[Andrew K Fletcher]

I believe that we have not even begun to appreciate what is out there. The universe is so vast that there are countless billions of planets out there with a person just like me typing this at exactly the same time on a naked scientists forum on another internet connection in another galaxy.

Andrew

[chimera]

quote:Originally posted by Andrew K Fletcher

a naked scientists forum on another internet connection in another galaxy.

I think they'll find that a registered name. What galaxy exactly were you refering to? We might have to send them a friendly email, or maybe not-so friendly if they persist.

Thanks for the heads-up, anyway.

The living are the dead on holiday.  -- Maurice de Maeterlinck (1862-1949)

[simeonie (OP)]

That is a really good question! The first 3 dimensions are length, width and bredth I think!

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[DoctorBeaver]

Should I point out that breadth & width are the same? The 3 Ds are length, depth & breadth[:p]

[chimera]

Dimensions here are a bit different: they are more like 'parameters', or 'dials' on a machine. They are what is always 'there' in your model. If you talk 3-d, it's indeed l,d & b that are ALWAYS there. And if you need to describe something that is moving, time - the 4th.

But in cosmological models or particles you are not in 3-d or 4-d  space at all. There the true constants, as shown in the previous link, keep 'popping up' in your models. You cannot avoid them, it seems, or do with less.

The living are the dead on holiday.  -- Maurice de Maeterlinck (1862-1949)

[DoctorBeaver]

I really wish chimera would stop doing that. It really addles my brain [V]

[chimera]

Hey who's got the degrees and the 183 or whatever IQ? You know ALL dimensions AND their possible values of cricket, which is nothing to be sniffed at, and this model with only 26 would have you stumped? I'm lost for words - figuratively []

The living are the dead on holiday.  -- Maurice de Maeterlinck (1862-1949)

[DoctorBeaver]

Having degrees doesn't make me smart. It just means I can focus & have a good memory. Oh... & that I'm good at bluffing!

[chimera]

Having mutilated my brain in such a way it will no longer accept cricket-related information does not mean I do not like games, poker is one of my old favs. Gosh, the body-language people exude without them ever knowing it. Psychologists dream, I'd say.

The living are the dead on holiday.  -- Maurice de Maeterlinck (1862-1949)

[DoctorBeaver]

A large part of the art of poker is being able to read body language whether you realise you're doing it or not. That & being able to give convincing false signals. I'm rubbish at it, I keep laughing at other people's antics when they're trying to bluff. They sit back trying to look so relaxed (sometimes a tad too relaxed), but watch the muscles at the side of the mouth - twitch, tic, twitch - finger-twiddling, looking at their shoes, smoothing their hair, rubbing their nose & all sorts of other stuff that any1 who knows their business can read a mile off

[chimera]

Realised last night that when two really good poker players' eyes meet over the table and they have sized each other up for what they are, the other players must be like the well-known 'zombies' from AI-discussions in their eyes,  people who are just going through the motions of the game, thinking they know all there is to know about it, but in fact are largely missing the point.

Kind of Poker Turing test.... []

The living are the dead on holiday.  -- Maurice de Maeterlinck (1862-1949)

[simeonie (OP)]

quote:And if there is an infinate amount of matter then there is an Infinate amount of Gravity which, surely, would cause the universe to collapse on itself

I know this is an old topic now but thinking about what Dean said (above) Why would there have to be an infinate amount of gravity and an infinate amount of matter, Space is a vacum and if there is no matter when you get REALLY far away from earth then there wouldn't be an infinate amount of matter and an infinate amount of gravity.

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http://www.simeonie.co.uk
has forums too!
Think about it! lolz

[rabeldin]

It turns out that

1) The observable universe has a finite diameter. It's just the farthest distance that light could travel since it all started. Anything beyond that is unobservable, so your guess is as good as mine.
2) The vacuum isn't empty at all. Stuff and anti-stuff keep popping out of it.
3) Infinity is a mathematical abstraction and doesn't really describe anything in the real  world.

R A Beldin,
Improbable Statistician

[simeonie (OP)]

maybe but what are we to know that when the distance gets further out than we can see maybe it is a TOTAL vacuum

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Think about it! lolz

[rabeldin]

quote:Originally posted by simeonie

maybe but what are we to know that when the distance gets further out than we can see maybe it is a TOTAL vacuum

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http://www.simeonie.co.uk [nofollow]
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The short answer is that we can't know about anything farther out. All we have are guesses.

It takes some effort to get used to the idea that there are questions we will never be able to answer.

R A Beldin,
Improbable Statistician

[DoctorBeaver]

Apparently it can be shown that statisticians are right 100% of the time! []

[simeonie (OP)]

I think the bottom line is that we will never know the answer to some of these questions until we die and go to heaven (some of us).
 As much as I would love to know now though

----------------------
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http://www.simeonie.co.uk
has forums too!
Think about it! lolz

[rabeldin]

quote:Originally posted by simeonie

I think the bottom line is that we will never know the answer to some of these questions until we die and go to heaven (some of us).
 As much as I would love to know now though

----------------------
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http://www.simeonie.co.uk [nofollow]
has forums too!
Think about it! lolz

And maybe not even then (assuming we do go somewhere when we die).

R A Beldin,
Improbable Statistician

[simeonie (OP)]

erm well when you go to heaven (if your going there) you will know everything

----------------------
-__- my website!!!!
http://www.simeonie.co.uk
has forums too!
Think about it! lolz

[Sandwalker]

If heaven exists then infinity exists!

Or is that to great a step of faith to take.

I remember at eight yrs of age arguing with my mum about the edge of the universe, she saying that there was nothing, and I say that nothing occupied a volume and was therefore something.

I do not think space has to be infinite, remember the balloon analogy, when we blow up the balloon the surface area increases but is still finite but unbounded in its two dimensions.

If we can raise this analogy up to 4 or more dimensions, it may mean that space may be unbounded but finite (and growing).

It may even be a singularity (consider the experience of the photon travelling at C) and what we perceive as dimensions is just that a perception of some change of parameter of said singularity.