Comments | ddoss: Ny Life as a Nerd-Rogue.

ddoss

Ny Life as a Nerd-Rogue.

Jun 25, 2007 02:51

A book that I wish I had that was left in Calgary was a book by famed genre author Orson Scott Card about writing. In it he said that the only difference between science fiction and fantasy is that in one you pushed a button to fire a laser, and in the other you waved a magic wand to shoot a lightning bolt. This isn't strictly true, although I ( Read more... )

Comments 8

bebemochi June 25 2007, 17:47:57 UTC

my lovely (and again pregnant) wife
Did I miss this announcement? Am I high? CONGRATS!

ddoss June 25 2007, 18:10:50 UTC

I don't remember if I ever mentioned it here. Haha. Sure, the due date in December the 31st, and this one will be a scheduled c-section. I think it just seems like less of a big deal to us because we have Molly here to look after constantly. She is getting into more and more trouble. Mobility definitely adds exponentially to the trouble aspect. I am going to try to teach her to play soccer with me. Hrmm.

bebemochi June 25 2007, 20:53:49 UTC

Hooray! I know Molly will have fun being a big sister.
I've heard that having two is a lot like having one, but having three is like having six. Kind of like cats, haha.

ddoss June 27 2007, 17:20:18 UTC

Two is our quota. :-)

obijay June 25 2007, 17:48:15 UTC

Another little one? Jeez you genetic jackhammer :P

I remember once in an alternate state of mind (can't remember if it was booze or smokery), I had a discussion with other geek friends about teleportation. One theory we came up with was that you weren't actually teleporting yourself, instead the machine was copying only your brain patterns and whatnot, teleporting them over an overglorified wireless internet, and you were being chunked into a generic clone body that took the info from your brain and reconstructed you.

Teleportation is possible, at least on the single freaking molecule scale over a distance of like, ten feet. Although I can't recall if the article detailing it was debunked or not. It was done by some Aussies

ddoss June 25 2007, 18:04:09 UTC

The problem, though, is how do you take the info from your brain? This idea depends on what is in your mind being independant of the meat of the brain. This is similar to the idea of a soul that exists somehow even though the body dies. I'm not convinced there is a "you" that can be separated from the body. Whatchu is is whatchu is.

I've never seen where anything meaningful has been sped up past the speed of light, which is what teleportation would entail. Quantum entanglement seemed like a candidate to me, because in certain conditions particles can predict what state another particle will be in, no matter the distance. The problem though is that you have to measure one particle to be able to know the state of the particle, so effectively no information can be transmitted this way.

Who knows, though. Maybe one day "wormholes" will be possible through some quirk of physics. One thing modern physics teaches us is that reality can be stranger than it seems on the surface.

timesend June 26 2007, 02:26:46 UTC

Doss, law school. You would make a fantastic lawyer. Get an associate's degree in English-- it would be cake for someone as smart as you. From there, study law.

ddoss June 27 2007, 17:28:56 UTC

Thanks. :-)

I've been doing research, and it looks like I can get an Associates in Arts in General Studies completely online from Chattanooga State. I figure that would be the path toward tranferring to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for a Bachelor's in English, and then on to law school. It seems like such a challenge, but I nearly teared up at the idea of going back to school after having told myself I wasn't going to for so long.