Explain the 3-Sphere to me.

[The Jackal]

We are aware of it, and the M.O. isn't, but it's still three dimensions.

Now I think I'm lost. haha

No, I think you nailed it pretty well. We comprehend far more than the MO simply due to our complexity and our capacity. But the theory posits that there is more than what we can comprehend going on as well

 

[Artifex]

Thinking like an engineer, I'd say the point at which the possibility of external dimensions becomes interesting is when we can start using that knowledge to plan for the future.

In order to plan around something, it must have predictable and consistent behaviour under known influences.

If an understanding cannot inform decision-making, either intuitively, or analytically, then I might question whether it is worth knowing.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

If an understanding cannot inform decision-making, either intuitively, or analytically, then I might question whether it is worth knowing.

You won't know if something is worth knowing until you know it.

 

[Tiki Tom]

A little ammo for those who argue that we exist in a computer simulation: Humanity is now taking baby steps towards building such simulations ourselves... “A team of astrophysicists has just spawned 8 million unique universes inside a supercomputer and let them evolve.”

https://www.livescience.com/universe-machine-probes-dark-matter.html

Says the scientist: "For me, the most exciting thing is that we now have a model where we can start to ask all of these questions in a framework that works," Wechsler said. "We have a model that is inexpensive enough computationally, that we can essentially calculate an entire universe in about a second. Then we can afford to do that millions of times and explore all of the parameter space."

Little does he know that simulated life is forming on some of those planets in those computer models. Bwaa ha ha!

 

[Tiki Tom]

“The pivotal role of observers in quantum theory is very curious. Is it possible that the human race has a cosmic purpose after all? Did the universe blossom into an untold number of realities, each containing billions of galaxies and vast oceans of emptiness between them, just to produce a few scattered communities of observers? Is the ultimate goal of the universe to observe its own splendor?”

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/can-science-rule-out-god/

In other words…

Are humans (and any other sentient beings that may be out there) the “consciousness of the universe”?

But, if so, where does consciousness come from?
Are you a materialist (Consciousness is an illusion caused by chemicals and firing synapsis in the cells of the brain. But materialists still don't know exactly how)?
Or are you a dualist (the soul and consciousness are somehow separate from, and more than, electricity applied to meat. But dualists don’t know how, what, or why)?

 

[Tiki Tom]

Thinking about the Big Bang, it always prompted in me the question "what happened before the big bang?"
To which my high school teacher memorably responded "there was no 'before'. The Big Bang created time itself, in the form of space-time." Which, of course, left me scratching my head.
An alternate view was once proposed that creation worked kind of like a yoyo: 1) Big Bang, 2) expansion, 3) slowing and then contraction, 4) new super density, 5) New Big Bang. And the cycle repeated itself forever and for always. This is the Big Bounce theory.
But then scientific data seemed to suggest that the universe's expansion is accelerating not slowing. They are not sure why. something to do with dark energy, whatever that is. So the big bounce theory was thrown out the window.
Now it seems that, maybe, the big bounce theory might be returning.

https://www.livescience.com/what-came-before-big-bang.html

I always kinda liked the big bounce theory. It somehow seemed elegant and balanced. Of course, I realise it only pushes the ultimate questions farther back; what created/started the cycle? When? Why? (It is turtles, all the way down!)

Sorry. During this social-distancing period, I find myself spending too much time contemplating the nature of the universe and of reality, and too little time doing the dishes and cleaning the bathroom.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A little ammo for those who argue that we exist in a computer simulation...

"Computer. End program!"

 

[Harp]

“The pivotal role of observers in quantum theory is very curious. Is it possible that the human race has a cosmic purpose after all? Did the universe blossom into an untold number of realities, each containing billions of galaxies and vast oceans of emptiness between them, just to produce a few scattered communities of observers? Is the ultimate goal of the universe to observe its own splendor?”

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/can-science-rule-out-god/

In other words…

Are humans (and any other sentient beings that may be out there) the “consciousness of the universe”?

But, if so, where does consciousness come from?
Are you a materialist (Consciousness is an illusion caused by chemicals and firing synapsis in the cells of the brain. But materialists still don't know exactly how)?
Or are you a dualist (the soul and consciousness are somehow separate from, and more than, electricity applied to meat. But dualists don’t know how, what, or why)?

Where is Lucretius when you need him; or Plato for that matter?
Cicero downplayed the poet; Spinoza generalized divinity to such extent that favor prevailed.
Philosophy becomes theological, speculative, bewildered; almost lost amidst majesty.
The preternatural quality of human life at conception-contested; though increasing limited gestation
and fetal viability recognized incrementally in law; but how does a microscopic drop compare to creation?
And current viral mystery only compounds our ignorance. And our wonder.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

“The pivotal role of observers in quantum theory is very curious. Is it possible that the human race has a cosmic purpose after all? Did the universe blossom into an untold number of realities, each containing billions of galaxies and vast oceans of emptiness between them, just to produce a few scattered communities of observers? Is the ultimate goal of the universe to observe its own splendor?”

In other words…

Are humans (and any other sentient beings that may be out there) the “consciousness of the universe”?

The universe created man to witness it's greatness ? In other words, the universe is God.
Nah, everything is far too random for there to be any purpose or reason behind both the universe & life on earth or elsewhere. Besides, waiting nearly 14 billion years for the emergence of a beast capable of contemplating with wonder your glory & then putting all your hopes on those animals being able to formulate theories & create technology, sufficently advanced to be able to understand just what they are supposed to be admiring......sounds like bad planning to me.
Humans just cannot accept that they have no role in the great scheme of things & that they exist by pure chance because an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs.

 

[GHT]

A little ammo for those who argue that we exist in a computer simulation: Humanity is now taking baby steps towards building such simulations ourselves... “A team of astrophysicists has just spawned 8 million unique universes inside a supercomputer and let them evolve.”

Now I need to go and lay down in a dark room. When I was at school I learned that the Latin number, unus, from which The English language derived the prefix uni, meant: One. Now a team of astrophysicists have produced eight million "ones." Is that the best ever oxymoron or should there be a renaming to: "Multiverse?"

 

[GHT]

“For thousands of years, men had asked themselves whether the universe was infinite, or had a limit.

I worry about infinity, I mean, where does it all end?

 

[Tiki Tom]

Longer than always
Is a long, long time.
But far beyond forever,
You'll be mine.

---Bobby Darin​

 

[Benny Holiday]

The 'big bang' concept is internally inconsistent and riddled with unsolvable conundrums. No.known force in physics could cause the expansion of the universe as we know it from a subatomic singularity or bring about continuous inflation. Observations by astronomers of the quantization of red shift - that is the degree to which light from distant stars and galaxies shifts to the red side of the spectrum - fall into packets, or quanta. Such a phenomenon as a big bang should show a reasonably even distribution of stars and galaxies, but instead red shift measurements of star distances show galaxies in clusters and groups.

As Prof of Physics at University of California San Diego Geoffrey Burbridge stated in Scientific American in February 1992: "Big bang cosmology is probably as widely believed as any theory of the universe in the history of Western civilization. It rests, however, on many untested, and in many cases untestable assumptions. Indeed, big bang cosmology has become a bandwagon of thought that reflects faith as much as objective truth."

 

[Harp]

The 'big bang' concept is internally inconsistent and riddled with unsolvable conundrums. No.known force in physics could cause the expansion of the universe as we know it from a subatomic singularity or bring about continuous inflation...." Indeed, big bang cosmology has become a bandwagon of thought that reflects faith as much as objective truth."

Cartesian divine proofs define subsequent scientific agnosticism and doubt against universal structured order.
And lay boundary to mere human intelligence.

 

[Harp]

No.known force in physics could cause the expansion of the universe as we know it from a subatomic singularity or bring about continuous inflation.

The Unites States Treasury Department.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

No.known force in physics could cause the expansion of the universe as we know it from a subatomic singularity or bring about continuous inflation.

Until the boffins came up with dark energy which supposedly, makes up 68% of the universe.(along with dark matter 27% they make up 95% of the universe) It can't be observed & it can't be measured but it's out there apparently, responsable for the accelerating expansion of the universe.
It's funny how they can be so precise with the percentages when they don't even know what it is.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Until the boffins came up with dark energy which supposedly, makes up 68% of the universe.(along with dark matter 27% they make up 95% of the universe)....

I’m with you on that, L&M. The concept of assuming that dark energy and dark matter exist because our tiny brains need them to exist, makes me want to be very cautious about buying into that proposition. Not saying it couldn’t be true, but maybe humanity needs a little more evidence than that derived from Sheldon scribbling equations on a chalkboard.

Similarly, for sometime now scientists have speculated that, based on the strange movements of some identified space debris, there must be a very large undiscovered 9th planet far out beyond Pluto. But, so far, no one has been able to locate it. Sooooo... when reality doesn’t seem to want to match your theory, what do you do? Tweak your theory to make it even more fantastic! Now these boffins (love the term!) speculate that instead of a giant planet, what is actually circling our sun far beyond Pluto is... wait for it.... a tiny black hole! As small as a baseball!

https://astronomy.com/news/2019/10/planet-nine-may-be-a-black-hole-the-size-of-a-baseball

And they wonder why some of us are sitting on the fence regarding the existence of dark energy.

 

[Benny Holiday]

I'm with you guys, there are a lot if fudge factors being invoked there.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Just like they used to say about a pandemic sweeping the globe, an asteroid strike is not a matter of "if" but "when". This asteroid unexpectedly came within 750 miles of one of our geostationary satellites. In space terms, that is a close shave indeed. It ranks among the 50 closest asteroid passes ever recorded. Fortunately the asteroid was on the small side (26 feet). What is disconcerting is that a previously unknown space rock seems to fly by every few months. ...although usually not so close. On the brighter side, an international network of telescopes does seem to be watching for them. From today's news:

https://scitechdaily.com/surprise-a...ng-path-of-satellites-in-geostationary-orbit/

Holy cow. Look at this one from last summer. “It would have gone off like a very large nuclear weapon.” And it was also "nearby":

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...earth-scientists-almost-didnt-detect-it-time/

As noted, we are not talking "if" but "when". There. The Coronavirus now doesn't seem so bad, does it?

 

[Lean'n'mean]

As noted, we are not talking "if" but "when". There. The Coronavirus now doesn't seem so bad, does it?

The COVID-19 is just a flea bite compared to what's coming.