Originally posted by The Omega
But the point exactly is, that the probability of something happening IS time (and energy) dependent. OUR definition of impossible is time-dependent, meaning that we say something will NEVER ever ever happen. But if you remove TIME from the equation of probabilities and possibilities you’re left with “something will”.
Okay. And what does that mean now?
Originally posted by The Omega
I’m not too keen on “quintessence”. It’s too un-occamian, if you like. If ZPE can explain dark energy, why postulate more (like my beef with string-theory)? If we somehow canonically quantized gravity (which I believe is the way on 5d space-time, which may not be the fundamental space, but a “higher space”, perhaps a tangent/phase-space of the underlying quantum-world?) I think we’d maybe see dark energy since both Dirac, Schrödinger and Feynmann are time-reversal equations, if you catch my drift?
You seem to have a better grasp of this than I do. Isn't one of the problems with ZPE as dark energy, the question, Why did it become a dominant effect 7-8 gigayears ago? The wave effect--implying some kind of cosmic frequency--was an effort to account for dark energy's rise to power.
We are so in the "dark" with this. 😉
Simply writing that off as “nothing” seems unwise to me. It’s this ZPE that I actually hold responsible for “dark energy” effects. Imagine the PRESSURE in the vacuum stress-energy tensor from ZPE??
Isn't that why some physicists say our spacetime could be a false vacuum?
Originally posted by Mindship
You seem to have a better grasp of this than I do. Isn't one of the problems with ZPE as dark energy, the question, Why did it become a dominant effect 7-8 gigayears ago? The wave effect--implying some kind of cosmic frequency--was an effort to account for dark energy's rise to power.We are so in the "dark" with this. 😉
Originally posted by Mindship
Isn't that why some physicists say our spacetime could be a false vacuum?
I think so, yes. My old supervisor has all these crazy ideas with "vacuum-bombs", and false vacuas. Maybe inflation and the sudden acceleration of the expansion of the Universe is caused by some kind of phase-transition?? If that's so, the current acceleration might slow to a halt again some time in the future, and the Universe will "just" expand?? It's not my field of expertise, but I think the idea is, that our current vacuum can "feel" other vacua-ground-states, and the ZPE might accelerate the expansion as a side-effect to REACH this "other" vacua-ground-state.
VERY hairy stuff... 🙂
Originally posted by The Omega
It's not my field of expertise, but I think the idea is, that our current vacuum can "feel" other vacua-ground-states, and the ZPE might accelerate the expansion as a side-effect to REACH this "other" vacua-ground-state.
VERY hairy stuff... 🙂
If I understood that right, then our universe is like a balloon in a vacuum chamber: the balloon expands. The air molecules (ZPE) in the balloon (universe) "seek" the extra room of the vacuum chamber, because that's their nature if extra room (a lower ground state) exists.
Originally posted by Mindship
If I understood that right, then our universe is like a balloon in a vacuum chamber: the balloon expands. The air molecules (ZPE) in the balloon (universe) "seek" the extra room of the vacuum chamber, because that's their nature if extra room (a lower ground state) exists.
In a way, yes... If time-travel is impossible then spacetime is also 5-dimensional, and our 3+1 dimensional spacetime is the boundary of something we do not understand yet. Perhaps some weird transition-dimension exists?
It's more like the ZPE in our false vacua starts to PUSH out the Universe, to reach the "true" vacuum...
There is some evidence to suggest inflation was caused by ZPE.
Again, I simply wonder why many physicists disregard the ZPE, which will be enourmous in the stress-energy tensor of the Einstein Equations.
Originally posted by The Omega
In a way, yes... If time-travel is impossible then spacetime is also 5-dimensional, and our 3+1 dimensional spacetime is the boundary of something we do not understand yet. Perhaps some weird transition-dimension exists?
It's more like the ZPE in our false vacua starts to PUSH out the Universe, to reach the "true" vacuum...
There is some evidence to suggest inflation was caused by ZPE.
This kind of speculation makes me start to think "fractals." What if this 5D field is a boundary to a still vaster configuration, on and on in an infinite progression? I start to wonder--as perhaps Sagan did in his Cosmos series--about an unending hierarchy (universes within universes). In other words, Hello, Metaphysics.
I'm sure you've asked yourself, "I wonder what physics is going to be like 100 years from now, or 1000 years?" Go far enough and might one leave even metaphysics behind for consciousness, mysticism and God? An "oscillating universe" seems quaint and simplistic by comparison.
"The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine."
...which will be enourmous in the stress-energy tensor of the Einstein Equations.
I love when you talk like that. 😉
Originally posted by Mindship
This kind of speculation makes me start to think "fractals." What if this 5D field is a boundary to a still vaster configuration, on and on in an infinite progression? I start to wonder--as perhaps Sagan did in his Cosmos series--about an unending hierarchy (universes within universes). In other words, Hello, Metaphysics.
Who knows? Maybe the number of dimensions at Big Bang was infinite, and one by one they decoupled in some irreversible manner thus giving rise to entropy, some kind of topological temperature and energy?? Well, hey… There you go, Big Bang! 🙂
Originally posted by Mindship
I'm sure you've asked yourself, "I wonder what physics is going to be like 100 years from now, or 1000 years?" Go far enough and might one leave even metaphysics behind for consciousness, mysticism and God? An "oscillating universe" seems quaint and simplistic by comparison."The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine."
Yes and no. QED is not going to change, I’m pretty sure. Nor is QCD. Our knowledge is not so incomplete that we do not get technological benefits and advances from new theories etc. Newton wasn’t wrong – he was merely not the whole picture. Maxwell wasn’t wrong either, again, he was merely not the whole picture. We KNOW that the General Theory of Relativity is not the whole picture either – it’s not a quantum theory…
So we’ll be expanding our knowledge, but some things are facts 🙂 Quantum gravity is the one thing I am looking forward to the most! You?
Originally posted by The Omega
Quantum gravity is the one thing I am looking forward to the most! You?
There are certain mind-blowing, horizon-expanding, possibly paradigm-shifting events/discoveries I am hoping to see in my lifetime. The discovery of mega-galactic structures like the Great Wall; Shoemaker-Levy slam-dunking pieces of itself into Jupiter; the accelerating expansion of the universe: all these fall into that category for me. Quantum gravity would be another, as would be the discovery of extraterrestrial life (even if just a fossilized Martian microbe!). Also, I wouldn't mind finding out what the Great Attractor is, either.