geordief

What do you think? Or are you saying there is no way to tell?

"Gang up," ,of course

That seems very worrying and it would not be unexpected if Russia and China were to hang up on USA. "The West" should be inclined to buttress USAs attempts to repel any dictatorial attempts at expansion but these regimes have apparently been able ,with their thuggery to keep their populations fairly docile and accepting of their servitude. On the other side of the scales USA is openly divided and very likely to acquiesce in any such expansion provided it can be sold as limited in extent. It has enough problems mounting a defense of it's own democratic acquisitions . Also its credibility amongst its allies is in the deficit column. On the plus side there is the hope that Russia and China will once again succumb to over extension of empire. As to how this administration should react,I wish I had a good idea but it seems I don't.

Is it more accurate to talk of a central region rather than any central point? And are all systems asymmetric to a degree in the finest detail? (so no physically realistic completely simple case) Or can the asymmetry be squeezed out in some limit?

Have been watching the BBC'S Universe( ) One of the 5 parts is about BHs. Apparently they may radiate away to nothing(?) and what "next" is unknown. But I wonder about what might go on at the centre. Might "centre" not be a meaningful concept? Anyway, the force of gravity at the centre of the Earth (if it was a complete homogeneous sphere would be zero ,wouldn't it? Why does that not apply to a BH?

Yes ,I had also found that but who is the man on the spiral staircase?A voyeur?

https://lyricsjonk.com/john-martyn-big-muff.html Anyone care to explain what he is talking about? ("muff" is slang for the vagina) John Martyn sadly missed.

Well ,my reaction would first be to conform to the general acceptance and to build my own castles in the air around it. Not substantial castles perhaps but they would be castles that would reinforce my own sense of importance and the need to protect the "sceptered isle" that we had. It wouldn 't need to suggest any deity since we could see what was (not) out there,but if that was the general acceptance then there would be less fascinating astronomic discoveries to make me question that if the purveyors of religious ideologies were not too invasive or overbearing.

Well we could be convinced of it (because it was so strong a case) even if we could not prove it. How might that affect us?

Same here ,but what if we ever did come to that assessment? How we we react psychologically to this finding? In the past when we assumed that we were the only civilisation it was a belief aided by gross ignorance of the physical universe Now our physical knowledge is greater and ,if we ever again decided that we really are alone ,as an intelligent civilisation in the universe it would perhaps be a different grander "aloneness" than our previous "aloneness" (which was really just a hybristic anthropocentrism that must now have had its day)

Yes ,too soon to make any such assessment but my question is whether we can say what such an assessment ,if it ever became compelling (never provable of course) might imply . If we could ever say to ourselves that ,in all likelihood no matter how far we looked that the only civilised life that ever had or ever would exist emanated from this Earth....supposing all that ,what lessons might we draw from that understanding? It is a sort of "suspension of disbelief" question as I ,personally am inclined to believe that other "alien" civilisations are there to be discovered whether or not we will ever actually do so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=899Wypv4rd0 There are very many planets that are capable of creating life forms but far fewer that have stable enough conditions to create sophisticated life forms. Is it possible that the life forms and civilization we have presently on this Earth could be the only such example anywhere in the observable universe? If that was to become apparent ,what lessons/revelations** could we draw from such an understanding?(would it be a deeper conclusion than from that there were other civilizations/cultural edifices elsewhere in the observable universe?) **not in any religious sense

I used to be good at languages.I learned a bit of Spanish just out of interest and was at a pretty basic level. Then I went to Portugal and worked there for a few summer months,also learning the language to a small degree. When that finished I came back through Spain ,taking about a week to hitch hike through the country. I noticed that the Portuguese I had learned had screwed up the Spanish I had previously had (they are pretty similar languages) I imagine that might be a common experience with closely related languages for some people. Edit: we have just started a "talking only Latin" thread over on another science forum as a way to perhaps learn or relearn that language.

Don't you need a theory of quantum gravity to square the physical event with the mathematical model? Events are very ,very small (like little Putina dolls) and ,as far as I know have not been observed directly.

Not sure how good it is as a practice but I wear a cheap surgical mask under a reusable mask I think that gives a tighter fit and keeps the surgical mask clean. I only wear it for going to the shops and am not sure if it would be comfortable to wear continuously for hours at a time . I keep the surgical mask going until it gets dirty.

If the craft had a very large mass it will take longer to accelerate to very high speeds (unless ,perhaps it can be given an initial launch using a land or moon based laser) But when it needs to decelerate, could something like 99% or more of the total mass be disconnected from the spacecraft and used to slow down the very small payload quite quickly? Could the disconnected mass be made to emit a laser beam at the sails? Edit:might it make sense for the craft to be launched from a conventional spacecraft that was already travelling at its maximum speed relative to the Earth?And for that spacecraft to fire lasers at the sails of the departing craft...

You could argue that someone with a faith or a strong belief would be less likely to ask questions(,or pose different questions) that might put those biases in question. That would make him or her potentially a worse /lesser scientist (but still a scientist)

https://www.vice.com/en/article/78kqjq/the-smallest-radio-receiver-ever-is-made-from-imperfections-in-diamonds I was wondering if this kind of an object might be small enough to be accelerated to relativistic speeds and whether (in that unlikely event) it might be possible to monitor any distortion in the signal due the receiver moving wrt to the source at high speeds.

So why doesn't that apply to religious upbringing? There can be degrees of brainwashing Some are also "teeny tiny", some are all invasive and oppressive. Religious belief is an integral part of society . We all need to be informed as to its characteristics

Are we all indoctrinated because we listen to an advert on the radio or see a billboard by the road?

Don't see the relevance to my posts. Maybe the OP might find it relevant . I don't know. (not looking for rabbit holes today)

You may be right.I was once buttonholed by Scientologists in the street with the psychology profile questionnaire they used to entrap the incautious . Anyway the result/interpretation of it was apparently that I see the/my world as better than it is. "Frightened of living" is how I see myself but that is way off topic .....

How would you feel if death was not associated directly with illness but that our consciousness was programmed to "blink out" painlessly at a random time as we were going about our daily existence? Would it seem more likely that the conciousness would be somehow recycled if that happened without all the drama we and our fellow sentient beings undergo towards the end of our lives? People often say that they don't mind dying but don't want to be there when it happens

I assume the OP may have been implying that 2 "identical" people might exist and that an observer might , in principle be able to ascertain that they were in fact the same. Memory would not come into it ,but they would of course have to have the same ongoing memories and that would be impossible unless their entire espective universes were also identical in every respect