Magnifying the Universe

[Insanity Engine]

Ah what a beautiful link and a great way to put reality into perspective.

It still amazes me how such infinitesimally small things can so easily resemble the impossibly huge; how the structure of an atom is so eerily reminiscent of the structure of a solar system, and vice versa. Or how the pathways of neurons in the human mind look like the ways galaxies en masse are linked if you zoom out far enough. Now excuse me while I throw these links at everyone I know.

 

[Hinalle K.]

*faint scream barely audible from the back of the classroom*

"NEEEEEEEEEEEEERDS!!"

 

[M. LeRenard]

Fun fact about the Big Bang (since it came up): the idea was (according to legend) first postulated by a Catholic priest after the discovery that more distant galaxies appear to be receding from us more quickly than more nearby galaxies, but the idea was ridiculed by one Fred Hoyle, a leading astronomer at the time and huge proponent of the steady state model (that the universe is and always was as it is now). Hoyle invented the term 'big bang' to belittle the idea, but lo' and behold, as time went on, more evidence mounted until said "Big Bang theory" (now called so unironically) became the prevailing one. So in this case it was the religious fellow who got it right!
Just thought you'd all want to know.

 

[Fallowfox]

It puts your life in perspective. As a brief interraction of infinitecimally small specs of grit mediating a change from an unlikely to increasingly likely possible version of reality.

 

[RadioactiveRedFox]

Fun fact about the Big Bang (since it came up): the idea was (according to legend) first postulated by a Catholic priest after the discovery that more distant galaxies appear to be receding from us more quickly than more nearby galaxies, but the idea was ridiculed by one Fred Hoyle, a leading astronomer at the time and huge proponent of the steady state model (that the universe is and always was as it is now). Hoyle invented the term 'big bang' to belittle the idea, but lo' and behold, as time went on, more evidence mounted until said "Big Bang theory" (now called so unironically) became the prevailing one. So in this case it was the religious fellow who got it right!
Just thought you'd all want to know.

I guess I never really gave the origins of the Big Bang Theory much thought, Thanks for sharing this.

 

[M. LeRenard]

I guess I never really gave the origins of the Big Bang Theory much thought, Thanks for sharing this.

It's really a natural conclusion to make. Universe seems to be expanding, so if you run time backwards guess what happens?
Einstein was also a proponent of the steady state universe, until Hubble came along and showed the expansion. That was the origin of the 'cosmological constant'; without it, the only way to get a steady state universe is to have zero matter and energy density. Which is obviously not true, because... you know, we exist, and all that. So he just stuck a thing in his equation to cancel out the density term. Ironically, cosmologists still use that term today, but for a completely different reason (because now we see the expansion is accelerating, what people call 'dark energy' for lack of a better term; and you can't have an accelerating expansion without some extra term in there causing it).

 

[Hewge]

Why do I feel so small suddenly?

*goes back to sliding the bar back and forth for amusement*

 

[Demensa]

Alternative version:

http://scaleofuniverse.com/

It also has Powers of Ten below it, a video from 1977 done in a similar style. Worth a watch.

Man I love this animation...
Also, I saw powers of ten for the first time when I was something like 8 years old and I think it really sparked an interest in me for understanding 'the universe'.

Question "we". Are we the only sentient species in the galaxy? If not, we will either fight the other, or integrate.
Question "human race". If we integrate, then we aren't really the human race. Recent years have shown skyrocketing development in both genetic engineering and machinery - it might only take a few decades for us to see people who are partially machines, or people who have traits of other species on planet Earth(such as tardigrades, who are very resistant to both harsh temperatures and pressure - something that will obviously help us in the future, when space will become much colder and less dense). Will we still be the human race? Might as well go full cyborgs in a thousand years.
Question "the universe". Obviously enough, it'll take more than a hundred years for us to travel to the end of the current observable universe. Since this universe faces imminent(in seemingly infinite years) "death", we might have to travel from this one to another, be it parallel universes or time travel, whichever is available first. Conclusion is, if we actually get to live to that day, then we will certainly evacuate this freezer of a universe. I want to live to that day.

Humanity's ultimate goal: To transform all 'normal' matter in the universe into 'intelligent' matter (Assuming there is a definite limit for information density).
Once that is done, as you said, a new universe will be needed.

I'll gladly join you in the trans-humanist quest to live to that day.