"The Time Machine" gives an instight into what the educated person of the time thought. The time traveller first visits the year 800,000 or thereabouts, when various features of the present day are still in evidence (e.g. humans, evolved into Eloi and Morlocks), then journeys to a point where the Sun is dying, about 30 million years in the future. These are the sorts of timescales one would expect to be mentioned by anyone contemplating the far past or future at that time (for example in the work of William Hope Hodgson).
On 24 April 2014 15:02, 'Chris de Morsella <[email protected]>' via Everything List <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *meekerdb > *Sent:* Wednesday, April 23, 2014 2:09 PM > > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: Interesting Google tech talk on QM > > > > On 4/23/2014 9:49 AM, 'Chris de Morsella > <[email protected]><[email protected]>' > via Everything List wrote: > > Do someone know the estimate of the age of the universe at the time of > Mark Twain? Einstein though it was infinite, and I thought that many > physicists (including believer in Big Bang(s)) don't exclude that. > > > > Didn’t most people still subscribe to that English or Scottish Bishops > calculation based on bible verse that concluded the earth and the universe > was some 6000 or so years ago in 4400 BC? There are far too many, in this > country at least – who still do believe in this fairy tale. > > Chris > > > In the late 1800's William Thompson (Lord Kelvin) estimated the age of the > Sun and he finally settled on a value of 20 to 40 million years. This was > based on gravitational energy - nuclear fusion was unknown. Darwin noted > that this was to short a time for evolution to have taken place, and so > in a sense Darwin used an anthropic inference to postulate nuclear energy. > Twain would have known Thompson's estimate and so might have said > "millions" based on it. But, aside from the Abrahamic superstitions, > educated people like Twain generally assumed the universe was static and > eternal. In which case he might well have said "billions". > > > > It was 1897 when he formulated that age estimate – so technically still in > the 1800’s by a thin margin. Amazing that so recently (1897 is just a mere > 117 years ago) our knowledge of our universe was still so limited. Mark > Twain -- aka Samuel Clemens – was quite a free thinker from what I have > learned of his life and work, so I would not be surprised in the least, if > he thought along the lines you suggest. > > The average person of that era was probably more likely to believe in the > Abrahamic fairy tale of the universe – again this is an opinion I have not > done the research. > > Chris > > > > > > > > Brent > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
