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Parallel Universes, where in every direction, there is another You

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:00:00 GMT

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in a paper titled Parallel Universes, cosmologist
Max Tegmark writes,

If space is infinite and the distribution of matter
is sufficiently uniform on large scales, then even
the most unlikely events must take place somewhere.

In particular, there are infinitely many other inhabited
planets, including not just one but infinitely many with
people with the same appearance, name and memories
as you.

Indeed, there are infinitely many other regions the
size of our observable universe, where every possible
cosmic history is played out.

. . . Although the implications may seem crazy and
counter-intuitive, this spatially infinite cosmological
model is in fact the simplest and most popular one
on the market today.
- link

* * * * *

IF indeed there are infinitely many people just like you,
living on infinitely many planets, that are spinning in infinitely
many galaxies, that are distributed uniformly in a space
that is infinite,

THEN it would follow that in ANY and EVERY direction
from your current location, there exists another You

a You directly ABOVE and BELOW

a You to your LEFT and to your RIGHT

a You AHEAD and BEHIND

and although the distances are unimaginably vast,
at this very moment -

you are surrounded, in every direction, by another
You

for more on parallel uninverses in an infinite space,
check out the video below, an excerpt from
The History Channel's The Universe: Parallel Universes

Galactic University: Earth & Humans 101, Lesson #35, "Love"

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:00:00 GMT

your instructor

the Inter-Galactic Information Matrix is replete with human
references to the term "Love"

and it would seem that this term holds the key to an
understanding of planet Earth's dominant, albeit primitive,
life form

at the outset it must be noted that "Love" is poorly defined
and exceedingly difficult to grasp -

difficult, it seems, even for the humans, themselves

definitions of "Love" are widely diverse, each contributing
little to our understanding;

however, by reviewing, comparing and contrasting these
limited defintions, a priliminary understanding of this elusive
concept may emerge

and so our task, in the current lesson, is to consider the
communications listed below, and for each -

1) note the context in which term "Love" appears;
2) speculate as to its intended meaning;
3) cross-reference it with preceding and subsequent usages;
4) seek to construct a meta-defintion that is greater than
the sum of its parts

Human Communications Regarding "Love"

- Love is a great beautifier

- Where love is, no room is too small

- Love stretches your heart and makes you big inside

- Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing

- Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and
touch and greet each other

- Loves makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place

- All you need is Love

- To love is to suffer

- Take away love and our earth is a tomb

- Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in
each other all along

- Love is friendship set on fire

- I love my mommy

- Love ceases to be a pleasure, when it ceases to be
a secret

- All is fair in love and golf

- Love alone could waken love

- The eyes, those silent tongues of love

- Better to have loved a short man than never to
have loved a tall

- There is no fear in love

- Who loves, raves

- Love is like an itching in my heart, tearing it all apart;
just an itching in my heart, and baby, I can't scratch it

- To reason about love is to lose reason

Senate Speed

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

one of the most mind-boggling, jaw-dropping and
awe-inspiring qualities of our goverment is its truly
remarkable speed and efficiency

take, for example, the Senate Banking Committee's
investigation into the origins of our nation's current
financial crisis

below are highlights of a recent Banking Committeee
hearing

they represent Senate state craft at its finest -

truely a shining beacon of hope for the world's new
and struggling Democracies

What Is The Circle Whose Center Is Everywhere?

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

the answer to this riddle has been attributed to many thinkers;

included among them are: French Enlightenment writer, essayist,
and philosopher, Voltaire; the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher,
Empedocles; and philosopher/theologian, St. Augustine

to the question, What is the circle whose center is everywhere
and whose circumference is nowhere?

they answer, God

The effect of String Theory's six extra spatial dimensions

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

string theory posits the existence 6 extra spatial
dimensions;

dimensions that are beyond our senses; beyond
the perceptible dimensions of length, width and height

they are, "twisted and curled into complex little shapes . . .
billions of times smaller than even a single atom" - link

if these 6 additional spatial dimensions exist,
it would be reasonable to expect that they have
some effect on, some relevance to, our universe

but what might that effect be?
and how crucial would it be to our existence?

physicist Brian Greene poses these question in
Nova's The Elegant Universe

and his answer relates to the precise numerical
values of fundamental constants of nature;

values such as c, the speed of light in a vacuum
(299,792,458 meters per second) and G, the
gravitational constant (6.67300 × 10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2)

check out the video below, an excerpt from
The Elegant Universe, to see how the 6 extra
spatial dimensions of string theory may affect, and
may in fact determine, the nature of our universe

A Million Galaxy Map

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

are you a map person?

do you like really big, really detailed maps?

well if so, you'll love The Sloan Digital Sky Survey,
or SDSS, the largest mapmaking endeavor - ever

at its website, SDSS describes the herculean task
that it took on some eight years ago,

SDSS is systematically mapping a quarter of the
entire sky, producing a detailed image of it and de-
termining the positions and absolute brightnesses
of more than 100 million celestial objects.

It is also measuring the distances to a million of
the nearest galaxies, giving us a three-dimensional
picture of the universe through a volume one
hundred times larger than that explored to date.

SDSS is also recording the distances to 100,000
quasars — the most distant objects known — giving
us unprecedented knowledge of the distribution of
matter to the edge of the visible universe. - link

for more on SDSS check out the clip below, an excerpt
from The Expanding Universe - The Big Bang

and for much more on SDSS, including an extensive
image gallery, go to its website - http://www.sdss.org/

String Theory's Extra Spatial Dimensions

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

physicist Brian Greene points out that,

"in order to work, the complex equations (of String Theory)
require something that sounds like it's straight out of science
fiction - extra dimensions of space"

the argument is this:

we are hard-wired to percieve, learn and intuitively grasp
three spatial dimensions: length, width and height

Greene calls them "the dimensions of common experience"

we process these continually as we make sense of and
navigate our surroundings

in this regard they are sufficient and serve us well;

but if we are to more deeply understand and more
accurately describe the universe, the dimensions of
common experience are not enough -

at least according to the mathematics of String Theory

what are these postulated extra spatial dimensions?
how many are there?
where are they located?
what are their sizes and shapes?

Greene addresses these questions in the video below; and
he looks back to 1919 when mathematician Theodore Kaluza
sent a letter to Albert Einstein

the above video is a brief excerpt from NOVA's
The Elegant Universe, it can be seen in full here

Related Posts:
- String Theory
- From String Theory to M-Theory
- M Theory & The Weakness of Gravity
- M Theory and The 11th Dimension
- The Big Bang as per String Theory
- The Lure of Unification Theory
- 11th Dimension & Parallel Universes
- Inter-Universe Communication via the "GravityPhone"

The Superiority Theory of Humor

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

psychologists contend that something called the Superiority
Theory of Humor can account for the above cartoon's
"laughter evoking potential" (however pathetically small
that might be)

the superiority theory, "traces back to Plato and Aristotle,
and Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan. This theory explains that
a person laughs about misfortunes of others, because
these misfortunes assert the person's superiority on the
background of shortcomings of others."
-wikipedia

and according to The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,

"Thomas Hobbes developed the most well known version
of the Superiority theory . . . Hobbes says 'that the passion
of laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from
some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves,
by comparison with the infirmity of others' . . . "

do you buy all this?

do you believe that there are times we laugh, at least
in part, because we are taking pleasure in feeling
superior to "some poor slob"?

We do not and can not "sit on" a chair

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:00:00 GMT

according to the laws of physics, we do not and
can not sit on a chair, or for that matter anything else

alas, all we are able to do is hover over a chair
at the lofty height of 0.00000001 cm

physicist Michio Kaku explains in the video below

The History Of Halloween

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

some years ago, on a bright and crisp October 31st morning,
a very young and short person said to me,

"Tonight is the night when everybody gives me candy!"

he then asked, "Why do they do that?"

my reply, "Uh, . . . well they just do . . . because . . uh . . .
tonight is special"

"Oh!?", remarked the somewhat confused and disappointed
young one

too bad I hadn't seen The National Geographic Channel's
Halloween History

check it out below