Happy Atheist Forum

Robot sex!

Seriously though, here's a link to an awesome page at edge.com where lots of notable people (scientists and researchers mainly, but some artists and entertainers as well) give their answers to that question:

http://www.edge.org/q2009/q09_index.html (http://www.edge.org/q2009/q09_index.html)

"What will change everything?"

Well, let's start small.  A better site layout for edge.org would certainly change my opinion of their webmaster.

But seriously, the biggest thing I can imagine happening would be the discovery of extraterrestrial life.  What would that change?  Nothing.  I expect just as many petty wars, just as much religion, and just as much political bickering.  It'd be an update for the history books, an astounding and humbling affirmation for those who excepted it and/or cared, and a massive but quickly fading blip on the pop culture radar.

- time machine
- teleportation device
- fast than light drive
- intelligent computers

Natural seed propogation becoming the norm, and less poluting fertilizer for dent corn.

Quote from: "PipeBox""What will change everything?"

Well, let's start small.  A better site layout for edge.org would certainly change my opinion of their webmaster.

But seriously, the biggest thing I can imagine happening would be the discovery of extraterrestrial life.  What would that change?  Nothing.  I expect just as many petty wars, just as much religion, and just as much political bickering.  It'd be an update for the history books, an astounding and humbling affirmation for those who excepted it and/or cared, and a massive but quickly fading blip on the pop culture radar.

Agreed, horrid layout. If i judged sites purely on aesthetics, I probably wouldn't have explored it at all.

E.T.s - My friends and I were actually just talking about this the other night. It probably wouldn't have as huge an impact as people tend to think, like you say.
However, I'd imagine subtle impacts could be pretty significant. For instance, I'm sure some sort of alien-themed religion would start up (um, not counting Scientology) and develop a pretty massive following. I'd also imagine quite a few people would be signficantly affected psychologically, but again, not as many as some probably would expect.

Quote from: "Tom62"- time machine
- teleportation device
- fast than light drive
- intelligent computers

yeah, those would definitely change everything! Teleportation alone would drastically hasten our advancement on so many levels.

Quote from: "VanReal"Natural seed propogation becoming the norm, and less poluting fertilizer for dent corn.

Good one. I mean that in two ways: literally, i.e. good call, would definitely have impact, I'd support that and sarcastically(not the mean spirited kind, the "you must be joking" kind), i.e. I doubt "Big Money" will let that happen - of course, I'm not an expert on such matters, so I can't say for sure we never will, but, well...I'm just living up to my namesake (cue audience laugh track and co-star shaking head with smile saying, "Oh, Miss Anthrope, you cynical rascal!")

The discovery of the Higgs Boson.
Interdimensional travel.
The digitization of consciousness.
The sun going nova.
The invention of the chronoscope.

(I would have said E.T. But everyone got there before me.. )

Quote from: "karadan"The discovery of the Higgs Boson.
Interdimensional travel.
The digitization of consciousness.
The sun going nova.
The invention of the chronoscope.

(I would have said E.T. But everyone got there before me.. )

Higgs Boson, yes yes!

I noticed you mentioned digitization of consciousness, so I'm curious about your stance on a related concept: Do you think it's possible that we're in/are a simulation, or perhaps even a simulation within a simulation (or even many more "within"s) like Nick Bostrom has said?

... one word: INTEROCITOR!

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbugtraq.ru%2Flibrary%2Funderground%2F.keep%2Fcompscifi.interocitor.jpg&hash=f0714e5b8f842199f81f5e94c15232577eb59563)

Quote from: "joeactor"... one word: INTEROCITOR!

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbugtraq.ru%2Flibrary%2Funderground%2F.keep%2Fcompscifi.interocitor.jpg&hash=f0714e5b8f842199f81f5e94c15232577eb59563)

 

Quote from: "Miss Anthrope"

Quote from: "karadan"The discovery of the Higgs Boson.
Interdimensional travel.
The digitization of consciousness.
The sun going nova.
The invention of the chronoscope.

(I would have said E.T. But everyone got there before me.. :)

I consider that more possible than an all-knowing god.

Self-replicating medical nanobots.

Quote from: "karadan"Yes, anything is possible :lol:

Nanotech is one of my favorite "future tech"s.

Quote from: "Kylyssa"Self-replicating medical nanobots.

Whenever I think of nanotech I have to look like Homer Simpson thinking about donuts.

Check out The Diamond Age (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age), if you haven't already.  

Quote from: "curiosityandthecat"

Quote from: "Kylyssa"Self-replicating medical nanobots.

Whenever I think of nanotech I have to look like Homer Simpson thinking about donuts.

Check out The Diamond Age (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age), if you haven't already.  :shock:

Quote from: "Miss Anthrope"...in the sense that when i was little I use to boggle my mind by thinking about the vastness of space.

Don't know what you're talking about here, because I still do.  

I don't know if I'll ever be able to get my mind completely around that one.

Quote from: "Ihateyoumike"

Quote from: "Miss Anthrope"...in the sense that when i was little I use to boggle my mind by thinking about the vastness of space.

Don't know what you're talking about here, because I still do.  :lol:

Quote from: "Miss Anthrope"

Quote from: "Ihateyoumike"

Quote from: "Miss Anthrope"...in the sense that when i was little I use to boggle my mind by thinking about the vastness of space.

Don't know what you're talking about here, because I still do.  :lol:

I like to envisage the universe as a Klein Bottle. It makes it far easier on the brain. Otherwise, it is like trying to imagine what it is like to be dead. The brain cannot cope.

Quote from: "karadan"I like to envisage the universe as a Klein Bottle. It makes it far easier on the brain. Otherwise, it is like trying to imagine what it is like to be dead. The brain cannot cope.

I've thought of it that way before (admittedly not "on my own", I've read things that made that connection). It certainly does help as far as providing a rudimetnary visual, but the Klein bottle concept itself is pretty bizarre. Whenever I start thinking along these lines, I just hit a wall and reality makes about as much sense as religion in some ways. This actually has a lot to do with why I'm on the agnostic end of atheism.

Quote from: "Miss Anthrope"

Quote from: "karadan"I like to envisage the universe as a Klein Bottle. It makes it far easier on the brain. Otherwise, it is like trying to imagine what it is like to be dead. The brain cannot cope.

I've thought of it that way before (admittedly not "on my own", I've read things that made that connection). It certainly does help as far as providing a rudimetnary visual, but the Klein bottle concept itself is pretty bizarre. Whenever I start thinking along these lines, I just hit a wall and reality makes about as much sense as religion in some ways. This actually has a lot to do with why I'm on the agnostic end of atheism.

I guess it just boils down to how it is explained to you. I used to have a hard time understanding the concept of the fourth dimension until i saw this vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDaKzQNl ... re=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDaKzQNlMFw&feature=related)

The way it is explained just seemed to fit with me. I now have a far easier time trying to visualise this concept. I like brain fodder like this.

Quote from: "karadan"I guess it just boils down to how it is explained to you. I used to have a hard time understanding the concept of the fourth dimension until i saw this vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDaKzQNl ... re=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDaKzQNlMFw&feature=related)

The way it is explained just seemed to fit with me. I now have a far easier time trying to visualise this concept. I like brain fodder like this.

Hey karadan, thanks for the link, it had a few examples that I hadn't seen before. Didn't really help with my overall confusion, though, which I meant in more of "big picture" way. The actual concepts don't boggle my mind (too much), I've seen a lot of material dealing with the dimensions. It's the implications many theories have in terms of our reality that makes me hit walls. For instance, some cosmologists now think that the third dimension is like a holographic image being "projected" from a massive 2d surface (in a sense, the "edge" of the universe) and then there's the recent discovery that photons can communicate at least 100,000 times the speed of light - http://www.physorg.com/news137937526.html (http://www.physorg.com/news137937526.html)

When forced to consider that space & time are even less important than we already know, I start to also wonder if all the scientific knowledge in the world would really help me understand reality in the purest sense of the word. Everything just seems...absurd.

Quote from: "Miss Anthrope"

Quote from: "karadan"I guess it just boils down to how it is explained to you. I used to have a hard time understanding the concept of the fourth dimension until i saw this vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDaKzQNl ... re=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDaKzQNlMFw&feature=related)

The way it is explained just seemed to fit with me. I now have a far easier time trying to visualise this concept. I like brain fodder like this.

Hey karadan, thanks for the link, it had a few examples that I hadn't seen before. Didn't really help with my overall confusion, though, which I meant in more of "big picture" way. The actual concepts don't boggle my mind (too much), I've seen a lot of material dealing with the dimensions. It's the implications many theories have in terms of our reality that makes me hit walls. For instance, some cosmologists now think that the third dimension is like a holographic image being "projected" from a massive 2d surface (in a sense, the "edge" of the universe) and then there's the recent discovery that photons can communicate at least 100,000 times the speed of light - http://www.physorg.com/news137937526.html (http://www.physorg.com/news137937526.html)

When forced to consider that space & time are even less important than we already know, I start to also wonder if all the scientific knowledge in the world would really help me understand reality in the purest sense of the word. Everything just seems...absurd.

Indeed. As you go deeper and deeper into the realms of reality, it no longer 'seems' absurd but actually is absurd hehe. I think the human race will hit a wall fairly soon anyway because i doubt any single human brain will be able to comprehend the stuff they are trying to conceive. We already take many theories for granted - theories which have initially been thought up by people like Hawkins or Higgs but at some point even their intellect won't actually be able to visualise the concepts their mathematics (or metamathematics) creates for them.

Thanks for that link by the way. that is super interesting.

Quote from: "karadan"Indeed. As you go deeper and deeper into the realms of reality, it no longer 'seems' absurd but actually is absurd hehe. .

Good point! I should change my world-view description from "Free-thinker" to "Absurdist"  Seriously though, I love it. I think it would be boring if we really understood everything, I mean, a good portion of media I enjoy is in the "mystery" category.

Quote from: "Miss Anthrope"

Quote from: "karadan"Indeed. As you go deeper and deeper into the realms of reality, it no longer 'seems' absurd but actually is absurd hehe. .

Good point! I should change my world-view description from "Free-thinker" to "Absurdist" :)

Quote from: "karadan"I'm rather partial to the multiple consecutive concentric universe theory. It is a load of (ninth dimensional) twaddle, but what a fantastically beautiful load of twaddle it is!

I had to google that, and the first relevant link that popped up was actually a thread of your's on this forum, where I found out it was created by Iain Banks (and company).Based on the name, I actually wouldn't have been surprised if I had found out that it was an actual theory put forth by scientists.

After reading your summary, I'd have to concur, it has a certain elegance to it.

Quote from: "Miss Anthrope"

Quote from: "karadan"I'm rather partial to the multiple consecutive concentric universe theory. It is a load of (ninth dimensional) twaddle, but what a fantastically beautiful load of twaddle it is!

I had to google that, and the first relevant link that popped up was actually a thread of your's on this forum, where I found out it was created by Iain Banks (and company).Based on the name, I actually wouldn't have been surprised if I had found out that it was an actual theory put forth by scientists.

After reading your summary, I'd have to concur, it has a certain elegance to it.

Tee hee. I'm famous!

Robots that can think or computers that can think.

Quote from: "4DeepThought2"Robots that can think or computers that can think.

How do you know we don't already have those??  :upset:

Dick implants that look real.

An effective narcotic painkiller without side effects.  :D

I just thought of a new one.

Super-strong materials strong enough to create a viable orbital tether or artificial habitat (ring world)

Space would become so much more accessible with an orbital tether.

I would say, being able to see the things in between.

Nanotechnology, for sure, I know medicine has been mentioned already, but what about a material fabricator?  Turn thin air and dirt into anything you want, just by re-arranging the protons, neutrons, and electrons.

Quote from: "karadan"Indeed. As you go deeper and deeper into the realms of reality, it no longer 'seems' absurd but actually is absurd hehe. I think the human race will hit a wall fairly soon anyway because i doubt any single human brain will be able to comprehend the stuff they are trying to conceive. We already take many theories for granted - theories which have initially been thought up by people like Hawkins or Higgs but at some point even their intellect won't actually be able to visualise the concepts their mathematics (or metamathematics) creates for them.

Thanks for that link by the way. that is super interesting. :D