What are you watching tonight?

[Prufrock]

I watched that and I thought they (well some of them) concluded that nothing was indeed something and therefore there was no such thing as nothing?

I have to admit I was doing a Homer in the Bank Managers Office at some of it.

Aye. Very confusing. I sometimes wonder if they're making all this sh*t up and just pretend by writing loads of equations on the blackboard that no one understands.

There was one last year, about how every particle is everywhere at once, and something about string. It made me cry. Sometimes Horizon is dead interesting, one a few weeks ago about hypothermia helping treat patients; most of the time it makes my head hurt.

[thebish]

I watched that and I thought they (well some of them) concluded that nothing was indeed something and therefore there was no such thing as nothing?

so... the "something" before the big bang - where did that come from?

[Lord Kangana]

Well thats the thing bish, several of them were saying it was another universe that collapsed into a black hole, that we are one of a series of universes and they sometimes press on each other and so on...

Theres one theory that our universe is caught between 2 membranes. That theory made my brain melt.

[thebish]

Well thats the thing bish, several of them were saying it was another universe that collapsed into a black hole, that we are one of a series of universes and they sometimes press on each other and so on...

Theres one theory that our universe is caught between 2 membranes. That theory made my brain melt.

two membranes of what?

[Lord Kangana]

F*ck knows, I was trying to hold my brain in at that point.

[thebish]

F*ck knows, I was trying to hold my brain in at that point.

y'see (and i'm most definately NOT a creationist) - the tortuous and (let's face it - highly speculative) sciency explanation for the origin of the universe is a whole lot more la-la land and unbelievable than Genesis ever was! I admire the effort and the ingenuity - absolutely - but how much of this science stuff is just an exercise in making up words and concepts to fill a huge void of unknowing?

[Lord Kangana]

Understanding just takes time.

Its only a few centuries since people have stopped being burnt for believing the earth goes round the sun. People at one time thought they could build tall towers to reach space. We're still making baby steps in understanding how the universe works. Just hope we manage it before the Yanks kill us all off.

[thebish]

Understanding just takes time.

Its only a few centuries since people have stopped being burnt for believing the earth goes round the sun. People at one time thought they could build tall towers to reach space. We're still making baby steps in understanding how the universe works. Just hope we manage it before the Yanks kill us all off.

did they?

actually - a tower to reach space is a very very modern idea...

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/07/0 ... tower.html

as for the yanks killing us all off - quite likely I'd say - either by blowing us all up or by sucking all of the resources from the earth and stuffing them down their huge guts...

[Lord Kangana]

You know the kind of tower I mean.

[thebish]

You know the kind of tower I mean.

if you mean the "tower of Babel" then I'd have to disagree with your reaching space theory...

[Lord Kangana]

No, I mean the idea (a bit like with churches) of simply building high brick towers to reach space. That type of tower.

[thebish]

No, I mean the idea (a bit like with churches) of simply building high brick towers to reach space. That type of tower.

when did anyone build a brick tower with the idea of reaching space? and (if they ever did) - if we/they have now stopped doing it - how come buildings are higher now than they ever were?

no church that I know of ever built a tower with the purpose of reaching space.

you've lost me!

[Lord Kangana]

Sadly the internet is no substitute for history books, as I can't find the info to link to.

Medieval times.

[William the White]

I watched that and I thought they (well some of them) concluded that nothing was indeed something and therefore there was no such thing as nothing?

so... the "something" before the big bang - where did that come from?

That'd be God, I expect.

[thebish]

Sadly the internet is no substitute for history books, as I can't find the info to link to.

Medieval times.

don't need a link - you could just tell me in your own words...

[Lord Kangana]

These people, right, in the middle ages and stuff, well they got some building materials, like bricks and things, and well, in a nutshell they built a tower. To try to get into space no less, as god is my witness.

[thebish]

These people, right, in the middle ages and stuff, well they got some building materials, like bricks and things, and well, in a nutshell they built a tower. To try to get into space no less, as god is my witness.

not very different to what they hope to do nowadays then - except with different building materials...

(it's a new one on me - these medieval bricklayers - if you ever do find a link - I'd be interested...)

[Prufrock]

Isn't the point, at one point people built stone buildings upwards, and seeing them go upwards, didn't realise you couldn't just keep doing that until you got to that black stuff they vaguely understood as space? Nowadays we understand how and why you can't just build bricks continually upwards. Eventually we may well understand other things we don't yet. We understand back to the big bang pretty well. The reason we don't understand much, if even anything before hand is because there is no actual evidence, and that is quite crucial to that there science stuff.

[Lord Kangana]

Yes. Kind of. Thankyou.

[thebish]

Isn't the point, at one point people built stone buildings upwards, and seeing them go upwards, didn't realise you couldn't just keep doing that until you got to that black stuff they vaguely understood as space?

I wasn't sure what the point was at all - that's why I asked - I still don't know who thought this or where they lived... (neither does LK, it seems, and nor do you, do you Pru?)

In the post I asked about, bricks were not mentioned (People at one time thought they could build tall towers to reach space) - just "towers" (bricks were a later addition to this conversation) - which is precisely what scienticians are trying to do in 2010, trying to design towers that reach into space.