is that you are making grand statements without understanding what is going on.

One of the things Hawking (the favorite of armchair physicists everywhere) is known for, is that blackholes radiate. This means that blackholes 'evaporate' (and aren't really black, more red..).

Jon Miller

[Vince278]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
The problem is that you are making grand statements without understanding what is going on.

Awfully arrogant to presume the level of understanding of someone you don't know.

Originally posted by Jon Miller
One of the things Hawking (the favorite of armchair physicists everywhere) is known for, is that blackholes radiate. This means that blackholes 'evaporate' (and aren't really black, more red..).

I'm sure most people understand Hawking radiation by now (or can google it and sound smart). I was making one of those "grand statements" noting that black holes represent maximum entropy. Now, if you are saying that the reduction of black holes by Hawking radiation also reduces entropy then we may have an interesting discussion.

[Ecthy]

I'm sorry guys, but physics can't explain ****. What meaning do some electrons and quarks have for the functioning of the world as a whole. Man should put his reources int osolving real problems rather than some subatomic stuff. I'm fine with basic research in general, but I think that nowadays too much energy is directed into thsi field.

Interhuman and international relations are where exploration should go. This is where our efforts should be projected, not some semi-philosophical cosmic models which say nothing about the world we live in.

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Vince278


Awfully arrogant to presume the level of understanding of someone you don't know.



I'm sure most people understand Hawking radiation by now (or can google it and sound smart). I was making one of those "grand statements" noting that black holes represent maximum entropy. Now, if you are saying that the reduction of black holes by Hawking radiation also reduces entropy then we may have an interesting discussion.

It is merely based upon your posts, I could be wrong.

And you are mixing up (I think) local entropy with 'global' entropy. So no, I am not saying that the reduction of black holes by Hawking radiation reduces net entropy.

I admit that I don't know much about GR, but I do know to back off from making grand statements about things I don't understand well.

Jon Miller

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Ecthy
I'm sorry guys, but physics can't explain ****. What meaning do some electrons and quarks have for the functioning of the world as a whole. Man should put his reources int osolving real problems rather than some subatomic stuff. I'm fine with basic research in general, but I think that nowadays too much energy is directed into thsi field.

Interhuman and international relations are where exploration should go. This is where our efforts should be projected, not some semi-philosophical cosmic models which say nothing about the world we live in.

Computers, radio, light.... Almost everything we have today, is directly or indirectly a product of our understanding of the electron.

Now I agree, high energy physics doesn't appear like it will ever lead to 'useful' products... but who am I or you to say that that will be the case? Also, the gain of understanding of the universe is valuable of itself.

JM

[Ecthy]

As I have said, I'm fine with physics and basic research, I just think some of you guys should worry more about other matters of life.

Also, who needs the radio or computers if there's still so much poverty and suffering in the world