Gee Whillickers

Are they more afraid that things haven't always been this way, or that things will change, won't be the same in the future? Animals evolve, plants evolve, the earth's tectonic plates will move and shift the continents around until in another few million years we will once again have one massive supercontinent. Climate changes, even in the relatively short term. Even us too, people, Homo Sapiens, we too, much to the surprise of creationists, are evolving. We never stopped. Indeed, despite (or maybe because of) advances in medical care keeping people alive to procreate that wouldn't have been along long ago, genetic evidence strongly shows that our species is evolving faster than ever before. Where will that lead us? Who knows, depends on what various factors and pressures result in who gets that slight 1/10 of a percent advantage in sending their genes along. Doesn't take long after that. An example: there is a genetic mutation, in humans, that is linked to the X chromosome. This random mutation, which due to gene expression occurs only in females, makes those people lucky enough to have it able to see millions more colours than the average person can see. They can differentiate between colours that look identical to you and me. Interestingly, most of these women don't know they have this ability, and are surprised to learn that others can't see the colours they can. Also interestingly, many, many of these people are involved in careers related to graphics, design, decorating, and the like. Will this gene eventually become dominant? Who knows? But that's one small example. This stuff is happening all the time. We're not some finished product, we're just a point on the line. So much to learn. So much to understand. So many mysteries and awe-inspiring ah-ha moments. Why anyone would want to believe that they had it all figured out in the bronze age is completely beyond me.

I agree with everything The Pecman said in the last couple of posts. Of course there's a place for religion in schools. It's called Religious Studies class. There's a place for science too, that's called Science Class. When they start letting us teach science in their religion classes, and in their churches, then it would be the beginning of a dialogue about the reverse (though I still wouldn't agree with either one), but of course that won't happen. Of course, in public schools that have Religious Studies classes, all religions should and must be given equal time. Anything else is biased. Fundamentalists of any religion need to understand this this simple and quite obvious idea. I too have no problem at all with people who are religious. I don't pretend to know it all, and there are some mighty strange things going out out there that make any sane person wonder. But any given person's freedom of religion ends at the exact moment it starts to attempt to impose unsubstantiated and unevidenced behaviour, expectations, and limits on me.

Actor Johnny Galecki (Big Bang Theory, Roseanne, among others) answers interviewer's question about his response to the rumors that he's gay:

This is actually a bit of a hot issue here right now. The Canadian government is under a fair bit of heat for allegedly ignoring, dismissing, and most importantly, attempting to manipulate and censor the findings of scientists when these findings go against their political agenda. Fortunately, we're starting to see some public awareness of this issue along with some hopefully effective backlash.

Sorry. I'm allergic to slime-mold. Besides, I'm pretty sure it Lugnutz's turn.

Not only super fast, but one of the big advantages to tiny components like these is they use less power and generate less waste heat. Better for the environment, both in materials to manufacture and in use during lifetime as well as disposal at end-of-life. Also, because they use less power, it's easier to use them for portable devices with reasonable battery life. On another note: Australia has physicists?! I thought they were all just hot young surfer studs or Crocodile Dundee types. Or are they also physicists in their spare time?

Very interesting discussion, both on more details of the technical side of movie projection than I ever knew, as well as the over-arching theme. I agree with everything you're saying here, Des. That's it exactly. One of the best known examples of what you're saying is Newtonian physics. Newton figured out, hundreds of years ago, how bodies in space affected each other due to their motion and gravity, thus being able to predict with incredible accuracy where any given object would be days, months, years, or centuries from now. We now know this wasn't exactly accurate. It was only a very small part of what is going on, and Newton's "billiard balls" theory was just a glimpse. However, it was a useful glimpse. A powerful glimpse. So powerful that we use his math today to figure out how to launch space probes across the solar system to other planets and moons. Just because he didn't have the whole picture didn't invalidate what he was doing. And, if we did find out parts were wrong, that's okay too. We'd use what we know worked, compare it to what didn't, and try and figure out where the problem was. As soon as we rest on our laurels, we're finished. As soon as we think we "get it." That we know it all, that we've figured it all out, we're doomed. As a species, but also, I believe, as an individual. Life is learning. When we close our minds to that we have, in many ways, simply stopped living.

The fascinating part of being human though is that we can see beyond what we can see. Chris, you said, "most of our science is based only upon what we can see, and the rest is theoretical." Luckily for us, this isn't actually true, and evidenced by the fact that every time we flick a light switch we're pretty confident the light will turn on (unless the bulb is burnt out or whatever). Nobody can see electricity. But, thanks to inferred evidence, understanding of principles, and direct application of theoretical knowledge, we built this amazing infrastructure that works very, very well the vast majority of the time. We have a couple of advantages that lets us learn things beyond those directly perceptible to our basic senses. The first one is, quite simply, math. Math is everything. It describes the universe. It's the universal language. Most of the really wild ideas in theoretical physics start out as nothing more than equations on a chalkboard before we start to see the real-world implications of those equations. Why are we lucky enough (at least some people) to be good at math as a species? Because it gave us a real nice survival advantage. People who could count and see and understand complex patterns, and use them to predict outcomes, could suddenly do wonderful things like figure out when to plant a seed in spring so there'd be food in the fall. The second advantage is symbolic communication. Many species communicate. Most can only communicate concepts immediately tangible and present. We can communicate ideas, things intangible. Again, this gave us a decided survival advantage, like planning a hunt before we even saw any animals. Now, however, we can use those two traits, combine them, and create something much, much larger. An ability to understand concepts and ideas far, far beyond what our ancestors ever dreamed of. You're right, we're barely smart enough to see. But the astounding thing is that we are. We're just over the hump. Just enough. In absolute terms, from the intelligence of, say, an amoeba to the intelligence of humans, we're really only a couple percentage points above a chimpanzee (excluding most politicians, who are no doubt several percentage points below). But oh, what that two percent has allowed us to accomplish. Imagine if we, (or another species, alien or not) were to become a percent or two smarter. What would happen then? Theoretical doesn't mean intangible. It doesn't mean "guess" and it doesn't mean inapplicable to the real world. It means "knowledge of the whole," knowledge of the patterns, relationships, and, most important, the math the describes some area of knowledge. The theory of the internal combustion engine is still a "theory." That doesn't mean it isn't true. Cars work. In many sports, the players have to sit through boring chalk-talk about "theory" before they get out and practice. The coach knows though that the theory underlies everything else. So, yes, while we're very limited in what we can do with our minds and what we can see beyond the earth, what little filters through gives us amazing glimpses of the whole. Then smart people can start to put together patterns, and figure out what must be going on, and the rest of us can be amazed. Anyway, sorry for the long-winded rant. I got on a bit of a roll....

You're trying to cram your idea of what space is into what it isn't, that's why this is so difficult. You're correct. The expansion is, essentially, creating new space. However, there is no logical fallacy here, no contradiction, and no problem with the laws of physics. The idea that there needs to be something for it to expand into is the problem. That assumption contains the implicit idea that space exists outside of space for that new space to expand into. It doesn't. All of space is all of space. There isn't anything else (aside from possible multi-dimensional other universes as posited by quantum and string theory). Since there isn't anything else, there's no issue with needing "room" for space to expand into. It just is. It expands. It's like this: We have evolved to understand how objects, space, time, etc, work in a very limited way. Simply because that's all we've needed to survive. Our very idea of time and space is essentially barely enough to keep us alive on the African Savannah and out of the way of Sabre Toothed Tigers. So when we learn there's more to the world than that, we naturally attempt to extend our assumptions of how everything works into that world. Unfortunately, we're wrong. It doesn't work like that. Even worse, since we didn't evolve a need to really "see" it fundamentally, it's really hard to wrap our heads around the idea. It's very much like trying to explain colour to someone blind from birth. We just don't have the right experiences. But, through the use of analogy, thought experiments, and rough approximations one is able to start to get an idea of how all this fits together. It's truly astounding, amazing, and mind-blowing stuff.

The purpose, as I understand it, of the use of the earth's orbit was simply that of an anology, and in my opinion a poor one, of the writer of the article. You're correct Des, the galaxy itself spins, and the cluster of galaxies we're in has it's own motion relative to the universe, and on and on. In fact, it's important to remember that space itself is expanding. Now, this takes some mental effort to wrap your head around. When you hear about how the universe is expanding, it's not just that galaxies are moving away from each other through space, it's that space itself is expanding, becoming larger. There's a whole host of relativistic effects that come from this, because while all of these objects such as stars and galaxies are moving relative to each other in space, since space itself is also expanding, it means, for example, there will come a time when light from one end of the universe simply will not reach the other end, then eventually galaxies will be so far apart from each other that the effect will be as if they are traveling faster than light. They will be invisible to any poor onlookers in any given place. They will be truly, in every way it is possible to understand, completely alone. They will have no way at all to ever understand that those far flung galaxies even exist. Now put this in reverse. Here we are, looking out at our galaxy, and ones beyond it. What if....

Yeah, this topic kinda fell flat here. But, the idea of it really intrigues me, partly because of the implications in the structure of the universe and how it challenges our assumptions about how things should work, and honestly also because there's a lot of fodder for story ideas in there.

Just as crystals are repeating patterns of atoms through space, a theoretical physicist has discovered that the same thing may be happening, or could happen, through the fourth dimension (time). An object that essentially loops repeatedly through time. The implications of this idea are, of course, astounding. I call dibs on the story idea. Here's the link: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/338500/title/Crystals_may_be_possible_in_time_as_well_as_space

As many of you know, I love stories with a twist, and this one provided that in spades. Very well done, The anxiety the protagonist goes through, tempered with his so-realistic minor frustrations at his dad's pet names for him was just perfectly done. Thanks.

Excellent story, perfectly titled and with a surprising and yet perfectly appropriate backdrop to the events. Thanks for the story and reminder that family is what we create more than what we're born into.

A wonderfully written and so very English story. Somehow, even the sex scenes were dripping (ahem) with British culture. So very well done. I wanted to say it's one of Camy's best stories, but that wouldn't really be accurate, now would it? Since every story is superlative it becomes a bit redundant to try and compare them with each other. Thanks.

Wow, when the scene started describing the character's mood, the gun, and the church, I had a real reaction that had me gripping the arms of my chair much harder than I probably should. Of course, as I should have known it would, the outcome was positive. Though I cried a little inside at the burning of three perfectly good cheeseburgers.

Beautiful short story, proving once again the huge feelings don't have to come from a huge, lengthy story. Sometimes the reverse is true instead. I had to laugh reading this, because I well remember being the victim of these exact same family drives when I was a lad, usually tempered by stops to allow my little sister to recover from being carsick. Oh, the joy.

I came here to write my thoughts on this very modern story, only to see Cole's post above and realize that as usual he said it far better than I ever could. The thing that really hit me with this story is the feeling, the tone of optimism and positive expectations throughout. A real feel-good story of people who know that despite the challenges the world is becoming a better place. Thanks!

I don't know if I laughed harder at reading a story beginning with, "It was a dark and stormy night," or because the character only knew the line from a Peanuts cartoon. Well done! And, more importantly, this was a great story. The symbolism of the typewriter really stood out for me. Borrowing anything from Dickens simply can't be a bad move, let's be honest here. This was a great tale of difficult choices and possible difficult outcomes, leading to the only true courage: doing something incredibly scary even though he was scared witless about the possible outcome.

Wow! There's not much more I can add to that, really. Not anything that will do justice to this great, incredible, creative, and surprising list of stories. I've read all of them now, and I must say that you've outdone yourselves. My evil plan to forcibly extract written words-in-a-row from my favorite internet authors has been proven diabolically successful! Waa-haa-haa-haa! Now for my next evil plot....

Absolutely incredible story. Like has already been mentioned, I was caught up in the characters and environment almost immediately. The story was captivating, heart-rending, entertaining, and just plain good. Now, onto the rest of them...

Mmmm. Green Beer. Actually, I'm not all that picky. Mmmm. Beer. Of any colour.

And he has to pick up his books and papers and stuff. 'Cause he's tired of tying his shoelaces. Or something. And yeah. It's an awesome story. Go. Read it. Then report back.

I emailed my appreciation for this story to Bi_Janus, but you're right. It deserves a more public accolade. Excellent story, great characters, and a wonderful, rich environment for them to work with. Thanks for writing it and sharing it with us.

I really loved this story. Thanks, and I too will be greedily looking for part II.