Going to see Professor Brian Cox tonight...

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JeffKeryk

JeffKeryk

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"What is the nature of space and time? Why does the Universe exist? How did life begin, how rare might it be and what is the significance of life in the Cosmos? What does it mean to live a small, finite life in a vast, eternal Universe?

The deepest of questions will be explored using the latest advances in our understanding of quantum theory, black holes, biology, planetary science, astronomy and cosmology. Using state-of-the-art LED screen technology, venues on the tour will be filled with images of faraway galaxies, alien worlds, supermassive black holes and a time before the Big Bang."

Thing is, the Warrior Celtic game 6 is on as well. We bought the tickets to Horizons: A 21st Century Space Odyssey a few months back. Gonna record the game and keep my cell on to watch the score...
Steph gonna Steph. 2 way Wiggs. Game 6 Klay. Loon. Can Dray not get kicked out? It's a Poole party! And GP2 for the win!
Stuff happens...
 
@stormgol Animations from simulations are cute but prove nothing and are mainly fantasy:

"...Whether the subject matter is as fundamental as time and space, or something more mundane, astronomical observations can never by themselves be used prove ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ a physical theory. This is because we live in only one Universe - the indispensable ‘control experiment’ is not available..."

"...Hence the promise of using the Universe as a physics laboratory from which new incorruptible physical laws may be established without the support of laboratory experiments is preposterous..."

"...Cosmologists only know how to use ‘unknowns’ to explain ‘unknowns’ (and hence are not really astrophysicists). In mainstream physics new postulates are sometimes made to help account for unexpected phenomena found in the laboratory, but the Universe is not a laboratory because one crucial fundamental criterion: the need for control experiments, cannot be met..."

"...Cosmologists should not pretend to be mainstream physicists, because there is only one irreproducible Universe and control experiments are impossible. The claim to overwhelming evidence in support of dark energy and dark matter is an act of exaggeration which involves heavy selection of evidence and an inconsiderate attitude towards alternative models with fewer (or no) dark components. When all evidence are taken into account, it is by no means clear that ΛCDM wins by such leaps and bounds..."

Richard Lieu, DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR, PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY, retrieved from, https://arxiv.org/pdf/0705.2462.pdf

ΛCDM = cold dark matter cosmology with a non-zero cosmological constant, that also involves a rapid Inflation stage to smooth out the clumpiness of the early density variations and solve numerous other problems, including the lack of monopoles etc.

CMB = cosmic microwave background radiation.

The speeds of gases (and stars) in the outer regions of the disk in spiral galaxies are inferred from Doppler line redshifts or blueshifts and they don’t obey Keplarian motion as predicted by Newton’s law of gravitation.

SZE = Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect is the result of high energy electrons distorting the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) through inverse Compton scattering, in which some of the energy of the electrons is transferred to the low energy CMB photons.

While it is common to cite verified predictions as ‘proof’ of a scientific law, scientists often commit a basic logical fallacy called, affirming the consequent. First of all, using a supposedly verified prediction as proof of a theory commits this basic logical fallacy; for example, some of the alleged predictions were known before the big bang, so were not predictions at all.
 
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JeffKeryk said:
"What is the nature of space and time? Why does the Universe exist? How did life begin, how rare might it be and what is the significance of life in the Cosmos? What does it mean to live a small, finite life in a vast, eternal Universe?
Click to expand...
Just watch Prometheus. :alien::LOL:
 
Jeff, BUT can he answer what a "woman" is? and I'm wondering how, with all my risky behaviors in my formidable years, I've not been able to get pregnant?

Seriously, just some nonsense jokes here. Joking aside, after reading as much Stephen Hawking as I could get my hands on! Love it. Certain individuals can put complex thoughts into very understandable terms. Almost as jealous over the Celtics tanking and Warriors winning. Enjoy it!
 
Professor Cox's lecture was incredible.
Understanding how small we are in comparison to just our own galaxy (our sun in one of 200 billion, maybe 400 billion, stars in our Milky Way Galaxy; astronomers have already discovered more than 3,200 other stars with planets orbiting them).

Understanding just how important we are, as complex, thinking organisms. The Mars Rover Perservance is about to dig into a dried up lake with the goal of putting this dirt into Mars' orbit; we will send another vessel up to try and bring one or more packages back to earth. I think this is expected in the 2030's... It is possible that a simple, carbon based organism lived on Mars, but scientists do not believe it could be much more than a simple, single cell organism. On earth we evolved into higly complex organisms capable of thought. It is possible we are the only ones. Our knowledge, books, etc are of the utmost importance.

Perservance has its own pet rock...
Pet Rock.jpg


So much fascinating science is being worked on right now.
I could go on and on. So much to unpack.
Horizons: A 21st Century Space Odyssey is highly recommended. @Trav this is for you...
 
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