EdEarl

We are in an age of future shock with discoveries and developments occurring ever more quickly. When the AGI singularity occurs, we may be unable to comprehend the changes. I suspect the quantum age will be history before the end of the century, replaced by one or two more ages--if an age can be considered so short. Was there a nuclear age, an electronics age, or an information age? Are we in an environmental destruction age? Will there be a climate change age? Maybe historians will call it a potpourri age.

No one is sure how super massive black holes are created.

Before neutrinos were discovered, a similar misnomer "neutron" was proposed by Wolfgang Pauli until James Chadwick discovered the current neutron particle, and Enrico Fermi developed who the theory of beta decay and changed the name to neutrino. People like to have names for things, even if they do not understand them (DM) or do not exist (genie).

The Milky Way article in Wikipedia does discuss the super massive black hole at the center of our galaxy. It also discusses that dark matter may explain why the rotation of stars around the galaxy contradict Keplerian dynamics. Thus, the article does address your five questions. On the other hand, very little is know about DM, and for that reason it is little more than a euphemism instead of a complete and accurate description of what holds galaxies together. That is not a criticism of science or scientists, it is an assessment of the knowledge about DM, an incredibly elusive phenomenon.

A facebook post discusses manganese being precipitated in early oceans as evidence of early life on earth. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=532455516815497&set=a.352867368107647.80532.352857924775258&type=1&theater The facebook post links to these two sources: http://www.caltech.edu/content/stepping-stone-oxygen-earth http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/06/20/1305530110.full.pdf+html

Smoke is a mixture of several things, and can be very different depending on what burns and how it burns. From: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3226125 In addition to those chemicals, smoke often contains ash, which are small solids. Both carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide are poisons, so be careful. The hydrocarbons are probably the things you want, and they can be dissolved in ether (also dangerous to inhale, flammable, and vapors can explode). It would be safer to use a vegetable oil to dissolve the hydrocarbons (some of them might be poisonous IDK). A chemist can give better advice than I

You may also use Open Office, which has tools compatible with Microsoft Office files that includes a word processor and spreadsheet.

You ask a good question. I have some ideas, but I am not an expert, and there are many reasons IMO. The three part documentary "Earth The Climate Wars" narrated by Dr Iain Stewart (available on youtube) are good background information. Time to develop technology is a factor, but adapting technological solutions seems to have caused more delays than development. For example, Earthship homes are a superb technology, but cannot be built in many counties in the US, because building codes must change. Of course, opposition to windmills is another example of why adopting new technology has been slow. I could go on, but it is better discussed in another thread in which anyone may comment.

Your post seems to argue that we should not consider replacing petroleum, which is contrary to the topic of this thread, which is to discuss alternatives to petroleum.

Well, on a scale of 1-10 I would consider people who waste time beating their spouses, abusing their children, mugging strangers, etc. 10 compared to meditating as 1. And, people who waste time watching TV, listening to music, visiting art galleries, etc. as 1. On the other hand, if one considers that sleep seems to be a waste of time, but must not be, because sleep deprivation is bad for us. Is it really possible to consider relaxation of any kind a waste of time and shameful, whether it is meditation, listening to music, or reading Frankenstein? Although, I will grant that people who never do anything beneficial for others and spend all their time gaming, watching TV, reading Frankenstein, or whatever may be wasting their lives. But, I should refrain from such a judgement. Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged!

Noam Chomsky and his work in linguistics are a good place to start, if you have not already studied his work. There is much more by many researchers. On the other hand, if you are asking about how to use Lua to construct sentences, I unable to help you. There are several Lua vidoes on youtube. I skimmed the Lua tutorial, and found the following: io.write(x, "\n") If your are asking how to output a sentence using Lua, it appears you can simply string words into a variable (e.g., x) and io.write it. That seems fairly simple, and I suspect you are asking for something else. You still have not described what you wish to do enough for me to fully understand. The topic of this post mentions "Cleverbot," which could mean many things, including something similar to Watson that played and won Jeopardy against the best players.

Here is a graph to find "Pressure Loss (psi/ft) of Water Due to Friction in Copper Tubes". http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pressure-loss-copper-pipes-d_930.html Home hot water systems use a sacrificial anode to minimize electrolysis problems. There are a number of other things to consider, for example will your system be exposed to freezing temperatures. If so, you will need to use polypropylene glycol anti-freeze. Since water expands and contracts with temperature you need a pressure equalization tank with some air in it.

I am curious about what you mean by "respond to questions or inquiries intelligently." Yes and no answers are sometimes intelligent responses to questions. Your question has some meaning between intelligent yes/no answers and simulating a human conversation. Please be a bit more specific.

Some people in the US are working in the area of positive feedback to improve and heal themselves, but not many. I think eastern cultures with a long tradition of meditation are most advanced in this kind of thinking.

It is best to use the same size pipe as fittings on the pump. Smaller will tend to reduce flow rate. Larger is more expensive. If you use a smaller pipe, use enough parallel pipes to make up the same cross sectional area (or a bit larger) as the fittings on the pump.

Live an learn, I had not previously head of the nocebo effect. Living is dangerous. Water is necessary for life, but it can also kill. It seems almost absurd to consider swallowing a glass of water as dangerous, but a person suffering from dysphagia can become dehydrated. My Google search for an estimate of how many people meditate worldwide did not yield a reliable number, perhaps there are a billion. My Google search for an estimate of how many people were harmed by meditation found nothing. I found neither news story nor estimated number of people harmed. Granted, neither search was exhaustive. I merely spent about the same length of time doing each one, about 3 minutes. John, you have expressed serious concern about meditation. I can accept it, but I do not share it. People will make up their own mind about the value or harm of meditation.

You caught me saying a dumb thing. Only things without mass can travel at the speed of light. From the perspective of the light, time moves at a normal rate (I think, I'm not very good at relativity); thus, the light ages (and anything hypothetical traveling with it) year by year at a normal rate. I used that example to communicate with a person who was having difficulty understanding the size of the Universe and what looking at a galaxy 13.7 GLY away means. Totally accurate explanations are sometimes too complex and confusing for a novice. It is a trade-off, and now I am paying the price, but that's OK if I helped someone.

This question is sometimes discussed on Buddhist forums. The answer is basically that it is better to kill, than not to kill, when it is the kindest possible thing to do. This page discusses the philosophy of killing.

Your problem is Hin flow Hout Pipe geometry and insulation determine heat and resistance losses. If you insulate the pipe and pump, you can ignore heat losses until after you build the system, unless you will have very long runs of pipe. Similarly, you can ignore resistance of water flowing in the pipe for short runs of pipe. Flow of water is Volume per sec (V/s). Water carries 1 calorie / cm3 for each degree centigrade. Efficiency and operating temperature of your heat exchangers will determine how much heat you can transfer into the system and out of the system. Unless the water in the system is pressurized, the boiling point of water determines one temperature parameter. You need to provide additional information to get a numeric answer. I hope this helps you to make some equations. Of course, someone may give you more of the answer, but that will not be as much fun for you.

a) Venter did not claim abiogenesis. "Synthetic life" are his words. b) Article about the trial to recover an extinct species. TY CharonY.

Since Craig Venter announced the creation of " or after an , has/will the meaning of an extinct species change? In one sense extinct means no longer living, but if the genome exists is the species really extinct? If we continue to use the term extinct species to mean not currently living on the Earth, do we need another classification for reversibly-extinct species? The reason for this question is its relevance to conservation including laws governing threatened and endangered species. The snail darter controversy is an example of a legal action on behalf of an endangered species that was time consuming and expensive. Snail darters were moved to another river and reclassified as threatened instead of endangered, and a damn was built. The ability to save or create DNA and revive extinct species potentially changes the legal remedies in similar cases. What do you think? Moderator: Please move this post if another forum is better, e.g., philosophy, politics or speculations.

Yet another science miracle will improve our knowledge of evolution.

Alexey, your post agrees with other things I have read, including the case of John Forbes Nash, Jr, a famous mathematician, who suffered from a "dream-like delusional hypotheses" (his words), and who learned to reject his delusions. A movie and documentary were made about his life. Learning to cope is natural and as you say, everyone learns and knows to study to improve their learning experience. However, few people appreciate the breadth and scope of things that can be learned. Even if a person has some understanding of how teaching themselves can benefit their phobias, neuroses, habits, depression, etc., many (perhaps most) will not make the effort necessary to cure themselves. Welcome to SFN

Sorry, IDK.

I am not an expert, but just read (minutes ago) an article that may help answer your question. http://www.mediadesk.uzh.ch/articles/2013/problemloesen-lenkt-die-verarbeitung-von-sinneseindruecken_en.html Many researchers in AGI and neurology believe simulating the brain is possible with computers and programs. Some have predicted the Singularity within this century. I believe has made very important discoveries and developed advanced AGI software necessary for the Singularity. Although, I believe the Singularity will not be a single technology and event, rather several. For example there may be intelligent computers both with and without emotions. Already AI plays chess, Jeopardy, and drives cars. People are still better at driving cars, but it will not be long before an AI driver is safer than a human. How much smarter does AI need to be an example of the Singularity? I know the military and businesses are very interested in smart machines, and they have money to invest. Advancements are coming fast, and will come faster.