Curious layman

On 6/17/2019 at 12:35 PM, swansont said:

Unless you can go and "mine" antimatter (e.g. positrons from a radioactive decay), it's not an energy source. It's more like a battery — energy storage. You have to put energy in to create it, and the ways we do that are really inefficient.

Apparently a photon rocket is the most promising engine for interstellar flight.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon_rocket

Change how? Personally or scientifically? 

Thats very confusing btw, like a tongue twister. 

Personally yes. If I hadn't changed I would be still be a arragont idiot, like I was in school. I change all the time. My views on certain subjects have been right wing all the way to left wing (in the middle now).

Scientifically yes as well, always to a lower state/energy I think. But I don't think that's what you mean though. It needs a more educated person to answer this.

If not Scientifically then:- pain is the opposite to happiness, without one you wouldn't appreciate the other. So pain could be thought of as the foundation of happiness. Maybe.

Maybe a better way to look at pain is to look at the good things it's responsible for, like Empathy etc..

Sorry, my philosophy is just as crap as my science unfortunately.

Absolutely, I would love it, and I already know what I'd get mechanised first too.

id also get lasers in my robot eyes, titanium body, quantum chip brain, rocket thrusters for feet, built in sound system, microwave stomach, think of all the things you could do...

But seriously, if we were at an age when we are travelling around the galaxy I imagine some "modifications" would be advantageous.

7 hours ago, Bushranger said:

They are talking about generating a magnetic field to contain the heat generated by the ion engine...where will the get the power to do that?

 ( the astronauts will be subjected to cosmic rays on Mars as well as in transit), before coming back...two and one half years?

I imagine the power needed to contain heat from the engine compared to shielding for you craft would be huge

also, if this ion engine can get to Mars in 39 days then you could do the whole thing in under 3 months. So you wont be exposed to as much Cosmic radiation 

I'll tell you before they do- you need to give a description of what it is. Links should only be used as further/more detailed information for those who are interested.

8 minutes ago, Endy0816 said:

Surface conditions would make mining a pain.

Or a way to get trade going on Mars! Your Mars colony can mine Minerals and stuff for my Venus colony.

Mars is crap anyway. We should go to Venus instead. It's closer, there's more energy (solar), there's gravity and we'd all get to live in cool airships. 

Tried to edit but waited to long...

I haven't read any of these books, but just to try and stay on topic of the OP, an internet search recommended:

• Philosophical Letters (1733) - Voltaire
• The Origin of Species (1859) - Charles Darwin
• On a Piece of Chalk (1868) - Thomas Huxley
• The Mysterious Universe (1930) - James Jeans
• The Birth and Death of the Sun (1940) - George Gamow
• The Character of Physical Law (1965) - Richard Feynman
• The Elegant Universe (1999) - Brian Greene
• The Selfish Gene (1976) - Richard Dawkins
• The Making of the Atomic Bomb (1986) - Richard Rhodes
• The Inflationary Universe (1997) - Alan Guth
• The Whole Shebang (1997) - Timothy Ferris
• Hiding in the Mirror (2005) - Lawrence Krauss
• Warped Passages (2005) - Lisa Randall

Religion might not be making the contribution but i think its helps drive it.

The Red Cross for example. Jean-Henry Dunant (founder) was partly inspired by Christian teachings regarding social responsibility.

The biggest problem with all religion is that there represented by the wrong people, usually people like Ken Ham or some other idiot.

According to Wikipedia: Abraham Pais (Dutch-American physicist) wrote that "Whittaker's treatment of special relativity shows how the authors lack of physical insight matches his ignorance of the literature".

Sounds like he really didn't think much of Einstein, like he thought he was overrated, he credited Poincare and Lorentz for special relativity, and said Einstein only added "some amplifications which attracted to much attention".

Maybe this influenced his thinking too much, maybe people thought he was just trying to discredit Einstein or something.

But I'm not able to understand the level of maths/physics in the links so that's just a guess. 

I've read "The God Delusion" which was was pretty good. I wouldn't say that science lovers "need" to read it though. Its was more about flaws in religion than science I thought.

I like him but I don't think he does much for science, never actually heard of anyone changing there mind after meeting him, I would like to see him interview a respected physicist who believes in god rather than school children. Would be much more interesting.

He seems to be of the opinion that science and religion doesn't/can't go together. Which I think is bulls*#t.

46 minutes ago, Ghideon said:

News article about the impossibility of reaction-less  propulsion: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2018/05/23/the-emdrive-nasas-impossible-space-engine-really-is-impossible/#4328b053a009

Made me depressed reading this, the Chinese claim to have successfully tested one in space, must be talking out of their ass.

they claim- input power of 2.5kw, their 2.45GHz em drive produces 720 mN of thrust.

37 minutes ago, MarkPM said:

Hello All,

I have an innovation that I’d like to patent. I believe I have conceptualised a reaction-less propulsion system that would run on electricity alone.

How does it work? 

Try dragons den/shark tank.

52 minutes ago, anaccountnow said:

you got it all wrong. The objective isn't to achieve respect but to payback. that is what I meant. It doesn't matter if they don't respect us when they are behind bars and isolated from the outside.

Payback for what? Not thinking like you. pretty sure this would encourage home grown terrorism. Fighting the man so to speak. Might give us some good music though.

And prison systems are hugely expensive, and despite them (prisoners) being isolated from us history has shown that we're not isolated from them- The Aryan Brotherhood being a good example.

On 5/8/2018 at 12:13 AM, Velocity_Boy said:

Hey guys.....

In some recent conversations here, I made an offhand remark about how I thought a classic well-known novel mentioned in a post was hugely Overrated. Just my two cents, of course. But it started a bit of an exchange on the topic of Overrated books. I've always found this subject to be hugely entertaining and providing for some spirited discussions in the past.

Angela's Ashes

Angela's Ashes! Your crazy! I want to fight you.... one of my favourite books, can't believe you don't like it

Finnegans wake - James Joyce

thought I'd start reading serious novels instead of magazines to make myself more interesting. Won't make that mistake again. Would of been easier to learn Chinese than to try an understand that.

8 hours ago, HopDavid said:

Ummmm.... No. Neither PZ Myers nor I are suggesting there's evidence supporting or refuting the simulation hypothesis. It's not a testable.

PZ Myers does note that both Tyson as well as religious people speculate the universe is an artifact created by an intelligent being (or beings). So Myers is correct. Tyson is indeed suggesting the universe is intelligently designed.

Personally Tyson's suggestion doesn't sway me one way or the other. The man is an incompetent buffoon.

Ok, just wanted to get my facts straight. I think its important to note that the program was entertainment focused

I reckon tysons opinion on who the "designer" is is a lot different from who the religious people think it is. To put them in the same group isn't fair in my opinion.

An incompetent buffoon. I disagree. You've got to remember that the majority of his audience are just ordinary people who wouldn't understand if he went into to much detail.

Don't forget about all the galaxies we can't and never will see!

also I've read that 90% of the galaxies we can see have already passed the point of no return and are not really there anymore (past the edge of the visible universe where it's faster than light)

Maybe the above point would be a good motivator to leave your galaxy. Even travelling at slow speeds you would still have enough time to get here. 

I think alien life will more like the Heptpods in the film Arrival than green men

19 minutes ago, MigL said:

One could argue that N Koorea's citizenry are enabling their 'government' to provoke armed conflict.

I think no one can argue this. They are in no way responsible for their government.

maybe UK or France but not North Korea.

2 minutes ago, zapatos said:

Calm down friend. Collateral damage does not necessarily mean death or even injury. It also refers to damage to non-combatant property. And "murder" is hardly the term I would use to describe the death of a non-combatant due to things such as technical limitations, poor intelligence, or just damn bad luck.

Was thinking more about collateral damage caused by excessive/indiscriminate bombing like in Syria- just flatten the whole place, it'll be worth it in the long run...

I'm not sure I follow, are you suggesting that it points towards evidence of god?

the article does but what about you?

But some threads which are frozen have some really good arguments in. Is it not possible to separate the good points and then ban the  pot stirrers from participating?

On 6/22/2019 at 9:25 PM, swansont said:

I don’t recall that we’ve closed a thread with an admonition that the topic can’t be discussed, other than discussions specifically called out in the rules. When we do it, the thread starter is forbidden from re-introducing the topic, because they’ve shown they aren’t arguing in good faith. But that doesn’t mean others can’t discuss the topic as long as they remain within the rules.

Often there’s no point, because the only person defending one viewpoint has been banished from the discussion.

But I’m with Phi on this. Whether someone has gotten their chance to make their point isn’t the issue.

Answers my question.

It's especially disturbing when you think about the persecution North Korean citizens suffer daily. To be thought of as irrelevant like that. The word Collateral Damage springs to mind. 

Whoever came up with the word collateral damage to replace murder is a piece of s#*t in my opinion.

Today I learned that the Molecular motor is a truly wonderful beautiful thing. Amazing.

And loads about DNA.

1 hour ago, DanielBoyd said:

And that is a compliment (in my book)

Thank you. And that discussion above (and below) is one of the best lessons about genetics I've had. Very interesting I think.

Especially the molecular motor.