Wouldn't it be great to be able to teleport to your friend's house, or across the globe instantaneously, or at the speed of light? That'd be amazing, helpful, and priceless technology. However, there is an issue with teleportation...
In order to teleport something we would need to make an anatomical map of a person. Break them down into a blueprint of the atoms (or even smaller particles) that make up their body so the information could be transferred to the destination... but, what would come out of the other side?
If somebody was mapped at an anatomical level, then teleported to another destination, would it be the same person that comes out the other side? Would they have the same personality? The same memories? The same ethics and way of thinking? Or does what makes us human go deeper than an anatomical, or even physical level? Even if we could take that anatomical map and break it down to every single particle, millions of times smaller than atoms, and reassemble them at the other end of the teleportation device, would the same problem persist? Would that person be the same person?
Does the human construct go deeper than purely a physical level, or is there something more that makes us who we are? Some people call this a "soul" and believe many different things. So, if a human was purely physical, and we could blueprint that person to the smallest degree, then the person coming out of the other end of the teleporter would be the same person (memories, personality, and all). However, if who we are as human transcends a physical level, the person at the other end would not be the same "person." Yes, they would have the same particle (physical) makeup, but they wouldn't have what that non-physical property that makes us "who we are."
So, what do you think? Is a human purely physical and a reconstructed particle makeup of that person have every quality as the person who first entered the teleporter? Or is there something more?
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
The big picture
Consider this: The modern nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine is without a doubt the single most destructive machine man has ever created. Capable of remaining submersed and invisible for up to six months (only needs to come up to accommodate the sailors' needs. If it was autonomous, it could remain under the ocean for years). Then within minutes able to shower any landmass on the planet with multiple independently targetable warheads that reenter the atmosphere at over 12,000mph. Each submarine can destroy an entire continent.
It will always amaze and terrify me how far humans are willing to push the envelope of existence over minor, trivial, and frivolous things like war, when the real war we are fighting is against time. Imagine if we used all the resources we use for war, for a way to sustain our species. This world will not be habitable for us much longer, and the majority of the world is talking about and dealing with politicians and people who "rule" the planet and who (generally) don't think about the long run. So who will? Who will begin to think LONG TERM. Not just a 4 year term. It's terrifying and unfair to the other generations who will die here, on an uninhabitable wasteland planet; Earth, because of our ignorance and disregard for the future. At the rate we're going the person who will see the end of humanity as we know it is already a toddler. We need a world-wide space organization to help us escape the blue planet and inhabit somewhere else to ensure survival of our species instead of killing each other in a miniscule sliver of astronomical time.
A lot of people are looking for "the answer" or some "reason" for living. Well, I'll tell you this, if we stay on Earth, human's existence will go unnoticed and unmissed in the astronomical sense. We flourished on a planet that we evolved to use perfectly, then we destroyed it with our own disregard for the future. Earth will be destroyed, whether it be in 50 years due to global warming/climate change, massive pollution due to fossil fuels, a cosmic event such as a solar flare engulfing the planet in radiation an stripping it of the atmosphere (which keeps us alive) or and number of endless scenarios that could destroy the very unstable balance of life on this planet. If you're looking for a reason to live, then do what's best for the human race. Contribute to positive, long-term survival of humans. That could even be as simple as working at a grocery store, keeping society going (hopefully in a healthier, more sustainable direction). Our planet is dying... yet no one seems to care. Why is this?
Although, I'm sure there are many of you out there who are outraged at the way the planet is going and our lack of a "survival plan" (and I mean, for the entire species), but there aren't enough people pissed off. Most people think short term, and unfortunately it takes a catastrophe for people to actually change their way of thinking and unfortunate for us, that catastrophe might be the end of the planet.
Unfortunately, there are many people who think the space program is a waste of money, and that is the biggest, most destructive thought to human existence that could ever be conceived. Earth will not be here forever, even if we somehow reversed all the irreversible damage we've already done to the planet to prevent it from dying, the sun will expand and bun the planet before completely consuming it, and there is sure as hell nothing we can do to keep a star from going through its stages of life and death (at least not conceivably.. but nothing is impossible) .
So what can we do to get us the hell off this rock we're all inevitably going to die on eventually? Support space travel, sustaining life in space, space exploration, advanced propulsion systems, trying again and again and never giving up on new ways to travel, explore, and learn. Anything that helps us survive somewhere other than here. We must escape this planet before it become uninhabitable. We must learn and work together to sustain life in space until we reach another habitable planet or be able to survive indefinitely in space if we have to. Whether it be in sustained life in space, or on another celestial body... we need to get there.
It will always amaze and terrify me how far humans are willing to push the envelope of existence over minor, trivial, and frivolous things like war, when the real war we are fighting is against time. Imagine if we used all the resources we use for war, for a way to sustain our species. This world will not be habitable for us much longer, and the majority of the world is talking about and dealing with politicians and people who "rule" the planet and who (generally) don't think about the long run. So who will? Who will begin to think LONG TERM. Not just a 4 year term. It's terrifying and unfair to the other generations who will die here, on an uninhabitable wasteland planet; Earth, because of our ignorance and disregard for the future. At the rate we're going the person who will see the end of humanity as we know it is already a toddler. We need a world-wide space organization to help us escape the blue planet and inhabit somewhere else to ensure survival of our species instead of killing each other in a miniscule sliver of astronomical time.
A lot of people are looking for "the answer" or some "reason" for living. Well, I'll tell you this, if we stay on Earth, human's existence will go unnoticed and unmissed in the astronomical sense. We flourished on a planet that we evolved to use perfectly, then we destroyed it with our own disregard for the future. Earth will be destroyed, whether it be in 50 years due to global warming/climate change, massive pollution due to fossil fuels, a cosmic event such as a solar flare engulfing the planet in radiation an stripping it of the atmosphere (which keeps us alive) or and number of endless scenarios that could destroy the very unstable balance of life on this planet. If you're looking for a reason to live, then do what's best for the human race. Contribute to positive, long-term survival of humans. That could even be as simple as working at a grocery store, keeping society going (hopefully in a healthier, more sustainable direction). Our planet is dying... yet no one seems to care. Why is this?
Although, I'm sure there are many of you out there who are outraged at the way the planet is going and our lack of a "survival plan" (and I mean, for the entire species), but there aren't enough people pissed off. Most people think short term, and unfortunately it takes a catastrophe for people to actually change their way of thinking and unfortunate for us, that catastrophe might be the end of the planet.
Unfortunately, there are many people who think the space program is a waste of money, and that is the biggest, most destructive thought to human existence that could ever be conceived. Earth will not be here forever, even if we somehow reversed all the irreversible damage we've already done to the planet to prevent it from dying, the sun will expand and bun the planet before completely consuming it, and there is sure as hell nothing we can do to keep a star from going through its stages of life and death (at least not conceivably.. but nothing is impossible) .
So what can we do to get us the hell off this rock we're all inevitably going to die on eventually? Support space travel, sustaining life in space, space exploration, advanced propulsion systems, trying again and again and never giving up on new ways to travel, explore, and learn. Anything that helps us survive somewhere other than here. We must escape this planet before it become uninhabitable. We must learn and work together to sustain life in space until we reach another habitable planet or be able to survive indefinitely in space if we have to. Whether it be in sustained life in space, or on another celestial body... we need to get there.
Time is relative, we're just stuck in an instance.
For those of you saying that time "isn't real"... well, it is real. It's just relative. Time is relative like nearly all things are. For example, a year on Mars is longer than an Earth year, but that doesn't mean that when I'm on Mars I literally age slower, it just means the time on Mars is different relative to time on Earth. I could be born on Mars and live to 40 Mars' years old (which is about 75 Earth years) so if I were to travel to Earth, even though I'm only 40 Mars' years old, I would be 75.287671 Earth years old, and thus look like an old man.
Relativity can be confusing if it's a concept you don't understand. Imagine this: a spacecraft that can travel 99.999...% the speed of light. As we know (with experiments conducted on Earth, time dilation exists. Which means, the faster you are moving, the slower time moves for you. Also, as far as we know, the speed of light is the "speed limit" of the universe. So, a ship travelling 99.999....% the speed of light would experience such time dilation that, relative to those on Earth, it would seems as if the person didn't age at all. Here's a scenario, two twins both 20 years old. One is an astronaut and gets of our ship travelling damn close to the speed of light to a star 1 light year away. He doesn't stay there though, he just travels 1 light years there, then 1 light year back without stopping. So for the astronaut and the spaceship, 2 years have passed. However, on Earth, his twin may have aged 40 years, but remember, these are Earth years. The time dilation have caused the twins to age (relatively) at a much different rate, however, they have aged at the same rate (relative to where they are/were).
Imagine this, if Earth started going around the Sun twice as fast, people would suddenly "age" faster. However, it would only be relative to Earth. An instance of time such as "year" should also come with a specification of location so that the relativity can be taken into account, "1 Earth year" or "1 Mars year" (with the Mars' year being twice as long.
So, time is relative. We are perpetually stuck in one instance of time (for example, I can only see you as you are right now, this moment, not as you were 5 mins or years ago), although, we can observe "time" moving, life grows and dies, stars grow and die, just because we don't have the power to see time in its entirety (the 4th dimension), doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Just like it doesn't mean that depth doesn't exist even if we were only able to see length and width (2nd dimension). Imagine walking through the 2nd dimension, if there were "beings" in that dimension, they would only be able to see one plane of you (like a ct scan as it goes through your body), just like we are only able to see one plane of time as we pass through it (only able to see this single moment as it passes). Get it?
Relativity can be confusing if it's a concept you don't understand. Imagine this: a spacecraft that can travel 99.999...% the speed of light. As we know (with experiments conducted on Earth, time dilation exists. Which means, the faster you are moving, the slower time moves for you. Also, as far as we know, the speed of light is the "speed limit" of the universe. So, a ship travelling 99.999....% the speed of light would experience such time dilation that, relative to those on Earth, it would seems as if the person didn't age at all. Here's a scenario, two twins both 20 years old. One is an astronaut and gets of our ship travelling damn close to the speed of light to a star 1 light year away. He doesn't stay there though, he just travels 1 light years there, then 1 light year back without stopping. So for the astronaut and the spaceship, 2 years have passed. However, on Earth, his twin may have aged 40 years, but remember, these are Earth years. The time dilation have caused the twins to age (relatively) at a much different rate, however, they have aged at the same rate (relative to where they are/were).
Imagine this, if Earth started going around the Sun twice as fast, people would suddenly "age" faster. However, it would only be relative to Earth. An instance of time such as "year" should also come with a specification of location so that the relativity can be taken into account, "1 Earth year" or "1 Mars year" (with the Mars' year being twice as long.
So, time is relative. We are perpetually stuck in one instance of time (for example, I can only see you as you are right now, this moment, not as you were 5 mins or years ago), although, we can observe "time" moving, life grows and dies, stars grow and die, just because we don't have the power to see time in its entirety (the 4th dimension), doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Just like it doesn't mean that depth doesn't exist even if we were only able to see length and width (2nd dimension). Imagine walking through the 2nd dimension, if there were "beings" in that dimension, they would only be able to see one plane of you (like a ct scan as it goes through your body), just like we are only able to see one plane of time as we pass through it (only able to see this single moment as it passes). Get it?
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