posted Monday, March 06, 2006 - 04:07 PM (#32926)
Goddammit, it looks like science is ripping me off again. Science, why can't you write your own material for a change?
the whole of the universe, mon - thu
posted Monday, March 06, 2006 - 04:15 PM (#32927)
In Response to mkinyon (#32926):
Dammit, they went back and changed history! Time-travelling plagiarists are going to be the downfall of man.
--
"I don't wanna be an inventor. I wanna be something useful like a teacher's aide or a prison guard or a science-fiction cartoon writer." - Cubert Farnsworth
"I don't wanna be an inventor. I wanna be something useful like a teacher's aide or a prison guard or a science-fiction cartoon writer." - Cubert Farnsworth
posted Monday, March 06, 2006 - 09:20 PM (#32932)
Actually, I was doing a reading for my intro to Cog. Sci. class, where we're looking at theories where any formal system (one with distinct tokens/symbols and absolute rules to manipulate them with) is legitimate as another (and therefore, computers can be just as much minds as human brains are), I went a couple steps further and thought "hey, the universe is a pretty formal system... what if the universe has a consciousness? What if that consciousness is god?"
posted Tuesday, March 07, 2006 - 01:09 AM (#32935)
Calm down - your illustrations are way better, and as we all know, the average Internet user isn't capable of reading that many words.
--
"if i knew about computers, i would be the supreme being!" "silly, silly nerd"
"if i knew about computers, i would be the supreme being!" "silly, silly nerd"
posted Tuesday, March 07, 2006 - 01:27 AM (#32937)
In Response to nightrunner (#32935):
There must have been a day, a moment in time, when spending time on the internet officially changed from being indicative of a certain level of knowledge and membership in some kind of technical cognoscenti, to being indicative of being a mouth-breathing moron with too much time and not enough friends. I wonder when that moment was.
I'm guessing 1995-ish.
--
Good lord. [byrobot.net] What?
Good lord. [byrobot.net] What?
posted Tuesday, March 07, 2006 - 07:51 AM (#32939)
In Response to tynic (#32937):
I'm guessing 1995-ish.The beginning of the end was September 2003 [wikipedia.org].
posted Tuesday, March 07, 2006 - 09:50 AM (#32941)
In Response to Duff (#32939):
The beginning of the end was September 2003
I am immensely amused that you managed to mis-cite your own source.
And while the Eternal September is a viable theory, and deeply held by certain august scholars of dna, others would argue that the problem started a little earlier [templetons.com].
As for myself, I blame Jon's HTML.
--
Ain't nobody here but us turkeys [youtube.com]
Ain't nobody here but us turkeys [youtube.com]
posted Tuesday, March 07, 2006 - 10:22 AM (#32943)
In Response to zamphir (#32941):
Looks to me like yours needs a bit of work as well. Nice link!
--
"I don't wanna be an inventor. I wanna be something useful like a teacher's aide or a prison guard or a science-fiction cartoon writer." - Cubert Farnsworth
"I don't wanna be an inventor. I wanna be something useful like a teacher's aide or a prison guard or a science-fiction cartoon writer." - Cubert Farnsworth
posted Tuesday, March 07, 2006 - 12:22 PM (#32945)
Lonely Goatherd
posted Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 05:24 AM (#33078)
gotta give asimov the credit first. he wrote a short story along the lines of what is being discussed. i can't recall the title at the moment, however.
posted Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 09:33 AM (#33080)
In Response to Lonely Goatherd (#33078):
Presumably you're referring to "The Last Question" [wikipedia.org] (1959). The idea there is not really the same as the "universe as computer" idea. Cosmic AC, the computer designed to answer the question of how to prevent the heat death of the universe, eventually implements the solution it finds by creating the universe anew. But it is not implied in the story that Cosmic AC is to be equated with the universe.
In your defense, I'll add that the same story occurred to me, and I had to do a bit of digging before finally recalling that the idea was different.
--
"Ayahuascaaaaaaa" -- Squig [sinfest.net]
"Ayahuascaaaaaaa" -- Squig [sinfest.net]
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