Universe might be bigger and older than previously thought
- Thread starter ravells
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Several theorists argue that you would, as on the sphere, come back around to where you started.
Others postulate that, should you be able to reach the "edge of the Universe" you would simply find that there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, but the glow of the universe leaked out into the absolute void.
Still others postulate that it's a boundary which would bounce you back like a "Space Mirror" from S&S...
Others postulate that, should you be able to reach the "edge of the Universe" you would simply find that there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, but the glow of the universe leaked out into the absolute void.
Still others postulate that it's a boundary which would bounce you back like a "Space Mirror" from S&S...
Maladominus
SOC-14 1K
I subscribe to the lesser-known theory that the universe looks more like a bagel.
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
There are almost as many predictions for the shape and size of the universe as there are astronomers. Mainly because this is where hypotheses really do verge on guesses. We simply cannot test them out there, and the further out you go the worse it gets because one set of calculations depends on the validity of a previous set made on objects closer in, and every calculation made has an error margin that allows for a somewhat different end result. Acceptable hypotheses are extrapolated from within the error margins of previous calculations.
Of course, all this is purely academic in the Traveller Universe, where even the most determined adventurer, changing ships in a 'pony express' relay, is limited to only a few tens of thousands of light years in a human lifetime!
You couldn't even get out of our paltry galaxy.
You want an 'end of the universe' feel in Traveller? Just misjump into intergalactic space - it'll make rift areas seem quite cosmopolitan!
Of course, all this is purely academic in the Traveller Universe, where even the most determined adventurer, changing ships in a 'pony express' relay, is limited to only a few tens of thousands of light years in a human lifetime!
You couldn't even get out of our paltry galaxy.
You want an 'end of the universe' feel in Traveller? Just misjump into intergalactic space - it'll make rift areas seem quite cosmopolitan!
Gaming Glen
SOC-12
But isn't that where *shudder* the colossal space dragons live?
And they wonder what dark matter really is.
Well, that's my theory, and I'm sticking to it. 
Maladominus
SOC-14 1K
"Here there be Dagons!"
- says the map of uncharted space
- says the map of uncharted space
TheEngineer
SOC-14 1K
Well, I would say that was a personal thing and folks is back on (a philosophical) track
RainOfSteel
SOC-14 1K
I would like to hope that both this topic and this problem in general will not be considered as the entirety of what is happening on Citizens of the Imperium.
There are plenty of other topics where fun things are going on.
Look at the PBP forums. There's an excellent source of activity that wasn't present a few months ago.
And there is the new Wiki, too.
B
Black Globe Generator
Guest
This really frosts my balls.
Mr. Thomas' chronic incivility should've been dealt with a long time ago, but instead it was allowed to fester. I think tarring with a broad brush the many CotI members who are able to disagree without resorting to insults is wholly out-of-line.
Yeah, and you've lectured me at some length about how all that was my fault, how I had a duty to moderate COTI just the way you wanted me to because I happened to have been given an admin status I didn't want. You've told me how COTI is so vital to my business that I should waste work-time moderating the boards. (You're wrong. If you were sitting where I am you'd know why, but I don't feel obliged to explain).
If I'd been doing what you wanted, BGG, I'd have booted you a while back - from where I was sitting at the time you were the one displaying chronic incivility.
So you have an axe to grind about how I didn't mod the boards the way you wanted.
Come live my life and you'll see why.
But anyway. My post was an expression of how wearisome I find these endless arguments - in which, I notice, the bad guy is always the fellow with a different viewpoint from that of whoever is posting.
I felt like commenting on the general stupidity of this sort of pointless argument, so I did.
If I'd been doing what you wanted, BGG, I'd have booted you a while back - from where I was sitting at the time you were the one displaying chronic incivility.
So you have an axe to grind about how I didn't mod the boards the way you wanted.
Come live my life and you'll see why.
But anyway. My post was an expression of how wearisome I find these endless arguments - in which, I notice, the bad guy is always the fellow with a different viewpoint from that of whoever is posting.
I felt like commenting on the general stupidity of this sort of pointless argument, so I did.
M
Malenfant
Guest
First, it's Dr. Thomas. Though apparently education means nothing on this board anymore (if it ever did), since people seem to think that their opinions are more valid than fact, and that ignorance is better than knowledge.
There's so much noise and so little signal here because people who know little about a subject, or who think they know about a subject but don't really know much at all, are posting their opinions as if they were facts. Here's a hint: people are asking questions because they want a knowledgeable, informed answer - and if you can't given them that then don't say anything at all. All the crap on this thread started because Aramis posted his own (factually incorrect) opinion of how a hypothesis is really defined when it wasn't anything of the sort. And nothing riles me up more than ignorant people claiming their ill-informed or misguided opinions or assumptions are facts. (BTW, though "ignorant" is often taken as an insult, it really isn't. It just means that you're unaware or uneducated about a subject.)
I'll be the first to admit that communicating online isn't as easy as doing it in person. I tend to think of online discussions as if they were real face-to-face conversations. And in a real conversation, people who don't know much about a subject usually listen to and defer to those who do know about it. That's how they learn. Maybe it's harder to do this online, but the sense I get from people on CotI nowadays is that people think that all opinions on a subject are valid - well, that's not true, especially with science. Science is based on fact and observation, not on opinion. If those facts contradict your opinion, then your opinion on the subject isn't valid and is incorrect, and that's that. When the flaws in people's opinions are pointed out online though (at least, on CotI) they seem to take it personally and refuse to accept it. Well, sorry, but I really don't care how attached you are to your opinion - if it's wrong, it's wrong. As for elaboration and further explanation by all means, but don't make out that you're right when you're not. Accept that, learn the facts, and be more educated about the subject. I know it may kill discussion somewhat to be told the facts, but that's how it should work.
But instead all I see are ignorant people touting opinions as if they were facts, and making claims about subjects they know little about, so much so that any knowledgeable voices are just lost in the noise, if not shouted down completely. It's as if some people are actually threatened by superior knowledge and education about a subject here (and funnily enough, every single one of the people who respond this way are Americans. This implies to me that there is something seriously screwed up with the US education system).
Second, you're hardly one to talk about "incivility", BGG. You've been obsessively and freakishly stalking me for quite some time (to the point of counting the days that I've been here and then sending me a PM to tell me that?? Get a life and seek professional help!), and you've gone out of your way to be incredibly insulting and aggressive to me all the time (and let me remind you that it was because of your vicious "call out" outburst that we had Moderators appointed here) based on some perceived slight. And you've hypocritically tried to paint yourself in this saintly light even while you're being put down by Martin and other mods. And I know that hasn't gone down well with them (EDIT: and I see MJD's told you so already).
So don't give me or anyone else here any crap about how much better you are than anyone else here, because you really aren't.
Anyway, this is pretty much all I have to say about the subject. I know it'll fall on deaf ears though, which is why I'm no longer going to be available to answer science questions or post science topics on this board.
There's so much noise and so little signal here because people who know little about a subject, or who think they know about a subject but don't really know much at all, are posting their opinions as if they were facts. Here's a hint: people are asking questions because they want a knowledgeable, informed answer - and if you can't given them that then don't say anything at all. All the crap on this thread started because Aramis posted his own (factually incorrect) opinion of how a hypothesis is really defined when it wasn't anything of the sort. And nothing riles me up more than ignorant people claiming their ill-informed or misguided opinions or assumptions are facts. (BTW, though "ignorant" is often taken as an insult, it really isn't. It just means that you're unaware or uneducated about a subject.)
I'll be the first to admit that communicating online isn't as easy as doing it in person. I tend to think of online discussions as if they were real face-to-face conversations. And in a real conversation, people who don't know much about a subject usually listen to and defer to those who do know about it. That's how they learn. Maybe it's harder to do this online, but the sense I get from people on CotI nowadays is that people think that all opinions on a subject are valid - well, that's not true, especially with science. Science is based on fact and observation, not on opinion. If those facts contradict your opinion, then your opinion on the subject isn't valid and is incorrect, and that's that. When the flaws in people's opinions are pointed out online though (at least, on CotI) they seem to take it personally and refuse to accept it. Well, sorry, but I really don't care how attached you are to your opinion - if it's wrong, it's wrong. As for elaboration and further explanation by all means, but don't make out that you're right when you're not. Accept that, learn the facts, and be more educated about the subject. I know it may kill discussion somewhat to be told the facts, but that's how it should work.
But instead all I see are ignorant people touting opinions as if they were facts, and making claims about subjects they know little about, so much so that any knowledgeable voices are just lost in the noise, if not shouted down completely. It's as if some people are actually threatened by superior knowledge and education about a subject here (and funnily enough, every single one of the people who respond this way are Americans. This implies to me that there is something seriously screwed up with the US education system).
Second, you're hardly one to talk about "incivility", BGG. You've been obsessively and freakishly stalking me for quite some time (to the point of counting the days that I've been here and then sending me a PM to tell me that?? Get a life and seek professional help!), and you've gone out of your way to be incredibly insulting and aggressive to me all the time (and let me remind you that it was because of your vicious "call out" outburst that we had Moderators appointed here) based on some perceived slight. And you've hypocritically tried to paint yourself in this saintly light even while you're being put down by Martin and other mods. And I know that hasn't gone down well with them (EDIT: and I see MJD's told you so already).
So don't give me or anyone else here any crap about how much better you are than anyone else here, because you really aren't.
Anyway, this is pretty much all I have to say about the subject. I know it'll fall on deaf ears though, which is why I'm no longer going to be available to answer science questions or post science topics on this board.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
And that really is the last word on this subject.
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