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Science fiction pet hate

Computer simulations did, indeed, show that our universe is 'fine tunnned', its constants so arranged so as to permit complexity, life. When different constants were inputed into the simulations, the results were boring universes where complexity could not have appeared.

Which raises the question - Why is this so?

Are we living in one of a gazillion universes, one that just happened to 'win the lottery' and have the physical constants that allow life to evolve?

Or is this 'fine tunning' proof of the hand of god, hovering above?
Actually, I think this can be tied in to the discussion I was having above about paradoxes.

The anthropic principle says that the universe is the way it is because if it wasn't, we wouldn't be here to see it.

Yes, if the universe had different physical constants, we - or other life - wouldn't be here to wonder about this.
This does not change the fact that the chance of the universe having its constants fine-tuned (the cosmological constant, for example, is fine-tuned to an extraordinary degree) - and the chance of us being here - is extremely small.
It just means that this chance somehow materialised.

To put it another way - a winner at the lotery would not have his money if he hadn't won the lottery.
That does not mean that the chance of him winning is large - indeed, it's very small.
It only means that this small probability materialised for him.

Maybe one of the requirements of the anthropic principle - one of the "just so" things that has to be the case, or we wouldn't exist - is that FTL travel and communication isn't possible.

Because if it were possible, it would create the possibility of paradoxes that would blow holes in the causality chain that keeps our universe chugging along.

Either the laws of physics don't allow it to happen at all, in which case there's no FTL, period, or the laws of physics do allow it to happen and causality works differently than we believe.
Well, it's entirely possible that the way the laws of physics actually prevent paradoxes is by destroying spacetime in the time-line where a paradox is created.

This might answer Fermi's Paradox, too. Maybe in all time-lines where aliens advance technologically to the point where they can travel FTL, paradoxes are created and the timeline ends. So the anthropic principle requires us to be alone in the universe, or to be the most-advanced species technologically, because in all other timelines where we aren't first the species that is first ruptures spacetime.
Paradoxes are created - theoretically - by travel into the past.

There are ways to have FTL communications/travel without any chance of travelling into the past.

One is experimentally heavily verified.
I'm talking about quantum entanglement:

In this process, two quantum particles transmit NON-LOCALLY (aka instantaneously, ignoring the distance in space between them) NOISE (as in useless information, which is random, cannot be shaped by the transmitter).

The improtant part is that noise is being transmitted FTL (instantaneously) and no travel into the past is possible, no paradoxes can arise.
 
stj

There are about 26 adjustable constants in the standard model alone.

And the cosmological constant - dark energy - is fine tuned to one part in 10 to the power 120 - it has to be in order to get a 'flat' universe. That's a LOT LOT LOT more than "one significant figure".

How old is this book you quote?
 
Computer simulations did, indeed, show that our universe is 'fine tunnned', its constants so arranged so as to permit complexity, life. When different constants were inputed into the simulations, the results were boring universes where complexity could not have appeared.

Which raises the question - Why is this so?

Are we living in one of a gazillion universes, one that just happened to 'win the lottery' and have the physical constants that allow life to evolve?

Or is this 'fine tunning' proof of the hand of god, hovering above?

A popular hypothesis to explain this is cosmological Darwinism. If universes can spawn new universes, that's a reproductive process. And in any reproductive process where offspring can differ from their progenitors and one another, evolution is inevitable, because those traits that increase reproductive success will therefore be reproduced more successfully and outcompete other traits. So over the generations, universes would evolve toward traits that maximize their ability to propagate new universes. The idea is that new universes are most likely to be spawned from/within black holes, so universes would tend to evolve toward physical laws that allow the existence of black holes -- and an effective way to create lots of black holes is by creating a universe full of stars. And a side effect of the physics that allow stars to exist is that planets can exist, and that matter behaves in such a way that it can combine into compounds that can interact, and that leads to the existence of life.

Or there's the alternative view that where there's life and intelligence, there's technology, and a sufficiently advanced technology might be capable of creating even more new universes than could be produced by a universe with only black holes and no life. So it could be that universes whose physics are calibrated to allow life and intelligence are more reproductively successful than others.



Maybe one of the requirements of the anthropic principle - one of the "just so" things that has to be the case, or we wouldn't exist - is that FTL travel and communication isn't possible.

Because if it were possible, it would create the possibility of paradoxes that would blow holes in the causality chain that keeps our universe chugging along.

The mistake you're making here is assuming that our current laws of physics are some absolute that dictate how reality happens, rather than merely the best description of reality that we've been able to approximate so far. If FTL communication exists, then that means that our current understanding of physics and causality is incomplete and our assumptions about paradoxes are invalid. It's profoundly egocentric to assume that the universe would have to explode if it didn't conform exactly to our current best approximation of physics. Rather, if the workings of the universe don't fit our physical models, that just "explodes" our models, not the universe.


Well, it's entirely possible that the way the laws of physics actually prevent paradoxes is by destroying spacetime in the time-line where a paradox is created.

Based on what? I've been doing a lot of research on temporal physics in recent months, since I'm writing a novel on the subject, and I've come across no theoretical proposals that such a paradox would cause the "destruction" of spacetime. As I said, either the laws of physics are structured so as to pre-empt such a paradox from arising in the first place, or our current laws are incomplete and need to be adjusted to accommodate the reality of causality loops if they do occur.

Indeed, there are existing theories that not only allow retrocausal interaction, but require it. John Cramer and others have proposed that interaction with information from the future is a key factor in quantum processes such as entanglement and the two-slit experiment.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2007-01-21/opinion/17227872_1_quantum-mechanics-universe-particles


Besides, the key mistake you're making is that you're treating the paradox as something the whole universe would perceive and be affected by. That's ignoring the fact that the paradox arises from relativity -- the different perceptions of relative time by observers in different reference frames. Yes, some observers in a scenario where two entities were exchanging FTL information would perceive situations where effect preceded cause, but that's because of the interaction of differing frames of reference, differing definitions of simultaneity. The perception of a causal paradox would be a local phenomenon. Observers elsewhere in the universe would perceive no paradox. Therefore, it is self-contradictory to suggest that the entire universe would be destroyed or otherwise globally affected by such a locally perceived paradox.
 
Computer simulations did, indeed, show that our universe is 'fine tunnned', its constants so arranged so as to permit complexity, life. When different constants were inputed into the simulations, the results were boring universes where complexity could not have appeared.

Which raises the question - Why is this so?

Are we living in one of a gazillion universes, one that just happened to 'win the lottery' and have the physical constants that allow life to evolve?

Or is this 'fine tunning' proof of the hand of god, hovering above?
A popular hypothesis to explain this is cosmological Darwinism. If universes can spawn new universes, that's a reproductive process. And in any reproductive process where offspring can differ from their progenitors and one another, evolution is inevitable, because those traits that increase reproductive success will therefore be reproduced more successfully and outcompete other traits. So over the generations, universes would evolve toward traits that maximize their ability to propagate new universes. The idea is that new universes are most likely to be spawned from/within black holes, so universes would tend to evolve toward physical laws that allow the existence of black holes -- and an effective way to create lots of black holes is by creating a universe full of stars. And a side effect of the physics that allow stars to exist is that planets can exist, and that matter behaves in such a way that it can combine into compounds that can interact, and that leads to the existence of life.

Or there's the alternative view that where there's life and intelligence, there's technology, and a sufficiently advanced technology might be capable of creating even more new universes than could be produced by a universe with only black holes and no life. So it could be that universes whose physics are calibrated to allow life and intelligence are more reproductively successful than others.

That's highly interesting, Christopher.

I would add to these hypothetical 'baby-universes' computer simulated universes, too.

An advanced civilization should have the means to simulate entire universes to a degree of fidelity where they're indistinguishable from a 'real' universe.
And only one such civilization could run thousands of such simulations - which would give thousands of 'baby-universes' with their constants adjusted.

Which raises the question - are we living in a simulated universe or in a 'real' one?

Mathematically, the chances are we're in a computer simulation - considering that for one 'real' universe, you have thousands (at least) of simulations.
In this estimate, I didn't consider the eventual universes born out of black holes, because we don't even know if they're theoretically possible, let alone how many of them are born.

Besides, the key mistake you're making is that you're treating the paradox as something the whole universe would perceive and be affected by. That's ignoring the fact that the paradox arises from relativity -- the different perceptions of relative time by observers in different reference frames. Yes, some observers in a scenario where two entities were exchanging FTL information would perceive situations where effect preceded cause, but that's because of the interaction of differing frames of reference, differing definitions of simultaneity. The perception of a causal paradox would be a local phenomenon. Observers elsewhere in the universe would perceive no paradox. Therefore, it is self-contradictory to suggest that the entire universe would be destroyed or otherwise globally affected by such a locally perceived paradox.

I would argue that even without invoking FTL information exchange, special relativity gives rise to paradoxes:

The world-view of one inertial frame of reference is in complete contradiction with the world-view of another inertial frame of reference.
Which is why, when one tries to take into account two such POVs simultaneosly, one encounters paradoxes.
 
*whistles* Here, Topic. C'mere. Sit. Stay. Good boy.

My sci-fi pet peeve? Kissing. Why in the world would an alien do this? Just once I'd like to see Handsome Sci-Fi Human lean in for a kiss, and have Alien Babe say, WTF? Why are you trying to eat my face??
 
*whistles* Here, Topic. C'mere. Sit. Stay. Good boy.
Good luck with that. :D

Another pet peeve - the way sci fi on TV has been taken over by thinly disguised cop shows and superheroes. Whatever happened to outer space? :(

Also, why is everyone ignoring Mars? :klingon:
 
Mars is an interesting one. Everyone says oh it's the obvious planet to colonise but the gravity is likely to pose serious long-term problems for human physiology. You never see them compensating for this in depictions of colonies on Mars.
 
*whistles* Here, Topic. C'mere. Sit. Stay. Good boy.
Good luck with that. :D

Another pet peeve - the way sci fi on TV has been taken over by thinly disguised cop shows and superheroes. Whatever happened to outer space? :(

Also, why is everyone ignoring Mars? :klingon:
Outer space is expensive. FBI/CIA/NSA types in suits driving new model cars is cheap.

I like Mars. If HBO or one of those other pay cable types would do a series based KSR's Mars triolgy I'd be very happy.
 
Wasn't the Mars trilogy done back in the day? I remember Beeb showing it and being gripped.
 
The KSM trilogy? All I ever heard was rumors about skiffy and AMC adapting it, but nothing ever came of either...

There was an old NBC miniseries of The Martian Chronicles, but that really could use an update.
 
Wasn't the Mars trilogy done back in the day? I remember Beeb showing it and being gripped.
The wiki shows it being in developement hell:
Screen adaptations
The Mars trilogy rights were at one point held by James Cameron,[6] who planned a five-hour miniseries to be directed by Martha Coolidge,[7] but he passed on the option. Later Gale Ann Hurd planned a similar mini-series for the Sci-Fi Channel, which also remained unproduced.[8] Then, in October 2008, it was reported that AMC and Jonathan Hensleigh had teamed up and were planning to develop a television mini-series based on Red Mars.[9]

Maybe you're thinking of something else?
 
It was defnitely the Martian Chronicles. I don't know if that's the same thing we're talking about. I was just a kid but I loved it. Sometimes it's not such a bad thing just having someone doing it once.
 
The Mars Trilogy is "Red Mars", "Green Mars" and "Blue Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson. First published in 1993.
 
I'd like to see both KSM and Bradbury adapted to TV - miniseries or regular series - I'm up for any space opera at this point. I'm even feeling sorry for bitching so much about BSG. At least it had spaceships! :rommie:
 
Oh that's something else altogether. Not reading science fiction, I just wait to be presented with something on screen. I think I'm happier than people who read sci fi.
 
Not reading science fiction, I just wait to be presented with something on screen. I think I'm happier than people who read sci fi.

Settling for mass-media sci-fi? With all its limitations and narrowness and absurdities? No, I don't think you're happier by a long shot. More like you don't know what you're missing.
 
How expensive / cheap was it for them to do the asteroid environment in the first season of nuBSG?

They could do Red Mars with the same techniques. It just boils down to color correction, atmospheric effects, and not accidentally getting any plant life in the frame/shot.

Or they could animate it. A la Clone Wars. Viewership wouldn't probably be great, but you could probably do it on the cheap.
 
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