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Old 11-05-2015, 11:47 AM
 
Location: Fortaleza, Northeast of Brazil
3,980 posts, read 6,788,987 times
Reputation: 2459

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We, adult humans, have bodies with a size between half a meter (a "dwarf") and 3 meters (a "giant").

We don't have bodies that are one nanometer high.

We don't have bodies that are one light-year high.

So, how the "human scale" affects our perception of the Universe?

An atomic nucleus seems to be "very small" to us. A galaxy seems to be "very big" to us.

If we were one nanometer high, would we think an atomic nucleus is very small? Would we be able to perceive things that are much smaller than a quark?

If we were 50 light-years high, would we think a galaxy is very big? Would we be able to perceive how small the "observable universe" actually is?

By the way: no, I'm not on drugs...
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Old 11-05-2015, 01:15 PM
 
Location: Austin, Texas
2,013 posts, read 1,428,955 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MalaMan View Post
We, adult humans, have bodies with a size between half a meter (a "dwarf") and 3 meters (a "giant").

We don't have bodies that are one nanometer high.

We don't have bodies that are one light-year high.

So, how the "human scale" affects our perception of the Universe?

An atomic nucleus seems to be "very small" to us. A galaxy seems to be "very big" to us.

If we were one nanometer high, would we think an atomic nucleus is very small? Would we be able to perceive things that are much smaller than a quark?

If we were 50 light-years high, would we think a galaxy is very big? Would we be able to perceive how small the "observable universe" actually is?

By the way: no, I'm not on drugs...
When I see deep space photos with multiple galaxies appearing like star fields, it is hard for me to believe that the scale would seem small regardless of the size of the organism observing.
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Old 11-05-2015, 01:34 PM
 
2,563 posts, read 3,682,291 times
Reputation: 3573
I read somewhere recently that there are more atoms in a grain of salt than there are stars in the universe. It that's true, then I guess I never realized how small atoms might be. And there's no way I can imagine traveling at the speed of light, and yet that measure is thrown around all the time.
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Old 11-05-2015, 01:40 PM
 
Location: Fortaleza, Northeast of Brazil
3,980 posts, read 6,788,987 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by unihills View Post
When I see deep space photos with multiple galaxies appearing like star fields, it is hard for me to believe that the scale would seem small regardless of the size of the organism observing.
Well, what if the entire observable universe is just inside a marble ball of some kid?

If the organism observing was that kid, then it would seem small...
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Old 11-05-2015, 02:37 PM
 
19,024 posts, read 27,585,087 times
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So, what drugs are you on?
Just messing with you.
here's a hypothesis. As you look into areas of universe, progressively more and more remote from you, everything accordingly is getting smaller. But, because of the distance, to observer, it actually appears proportionally sized.
Forgot the big name to this idea, but it sort of relates to what you asked - a universe in a bubble. So we, actually, exist on the inner bubble surface and the rest of the universe is going towards the center of that bubble, with everything in it progressively getting smaller. When you start traveling towards those areas, YOU become progressively smaller too, so for you, as observer, this is not noticeable.
You can do a very simple experiment to see how it works. Take a bunch of ball bearings and toss them into a bowl. You will notice, that bearings are reflected in themselves but then, those reflections reflect themselves again, and again, and again, progressively being smaller and smaller.
Found it. Multiverse. Read on it.
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Old 11-06-2015, 06:26 AM
 
Location: Fortaleza, Northeast of Brazil
3,980 posts, read 6,788,987 times
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The son of my cousin, an 8-year old kid, was watching a movie on DVD called "Horton Hears a Who!" and I saw part of the movie...

That movie made me think... What if there are whole universes with intelligent life forms deep inside each quark (or inside some quarks)?

What if our own universe is inside a quark (or other kind of fundamental building block) of a much bigger universe?
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Old 11-06-2015, 09:28 AM
 
19,024 posts, read 27,585,087 times
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Ahh, I see. You may also read Stanislav Lem's beautiful SciFi story on this topic. There are plenty of similar concepts in various flavors.
But the thing is, for our purpose, it does not really make any practical difference, does it? Outside of quite idle discussion we are going to have here, what does it really matter?
You may also look up Universe in the Box theories. Refer to Bible, as in Bible it mentions "firmament" Earth is enclosed in.
As I said - lots and lots of fantasies on this topic. Pointless.
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Old 11-06-2015, 10:25 AM
 
Location: Fortaleza, Northeast of Brazil
3,980 posts, read 6,788,987 times
Reputation: 2459
Quote:
Originally Posted by ukrkoz View Post
Ahh, I see. You may also read Stanislav Lem's beautiful SciFi story on this topic. There are plenty of similar concepts in various flavors.
But the thing is, for our purpose, it does not really make any practical difference, does it? Outside of quite idle discussion we are going to have here, what does it really matter?
You may also look up Universe in the Box theories. Refer to Bible, as in Bible it mentions "firmament" Earth is enclosed in.
As I said - lots and lots of fantasies on this topic. Pointless.
I don't think that searching the truth is pointless.

It could be impossible to know for sure today, and even for many years in the future.

It could not have any practical use ever.

But I don't think it's pointless... Knowing the truth is never pointless.
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Old 11-06-2015, 04:06 PM
 
28,432 posts, read 11,575,455 times
Reputation: 2070
Quote:
Originally Posted by MalaMan View Post
We, adult humans, have bodies with a size between half a meter (a "dwarf") and 3 meters (a "giant").

We don't have bodies that are one nanometer high.

We don't have bodies that are one light-year high.

So, how the "human scale" affects our perception of the Universe?

An atomic nucleus seems to be "very small" to us. A galaxy seems to be "very big" to us.

If we were one nanometer high, would we think an atomic nucleus is very small? Would we be able to perceive things that are much smaller than a quark?

If we were 50 light-years high, would we think a galaxy is very big? Would we be able to perceive how small the "observable universe" actually is?

By the way: no, I'm not on drugs...
lmao, yes, but 50 light years aint big enough.
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Old 11-06-2015, 07:01 PM
 
Location: Santa Monica
36,853 posts, read 17,357,575 times
Reputation: 14459
I remember when I was a kid and found out the North Star we see is as it was 435ish years ago.

Mind = Blown

Let's face it guys...we are dust in the wind (and that's giving us too much credit).
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