Life

In my last post, I listed four questions from a video about Astronomy. I am going to begin to pose answers to these questions, starting with the last one, then working up.

Is there life beyond earth?  If you want a simple answer: no.
If you're saying, 'but that's no fun!' then let's explore this a little more...

I was going to show you a video of space pictures with some guy talking about a ton of ideas about life beyond the earth, but I was falling asleep watching it and couldn't get through the whole thing, so I chose a different one.  (If you want to watch it, I have it posted on my YouTube Channel.)

So here is an astronomer being interviewed who has some more questions to throw at you.
Hmm.. interesting.. I like this guy. ;)

What do you think? I might have to come back at some point to answer his questions.

Astronomy

Today's video is an introductory video someone made about an Astronomy course.

I think this is really cool, and it poses some interesting questions at the end (paraphrasing):
1. How did the Universe begin?
2. Is there an end to the universe?
3. What are black holes?
4. Is there other life out there?

Even though they made their questions so that they would have a rhyming fashion, I actually think these are interesting topics to start looking at. So for the next few weeks, we are going to tackle these.  I'll share my thoughts on the subject and then you can give your own thoughts below!

Multi-Verse

Lots of people love to fantasize about parallel universes, and I think they're kind of cool.  Minute physics just posted a video about these 'universes' and the current theories that exist out there. I think they're kind of fascinating, and pretty cool to think about.

My question is the same asked in the video: which theory do you think is most likely true? Do you think there are any 'other universes' at all?

Evidence

Today, I am featuring a short clip from some scientist about the past 12-21-2012 experience that many freaked out over.  Obviously we are all still here today, so why am I sharing this?

Well, I would like to encourage us to try and learn more about the subjects we make claims over.  I know people who make ridiculously large claims about things that they don't know more about other than, "I briefly heard them say something like that on the news."  Just so you know, Judge Judy does not accept hearsay!

I really like the quote he used:
  "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

I support this full on, that if we are to make any claim at all, we need to be able to back it up sufficiently.  If we can't, then we need to start figuring out how.  Since I am still young though, I won't judge anyone who can't yet, but I will criticize anyone who refuses to try.  For instance, many Christians are known for making huge claims about their religion.  The only problem with this is that most refuse to look into why they believe these things and say, "Because God made it so."  I have a problem with that. If I am going to make a claim, I want to at least start figuring out why, and if I can't find compelling proof or even evidence, then it must be rejected.

The important thing to note is in this quote from the Sherlock Holmes books: "..when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Not that we blindly trust random things, but that we narrow it down to the truth, based on what we know is not.  If we can't eliminate something, we can't be certain, and we should admit that there is room for further investigation, as a good scientist would.

Subconscious

The idea of subconsciousness is a very interesting, and disturbing thought.  That's why many people are drawn to things such as hypnosis.

As a child, I never believed hypnosis actually worked until I began to understand that we have a subconscious.  In fact, I thought it was just some trick someone invented and made up for a book or to fool people.  But hypnosis is a real thing in which the operator get into a persons subconsciousness and speaks commands or tries to reach hidden information.  It's almost like sleep talking, when someone has a full conversation with you at night but in the morning remembers none of it. 

Hypnosis is very useful to doctors though.  It can be used to better understand the human mind, how it responds to stimuli during unconsciousness.  Hypnosis is also used for relaxation, and may be able to be used to fix minor mental disorders, such as someone's irrational fear of puppies.  All of this though must be used carefully, since one is dealing with the subconscious mind, but it is very interesting to watch.

So here is an interesting video of David Tennant on Trick or Treat reading someone's mind. It's quite obviously not fake because they try to be honest about it, even though he is a famous actor. 

   - VIDEO! -

The interesting thing about this video is that instead of manipulating him to do something, he reaches into the future and actually predicts it. I hope you can enjoy the craziness of the subconscious mind!

(There is a part 1 and a part 3, but I find this one the most fascinating and believable.) 

Mind Blowing

It's been a week, whoops!   Well, I have never been good at keeping up with things.  We have had a crazy past two weeks, so I hope you'd forgive me.

Anyways, cool edited video!  Its really interesting to watch, so here's the link to watch it.

CLICK HERE! :D IT'S COOL!

What do you consider "Mind Blowing"?  Someone thought that video was, but I find other things mind blowing like how math actually makes sense when you get to Calculus, and how science works at its basic building blocks.  In this video, I can take a few guesses as to how the put together all the parts to make it look so realistic, but I still think it's really cool!  I guess I'm just weird like that. (:

Adventures in Thought

Well, I didn't have time to think on this much, but here is a clip of some interesting thoughts for today's entry: