Thread: Points to ponder

Originally Posted by Buckaroo Banzai

If that is the case Xenon-124 does not have a half life since its half life is something that will never happen.

You're assuming time ends when the universe ends.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

You're assuming time ends when the universe ends.

Not sure if time will end when the Universe ends,but I am sure Xenon-124 will, sadly having never experienced the joys of a half life.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

^ They are real. Very fascinating. Once they have reproduced, they revert back to their juvenile state and start growing again. I think in the polyp state they can sort of hibernate until conditions are right. But they are recognised as immortal.

And you know this how?
Because you read it on the internet.

Originally Posted by Cujo

And you know this how?
Because you read it on the internet.

Yes. There are some things and some sources that a sensible person may rely on.

And where did you get your 63% figure from?
To follow through with that figure, we must only believe 63% of what you write.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

Yes. There are some things and some sources that a sensible person may rely on.

And where did you get your 63% figure from?
To follow through with that figure, we must only believe 63% of what you write.

That's if the 63% figure isn't made up.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

You're assuming time ends when the universe ends.

You're assuming the Universe will end.

Originally Posted by Luigi

You're assuming the Universe will end.

Maybe I am, but that's not a takeaway from what I posted as I was responding to a post that suggested the universe will end.
Someone who can comprehend and follow a dialogue would know that.

Good Point to Ponder:

"Holding Onto Anger is Like Drinking Poison and Expecting the Other Person to Die"

The Buddha

Originally Posted by Maanaam

You're assuming time ends when the universe ends.

If the universe is all there is, when it ends then surely so does time since literally nothing exists to measure or progress.

Fair definition of time is 'indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole'. We could argue 'indefinite', since if the universe ceases to exist then there can be no continued progress. Then we could argue 'continued', then progress, and so on, since everything depends on the driver, existence.

And if nothing exists then the past becomes irrelevant without a present and a future, making time as dead as everything else that also was.

I think.

Originally Posted by Buckaroo Banzai

If that is the case Xenon-124 does not have a half life since its half life is something that will never happen.

Not correct. It does not have to "happen" to have a half life - and indeed the half life was determined.

Originally Posted by jabir

If the universe is all there is, when it ends then surely so does time since literally nothing exists to measure or progress.

That's a sophisticated way of saying that if a tree falls down in the forest and there was nobody to hear it, did it make a sound?

And if a man speaks and there is no woman in the vicinity to hear him speak, is he still wrong?

...and I feel it every morning...

Keep in mind that EVENTUALLY all the stars will burn out and the entire universe will be nothing more than a dark, frigid vacuum.

Originally Posted by nidhogg

Not correct. It does not have to "happen" to have a half life - and indeed the half life was determined.

The only things that really exist are possibilities mitigated by probability. Everything that is possible however improbable will eventually occur given enough time unfortunately Zenon 124 will run out of time.
How can you have something that can't possibly happen?

Originally Posted by Cujo

Keep in mind that EVENTUALLY all the stars will burn out and the entire universe will be nothing more than a dark, frigid vacuum.

Not necessarily. In the center of every galaxy there is a monster black hole consuming it's neighbours, I believe these black holes will consume everything there is and eventually consume each other preserving only the information of the previous universe , constituting a singularity that will explode in a new "Big Bang" forming a new universe and doing it all all over again.
From our perspective this takes along time, from a different perspective the process could be like a strobe light.

Originally Posted by Takeovers

The universe expands and the rate of expanding even increases. So there is no chance that all singularities melt into one. We can hope that some variant of the steady state theory emerges. It was last brought up by Fred Hoyle. Though I believe that he did it just to annoy a few generations of cosmologists, keeping them busy refuting his theories. Fred Hoyle was a very colorful character. Famous Science Fiction author and with a standing as cosmologist that did not allow to just ignore his theories.

Highly recommended if you like classic SF is his "The Black Cloud".

Thank you for that suggestion,I will include it in my bucket list compiled for when I retire next year.
That's one possible scenario given our current understanding of what constitutes the Universe.
Unfortunately for as ,we seem to be missing 85% of the matter in the universe, we have filled that gap with a magical substance we call "Dark Matter" .
Our state of understanding reminds me of the map below

Originally Posted by jabir

If the universe is all there is, when it ends then surely so does time since literally nothing exists to measure or progress.

This is the reason why time may end before the universe ends.

The universe is likely to end in heat death where it is in a state of maximum entropy.

Entropy and time are mutually bound properties of the universe.

Entropy must always increase with time.

The universe will finally reach a state of maximum entropy and no change will be possible after this state is reached.

If nothing changes then it is impossible to distinguish the past from the present and the arrow time will dissolve but universe will still exist.

Maybe Doctor Who will still exist but he will almost certainly not be a woman.

Originally Posted by Buckaroo Banzai

we have filled that gap with a magical substance we call "Dark Matter" .
Our state of understanding reminds me of the map below

I find dark matter quite annoying too. Even more so dark energy. But in my uneducated mind they are the thing that gives me hope their unknown properties will enable something similar to the steady state universe.