This is a repository for all cool scientific discussion and fascination. Scientific facts, theories, and overall cool scientific stuff that you'd like to share with others. Stuff that makes you smile and wonder at the amazing shit going on around us, that most people don't notice.
Post pictures, vidoes, stories, or links. Ask questions. Share science.
Originally Posted by BigChiefTablet:
From wikipedia:
So in 2005 he could get about one word a minute and has continued to deteriorate. It's nine years later.
And I'm just going by what the show (which I watched a few years ago) showed in real time. His assistant was writing equations on a board and he was literally trying to translate grunts and eye movement to determine if he had it right, or where he had it wrong.
Well that's not correct. Hawking's communications devices have received several upgrades since that time. His input has improved dramatically, like over 10 words per minute last I knew. And his newest system allows for word and sentence prediction, using advanced prediction algorithms specific to Hawking. He literally has a dedicated Intel team constantly working on better communication devices and techniques for him. His assistant doesn't have to translate grunts. Hawking hasn't been able to grunt for a long time anyway.
Besides that, the idea that he, or his assistant, or the scientific community in general, would allow his assistant to to pass off work under Hawking's name is just crazy for many reasons. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Fish:
Well that's not correct. Hawking's communications devices have received several upgrades since that time. His input has improved dramatically, like over 10 words per minute last I knew. And his newest system allows for word and sentence prediction, using advanced prediction algorithms specific to Hawking. He literally has a dedicated Intel team constantly working on better communication devices and techniques for him. His assistant doesn't have to translate grunts. Hawking hasn't been able to grunt for a long time anyway.
Besides that, the idea that he, or his assistant, or the scientific community in general, would allow his assistant to to pass off work under Hawking's name is just crazy for many reasons.
So you're saying the show I watched was making shit up?
I checked and you are correct, as of 2013 he could get "UP TO" 10 words a minute. I haven't seen it happen. All we see are the pre-programmed sentences. But 10 words a minute sounds excruciating.
As far as the "he, or his assistant, or the scientific community in general" not allowing something like that to happen. Well, lets address those one by one. He really can't talk, so it's easy enough to keep him silent. The scientific community in general really doesn't have a hell of a lot more access to Hawking personally than you or I, so they can be bamboozled, and I don't believe they are quite as incorruptible as you do. That leaves the assistant. And I can think of several scenarios where he might benefit, not the least of which is financially.
I'm not saying any of that is the case. Just saying that I am not convinced everything is as they say. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigChiefTablet:
So you're saying the show I watched was making shit up?
I checked and you are correct, as of 2013 he could get "UP TO" 10 words a minute. I haven't seen it happen. All we see are the pre-programmed sentences. But 10 words a minute sounds excruciating.
As far as the "he, or his assistant, or the scientific community in general" not allowing something like that to happen. Well, lets address those one by one. He really can't talk, so it's easy enough to keep him silent. The scientific community in general really doesn't have a hell of a lot more access to Hawking personally than you or I, so they can be bamboozled, and I don't believe they are quite as incorruptible as you do. That leaves the assistant. And I can think of several scenarios where he might benefit, not the least of which is financially.
I'm not saying any of that is the case. Just saying that I am not convinced everything is as they say.
Do you realize he still does live interviews and lectures and such?
There's plenty more recent interview videos and such available.
I think it's approaching impossible that Hawking's personal assistant could pass off work for Hawking, either with or without Hawking's permission, or that the rest of the world could be bamboozled as such. [Reply]
So Hawking would allow himself to be tried out to present someone else's work as his own even if he disagrees with it? That's Fucking crazy. He's not a prisoner. If he wanted to say "hey, this ain't my work, I don't approve of this theory", he would.
Originally Posted by Fish:
Do you realize he still does live interviews and lectures and such?
There's plenty more recent interview videos and such available.
I think it's approaching impossible that Hawking's personal assistant could pass off work for Hawking, either with or without Hawking's permission, or that the rest of the world could be bamboozled as such.
So you show a video with him just sitting there drooling, while a pre-recorded message plays and this is supposed to be proof of a live interview?
Originally Posted by aturnis:
So Hawking would allow himself to be tried out to present someone else's work as his own even if he disagrees with it? That's ****ing crazy. He's not a prisoner. If he wanted to say "hey, this ain't my work, I don't approve of this theory", he would.
Bat shit crazy man.
What if he can't talk at all? What if they are just saying he can? What if someone is just pre-recording messages in his computer and rolling him on stage? If he can't talk, or move, there's not much he could do about it.
And I readily admit, that notion is pure conspiracy theory. But it isn't impossible.
My point before all of this got conspiracified, was that the assistant is probably doing most of the heavy lifting these days, both literally and in the realm of theoretical physics. It really can't be any other way when the guy speaks, at most, 10 words a minute. [Reply]
Dude. He had nothing but time in his mind. He had more time to think about these things than literally anyone. Communicating his theory is the easy part. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigChiefTablet:
So you show a video with him just sitting there drooling, while a pre-recorded message plays and this is supposed to be proof of a live interview?
What if he can't talk at all? What if they are just saying he can? What if someone is just pre-recording messages in his computer and rolling him on stage? If he can't talk, or move, there's not much he could do about it.
And I readily admit, that notion is pure conspiracy theory. But it isn't impossible.
My point before all of this got conspiracified, was that the assistant is probably doing most of the heavy lifting these days, both literally and in the realm of theoretical physics. It really can't be any other way when the guy speaks, at most, 10 words a minute.
Originally Posted by Fish:
OK. I just don't understand where you're coming from. I've never heard Hawking described the way you're doing so.
His most recent "statements" conflict with his own theories on singularities.
He won't come out and say it but what he IMPLIES is that information is shared. And he doesn't understand how or why but it does go....elsewhere... [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rausch:
His most recent "statements" conflict with his own theories on singularities.
He won't come out and say it but what he IMPLIES is that information is shared. And he doesn't understand how or why but it does go....elsewhere...
His theories about event horizons have bothered him since the beginning. He's admitted as much. But not because it conflicts with his own theories, it conflicts with quantum mechanics. Hawking's initial theories satisfied Einstein's relativity, but not quantum mechanics. Hawking always felt that something was missing and that black hole physics should be able to satisfy both.
Several years ago, some other astrophysicists came up with the black hole firewall paradox, which says quantum mechanics actually can be applied to black holes if the event horizon acts like a firewall. But that theory violated Einstein's relativity.
Hawking then produced his new theory, which actually satisfies both quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity at the same time, by removing the event horizon altogether and instead defining an "Apparent horizon".
He's been of the belief that information is shared since the 70s, when he theorized "Hawking radiation". That was the whole point of his Hawking radiation idea.
I'm just not understanding why he would be mad at anything. [Reply]
Watch a Car-Sized Asteroid Slam Into the Moon
by NANCY ATKINSON on FEBRUARY 24, 2014
Hey, all you astro-photographers/videographers out there: were you shooting the Moon back on September 11, 2013? You may want to review your footage and see if you captured a bright flash which occurred at about 20:07 GMT. Astronomers say a meteorite with the mass of a small car slammed into the Moon at that time and the impact produced a bright flash, and it even would have been easy to spot from the Earth.
According to astronomers Jose M. Madiedo, from the University of Huelva and Jose L. Ortiz, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia both in Spain, this impact was the longest and brightest confirmed lunar impact flash ever observed, as the “afterglow” of the impact remained visible for 8 seconds.