[Marados]

Quote:

Originally Posted by acidbasement /img/forum/go_quote.gif My favourite question is related to free will. Given the laws of thermodynamics, if all energy and matter was produced and set in motion by the Big Bang, then how can any of us have free will? Isn't everything that happens in the Universe an inevitable, however unlikely, consequence of that initial explosion of energy and matter? It's all just fallout, atoms bouncing off one another, however many billion years later.

This method of thought (sometimes called Determinism) is appealing, but once you study physics you realise that it's flawed.

It relies on the fact that cause = effect, which is true, but the world doesn't work entirely like that. Following this method of thought, nothing is random (because everything has a definite cause, therefor a definite effect), but radioactive decay and quantum interactions shows us that there is true randomness.

I don't know enough to talk about quantum interactions, but I'll gladly talk about radioactive decay and transmutation. Basically, when something is "radioactive", it's nucleus is unstable. There are three different types of radioactive decay:

Alpha, Beta, and Gamma decay.

These release various particles (or an electromagnetic wave in the case of Gamma), and the specifics are irrelevent for the what we're talking about (although really interesting; you should look up said decay just out of interest, things like Anti-Neutrinos are amazing and interesting in their own right).

Now, we've all heard of half-life, which is the expected duration of time for a particular collection of a particular radioactive particle to transmutate and decay. However, this function has a cut-off value - at a point, you simply cannot predict the estimated half-life of a particular element if there isn't enough of it. This is because when a particle decays is, in reality, completely random. And it's this phenomenon which disproves Determinism.

And as for the men and nipples thing? It's got to do with embryotic development. It's the same reason a clitoris and a penis are made of the same embryotic tissue.

 

[Al4x]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marvin /img/forum/go_quote.gif Pragmatic answer: Because doing so radically reduces your fitness. For caribou, there is very little incentive for individual healthy caribou to fight a predator. It's purely a personal cost benefit thing. Running away pretty much ensures that a healthy caribou herd member will survive. Staying back and fighting incurs a significant survival penalty. While a healthy caribou can defeat a wolf, it stands a high chance of receiving a wound that will dramatically lower it's fitness and thus odds of survival and mating possibilities. For group survival, this also works. It keeps the healthiest individuals away from crippling injury; weeds out the genetics of the lame, weak, and sickly; and increases the amount of forage available for each remaining healthy herd member. The same exact behavior is displayed during mass school shootings by the unarmed masses, with the occasional exception (see: Kip Kinkel). Resistance significantly increases group survival odds, but also dramatically reduces individual survival odds.

good answer, it happens with people all the time, you like to think your compassionate towards others, but when its serious youd run, if a lion got out of a zoo and enough people come together the one lion would loose but there would be casualties but everyone runs

we are very selfish really, like animals, which is what we are

only when theres no hope will people generally come together, like the hijacked plane that the passengers brought down, it was an amazing thing, but there was no win win situation and they realised that, and acted

 

[Al4x]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marados /img/forum/go_quote.gif This method of thought (sometimes called Determinism) is appealing, but once you study physics you realise that it's flawed. It relies on the fact that cause = effect, which is true, but the world doesn't work entirely like that. Following this method of thought, nothing is random (because everything has a definite cause, therefor a definite effect), but radioactive decay and quantum interactions shows us that there is true randomness. I don't know enough to talk about quantum interactions, but I'll gladly talk about radioactive decay and transmutation. Basically, when something is "radioactive", it's nucleus is unstable. There are three different types of radioactive decay: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma decay. These release various particles (or an electromagnetic wave in the case of Gamma), and the specifics are irrelevent for the what we're talking about (although really interesting; you should look up said decay just out of interest, things like Anti-Neutrinos are amazing and interesting in their own right). Now, we've all heard of half-life, which is the expected duration of time for a particular collection of a particular radioactive particle to transmutate and decay. However, this function has a cut-off value - at a point, you simply cannot predict the estimated half-life of a particular element if there isn't enough of it. This is because when a particle decays is, in reality, completely random. And it's this phenomenon which disproves Determinism. And as for the men and nipples thing? It's got to do with embryotic development. It's the same reason a clitoris and a penis are made of the same embryotic tissue.

i think about this alot, but i still think that if it all started again, exactly as it did before it would be exactly the same? but this may be flawed, it wuld be nice if it was testable some how

men and nipples probably fe=XX and mal=XY, cause when that goes wrong ie XXXYY etc all kinds of crazy stuff happens

 

[Marados]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al4x /img/forum/go_quote.gif i think about this alot, but i still think that if it all started again, exactly as it did before it would be exactly the same? but this may be flawed, it wuld be nice if it was testable some how

Yeah, it is flawed for the reasons I've described =p Basically, because there are random interactions, it wouldn't be the same, because chance does have an element. Also, if we want to apply chaos theory, we'll see that these minuscule changes and possibilities and interactions have profound effects on a system.

So, I suppose in theory it is possible for it to happen exactly the same, but it's not very likely at all.

 

[Al4x]

hmm, its hard for me to get my head around pure randomness, i think i may do a bit of reading around

quantum physics is at the limit for me, it actually gives me a head ache! fundemental particles, string theory etc

oh and the ever elusive graviton!

 

[nibiyabi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lazarus Short /img/forum/go_quote.gif did anyone go/not go to the Moon?

Is this a joke?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lazarus Short /img/forum/go_quote.gif did Atlantis exist, and if so, where?

Zero evidence and impossible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lazarus Short /img/forum/go_quote.gif crop circles - What?

Proven Hoax.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lazarus Short /img/forum/go_quote.gif Mothman - What??

Zero evidence and impossible.

That oughta crop your list of questions considerably.

 

[nibiyabi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecclesand /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why do men have nipples? What purpose do they serve other than to break up the space between our neck and belly button?

Females are the default sex -- a flood of testosterone in utero is what makes men become men. Before this flood of testosterone, the nipples have already developed.

 

[Marados]

Yeah, quantum isn't even worth bothering with unless you've got a degree in physics. It's a good idea to stick to chaos theory and radioactive decay if you want to grasp the concepts. But, like you said, pure randomness is, indeed, hard to get one's head around. No one knows why radioactive decay is random (to my knowledge), only that it is.

 

[Marados]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nibiyabi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is this a joke?

LOL, do you seriously think we went to the moon?

Do yourself a favour and look at Fake Moon Landings The moon landings are fake!

 

[arnoldsoccer4]

I have been thinking about this for a while. Voting, the individual vote really isn't important in the long run, but you have to get many individuals to vote to make a difference. What makes people vote?

 

[Lazarus Short]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nibiyabi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is this a joke? No, just massive mis-information and dis-information campaigns designed to cover some rather dark secrets. Zero evidence and impossible. Perhaps, but the search for Atlantis has yielded a lot. Proven Hoax. People have seen crop circles form - no hoax. Zero evidence and impossible. Zero? Impossible? Your universe is too small and neat. That oughta crop your list of questions considerably.

No, I have plenty of other questions...

Laz

 

[Computerpro3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by acidbasement /img/forum/go_quote.gif Given the laws of thermodynamics, if all energy and matter was produced and set in motion by the Big Bang, then how can any of us have free will? .

Matter couldn't have been produced by the big bang; some had to exist already in order for the big bang to happen, correct? They say that the universe was in a state of infinite temperature and density, but temperature and density are actually completely dependent on matter. There is no temperature without matter, if I remember correctly.

 

[Computerpro3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marados /img/forum/go_quote.gif LOL, do you seriously think we went to the moon? Do yourself a favour and look at Fake Moon Landings The moon landings are fake!

Do you seriously think we didn't?

Quote:

Conspiracy theorists insist that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax. These accusations flourish in part because predictions by enthusiasts that Moon landings would become commonplace have not yet come to pass. Some claims can be empirically discredited by three retroreflector arrays left on the Moon by Apollo 11, 14 and 15. Today, anyone on Earth with an appropriate laser and telescope system may bounce laser beams off these devices, verifying deployment of the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment at historically documented Apollo moon landing sites. In addition, close scrutiny of film footage of the EVAs shows clearly something that could not be replicated in an Earth sound-stage. Lunar dust kicked up by the astronauts and the Lunar Rovers shoots up quite high because of the low gravity, but settles just as rapidly as there is no air resistance. Watching this film footage, and comparing it to footage from the Tom Hanks miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon—which does show dust clouds resulting from the actors' spacesuits kicking up dust—shows this difference clearly.

 

[stevenkelby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marados /img/forum/go_quote.gif So, I suppose in theory it is possible for it to happen exactly the same, but it's not very likely at all.

Our whole existence is not very likely at all!

As for determinism, see sig for my thoughts.

 

[stevenkelby]

I have lots of unanswered questions, but less as I get older. Never slept as a child, too many unanswered questions!

If the earth stopped spinning, what effect would it have on our apparent weight, would we "weigh" less without the centripetal force? How much?

If a human was raised in an entirely non-human environment, say , alone in a self sufficient, sealed room, which human traits would they still exhibit at maturity?

Capitalism, Communism, Socialism. None really work IMO for various reasons but I haven't got any better ideas. If I had the power to decide, how would I handle it, what would I do! What would anyone do? Too hard.

Proton decay. Where do they go?

Moon rockets. Where do they go too?