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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
 Posted - 10/14/2001 : 00:20:04 [Permalink]
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Welcome Buffman.
"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith. I consider the capacity for it terrifying." ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. |
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ZaphodBeeblebrox
Skeptic Friend
USA
117 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2001 : 02:02:44 [Permalink]
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Without a Terrestrial Environment, from which an Intelligence could spring, time, at least in the Human Sense, probably couldn't be measured.
Time, in general, however, is very easily measured, by the Tick-Tick-Decay, of Radioactive Particles.
If you Ignore Your Rights, they WILL, go away. |
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ljbrs
SFN Regular
USA
842 Posts |
Posted - 10/25/2001 : 19:12:58 [Permalink]
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Slater:
There is no comparison that can be made between the measured acceleration of the universe with the non-measured thinking of the Greeks. These were measurements using great *standard candles* (Type 1a Supernovae) and ancient philosophy does not enter into this picture. The two groups of cosmologists involved (Supernova Cosmology Project and the High-Z SN Search Team) were expecting to find a decelerating universe and the measured acceleration knocked their socks off.
ljbrs  
*Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error.* Goethe |
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darwin alogos
SFN Regular
USA
532 Posts |
Posted - 10/26/2001 : 12:21:45 [Permalink]
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 I'M SURE PBS WILL USE OUR TAX DOLLARS TO GIVE US AN AUTHORTATIVE ANSWER TO YOUR POLL
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 10/26/2001 : 15:47:44 [Permalink]
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PBS does get some tax dollars, however, it is also supported by private organizations and donations. Evolution is about science, which PBS offers a lot of shows on the subject, in addition to religion, history, kids programming, and a slew of others - but all interesting stuff. Which happens to be refreshing for those of us who don't get cable.
"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith. I consider the capacity for it terrifying." ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. |
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Hat Monster
New Member
United Kingdom
16 Posts |
Posted - 11/01/2001 : 09:04:22 [Permalink]
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quote:
How would Time be computed without a sun?
Same as it is now. Caesium-133. |
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ljbrs
SFN Regular
USA
842 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2001 : 18:20:49 [Permalink]
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I know the answer. Before the Big Bang, it was the world standing on an elephant which, in turn, was standing on a tortoise. After that, it was *tortoises all the way down*. That is what the members of some Eastern religions believe. I suppose it is as good as an improper listing of the beginnings shown in the Bible (Old Testament) or in the Talmud, if you prefer.
I prefer the answers of science, because they are always subject to change whenever a better theory comes along.
ljbrs
*Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error.* Goethe |
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Lars_H
SFN Regular
Germany
630 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2002 : 10:57:37 [Permalink]
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I always thought that time was a property of our universe and came into being along with it.
Therefor the question sounds to me like asking 'what was before the beginning of time?'.
Even if there was some sort of meta structure 'outside' our universe that 'had'
time, it should not make any observasble difference towards us, should it?
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Badger
Skeptic Friend
Canada
257 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2002 : 16:41:40 [Permalink]
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I have two thoughts on this (BEWARE! Dimwit juggling 2 thoughts at the same time! This won't end well!)
First thought is that we preceive time because it is required for our existence. We don't preceive a 5th dimension because it isn't required for our existence. We are beings who REQUIRE time. Time is one of our basic building blocks. Along this line, perhaps in our own universe, there exist beings who are not time dependent. They can go any direction in time, as we can go any direction in space. Of course, their nature is much different than ours, as one of their building blocks is not the same as ours.
Second thought: I was boiling macaroni for the kids today, gazing into the pot at the mass of bubbles forming and frothing to the top. It'd be cool if they were individual universes, expanding, contracting, popping, each with its own set of laws of physics, and some with the same sets of laws. But just universes in a cosmic pot of macaroni for the kids.
The name's Joe. Joe Analogy.
I'm stumblin through the parking lot of an invisible 7-eleven. ZZ-Top |
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Espritch
Skeptic Friend
USA
284 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2002 : 22:56:24 [Permalink]
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If time started with the big bang and the universe continues expanding forever, does that mean time has a beginning but no end? That seems rather unsymmetric. Of course, given that time appears to move in only one direction, I guess it's already a rather unsymmetric subject.
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Igrokit
New Member
USA
28 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2002 : 21:51:19 [Permalink]
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I always liked the theory that Big Bang happend because nothingness is unstable.
If the universe expands forever until we have in effect nothingness again, perhaps this would result in a new Big Bang.
Of course this kind of thing is just total speculation. Still its fun.
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Boron10
Religion Moderator
USA
1266 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2002 : 22:09:40 [Permalink]
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I feel compelled to agree with Lars, here. It seems to me that, since time is an intrinsic property of our universe, the phrase "before the universe started" makes no sense. There was no "before," since time (apparently) came into being along with the universe.
-me. |
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