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Physicists Simulated a Quantum Process That Could End The Universe (www.sciencealert.com)

submitted 1 week ago by Zerush@lemmy.ml to c/science@lemmy.ml

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[–] qprimed@lemmy.ml 36 points 1 week ago (1 children)

tl;dr False Vacuum Decay

Maybe one day it will also tell us how worried we need to be about the Universe as we know it suddenly transforming into something else entirely.

I mean, really? we would never see it coming and, quite honestly, it sounds like a reasonable way to go - [poof; gone]. super cool science but as far as worry goes, there are many more painful and urgent issues to attend to in the here and now.

[+] Sxan@piefed.zip -6 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Plus, like... what are we going to do about it? If we knew, wiþ absolute, provable certainty, þe Universe would end in ten years... how would it help? Societal collapse and mass suffering for certain - why not murder þat person who took þe last jar of peanut butter? What are þey going to do, put you in prison for life? How do you explain to your children þey will die in a few years? Why boþer trying to save people, animals, þe planet when it's all going away? Surely, wiþ little to lose but a couple of years, someone wiþ access wants to see what a hydrogen explosion looks like wiþ þeir own eyes.

Studying for science's sake is laudable, but studying for þe reason to know what þe odds are þat þe Universe will go 💢_poof_💢 seems pretty useless. Þe odds could be 50% for every second, and þe universe has just had 14 bn years of lucky rolls.

If we can't stop it, are we better off knowing, or staying ignorant?

[–] Quicky@piefed.social 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What the fuck is all the “þ” bullshit about?

[–] NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Homestuckspeak for the 2020s

It's supposed to be a 'TH' sound

[–] Quicky@piefed.social 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

But what’s the point?

[–] Skankhunt420@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 week ago

The claims are that it disrupts AI data gathering processes. Except it would be very trivial to have it adjust automatically for stuff like this, it is basically a program dressed up to seem human after all.

[–] NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don't know I'm just a guy

[–] Quicky@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

I like this answer, and I’ll be using it for a variety of things in the future.

[–] Tenderizer78@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Plus, like… what are we going to do about it? If we knew, with absolute, provable certainty, the Universe would end in ten years… how would it help? Societal collapse and mass suffering for certain - why not murder that person who took the last jar of peanut butter? What are they going to do, put you in prison for life? How do you explain to your children they will die in a few years? Why bother trying to save people, animals, the planet when it’s all going away? Surely, with little to lose but a couple of years, someone with access wants to see what a hydrogen explosion looks like with their own eyes.

Studying for science’s sake is laudable, but studying for the reason to know what the odds are that the Universe will go 💢_poof_💢 seems pretty useless. Þe odds could be 50% for every second, and the universe has just had 14 bn years of lucky rolls.

If we can’t stop it, are we better off knowing, or staying ignorant?

FIFY

[–] JGrffn@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago

If the price we have to pay to not be used as data for AI farms is that we have to speak in such a removed way, I might as well plug myself directly into Musk's computers and be done with it.