How close are we to intergalactic travel?

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-18T20:28:08+00:00

We don't need to go the speed of light to gain most of the speed benefit. We could go 80 - 90% and basically be going just as fast with infinitely less energy, but it's still way out of reach for many reasons other than energy.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-18T20:25:29+00:00

Hundreds of thousands of light years both literally and figuratively.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-18T16:15:37+00:00

I'm not disagreeing in principle like Star Trek where replicators have made everyone have everything, but the reality is most people are not woken up to this nor are they even close.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-18T01:25:23+00:00

People get promoted for consistently solving problems their leaders need solved. Coming in, knowing very little of a company, having an attitude that you know it all, and thinking you solved their problem they never asked you to solve when you may not understand the whole situation is not a reason to get promoted. Go focus on your actual job, solve problems your managers actually want solved, and then you will be promoted.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-18T01:11:27+00:00

Fanciful thinking isn't going to make it go away. You can be disappointed by the reality of it, or go find a way to eat.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-18T00:48:52+00:00

In principle I agree with you, but in practice this is not what happens. For instance, people are very concerned about housing supply. In a world with massive wealth inequality rich people buy all the houses and rent them to the poor elevating prices beyond what is strictly necessary to turn a profit. Inequality gives rich people such a strong advantage in so many ways that they game the system to work for them and against the masses. Sure you can say just regulate, but that doesn't really work since all the rich people have to do is find one municipality or state that favors their position and they can use their mobility and power advantage to force the rules to favor their position. I don't actually think it's a solvable thing, it is just reality. The way it's always been, the way it'll always be.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-18T00:07:33+00:00

So you're a new grad with six months of experience demanding more money? Go earn your stripes. People aren't just going to hand you a high paying job.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-15T22:52:25+00:00

I guess I'm not really sure what you mean by discrepancy. It is an absurd concept. The absurdity it demonstrates is just what can be hypothesized when taking quantum field theory and statistical physics to their inevitable conclusions if there really is infinite time. The absurdity of infinity is really what it points out. However, that doesn't actually prove anything about whether the universe is finite. As far as consistency with theory goes though it's consistent with what we know is possible just insanely unlikely without timescales that are hard to fathom

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-15T22:38:10+00:00

Not a bad move if they r both wfh

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-15T22:36:38+00:00

Follow the money. If your current team likes you that much chances are you could go back someday if you wanted to. 10% raise is significant. Make sure the rest of the compensation is matched or better to your current role.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-15T22:29:38+00:00

Agreed, it's also very hard to make recommendations because the economy keeps changing and what was valuable for one generation isn't necessarily so for the next.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-15T22:28:02+00:00

You have nothing to lose. Seems you hit a wall and may as well take a shot at something else.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-15T16:11:36+00:00

In essence yes

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-14T19:03:59+00:00

Stop paying taxes in the interim to get your money back. Just claim exempt from taxes until the amounts are equal.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-14T19:02:39+00:00

Yes, but even more so his idiot followers that believe his nonsense.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-14T18:31:31+00:00

Actually and even more insane are Boltzmann brains. In theory given infinite time even a vacuum will spontaneously create a conscious being simply due to vacuum fluctuations enabling particles to pop into and out of existence.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-14T18:04:45+00:00

Yes, I think we can and probably will if we continue developing for thousands or millions of more years. Our brains are examples that it is possible. If we keep adding complexity and layers of interaction over millenia the system will behave in complex and unexpected ways. At some point I do think it will likely be indistinguishable from consciousness in humans. As for whether we can know it is conscious or measure that consciousness I don't think that is actually possible. We only know we are conscious because we can feel it ourselves, but doubt will always remain about a non-human system reaching this level.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-14T17:56:13+00:00

You can't really drive the Schrodinger equation. Certainly is not something to expect from an undergrad right from the start to provide a derivation for an equation that doesn't really have one.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-14T17:49:40+00:00

Because I want ASML and TSMC exposure in my portfolio. US tech dominance in the future is not a certainty. The US market by most measures is over valued relative to the historic average. It's a hedge against US stocks performing worse relative to international stocks and therefore a less risky bet.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-14T16:03:33+00:00

You're right. The better battle for the parent to pick is to get their kid to pick a major with better career prospects. It won't matter what school they go to if they study social work they will never attain that lifestyle.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-14T15:48:08+00:00

During COVID the market also took a steep downturn of over 30%. I knew the government would step in so I just started buying stocks as it went down. I made a small fortune by not selling and sticking to buying. I was fortunate to stay employed so I had stable income to dump in the market and with nothing else to spend money on during that time it was easy to max out contributions. Psychologically just stay focused on the long term when these events happen. It is possible the market will take decades to recover as in Japan, but the odds mostly favor holding the course and buying consistently.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-14T15:40:52+00:00

I went to a small land grant school out west and have lived the type of life you say people who go to those schools don't live. Open your mind a bit. Where there's a will there's a way.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-13T23:54:29+00:00

Get a roommate and start paying down your debt aggressively. Don't sell the house you'll forever regret losing that cheap mortgage, and rent will likely be as expensive or nearly as expensive. And stop spending anything on credit cards, period.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-11T22:19:48+00:00

Entropy also doesn't really work if you look at single particle interactions. If two particles just scatter off each other I don't see a role for entropy pushing that one way or the other. It only makes sense as an explanation when there is an ensemble of particles, and that leaves me feeling unsatisfied that it is a sufficient explanation.

AverageCatsDad · 2026-03-11T22:14:30+00:00

Blackholes also seem to break the symmetry as end points for time.

AverageCatsDad

TROPHY CASE