MigL

Thanks for clearing that up, Phi and Swansont. I wasn't aware of the above cases; at least a few people have stopped 'throwing popcorn in our faces'. I did get something out of the discussion, such as knowledge is a 'justified true belief', which is still only a belief unless you ascribe one particular meaning to the word 'true', at least in my mind. Maybe Eise will elaborate, one day. And I hope Davy_Jones got some insights into Physics, and how it works, so that it wasn't a total wasteof time for all.

Sometimes the 'paradoxes' inherent in a model help determine its areas of applicability. GR allows for time travel, albeit using other theoretical constructs such as 'wormholes'. GR also allows for singularities, points of infinite density, which are obviously non-sensical, so we say that GR is not applicable in the realm of very small separations, and very high energies. By the same token, the grandfather paradox breaks causality, things happen before they are caused, which is also non-sensical. Therefore, although GR allows for time travel, any predictions are questionable, as the paradox shows GR is not applicable in that situation. Your question then boils down to "If I imagine something is possible, can I imagine something else is also possible ?" And there is no science in that question.

This is probably off topic in this thread Swansont, so please move or split off. This site purports to be a teaching/learning discussion site. Learning implies a modification/expansion of your thinking. So why assume, as the sock puppet rule does, that someone, who use to be a jackass, and got banned, has learned nothing from the interaction, and deserves to be automatically banned ( even while posting some interesting/thought-provoking and controversial questions ). I did agree to these rules on joining, so I'm not asking for a change of the rules; just an explanation of the thinking behind that particular rule.

Why does everyone assume one side or the other would have to give up their culture, customs and laws, in a union of the two countries ? Have any of you ever crossed the Ontario/Quebec border, in the country of Canada ? It's like instantly being on the other side of the world. I would say that even some current American States differ more in some respects than the UK would.

I thought he was too concise, to the point of being absurd. Ascribing only one specific meaning, to words the general population has different meanings for. And attempting this at length, over three threads ( is that the quantity part ? ). His fault was trying ( insisting actually ) to make us all think and communicate like Philosophers. ( sometimes, not always, that might not be a bad idea ) His posts had nothing to do with his getting banned. It was the 'sock-puppetry' rules, not posting style or content.

The UK ??? Not a chance. I give them 10 years before they're back with the EU; too many common interests and endeavors. Although parts of the US, specifically the North-East and the whole West coast, have expressed interest in becoming Canadian provinces.

I have no problem with rats, snakes, snails, croccodiles, etc. It is only photographs of creepy-crawlies of the insect variety, that leave me feeling as if they are crawling all over me ... And yes, it is especially bad in fog, when you can't see the little bast*rds.

Never did like ouzo; I prefer sambuca 😀 . But the vistas, ancient sculptures/architecture and seafood on the islands are fantastic. I would submit that Italy , Spain and Portugal suffer from similar levels of fraud, hubris and incompetence. Their economies aren't in nearly as bad a shape as Greece. So what do you think is the real reason for Greece's economic meltdown ?

Such as? Greece .

During the 2008-9 deflaton, GDP dropped by about 5% ( biggest drop in the postwar era ). Government spending ( in effect, printing money ) increases inflation ( in the 4% range after 2008 -9 ), and while inflation is good for those who can manage to service their personal debt ( they owe the same amount, but their house has increased in value, ie. investment opportunity ), it is no consolation to the thousands who could not, and lost their homes. Are they not part of the economy ? How many small-industry towns became ghost towns after 2008-9 ? edit Not saying Government spending, or borrowing, is bad, but it has to be carefully weighed against what it could lead to. Exactly the same as personal debt.

Not sure if I would goall the way o free, if there is really 'free' anything. But certainly subsidized enough so that a student could work a summer job to earn enough for his/her tuition. Things you have to work for are always more valued/appreciated.

Yet we saw th case, in 2008, where house hold debt, brought world economies to their knees.

Given that rates are historically low and practically zero, they have literally nothing BUT opportunity to raise them, significantly or otherwise. How so? One of the 'controls' used to keep inflation at manageable levels is variance of lending rates. Once the citizenry has taken on too much personal debt, the ability to raise lending rates has to be used very carefully ( or not at all ) as it would lead to massive defaulting on debt, bank failures and recession. As in 2008. We realized, then, that unrealistic debt levels were a problem, and stricter controls over borrowing were solutions, yet in my area, home ownership has become impossible or young pople, due to house prices doubling in the past two years ( over 1/2 Million is entry level ). Scarcity of rental property ownership has resulted in skyrocketing rents, and increased homelessness Have we already forgotten ?

Isn't the bolded part exactly what Physics does ? Thereby making Markus' statements, about Physics, 'true'. ( or am I just Philosophising ? 😄 ) I also think Davy_Jones brought some interesting topics to the forum that got people participating again. I must say, I did enjoy his brief time here.

You choose from your available options; I'll choose from mine. And sometimes we make our own 'hell' by the options we choose. It's not always someone else's fault.