CULTURAL QA 04-2024-22 All the BELOW QA are from Quora digest to me on 22-04-2024.
Quoraanswers need not be 100% correct answers .Compiled andposted by R. Gopala krishnan, on 22-04-2024 Q1 Can science explain why timeappears to be passing faster nowthan in the past? A1 Hilary,Fri Time can appear to be going by faster than in thepast, but this doesn’t mean that it’s actually going faster, so scientistswouldn’t be the ones to ask. An hour, a day, a week, a month, and a year are nodifferent than they ever were. Time can drag when we’re not interested in lifeand busy with activities, and it can fly when we are involved with ouractivities. We all know how an hour can go by like five minutes if we’reenjoying ourselves, and five minutes can seem like an hour if we’re bored. Psychologists might say that some people feel thattime is going by faster than it was in the past. it might be because ourtechnological society doesn’t give people as much time for just sitting anddoing nothing. Relaxing and doing nothing can make it seem as though time isgoing more slowly, which can be to our benefit, even if it doesn’t seem so,especially if we feel bored. In our modern society when hardly anyone wants tobe “unplugged,” perhaps time seems to be flying by. Q2 Is there a scientific explanationfor why humans enjoy hearing stories? A2 Don Gregory ,been there ... too many times ...Apr 15 Starting from the viewpoint that we (humans, brains)are ‘prediction’ systems (discussed at length elsewhere) … what stories do isto provide more information for our brains to use in makingdecisions/predictions, without having to “live” the real-life situationsdescribed in the stories. This way, the brain hopes that, should we ever getinto a similar situation, we might have some better information we can use tohelp us in that situation. (all that’s the ‘scientific’ part … now for somemore fun thoughts) Even fairy-tale types of fables … they’re not to helpus should we ever find ourselves in a cottage, in the woods, made ofgingerbread and candies … but the indirect message on how to listen to ourelders, be wary of strangers and most importantly, don’t go roaming into thedark forest just because your parents won’t buy you your own cell phone! All useful information on how to more successfullynavigate the complicated world we call home. (having saidall that, I note that it’s highly unlikely that the OP, the quora promptgenerator, will ever find itself in a dark forest … but you never know) Q3 Why is gravity called a 'theory'and not a fact? A3 SteveBaker ,Senior Software Engineer(2013–present)Sun This is a common misconception. There are many words that we use in everyday speechthat have different meanings in the language of science. INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE-SPEAK: So you use the word “Accelerate” to mean “Go faster” -but to a physicist - it means “change speed or direction” - could be faster,could be slower - could mean the same speed - but changing direction. So - the word “Theory” (which could mean ‘Half-assedidea” in common English) means “The very best idea we have of what the factsare.” in science-speak. And that’s true here. “The Theory of Gravitation” isthe encapsulation of our knowledge of how Gravity works. Same deal with “The Theory of Evolution”, “Theory ofRelativity” and so forth. When scientists want to talk about an idea that’s NOTproven - they use the word “Hypothesis”. So we talk about things like: “The SimulationHypothesis”…it’s the interesting idea that the world is actually just acomputer program being run by some kind of crazily advanced alien. They also use the word “Law” - to mean something similarto a “Theory”. So you get “Newton’s third Law of Motion”. MATH-SPEAK: Mathematicians also have different words - they use“Conjecture” to mean what scientists call a “Hypothesis”…and a “Theorem” wherephysicists would use “Law”. THESE SPECIALIZED FORMS OF LANGUAGE ARE VERY COMMON: Nearly every discipline in the world - from bricklaying to quantum cryptography develops it’s own version of our variouslanguages. I work in Computer Science - we describe a problem as“Trivial” - meaning it’s very easily solved. But when we say “Non-trivial” we don’t mean that it’smerely not-trivial - we mean that’s it’s very nearly impossible (and maybeACTUALLY impossible). Q4 Are there any scientific theoriesthat challenge or contradict Darwin's Theory of Evolution? If so, how do theyexplain the existence of humans today? A4 StevenMatish, Lives in The United States of America (1984–present)Apr 13 First of all, Darwin was NOT a scientist. He went tomedical school, then dropped out cuz he couldn’t stand blood. His only degreeis in theology! He went to divinity school, but never became a pastor. Instead,he decided to be a professional!! “Only thefittest survive and pass on their genes.” This is NOT a scientific theory. Itbegs the question. Survival is not a test of fitness. I could design anexperiment proving that shit happens, and sometimes the fittest are just at thewrong place at the wrong time!!! And the fittest in war, the most capablesoldiers, get the toughest missions, and as a result are likely to get killed.Therefore, the weak ones survive!! The less intelligent ones. “On the sixthday, God created man.” -Genesis. God is a quickening spirit. That means, he literallythinks things into existence. Mankind was in the heart of God from thebeginning. So, God basically willed us into existence. Not out of nothing,rather out of something abstract. Thought of God. from the Heart of God, wecame to be. Q5 Do any countries possessanti-gravity technology or flying saucers similar to those depicted in science fictionmovies? A5 ErnestCarrott Junior,Former Former Illustrator and Cartoonist Apr 16 Anti-Gravity: To all intents this is a science fictionconcept. Now there are cosmologists that have suggested that anti-gravity doesindeed exist and that it does explain why and how the universe is expanding andthere is a view that to every positive there is a negative, so we have positivegravity that attracts and negative gravity that repels or pushes. However Isuspect if anti-gravity as in science fiction movies and books for that matterthen we would have seen much development in technology already. Withanti-gravity we could have very large space stations as it would be possible tobuild large structures on Earth and then using A-G we would be able to putthese into space and assemble even larger structures, these we could give spingravity. Here on Earth we could have aircraft both fixed and rotary wingedflying faster and further and needing less fuel, we might even get air carsthat would be really effective, imagine this, an air car that had a micro jetengine and A-G, if the engine were to cut out it would not crash and if the A-Gwere to falter one would be able to bring the vehicle down without it falling. Flying Saucers: No, this was tried back in the 1950’sI think and really none of the vehicles were viable options to what alreadyexisted in air vehicle designs, nothing has really changed of course, now if wehad anti-gravity… Conclusion: None of the novel tech exists as far as Ican see, if we had it, then there would be major changes/improvements to ourlives already but there is no evidence that such tech exists. Now it does notmean that it can’t happen but it will not be in the coming decade or even inthe coming century so I think not. But take into account I’m not a scientist;there may at time of writing be breaking news, it maybe that a break-thru hasbeen achieved in one or both fields of technology and that I have been provedvery, very wrong. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1562690642.1437021.1713794259228%40mail.yahoo.com.
