Growing Earth / Expanding Earth Hypothesis (Earth Getting Bigger?)

[rynner2]

* 'Splash thinks about trying to explain own lame Higgs Bosun and spin, quantum state change dynamics and North South direction, joke. And gives up, realising that it was particulary confusing and wasn't all that funny in the first place *
.
:?

They made me smile. 8)

(Quantum physics jokes normally have a low probability of being found on this board.)

 

[Anonymous]

Oops, just missed one.

 

[Peripart]

Quantum physics jokes normally have a low probability of being found on this board.

And of course, if you do find one, it's impossible to tell where it's going without altering the nature of the joke. Quantum physically impossible, in fact.

Is anyone else aware of the "expanding universe" theory put forward in one of Scott Adams' Dilbert books? This postulates that gravity is non-existent, and that what we think of as gravity is caused by all of us and the Earth beneath us constantly expanding. I think this was put forward as an intellectual exercise, purely for the reader to see how easy it was to debunk - a bit heavy for a comic book, but you can't always tell with Adams (you should read his stuff on "assertions").

 

[sunsplash1]

From the aforementioned site:

Our material universe, therefore, may be nothing more than an external facade representing a complex division of energy instances. It becomes defined as material substance as a function of our perception and terminology. Our universe, planet and civilization are at best, comprised of complex formations of energy and force which have no true material substance at all. Our scientific thirst to learn about the material substance of our environment, appears to lead us to the conclusion that there may be no essential material substance in the universe, to speak of at all.

I kind of like that, matter as the outward manifestation of quantum packets (of energy). That matter isn't that important, it is all we can observe.
Read this before somewhere...

 

[misterwibble]

Dirac and mathematics, some nice quotes here:

http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Quotations/Dirac.html

He seems to have few problems with the concept of maths being necessary for science as in

Mathematics is the tool specially suited for dealing with abstract concepts of any kind and there is no limit to its power in this field.
Preface to The principles of Quantum Mechanics (Oxford, 1930)

or

I learned to distrust all physical concepts as the basis for a theory. Instead one should put one's trust in a mathematical scheme, even if the scheme does not appear at first sight to be connected with physics. One should concentrate on getting interesting mathematics.

Incidentally Micheal me old mucker, where did the earlier quote of yours from Dirac come from?

 

[MrRING]

Since comics great Neal Adams recently passed away, I thought this might be a good time to link to an online lecture about his thoughts about the expanding earth, split into 9 different parts: