"Playing God" Has Never Been More True

[Redmage]

Techie Article Here, REALLY techie article here, summary below.

The gist is that a physical process known to occur at a subatomic level in our own universe will be applied under special conditions in a Japanese laboratory. The result should be the creation of a "baby universe" similar to the singularity that gave birth to our own universe at the moment of the Big Bang.

Just as ours did, the new universe will immediately begin expanding. Don't worry; it won't crowd us. It won't expand into our space-time, but will instead develop a space-time continuum of its own. Within that space-time it will develop its own physical laws, its own matter, its own materials, all different from ours. In time (possibly a very short time - we don't know yet) it will separate completely from our universe and begin pursuing its own course - in effect becoming a brand-new realm of existence, expanding eternally just as ours does.

If this works, we will be starting entire new independent universes in a laboratory. I'm dumbfounded.

 

[slacker2114]

Maybe that is how we were created. We were an experiment in the Zorgagian laboratory in another universe.

 

[Capnmad]

Yeah -- I'd seen about this in New Scientist a bit ago... There's all sorts of wild stuff going on in physics, but understand, it's all only theoretical that this will create a new universe... From our perspective, it may be pinpoint blackholes we're creating, but beyond that, measurements into whether we'll have created a universe or what that universe will be like are pretty much impossible.

We still don't have a grasp on gravity, and until we do, and evolve a GUT, a lot of this stuff can only be theory and speculation... I still have a lot of skepticism over all this "dark matter" and "dark energy" crap... It's a romantic idea, sure... That the universe is absolutely filled with all this stuff we can't see, that doesn't reflect radiation, but we can detect the effects of by tracking trajectories and the degree to which they're influenced by gravitational fields of this unseen "dark matter"... But I think when we boil it all down, things like "dark matter" and "dark energy" will simply be revealed as fudge factors with sexy names (like Einstein's "cosmological constant") for what we simply don't know: that in our ignorance of gravity, there are some catastrophic misassumptions on how it functions over great distances.

But that's me.

 

[Senbab]

According to the articles, the connection between our universe and that one will die out in short time, permanently sealing our connection to it. Basically, even if this is successful, we will get nothing out of it, making the experiment unfortunatly useless as I see it.

 

[Dussicar]

I like ham and cheese!

 

[MrMacphisto]

Maybe that is how we were created. We were an experiment in the Zorgagian laboratory in another universe.

...a disturbing, but interesting thought....

 

[Lttg]

Maybe that is how we were created. We were an experiment in the Zorgagian laboratory in another universe.

actually the most compelling argument for what we actually are to me is that we're a computer simulation.

the argument runs something like: in the future artificial intelligence will develope to such an extent where computers can simulate actuall thought. so it would be possible to simulate a digital person, but have this digital person fully beleive that he/she was alive. obviously apart from the computer game industry, hundreds of other people would be interested in this, historians for example could use it to create replica universes of the past, to observe in real time what human behaviour was like in the past. now considering a computer will be powerful enough to run billions of these simulations simultaneously, that pretty much makes the odds billions to one that we're the one, genuine universe, and not just some virtual history experiment run by other people 🙂

thats some real mindrape for you

 

[isabeau]

I like ham and cheese!

um ok....

anyhoo i find this concept totally intriguing and fascinating..i wouldn't mind watching that grow..like under glass or something..

 

[AffectionateDan]

Bwaahahahahahahaaaaaaa!!!!!

I like ham and cheese!

Jerk! Whatta ya tryin' ta do, make me choke on my Dr. Pepper?

 

[Redmage]

According to the articles, the connection between our universe and that one will die out in short time, permanently sealing our connection to it. Basically, even if this is successful, we will get nothing out of it, making the experiment unfortunatly useless as I see it.

Useless in the sense of "impractical," yes. It's pure research - one of the foundations of science. OTOH if it succeeds, then in a few billion years along their timeline (no way of knowing what that will mean on ours) any life that evolves in that new universe will probably be glad someone did it.

That's the really amazing part of this, for me: we're talking about creating universes here - life, the universe, and everything, as Douglas Adams might say. Asking how that's "useful" seems to miss the point, to my way of thinking.

And yes, it did occur to me that this might be how we got here ourselves: the result of an experiment on an extradimensional lab bench. I suppose this experiment might someday suggest a way to test that possibility.

Capnmad, it might or might not be possible to tell what's happening over there before the wormhole closes. It depends on how long it lasts, and at the moment no one knows. But if it's possible to extract information from the Hawking Radiation that the black hole produces before it closes, then we just might be able to say whether or not the experiment was a success.

All in all I think this is just too cool words. Call it a geek moment.

 

[Capnmad]

I'd read somewhere recently however that it's believed the information escaping with Hawking radiation was too altered ("mangled" I think was the term they used) to get anything intelligible or useful to research out. Time will tell of course, it's an interesting idea and all, and peripheral findings emerging from the studies may reveal more useful data about the way of things, but that said, the universe has an annoying habit of being very good at keeping its secrets.

 

[Mastertank1]

I don't remember the author's name....

But a looooooong time ago, this was the plot a of a scifi novella by the title "Microcosmic God".

Frankly, the idea that they're actually doing this creeps me the hell out.

 

[Dussicar]

Jerk! Whatta ya tryin' ta do, make me choke on my Dr. Pepper?

Uh oh!

It wasn't the last one you had in the fridge, was it?


On second thought. The lil' bastard in me is saying "I hope it was."

If so, I will be looking forward to the royal stomping I shall recieve should I attend a NEST.

Now, now. Sure it will hurt like hell. Sure my bones will be crushed to a fine paste. And yes, I will pray to all gods above and all that is holy for the sweet release of death to end my agony.

But there is a valuable life lesson in all of this: Always try something new.