Unanswered questions

[bcrew1375]

Do you guys ever think about things that have went unanswered? I think everyone does, I haven't seen a person yet that doesn't. I want to know some you guys have thought of, and some theories, or even wild guesses on the answers. For example, one I've liked to think about, people say the universe is ever-expanding, since no one has been to the edge of the universe, what do you think would happen if you could reach it ? What really happens if you get sucked into a black hole, do you just get squashed into one tiny atom, or does something else happen ? Science has tried to explain some of these things, but I'm pretty sure no one knows for certain. Anyway, I'd like to see some of your guys' questions and answers. Though, please people, do not turn this into yet another debate on beliefs -_-.

[The Captain]

Originally Posted by bcrew1375

Do you guys ever think about things that have went unanswered? I think everyone does, I haven't seen a person yet that doesn't.

I'm not referring to the same thing you are, but I think that the vast majority of people are either too stupid to ask such questions or are too busy with their own little pursuits of happiness. How many people do you know that daily ask questions like:

-What is love?
-What is self?
-Are my feelings just a passing whim, or are they a reflection of a deeper part of my sub-conscious or ego?
-Why do I think of evil things even when I am not angry or hurt?
-Who am I?
-Who should I be?

Although these questions are different from the ones you asked, I believe they are on topic. Having said that, I doubt many people ask the questions I ask.

[WindHydra]

You must be insane (or already are) to ask these questions daily One in a while is frequent enough.

[bcrew1375]

Yes, just as you said The Captain. Who would stop and think about these kinds of things? You and I apparently . I always worry about death when I'm trying to sleep at night. People say I need to get out more, and think more positively. Some people think you'll goto Heaven or Hell, some think you'll be reincarnated, some think you'll just be dead. What if none of that happens, what if it's something totally unheard of? For instance, my stepdad said he died for a short period, the doctors had to jumpstart his heart after he got electrocuted. He said he still had all of his senses, but it was like he wasn't in control of himself anymore. He said he could hear the doctors talking, he could feel them trying to revive him . These are just the sort of things that flow through my head late at night, sometimes when I'm wide awake.

Edit: No, I have not been drinking. No, I have not been smoking anything. No, I have not been doing anything that would affect my thinking process. This is the way I always think .

[Proto]

Well... my most recent was how would an AI system enter a recursive rewriting of it's code without the use of a separate module and without entering in conflict with onew of the derivations Halting Problem (in a nutshell, it'd say that there is no Turing Machine that can process it's own code)... it certainly poses a problem but I guess it can be solved with the use of either twin processors or partial rewritings... but all of them requires the use of an external module >.<... aw well

The most famous unanswered question right now must be how to join the quantic and the relativist theory into an unified one given the apparent contradiction that they seem to be in... however the super string theory is making good progress towards that point

Other questions aren't that much of a problem for me (Love and feelings in general: Chemical reaction further complicated by our own intelligence... etc.)

[The Captain]

Originally Posted by Proto

Other questions aren't that much of a problem for me (Love and feelings in general: Chemical reaction further complicated by our own intelligence... etc.)

I understand this, but should I follow these feelings or should I detest them because they are human? I find lust, for example, to be one of the worst human things. I definitely have a physical attraction to women, but not really an emotional one. If my mind was somehow separated from my body, I doubt I would have any large attraction to either sex. Of course, feelings like lust are there for propagation of the species. Should I "go with the flow" and just accept this lust? Or should I hate it because I can't control it?

Originally Posted by WindHydra

You must be insane (or already are) to ask these questions daily One in a while is frequent enough.

I keep asking them because I can't find a sufficient answer. I probably never will, so I'm doomed to ask these questions until I die.

[Proto]

I understand this, but should I follow these feelings or should I detest them because they are human?

Well for me the answer is as follows. Any reaction based merely on instict should be repudiated as an irrational act. Any action based only on feelings should be troughtfully thought over as an incomplete rational act. As such, only when we make full use of our intelligence is when we can arrive to the most logical answers. Granted, this doesnt work for every single situation, however, as the intelligent beings we are it is in that intelligence where we should find our answers (And lust is pure animal instict so its a big nono for me , its not like hating, its just accepting that you have it but control it through rational thinking )

[WindHydra]

Originally Posted by The Captain

I keep asking them because I can't find a sufficient answer. I probably never will, so I'm doomed to ask these questions until I die.

You mean you look deeply into these questions daily or just "think" about the questions but do not try too hard to find an answer? There is a big difference here :/

[The Captain]

Originally Posted by WindHydra

You mean you look deeply into these questions daily or just "think" about the questions but do not try too hard to find an answer? There is a big difference here :/

I try to come up with an answer, but usually that doesn't happen, so I guess you could say I am just stuck thinking about these things. I'm one of those people who will think about a problem until an answer is found. For example, I had a problem with a java program the other day, and I didn't stop trying to find a fix until my program worked.

Every once in a while, I come up with a answer that satisfies me for at least a little while. However, I usually come upon a situation that makes me rethink a question. I have yet to find a universal answer which I can use in all situations.

[_E_]

Love is an emotion, an emotion is more than chemical reactions. Or quoting what someone said on the IRC chan a few weeks ago, if emotions were chemicals reactions, then why bother having sex? Just have a pill and orgasm

Anyways, I got the rest of those solved thanks to ( ho ho, religon, the power people refused to believe in and made fun of )

PS : No, I wont discuss them here or it will turn into a religous discussion. PM me if you are interested, heh,....that is....if you are really interested

PSS : My my, I sure used alot of smilies here

Yours,
-Elly

[Proto]

Love is an emotion, an emotion is more than chemical reactions.

Could you backup your statement with something else than "I think so"

Or quoting what someone said on the IRC chan a few weeks ago, if emotions were chemicals reactions, then why bother having sex? Just have a pill and orgasm

Oh, but if its pretty simple. There is a simple reason. Society has condicionated all of us to consider, in various ways, as a couple relatiuonship the one and only way to have sex, and indirectly taught us to consider every form apart from this as a sin, pecaminious, or just lame (yes, that's another condicioning our society has imposed. A man is not a man if he doent has sex. Fortunately we are starting to break that wall....)

And I feel offended as an atheist. YOU OFFENDED ME!! /me cries uncontrolably ok j/k ^^)

PS: Also id like to hear religion answer as to why quantum physics and the relativistic theory enter in aparent contradiction

PS2: Damnit this crazy use of smiles must be contagious

[_E_]

Originally Posted by Proto

Could you backup your statement with something else than "I think so"

I already gave you an example to illustrate my point, but you missed it completely

Originally Posted by Proto

And I feel offended as an atheist. YOU OFFENDED ME!! /me cries uncontrolably ok j/k ^^)

PS: Also id like to hear religion answer as to why quantum physics and the relativistic theory enter in aparent contradiction

Heh, I was refering to the questions asked in the first post

Originally Posted by Proto

PS2: Damnit this crazy use of smiles must be contagious

Sure, now lets spread the smiley craze

... :P

Yours,
-Elly

[Proto]

I already gave you an example to illustrate my point, but you missed it completely

Ok, then further explain your point please, so that I dont miss it again.

And yes, I'm desperately trying not to use any smilies.

PS : Yes, I am desprete indeed...

[Kaiser Sigma]

Originally Posted by Proto

PS : Yes, I am desprete indeed...

Want an orgasm pill? Or maybe an oral sex chemical reaction capsule?

[bcrew1375]

If only emotions were as simple as taking a capsule.

[Kaiser Sigma]

What are you talking about? We are meat wagons... flesh machines, emotions are a chemical reaction, here take this pill to stimulate X substance in your brain and you will become as fearless as The Great Kaiser Sigma!

[bcrew1375]

Really? How much?

[Kaiser Sigma]

Aha! So you want to be like me after all!!! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!111!!!

[Boltzmann]

Originally Posted by bcrew1375

For example, one I've liked to think about, people say the universe is ever-expanding, since no one has been to the edge of the universe, what do you think would happen if you could reach it ?

When we say that the universe is expanding, we're saying that space-time in itself is expanding. There's no wall at the end of the observable universe
If you could somehow outrun the universe you would not run into any kind of barrier, you would just drive the expansion along with you.

Originally Posted by bcrew1375

What really happens if you get sucked into a black hole, do you just get squashed into one tiny atom, or does something else happen ?

In a black hole you would just be torn apart when you reach the singularity (the point at the center, which has infinite density). If it's a worm-hole (a theoretical construct, mind you - we've never found one) you could be "warped" to a entirely different section of space, or even (most likely, some physicists would say) go back in time.

Originally Posted by Proto

Other questions aren't that much of a problem for me (Love and feelings in general: Chemical reaction further complicated by our own intelligence... etc.)

I do believe that all that we are is a result of chemical reactions hapenning inside a incredibly complicated brain. And a brain is nothing more than nature's way to compute with meat.

Yet, finding specific causal relationships (i.e. which chemicals, acting on which parts of the brain, activated under which circumstances, regulated by which other chemicals and brain parts) can be extremely satisfying intelectually speaking. Hence my interest in cognitive science.

The same goes for many other areas of human knowledge, like cosmology. We know that the universe developed according to definite physical laws. But figuring out those laws, and how they operate over time is a challenging task, and one that can be extremely rewarding.

Originally Posted by エッリー

Love is an emotion, an emotion is more than chemical reactions.

Nonsense. Ask any evolutionary psychologist or neuroscientist and see what he thinks.

Or maybe the neuroscientists are all dumb fellows who know nothing about the brain

You should read Francis Crick's The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul . It's good for those who are clueless about modern cognitive science

Originally Posted by エッリー

if emotions were chemicals reactions, then why bother having sex? Just have a pill and orgasm

Because evolution "designed" you to want sex. The sex drive has a definite evolutionary rationale.

Anyway, I do believe that we'll be able to chemically reproduce an orgasm, and it'll not be long. Yet, most people will not be satisfied, just as we're not satisfied by masturbation alone (well, most of us aren't ).

Originally Posted by The Captain

I understand this, but should I follow these feelings or should I detest them because they are human? I find lust, for example, to be one of the worst human things.

You should look inside yourself and decide what you value and what you don't. Things are not intrinsically bad just because they're natural, nor they are intrinsically good. For instance, I think that hatred is bad, but love is good - yet both are natural.

I've recently bought (though I haven't read it yet) E.O.Wilson's Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge . Wilson makes a very strong case for science in this book. The time is right, he suggests, for us to understand more fully that quest for knowledge, for "Homo sapiens, the first truly free species, is about to decommission natural selection, the force that made us.... Soon we must look deep within ourselves and decide what we wish to become." (Taken from Amazon's editorial review )

Evolution designed us, crafted us, but we're rational beings, so we can decide what to value in our nature. That's why I admire people like Gandhi. He went against human nature in a good way.