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How old is the Universe?

How old is the Universe?

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Originally posted by Raw760
I a tree falls in a forest. and no one is there, does it make a sound?
Probably. A lot of creatures would hear it.

(And a few birds would be pissed off.)

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Originally posted by Thequ1ck
...that would mean the universe can into
being when conciousness did.
Each time one of us dies, a universe ceases to be.

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Originally posted by Raw760
[b]What would the universe 'look like', if there were no consciousness?

It would look exactly as it does now.

How much influence does consciousness have on celestial matter?

None whatsoever.

Is it possible for there to even be a universe without a consciousness to observe it?
Yes, Absolutely definately maybe. (I thought we ...[text shortened]... ge.villanova.edu/paul.livingston/Experience%20and%20Structure.pdf
http://consc.net/online1.html[/b]
'What is it like to be that rock over there?

Well, I don't know the whole answer, but, unlike the rock, I know a lot of it.

It is like being about a foot in diameter.

It's like weighing a few pounds.

It is like being made mostly of silicon (I think).

It is like resting on a muddy patch of earth with a slight slope.

It's sometimes like being pushed around, thrown up into the air, and falling to earth with a thud.

But never like knowing any of this is happening.'

Aaron Sloman
The University of Birmingham

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This is like the tree falls with no one around argument on a cosmic scale. Why should we think so much of ourselves. Things happen whether we are aware of them or not.

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Originally posted by UmbrageOfSnow
This is like the tree falls with no one around argument on a cosmic scale. Why should we think so much of ourselves. Things happen whether we are aware of them or not.
Things only have a probability of happening until a measurement
is made.

The tree falling with no-one around argument is very similar to
schrodinger's cat or Einsteins thought experiment.

Until an event has been observed it remains a probability. It is the
very act of observation that defines our universe.

That makes us pretty important on a cosmic scale.

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Originally posted by Thequ1ck
Things only have a probability of happening until a measurement
is made.

The tree falling with no-one around argument is very similar to
schrodinger's cat or Einsteins thought experiment.

Until an event has been observed it remains a probability. It is the
very act of observation that defines our universe.

That makes us pretty important on a cosmic scale.
The whole point of schrodinger's cat was that Erwin Schrodinger was trying to show that this whole thing was ridiculous. He was trying to say that a cat cannot be some mix between a dead state and an alive state until it is observed, that it is one or the other before we see it just as much as after.

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Originally posted by UmbrageOfSnow
This is like the tree falls with no one around argument on a cosmic scale. Why should we think so much of ourselves. Things happen whether we are aware of them or not.
Quantum Mechanics can turn scientists into philosophers.

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Originally posted by UmbrageOfSnow
...Erwin Schrodinger was trying to show that this whole thing was ridiculous.
Are you saying the cat is out of the bag 😵

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At the end of the day, if your balls are itchy, you scratch them. The universe makes sense. Leave it at that.

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Yes. At the end of the day its better to sit with your bong... I mean telescope.(or both 😀) And ponder what is and what could be, rather than what is not or cannot be.

They are both interesting thoughts no doubt, but being so nihilistic gets you nowhere.

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Originally posted by Bowmann
Are you saying the cat is out of the bag 😵
It is both in and out of the bag, since I'm not observing the bag...

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Originally posted by UmbrageOfSnow
It is both in and out of the bag, since I'm not observing the bag...
You are the bag! - not to get too catty about it... Speaking of Katty?

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Originally posted by widget
You [b]are the bag! - not to get too catty about it... Speaking of Katty?[/b]
She does not exist anymore. She ceased to exist after her last post and will not exist again until the brief moment where she posts once more.

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Originally posted by UmbrageOfSnow
She does not exist anymore. She ceased to exist after her last post and will not exist again until the brief moment where she posts once more.
Dis she ever exist? That's the answer to 42, I suspect. 😕

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Originally posted by widget
Dis she ever exist? That's the answer to 42, I suspect. 😕
It is infinitely improbable that we will ever know for sure.