Questions about the Universe

[Christopher]

Not to argue with Setekh's answer, which I agree with, but I just wanted to add my favorite thing I heard for an answer to Question 4: 'In the beginning there was nothing, then it exploded' - (Doesn't remember who said it)

It was Terry Pratchett!

[Asthaloth]

Not to argue with Setekh's answer, which I agree with, but I just wanted to add my favorite thing I heard for an answer to Question 4: 'In the beginning there was nothing, then it exploded' - (Doesn't remember who said it)

Great qoute, one of my own favourites

[smudgeoffudge]

You know how some animals have very good vison? Well I always wondered what it would be like to see like that. I mean, to be able to see in front of myself and all around and nearly even behind myself. What would that be like if we could see everything? If we somehow had eyes all around our heads and could see in all directions at once?

I also think it is weird when I try to imagine what seeing nothing would be like. I mean, we see darkness when we can't see. I don't know, maybe if you had no eyes that would be sort of like what it would be like to see nothing. Or would you still "see" blackness? I'm not sure.

[ria]

Hmmm, and what would it be like with a short memory span. How would you remember how to do things, like eat, drink, etc? That'd be weird...

[Rachel]

ooh i have a pondering about stuff. its not necessarily about the universe tho, is that ok?

I've always wondered if everyone sees the same thing. like is what i see and think of as blue what someone else sees and thinks of as blue? or in their eyes/mind is everything different colours to what i see? That probably doesnt make any sence, i wonder strange things.

[Twinkle]

ooh i have a pondering about stuff. its not necessarily about the universe tho, is that ok?

I've always wondered if everyone sees the same thing. like is what i see and think of as blue what someone else sees and thinks of as blue? or in their eyes/mind is everything different colours to what i see? That probably doesnt make any sence, i wonder strange things.

I've always wondered that! Wasn't that one of the drunken topics at the first party of yours I went to?

[kentieness]

ooh i have a pondering about stuff. its not necessarily about the universe tho, is that ok?

I've always wondered if everyone sees the same thing. like is what i see and think of as blue what someone else sees and thinks of as blue? or in their eyes/mind is everything different colours to what i see? That probably doesnt make any sence, i wonder strange things.

I, also, wonder about that! Like, everyone considers the sky blue (...I think?) but someone could actually see blue as what I see as yellow, but it would just look completely normal to them and we'd never know the difference because there's no real way of describing a colour.

[Rachel]

oh yay people understood what i meant! and helen, it may have come up, but it is definately something i've wondered for a long time now!

[Asthaloth]

ooh i have a pondering about stuff. its not necessarily about the universe tho, is that ok?

I've always wondered if everyone sees the same thing. like is what i see and think of as blue what someone else sees and thinks of as blue? or in their eyes/mind is everything different colours to what i see? That probably doesnt make any sence, i wonder strange things.

<.<

>.>

Your understanding of "Blues" is shaped by social and evolutionary pressures, therfore it is entirely conceivable that what you see as blue is infact my green.
The sky may be blue (For the most) but that does not mean we see the same colour.

[Rachel]

ooh i have a pondering about stuff. its not necessarily about the universe tho, is that ok?

I've always wondered if everyone sees the same thing. like is what i see and think of as blue what someone else sees and thinks of as blue? or in their eyes/mind is everything different colours to what i see? That probably doesnt make any sence, i wonder strange things.

<.<

>.>

Your understanding of "Blues" is shaped by social and evolutionary pressures, therfore it is entirely conceivable that what you see as blue is infact my green.
The sky may be blue (For the most) but that does not mean we see the same colour.

Exactly, thats what i've always wondered. (and you're not supposed to answer the questions yet btw)

[Ginger Harp Seal Pup]

I'm ditching the questions bit. It just isn't going to work. Feel free to just discuss the universe in general and if you want, just look through the questions, pick one and just discuss it

I'll join in later when I feel more productive XD

[halfbakedbliss]

Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandescent Gas)

[moihaha]

On the color topics, What exactly is a color? And more precisely, how our lnguage influence our perception? I'll be a bit too much of a linguist on that one, but meh

For most of occidental societies, we have the same "basic" colors, let's say for example blue, red, pink, yellow, green, orange, purple, brown, black and white. Let's consider all other colors as shades of those ones. I think any occidental person, and any indo-european language will give almost the same answers on that. but other societies don't have the same distinctions. In many places, "blue" and "green" are considered different shades of the exact same color, the same way we will see a difference between "apple green" and "forest green" but still consider them to be both "green". The most drastic example, I forgot the name of that language, but it's an african language that have only 3 "basic" colors, "white", "black" and "red". They can, of course, see and distinguish all the same colors as us, but they dont consider that distinction meaningfull.
It's a question I found deeply interesting, and colors are just one easy eample of that phenomena, (called ethnolinguistic, for those interested) where our language and associated culture deeply influence our perception of reality. I won't give more examples, I could go on for hours, but I'm very interested on how our culture and language can be interrelated to how we concieve the world around us, and how we interarct with it.
It's a very BIG subject (generations of scholars still argue about it) but if anyone have any ides on the subject, I'll be glad to hear it!

[ryan.riverside]

That's a very good and pertinent question. The questions of language's influence on perception is a question that has been asked for hundreds of years. Colour is the wavelength of light that is reflected from whatever it is that you are looking at. If you see a spectrum, there is a definite wavelength for a specific colour, although some colours can only be produced synthetically. There is a short story called The Sky is Grey by Ernest Gaines. In it, a black boy states that grass is black. He is met with vehement chastisement and ridicule, but he insists that language is just another form of control that the white man uses to enslave the mind of the black man. Just an interesting related sidenote. I think that short story was written in the 1940s.

[Paulisacretin]

HONK HONK

It looks like the "Why dont you just search on the internet" train has just pulled up at the station and there's plenty of room aboard.