The Universe As Hologram 532
Several readers sent in news of theoretical work bolstering the proposition that the universe may be a hologram. The story begins at the German experiment GEO600, a laser inteferometer looking for gravity waves. For years, researchers there have been locating and eliminating sources of interference and noise from the experiment (they have not yet seen a gravity wave). For months they have been puzzling over a source of noise they could not explain. Then Craig Hogan, a Fermilab physicist, approached them with a possible answer: that GEO600 may have stumbled upon a fundamental limit where space-time stops behaving like a smooth continuum and instead dissolves into "grains." The "holographic principle" suggests that the universe at small scales would be "blurry," its smallest features far larger than Planck scale, and possibly accessible to current technology such as the GEO600. The holographic principle, if borne out, could help distinguish among competing theories of quantum gravity, but "We think it's at least a year too early to get excited," the lead GEO600 scientist said.
Alrighty then (Score:4, Funny)
Does this mean ... (Score:3, Funny)
Let's see if it's true... (Score:4, Funny)
Nope, not a hologram.
Obligatory Star Trek Reference. (Score:2, Funny)
So... (Score:4, Funny)
There is no spoon?
Huh? (Score:4, Funny)
[checks calendar] No, it's not April yet... that settles it then -- we must be living on a giant potato chip! Precisely the type of universe one would expect a Flying Spaghetti Monster to design!
Holograms! (Score:3, Funny)
This just in, Red Dwarf's Rimmer and Voyager's doctor upset, complain of "hologram of a hologram" prejudice.
And so... (Score:4, Funny)
The small anti-counterfeiting patch on my MasterCard could be...
One tiny little universe.
"A Year Too Early?" (Score:5, Funny)
Screw that! I'm getting drunk NOW!
Woohoo!
Re:And so... (Score:3, Funny)
If you cut it in half, do you get two half-assed universes? (I know it renders the card invalid, at least when you try to use it in person, or it should.)
Re:Does this mean ... (Score:5, Funny)
That we're all living on a small anti-counterfeiting patch on God's MasterCard?
You know He's omnipresent, right? God doesn't use MasterCard. He uses Visa since it's everywhere He wants to be.
Oh, my. Sorry. That was really bad.
Re:Let's see if it's true... (Score:4, Funny)
Or the Holodeck is just broken.
Again.
Re:Okay... (Score:3, Funny)
So it's not about gravity being discrete, it's about space and time being discrete, which shows up as a jitter-like noise in the gravity-wave measuring experiment.
So the universe isn't actually analog at all...It's digital. It just looks analog to us due to all the anti-aliasing.
Re:Plato (Score:2, Funny)
people were only seeing a shadow of reality and it was up to politicians to declare war on shadows.
Graviolis (Score:2, Funny)
If they prove gravitons exist I want a bowl of them, with a side of graviolis...
Re:Don't panic (Score:5, Funny)
To say that certain aspects of the universe can be modeled using elegant mathematics, and that this implies a designer is a non sequitor. If I was God, I would have used 6th order equations, all the way down, just to show how awesome at math I was.
Re:And so... (Score:1, Funny)
So treat that card with respect. You scratch off that anti-counterfeiting patch and you're not just potentially committing fraud, you're also now guilty of mass genocide!
Think of the little people!
Re:Does this mean ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Plato (Score:5, Funny)
What do you call that field which is practiced by the people we generally call "philosophers?"
I think the current parlance is "food preparation technicians."
Re:Don't panic (Score:3, Funny)
Exactly. The intelligent designer concept is only working if you can't think 'til the next step:
1 Where is that designer?
2 What is he in?
3 Who created the designer?
4 Who created, whatever the designer is in?
5 GOTO 1
true... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Plato (Score:3, Funny)
Re:What would Schrödinger say? (Score:3, Funny)
Physics involving cats is bad enough, but now the all cats are holograms..?
If you look inside Schrödinger's Fridge [angryflower.com] there may or may not be a beer.
Maybe the cat drank them.
Re:Don't panic (Score:2, Funny)
I see Star Trek possibilities... (Score:4, Funny)
From Me: Universe, please start beach babe program 101.
From Universe: Fatal error in beach babe execution. Dork array value out of range.
*sigh*
Nevermind...
Re:Let's see if it's true... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Don't panic (Score:5, Funny)
If I was God, I would have used 6th order equations, all the way down, just to show how awesome at math I was.
What's wrong with the turtles?
Here is a better explaination (Score:3, Funny)
Did that clear things up?
Re:Don't panic (Score:4, Funny)
Evolution.
Re:Plato (Score:2, Funny)
the philosophical cart
Descartes, yes?