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Maybe you don't need convincing at this point, but, unless I'm misunderstanding the whole thing, Scientific American is saying that gigantic whistles were used to create the cosmos. Here is proof, in the form of an illustration from the article. (It's just a drawing because, as it turns out, there are no high-quality photos or videos of the origin of the universe. When the next one starts, CNN is covering it. FoxNews will cover it, too, and get it all wrong.)



There you go. So, I'm thinking that if someone, maybe Colin Goldie, could make some really mammoth whistles and we could blow enough air through them, we could create a parallel whistle universe and there would be like dinosaurs and other cool stuff. But, I may be wrong about this because my mind is not that "scientific."

If you want to read the full article you can buy it on-line at
scientificamerican.com. Search for "The Cosmic Symphony."

Dale

DaleWisely wrote:Maybe you don't need convincing at this point, but, unless I'm misunderstanding the whole thing, Scientific American is saying that gigantic whistles were used to create the cosmos.
Dale

Well, they're wrong. I subscribe to the Big Twang Theory which says that the cosmos was started when the Hand of God reached out and plucked a string of the great primordial 5-string banjo. A superstring, naturally.

Steve

One universe is bad enough--except for
whistles. It's whistles that sucker Somebody
or Other into that fatal act of cosmogony.
Cosmic Drainpipe, indeed!
The Big Tweet.

Nobody, when considering Creation,
takes seriously the alternative, except for
Woody Allen who said: 'Absolute Nothingness
isn't bad if you're dressed for it.' Best

But they give credit to Colin Goldie in this illustration! It says "...the early universe had overtons..." and "...the overtons oscillated two, three or more times as quickly..."

Oh. Wait. Let me get my magnifying glass...the old eyes aren't what they used to be...

Never mind.

Susan

They look suspiciously like referees whistles. It turns out the Universe was created by that guy who threw the flag in the end zone that helped Ohio State win the championship.

More science:



Why did dinosaurs become extinct? Easy: Arms too short to play the whistle.

Dale Wisely, B.A, M.S., M.T.S., Ph.D.

susnfx wrote:But they give credit to Colin Goldie in this illustration! It says "...the early universe had overtons..." and "...the overtons oscillated two, three or more times as quickly..."

Oh. Wait. Let me get my magnifying glass...the old eyes aren't what they used to be...

Never mind.

Susan

Nah. Your eyes are fine. That's a typo.

Dale

SteveK wrote:

DaleWisely wrote:Maybe you don't need convincing at this point, but, unless I'm misunderstanding the whole thing, Scientific American is saying that gigantic whistles were used to create the cosmos.
Dale

Well, they're wrong. I subscribe to the Big Twang Theory which says that the cosmos was started when the Hand of God reached out and plucked a string of the great primordial 5-string banjo. A superstring, naturally.

Steve

Right. Like, that's SO plausible. You twangers are scientific hacks.

DaleWisely wrote:More science:



Why did dinosaurs become extinct? Easy: Arms too short to play the whistle.

Dale Wisely, B.A, M.S., M.T.S., Ph.D.

When I was a kid, maybe 8, my colleagues and I
used to philosophize about such things. We figured
that saber toothed tigers became extinct because
their teeth got too long, so they couldn't close
their mouths. We figured for awhile that nothing
that got dirty would ever get completely clean,
because some of the dirty stuff would always
remain. Later we retracted: there's only so much of
the dirty stuff, so why shouldn't all of it be
washed away? There was also the theory
that if you swallow three pieces of gum, no
matter how distant in time the three swallowings
are from one another,
your stomach will stick together. I was sufficiently
persuaded to swear off gum, having swallowed
two pieces already, as did the others, so
the crucial experiment never happened.

I've notice that children often grapple seriously
with philosophical questions, where did everything
come from, and so on. Are things made
of parts forever, or are there simples?
Also epistemological
questions. I once asked a child how he knew he
wasn't dreaming. He thought it over and replied:
'You just know!' The right answer, I decided,
the work being in explaining why it's right and
why it's sufficient.
Aristotle said: 'Philosophy begins in wonder.'
It's interesting how occasionally the theories
scientists generate (like this one
about the cosmic symphony) might satisfy a child.

DaleWisely wrote: So, I'm thinking that if someone, maybe Colin Goldie, could make some really mammoth whistles and we could blow enough air through them, we could create a parallel whistle universe and there would be like dinosaurs and other cool stuff.
Dale

This, actually, was almost my thinking...only I'll confess my thought process envisioned things on less grand a scale than yours Dale...no surprise there. I was wondering whether every time we play, we are, in fact, creating mini-cosmos-es (uh...cosmi?) I'm afraid whistles haven't been around long enough, epoch-ly-speaking, to have created very advanced universes. Even those born of those mammoth-bone whistles are still in the primordial muck stage. So no mini Tyrannosaur yet...but hang around another few billion years...then we'll know.
Does make you feel closer to God in a way though, doesn't it?

And then there's this question for the ages: What sort of universe might be created by say...an untweaked Generation with scratchy mold-lines, versus eg, an Alba? Since I presume we're living in an Overton universe, we know how that would turn out. And would the key affect the nature of the universe? Hmmm.

Jim - I used to have a few batty theories myself. Like if you slept with the blanket over your head, you wouldn't get eaten by the monsters in the dark. I did so until I was in the 3rd grade or so, actually, when I finally decided I was too big to be a chicken and there were probably no monsters anyhow. Probably. Also there was the theory that if you ate pop rocks candy and drank soda, your stomach would explode. When I was really little, I also thought that if you put tape on torn paper, it would eventually heal, like if you put a band-aid on yourself.

TelegramSam wrote:Like if you slept with the blanket over your head, you wouldn't get eaten by the monsters in the dark. I did so until I was in the 3rd grade or so

Whoa. Me too. Now I just snarl at them.

You may recall the Calvin and Hobbes collection:
Something Under the Bed is Drooling!

I subscribe to the Generation theory, myself.

In the beginning, God Generated the heavens and the earth and saw that it obviously needed Generations after making Adam and Eve because He saw what they would be doing to entertain themselves if they had no whistles....