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RE: The Magic of Atheism?
March 19, 2012 at 10:23 am
Nah, Stephen Hawking pretty much effectively refuted the idea of time travel. I mean we COULD, but not in the sense we currently envision. Although did you know if you orbit a black hole at light-speed, just on the outermost edge of the event horizon, that the time-dilation effect will effectively make you travel into the future? Albeit at a very slow rate; only twice as fast. But hey, you can speed up time around you! ...not sure why you'd WANT to do that, to be honest...
In 50 years we've flown to outer space, mapped the human genome, unleashed the power of atomic fission, invented massive instantaneous communication networks around the globe and begun mapping out the creation of black holes within controlled environments.
I seriously hope they invent prosthetic bodies before I die, though. XD
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RE: The Magic of Atheism?
March 19, 2012 at 10:23 am
What about the time travel paradox? Like going into a time machine and shooting yourself in the past just before entering the time machine. How can you go back in time to shoot yourself if you just shot yourself by your future self before entering the time machine?
[Scratches head]
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - Carl Sagan
Mankind's intelligence walks hand in hand with it's stupidity.
Being an atheist says nothing about your overall intelligence, it just means you don't believe in god. Atheists can be as bright as any scientist and as stupid as any creationist.
You never really know just how stupid someone is, until you've argued with them.
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RE: The Magic of Atheism?
March 19, 2012 at 10:25 am
Creed Wrote:I seriously hope they invent prosthetic bodies before I die, though. XD
I'll be the first at the "Spare-parts and Body Repairs"
lol 
"The Universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." G'Kar-B5
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RE: The Magic of Atheism?
March 19, 2012 at 12:16 pm
(March 19, 2012 at 8:46 am)Phil Wrote: GOOGLE ISN'T SCIENCE.
HEATHEN. Thou shalt not utter a word against the holy GOOGLE.
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RE: The Magic of Atheism?
March 19, 2012 at 12:22 pm
(March 19, 2012 at 10:23 am)Ace Otana Wrote: What about the time travel paradox? Like going into a time machine and shooting yourself in the past just before entering the time machine. How can you go back in time to shoot yourself if you just shot yourself by your future self before entering the time machine?
[Scratches head] Well.. If we chuck God into the equation.. BOOM. You CAN shoot yourself because God. I win.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle
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RE: The Magic of Atheism?
March 19, 2012 at 12:57 pm
(March 19, 2012 at 4:02 am)Eyem4Christ Wrote: (March 18, 2012 at 4:29 pm)Norfolk And Chance Wrote: We don't and can't know what happened before the big bang - did it come from something that was there previously, did it come from nothing?
This is why atheists are close-minded. Theists are the ones on the cutting edge, not atheists. Atheists have given up trying to know.
Not pretending we know something we can't know is not giving up trying to know. The root of discovery is acknowledgement that we still have much to learn.
(March 19, 2012 at 4:02 am)Eyem4Christ Wrote: Eventually, there will be a type of theism that comes from theoretical cosmology.
It would not surprise me.
(March 19, 2012 at 4:02 am)Eyem4Christ Wrote: They will have no other choice when after another hundred years they still can't explain gravity or why the universe is expanding, or what was happening before the big bang or the hard problem of consciousness.
'They' being people who would rather have a made-up answer than live without one.
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RE: The Magic of Atheism?
March 19, 2012 at 1:03 pm
(March 19, 2012 at 10:23 am)Creed of Heresy Wrote: Nah, Stephen Hawking pretty much effectively refuted the idea of time travel. I mean we COULD, but not in the sense we currently envision. Although did you know if you orbit a black hole at light-speed, just on the outermost edge of the event horizon, that the time-dilation effect will effectively make you travel into the future? Albeit at a very slow rate; only twice as fast. But hey, you can speed up time around you! ...not sure why you'd WANT to do that, to be honest...
In 50 years we've flown to outer space, mapped the human genome, unleashed the power of atomic fission, invented massive instantaneous communication networks around the globe and begun mapping out the creation of black holes within controlled environments.
I seriously hope they invent prosthetic bodies before I die, though. XD
Yeah its my understanding that we would have to generate a wormhole, somehow alter the physics of it so that it wouldn't immediately reduce any matter that enters to a singularity, then "aim" the wormhole at some other point in spacetime. Not too likely but not outside of the realm of possibilities.
"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything." -Friedrich Nietzsche
"All thinking men are atheists." -Ernest Hemmingway
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." -Voltaire
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RE: The Magic of Atheism?
March 19, 2012 at 1:43 pm
(March 19, 2012 at 10:23 am)Ace Otana Wrote: What about the time travel paradox? Like going into a time machine and shooting yourself in the past just before entering the time machine. How can you go back in time to shoot yourself if you just shot yourself by your future self before entering the time machine?
[Scratches head]
For me, these paradoxes are just an indicator that time travel is not possible. At least not in the sense we think.
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RE: The Magic of Atheism?
March 19, 2012 at 2:53 pm
Re: time travel paradoxes. I heard a particularly elegant hypothesis some years ago on this sort of thing (sorry I can't attribute it). The scenario is that a future version of you travels back to our present and shoots the current you, setting up the classic paradox - since you get shot in the present, you can't exist in the future to travel back to shoot yourself; so you don't get shot and can thus travel back etc etc. One way this could be prevented is for events to be arranged in such a way as to cause your future self's arm to jerk at the critical moment, inflicting nothing more serious than a shoulder wound. This wound, in turn, is what causes your future self's arm to jerk and save your life. The bottom line is that history relative to the time traveller will always find a way to protect itself. Similarly, if you travelled back to assassinate Hitler, either you would be captured before the attempt, or your gun or bomb or whatever would mysteriously jam, or instead of killing him you just end up pissing him off even more. Of course it's all speculation and guesswork based on zero evidence, but it really is a beautiful notion. Plus it makes great sci-fi.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: The Magic of Atheism?
March 19, 2012 at 3:01 pm
(March 19, 2012 at 2:53 pm)Stimbo Wrote: Re: time travel paradoxes. I heard a particularly elegant hypothesis some years ago on this sort of thing (sorry I can't attribute it). The scenario is that a future version of you travels back to our present and shoots the current you, setting up the classic paradox - since you get shot in the present, you can't exist in the future to travel back to shoot yourself; so you don't get shot and can thus travel back etc etc. One way this could be prevented is for events to be arranged in such a way as to cause your future self's arm to jerk at the critical moment, inflicting nothing more serious than a shoulder wound. This wound, in turn, is what causes your future self's arm to jerk and save your life. The bottom line is that history relative to the time traveller will always find a way to protect itself. Similarly, if you travelled back to assassinate Hitler, either you would be captured before the attempt, or your gun or bomb or whatever would mysteriously jam, or instead of killing him you just end up pissing him off even more. Of course it's all speculation and guesswork based on zero evidence, but it really is a beautiful notion. Plus it makes great sci-fi.
This is similar to the paradox Stephen Hawking used to explain why logically, time travel to the past is impossible. If something is impossible ( i.e becoming your own grandfather, shooting your past self) then you cannot ( by definition, essentially) make it happen, by going back in time, or any other means. Wormholes to the past also defy logic and physics - it would create a feedback loop and destroy itself, and you would need a negative energy density to traverse one.
Time travel to the future is what we are doing now.
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