Yes, that was Edward Teller, Bob. He was one of the giants of science in the last century. In fact his prediction that the earth's entire atmosphere would set on fire as a result, if an atomic test went ahead, brought the work at Los Alamos to a halt while other scientists considered the ramifications of Teller's prediction. However it was Teller himself who upon rechecking his calculations, owned up to making a mathematical error and announced the risk was now small to insignificant, and work quickly resumed.
"How will we know if we are propelled into a parallel universe?"
- Ah, well as it turned out, the earth's atmosphere did ignite and all living things were vapourised. You're living in a parallel universe right now Bob.
And this forum of pixels is the actual real world.
As you can't see my face, I think at this juncture it would be prudent to throw in a couple of these =
And here's a Dr Bostrom, of Oxford University, who more or less believes that's entirely possible:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/science/14tier.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
I see it's well past midnight so at this bewitching hour let me close by throwing this in:
"If I can predict all of your actions, under given circumstances, then you may not be as free as you think you are. You are an automaton responding to environmental stimuli. You are a slave of destiny. And the illusion of free will could be reduced to an equation that describes the result of interactions among molecules. It would be like studying the mechanics of a clock; a genius with extensive knowledge of the initial conditions and the casual chains would be able to extend his knowledge to the future of your actions".
- So, you may have a destiny Bob - drawn up for you by someone else - to their plan.
Time for bed.
"How will we know if we are propelled into a parallel universe?"
- Ah, well as it turned out, the earth's atmosphere did ignite and all living things were vapourised. You're living in a parallel universe right now Bob.
And this forum of pixels is the actual real world.
As you can't see my face, I think at this juncture it would be prudent to throw in a couple of these =
And here's a Dr Bostrom, of Oxford University, who more or less believes that's entirely possible:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/science/14tier.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
I see it's well past midnight so at this bewitching hour let me close by throwing this in:
"If I can predict all of your actions, under given circumstances, then you may not be as free as you think you are. You are an automaton responding to environmental stimuli. You are a slave of destiny. And the illusion of free will could be reduced to an equation that describes the result of interactions among molecules. It would be like studying the mechanics of a clock; a genius with extensive knowledge of the initial conditions and the casual chains would be able to extend his knowledge to the future of your actions".
- So, you may have a destiny Bob - drawn up for you by someone else - to their plan.
Time for bed.
