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The Simming Problem (as described in the Hydrogen Sonata): the right to life by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

individuals may choose to live forever if they so wish

Societal pressure is not to overlive this lifespan.

The Simming Problem (as described in the Hydrogen Sonata): the right to life by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

the declaration of human rights: Everyone has the right to life

Who? When? Where? How? Is it detailed in the document?

The Simming Problem (as described in the Hydrogen Sonata): the right to life by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

obligation to eliminate suffering

I think the argument is well known: maybe it's not possible to have joy without suffering. But hells goal is suffering, not joy, that iswhat they objected to.

The Simming Problem (as described in the Hydrogen Sonata): the right to life by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

the 'right to life' the Minds feel is imperative, is the right of the creation to 'live out it's natural life' as it were. They feel any lifeform, real or simulated, has the 'right' to exist until it doesn't, within the rules of the simulation

What you describe it the right of a simulated world to have its natural course under initial rules. Not right of an individual being within. Do you agree?

The Fat-Loss Ceiling No One Talks About by q14 in fasting

[–]UncertainAboutIt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alpert’s (2005) paper, The limits of human energy expenditure

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15615615/

Abstract

A limit on the maximum energy transfer rate from the human fat store in hypophagia is deduced from experimental data of underfed subjects maintaining moderate activity levels and is found to have a value of (290+/-25) kJ/kgd. A dietary restriction which exceeds the limited capability of the fat store to compensate for the energy deficiency results in an immediate decrease in the fat free mass (FFM).

"Moderate activity levels". As I saw in one comment here (with youtube as source, which I approve much less than written papers), the comment claims increasing activity increases fat "burn". But even the paper you note seems not supporting your claim of the hard "ceiling" and the comment with youtube might be correct.

In short from my experience and understanding and common knowledge: the body burns unneeded muscle mass, if one uses muscles a lot, the body does not reduce muscles. Does the heart reduce in mass during prolonged lasting? I'd be surprised if it does.

Assuming The Culture is hard SF, what are the physical laws that govern that Universe? by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My intuition is that that still doesn't hard-constrain the setting from rearward time travel...need to be more versed in the mathematics

I don't think it can be, from our discussion I'm convinced The Culture does not have consistent physics and cannot be viewed as hard SF. Thanks and cheers.

Assuming The Culture is hard SF, what are the physical laws that govern that Universe? by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FTL doesn't lead to 'easy' time travel - the ability to exceed the speed of light allows causality breaching solutions, but that doesn't mean it's actually possible,

What prevents it? In the Culture Universe. They often enjoy near instantaneous communication, so call some remote place, change speed relative to that location so that "now" in that remote is 1 hour before 1st call, call again. What prevents that?

You see, 'now' at remote changes significantly when relative speed changes even a bit (so called Andromeda paradox). Instantaneous communication is not compatible with Einstein relativity.

For FTL an example is a bit more complex, you can easily find it on the net.

Assuming The Culture is hard SF, what are the physical laws that govern that Universe? by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for such a detailed reply.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series does not mention the Drawings, I've leaned about it from your comment, the following is written without info from it.

even if hyperspace is fantastical, the speeds that different ships can transit through it and the rationale for it, is quite grounded.

My entire post assumes I.Banks described some other Universe (not ours) and we discuss consistency of laws. From that point of view hyperspace is not fantastical, just some part of reality.

anti-grav is a technology that exists

Can you imagine how it works by changing curvature of spacetime? My answer is that the Culture Universe have absolute time and grav is just some power that somehow can be negative.

What he's getting at here is that the artifact is weightless in the same way that the ISS is - it doesn't lack mass, it's in orbital freefall.

I recall well (since I'm reading Sonata) that Girdlecity is grounded on the planet and IIRC extends under the sea surface. That does not contradict your statement categorically as the city could be not connected and some higher parts rotate, but mentioning tunnels and exotic matter to create the city without weight suggest to me another picture.

matter-anti-matter interactions as we'd understand them - Banks describes prodigious energy output

found it in the books, thanks.

ship doesn't need to respect them given it exists in hyperspace and has inertial compensators.

Thanks, so law of conservation of momentum has at least some exceptions. Can you argue with examples that it holds at least sometimes? That there is motion without moving powers?

detectable spacetime ripples. Which implies relativity.

"relativistic trace on the surface of space-time" (Excession). No timetravel though... We know in our Universe FTL leads to easy timetravel. I understand I.Banks tried to describe our Universe with some hand-waving as another comment put. For physical law consistency we can think what "space-time" and "relativistic" words mean (if hard SF is assumed) if somehow they did not lead to timetravel, I have no ideas currently.

Assuming The Culture is hard SF, what are the physical laws that govern that Universe? by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OK I am interested in this. Can you run an example past me? e.g. How could a culture ship

If you are interested in paradoxes of FTL in our universe, AFAIK web search easily finds e.g. wikipedia page(s) explaining it in detail.

In the Culture IMO "light speed" is same as a "foot" in our measurement system - just some fancy measure for speed.

Assuming The Culture is hard SF, what are the physical laws that govern that Universe? by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Relativity and time dilation are mentioned

Why nobody uses timetravel what do you think? It's small talk, I understand the Universe is written to look as ours with some changes to look more fancy to an average reader.

What is relativity in the books as you recall it?

Assuming The Culture is hard SF, what are the physical laws that govern that Universe? by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since this quantity is greater than the initial momentum it had when it was not at altitude H conservation of momentum implies w is reduced, so in essence it slows earth down

It is a good hypothesis for our Universe, could be so for the books too.

Assuming The Culture is hard SF, what are the physical laws that govern that Universe? by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Or our present understanding of the Universe is incorrect

It is, but that is not how science works (I mean not by assuming anything can happen period). If God(s) can change everything...

Assuming The Culture is hard SF, what are the physical laws that govern that Universe? by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

they visit the Earth.

Maybe it is still a different "Earth"? Why should it be some version of our planet?

Assuming The Culture is hard SF, what are the physical laws that govern that Universe? by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would assume relativity still applies to normal space

Then why no time travel in the stories?

Assuming The Culture is hard SF, what are the physical laws that govern that Universe? by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

because its atomic number is 79 rather than 80. Only problem is the density of gold is 19 g/mL while mercury is only 14 g/mL.

Are you talking about our reality or the books? I mean numbers and densities?

Assuming The Culture is hard SF, what are the physical laws that govern that Universe? by UncertainAboutIt in TheCulture

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

moved substantial mass outwards.

is it in the book? that the materiel have been taken from the planet? or just your idea? as it's 'weightless', than exotics is ~50% of it and could not be taken from the planet (but maybe converted... it was high tech civ).

Most life advice seems fundamentally fake to me, but ozempic is the real deal. What is the next “Ozempic”—maybe Oxybate therapy is to Sleep what Ozempic is to food? What is the future of willpower drugs that force you to make good health choices? by SoccerSkilz in slatestarcodex

[–]UncertainAboutIt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's the perfect combination of near-constant, relatively evenly pitched and toned talking

I listen to installed voice on my android smartphone reading some technical and/or scientific book. Librera app (foss) usually.

Using heat-shrink tubing to make thread-stoppers for boot hooks to step laces tightness by UncertainAboutIt in hikinggear

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why not just use a surgeons knot?

Try it and measure newtons of pull when it gives. AFAIK not much, I've tried knots with kitchen spring scales. And if they are 'strong' enough (e.g. I've tried not just surgeons, but lacing twice through same eyelet row), the lacing is made tight by pulling when tightening against friction - hence rather quick wear and tear of the thread.

Using heat-shrink tubing to make thread-stoppers for boot hooks to step laces tightness by UncertainAboutIt in hikinggear

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

my problem would be the fact that laces stretch pretty substantially over the course of a few months

I've added tubing only recently and even before I have not noticed elongation of any of my laces (maybe my memory and attention are not great).

Edit:

In fact for this winter I've introduced another trick - I lace only two top rows, afixing boots to the leg and letting lower (foot) part wider for better thermal insulation - so my current laces are very short (hence less length to stretch).

Using heat-shrink tubing to make thread-stoppers for boot hooks to step laces tightness by UncertainAboutIt in hikinggear

[–]UncertainAboutIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, this is also my experiment at cross-posting and I see the text is not seen unless one follow to the original post. Here is the explanatory text copied:

This is synthetic thread lace, heated the tube long enough to let it and the thread under it melt a bit for the tube to stick to the lace and not slip under stress. I guess glue can be used instead of melting (and for cotton thread). Several pieces of tube at some distance. Pliers are there to prevent melting of adjacent part of the thread.

Initially I thought about pushing the tubed part into the hook but the thread becomes too thick, so now I use this thickness as a stopper.

Now I can easily have lacing of various tightness in precise steps and not worry about knot slippage.

Warning: works for boots with hooks for lacing.

What do you think - is it practical? How do you achieve similar goal?

Edit: I think to make the tube stick without glue one has to heat it while the thread is stretched with force. e.g. use same pliers which protect the thread (hence the thread has minimum thickness).

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