Getting all stuck on quantum therories, infinity and blowing my mind again

I don't know about that. I can't measure it, but I somehow think light travels faster than thought, no matter how impulsive and quick it comes to us. Our reactions to say pain to jerk away, isn't exactly a thought, but even if it were, it's not as fast as light speed. I wonder if our thoughts might slow down even further at the speed of light. I mean, if we're not aging, then our entire life cycle would slow down including eating and thinking and sleeping. Or maybe I'm wrong and everything would go faster along with the travel. It would just seem like less time had passed. Conundrum.

Thinker, i never thought about things slowing down the closer you get to the speed of light. then there's the whole gravity bends time stuff. its more than i can think about but for some reason i keep trying.

Yup. There are so many unanswerable questions in science and the universe. But that's what makes life so interesting. We can all be explorers and will never reach the edge of the universe. The macro and the micro are equally infinite. I mean, we can't figure out what's the smallest part of an atom is. We got past protons and neutrons and electrons and found quarks and leptons, but what are they made up of? That Hadron collider is trying to figure out what started the big bang and all that we see and don't see by smashing atoms. It's all interrelated and connected.

perpetually sad says:

Ohhhh, that stuff gives me cold chills I just love it!!! I watch ALL that stuff, especially the new show with Morgan Freeman.

I think (don't quote me) they say that eventually a black hole will slow down and stop sucking stuff up, but while it does, things at the entrance start stretching and so anything going into it would be destroyed before it even got "inside", so we can't be in one now. hmmm

Also, there are 100 billion galaxies, and each one has 100 billion suns. Life out there? Helloooo, YES!

But the infinity thing? I'm with you, I see "endings", didn't the universe "begin"? Parallel "membranes" bumping and causing new universes? Yikes. Yup, I love listening to Stephen Hawking. I try SO hard to grasp all this but it's just too complex.

But three neat things: 1) when we look into the sky, we are looking into the past. So when we look at the sun, what we see is 8 minutes in the past. 2) If we were in a space ship for 10 years, when we got back to earth it would be 1000 years later (I think that's right). WOW 3) and the universe is expanding! How? Why? Yikes! Oh, my poor brain. lol

Neat stuff huh?

I think no matter how close to the speed of light we were going we would subjectively experience time at the same speed we do now. Though even now it slows and speeds for us depending on our activities and expectations. As we slowed back down to a stop then we experience the time differential as time around us had passed so much faster.

I would agree with thinker 22 thought requires polarisation/depolarisation of brain cells, that has to be slower than light..

Dear Merlin,
I think you just might be the one to explain something that has always puzzled me. I did some research first to get to my question. Ok, here goes!

Light travels at 186,282 miles per second. One light year (how many miles light can travel in one year) is 5,865,696,000,000. The Milky Way is 100,000 light years in diameter.

Now, to be able to go across the Milky Way without spending 100,000 light years, assuming we can travel at the speed of light, we would have to travel in a way that would cut down on the time in order to get there before we died.

I know about the wormhole theories (well, I don't "know", I've heard, and also about "bending" space to get somewhere really quick--don't understand that either but oh well), but how come time speeds up when we travel in space and we get back to our starting point years later than the time it took us to travel there and back in the first place? (but I think I see what you mean about "we" don't speed up, time still moves at the same rate?)

I may be just showing how stupid I am, but I'd really like to know this! Oh well. Guess I'd better stick to my simple job, my detective shows, trying to handle mania, and placing ads on eBay.

(BTW, a thought takes 550-750 milliseconds) And somebody else can do the math for that. That's it for me, my brain is FRIED)...who started this topic anyway?!

I agree that if on a ship moving at light speed we would probably experience time the same way that we do on Earth. Kind of like when we're driving a car and seatbelted in. Time stays the same, but if we were to break suddenly, it would have passed more time than if we stopped while we were walking. More time and distance. Or maybe that's a bad analogy. I'm just saying that I was wrong about time slowing down as a vessel we're traveling in speeds up. Time stays relatively normal, I think, although we always experience it subjectively. Like if we're having fun it goes by fast. If we're bored or depressed it goes by slowly unless we can fall asleep.

Maybe time is a particle. In Quantum theory there are particles that when you look at them, they change their form. Time may work that way as in when we examine it closely, it changes its form and seems to either speed up or slow down.

I've been thinking about this sort of stuff since I was a little kid - where does the Universe end etc? And I'm not scentific by nature. I love popular science but beyond that, that's where I get lost.

I have just started reading the latest Dan Brown book and I'm already transfixed. It's not just about ancient legends and stuff, but it's about the link to modern science, the infinite power of the human brain and I'm transfixed, even in the first few chapters. I need a diversion at the moment as I am very very depressed. I can only read a bit then have a break as I'm so depressed, but popular fiction is good for me when I am not well as it's not as hard as meatier books that I enjoy when I am well (er). But like I say, it also alludes to the impact of the human mind on the physical realities of the world and it's already got me thinking about the Nazi's and then on the other side of things Buddhists etc.

But also, as I'm in a frame of mind to find something negative in every positive, it hurts to read about the power of the human mind because I certainly can't get mine in order, just to function on a much lower level than I used to in my life - I would be happy with that. But chonic Bipolar relapse plagues me. And that's despite being completely proactive in psychiatry (always 100% meds compliant and on the best meds mix possible), psychology and AA, where I've been 11 years sober now. I'm all out of answers.

I don't know the book, so maybe I'm totally off here... IF by chance there's any of that, "people only use 10% of their brain" stuff that's been repeated over the years both out of ignorance and for personal gain (think self-promoting gurus), you can rest assured that it is false. For a quick and amusing read on the topic... http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/10percent.asp
It can still be fun of course when a book gets you thinking about things, just don't beat yourself up over a myth, you know? (If in fact that is what he's using as one of his premises. Maybe he's not, in which case you can disregard(!) )
I do know what you mean about not feeling as sharp as in the past, because I don't either. But then again, our brains have been through a lot. Even so, many BPs are still smarter than the average bear. It sure doesn't feel that way when we're depressed, but then our thoughts are lying to us anyway, you know?
Have fun with the book, by all means. I know what you mean about meatier reading at such a time. I tend to go for comedies and ones that can (hopefully) transport me a bit out of my own mind for awhile, you know?
Hope you are feeling better soon, WendyAussie!

Innerzone, yes I do think one of thr premises of the book is that we only use X% of ours brains.

This next bit is OT but bear with me as I need to vent.

As to not feeling as sharp as in the past, I do struggle with that. But I also struggle with the opposite to that, if it makes sense. I had a great career for a long time that I lost due to my illnesses. I was in senior PR/Communications positions and worked with State and Federal politicians, CEO's, Managing Directors, engineers, scientists, celebs (although I don't miss them aside from the journalists etc). I watch a lot of news and current affairs as I am still so very interested in it and passionate about public life even though my illnesses have relegated me to living life mostly from my loungeroom.

But I can watch news or current affairs and have the pain of watching a lot of these people who yes, had me engaged in a lot of Public Service which was and is very worthy in itself, but many of whom I also helped get into higher positions because of all the media management and profiling I did and here I am sitting on the couch, watching life go by with my cat. (And I did try, with help of many good people, to go back to work last year but I melted down spectacularly and had to resign within a couple of weeks - VERY bad for self esteem).

But also, I can and do sit there and because of my long expoerience in the field and the university study I did, I can sit there and guess what the next move will be or the next messaging that will come down the line and most times I am right. That might sound great - "Wendy, you've still got your old talents and skills".. But to have these talents and not be able to deploy them anymore is SOOOOOOOOOOOO painful. I did a small media job for free recently to help a local small business and that was good. And I'd be happy to join a Lions etc and do PR and Comms and Media work for them, and also I am a member of a political party and there is plenty I could do for them. But I keep relapsing into Bipolar Depression and all the low functioning that goes with that and can't do those types of things and it tears my self esteem apart. It's an awful place to be in. Sorry, but I needed to vent.