Philosophical views

[Anonymous]

That makes me curious..

How do they do maths with aliens? We use our numbers, radiosignals or whatever...but they?

[Anonymous]

Most likely math would remain the same, but they'd be using a different system other than base 10.  It could get pretty weird.

[Anonymous]

It's not so much that they use the same symbols, but that one is always one, even if you call it bork.  Mathematics is a pretty root fundamental of every civilization.

I have one stone blade, he has two.  He has more than me.

[Anonymous]

How do we say that to the aliens? I mean if we want to communicate...

[Anonymous]

How do we say that to the aliens? I mean if we want to communicate...

Aside from the potential language barrier, I'd assume it'd relatively similar to what Asha was describing.

I have more inter-galatic warships than he does. I have the advantage.

[Anonymous]

Talking bout aliens, I think it's an area of philosophy called Idealism, which has always fascinated me.
It's to do with sensory perception, what if an alien had no sense of smell, had no sense of taste, did not see, could not feel, what would an orange be to him?
When you take away all those characteristics, what is an orange?
If you can't see it, it's not a round fruit, if you can't taste or smell it, it's not citrusy and fruity and whatever, etc, etc, what is an orange?



There is no orange, shit, I should really stop watching that film.

[Anonymous]

lol u seem to forget one thing, their technology is WAY more adv than ours, so their mathamatics wouldn't be close to base 10, let alone 1 being bork or 1 in their language, their prob be able to make graphs into the 5th and 6th dimension, so im pretty sure 1 isnt 1.

Zink

[Anonymous]

Going back to the big bang theory I have had my own idea.  Perhaps there was something, a race that existed many eons before we could even concieve it and these people were incredibly advanced.  And then they found a way of looking into the future, or they created something of titanic destructive capabilities and that is what created the Big Bang.

As for the Americans landing on the Moon I don't think that it actually happened and that it was some sort of propaganda.  It is competely fake for two reasons:

1.  The flag is blowing around in the wind when there is no atmosphere on the moon and therefore no wind should be blowing.

2.  There are no stars in the sky yet on the moon there is perfect visability and they should be the most briliant picture of stars seen at that time.

The other reason is that when you speed the tape up of Neil Armstrong bounding along its just him jumping normally.  As far as I am concerned it was just for propaganda.

[Anonymous]

Another idea I had is this.  We look upon ants as creatures of no significance, we don't help them, they don't help us although sometimes people stamp on them send water down their ant holes or poisen them.  Did we ever think that there is something that percieves us in the same manner, that creates disasters, thats poisens us.  But then sometimes we help the ants, and then maybe we get helped by these greater entities.  Ants do not recognise us and arn't smart enough to realise we are here.  Well maybe we aren't smart enough to realise that there is somethijng else there apart from us.

[Anonymous]

Zink, this one is so off base something needs to be said.  Who's "they?"  Do you KNOW some aliens, have they clued you into their mathematics system?  

You mention other dimensions as well, do you want to quantify those for us?  Let me know what your tricorder readings are showing.  

If extra-terrestrials (I don't believe in such a thing, religious beliefs, and it isn't up for debate) exist, and they use complex mathematics that extend into 3 or more dimensions, they'll still have a root.  All dimensions, even an infinite amount, all come to a single point.  Planes X, Y, and Z all meet at a single point in the universe.  That being said, regardless of whether their system is more complex, that complexity is built off of the same simple logic we use.

Governing dyanamics, an example below: (highlight to read)



That's a complex formula, describing: surface tension force, gravitational force, centrifugal force, and pressure force.  All very complex variables and none of which being expressed by a single number.  At the root of it, is still the number one.  This equation is an expression of all three dimensions, and several other contributing variables; but at it's heart, is still the base 10 system we use everyday.

[Anonymous]

Speaking of the purpose of the Big Bang, I'm running a Modern d20 game with my friends that spans modern, futuristic, and medieval settings (trust me, it makes perfect  sense).  

What they're going to discover at some point down the road is that the ancient and powerful alien relics they discover on their travels were left behind by an ancient race of beings on thousands of planets so that other sentient life might have a glimpse of a chance to resist a terrible entity.

According to my storyline, this ancient race (haven't named them yet) were incredibly powerful, wise, and intelligent, possessing abilities such as manipulating gravity fields, various dimensions, and even (to a small extent) destiny itself.  They discover a supermassive black hole in the exact center of the universe, which they name the Charybdis Void.  They discover that the Void will eventually collapse the universe, and it would be better to allow the universe to keep expanding, so they collapse the event horizon, and negate the gravity well, exposing the naked singularity at the center.

But there is something within the Charybdis Void, something so terrible in essence that the mere sight of it (or as much as they can view, since it spans dimensions and seems to break several physical laws) drives any sentient being mad.  This thing (named the Devourer) possesses a sentience as well, and begins to spread across the universe, engulfing galaxies and star systems and extinguishing existence where it extends.  It sends its "children" ahead of it, to pave its way.  Its spawn are called the Terror, and plunge themselves into suns, absorbing the core as they incubate.  They then unfurl their black wings, ripping the star apart, creating supernovas in their wake.  

Anyway, what the ancient race realized was that the universe was no mere cosmic accident.  It was created for one sole purpose:  to be a prison for the Devourer, encaged in the Charybdis Void.  It's  a small pinched off piece of a larger reality, and all sentient life which emerge during the course of its existence are inconsequential and insignificant.

[Anonymous]

That sounds really cool Cat, you obviously have a very imaginative mind.  Would it be possible for me to join this game, perhaps as a lone wanderer or something. Up to you.

[Anonymous]

Wow, thats cool

[Anonymous]

Thanks!  I do have to admit I borrowed a few ideas from Simon R. Green's Deathstalker (about the Terror mostly).

Unfortunately, I'm running this as a pen and paper RPG, not online.  It's also tailored especially for my group.  I made the three who were playing start off playing themselves present day present location.  I hurled some messed up crap at them, like laws of reality breaking down, those around them being driven mad and turned into horrible zombie-like creatures (think Silent Hill or Hellraiser).  They eventually "wake up," and discover they've been participating in a VR system called the Transmigration Project, created by their "real" characters as a means of training AI constructs and getting them used to three-dimensional reality, human beings, and other stuff.  They are the only real people in the system; everyone else is a construct.  

The thing is, the Transmigration core (along with the rest of the computer systems on Fenris Station, the research station they're on) has been infected with a digital contaminant which is driving AI constructs insane.  I play a special construct called Calico, who infiltrates the Transmigration core, possesses a construct near the characters (which happens to be "me"), and gets them out.  Unfortunately, I bypass all safety parameters when jacking out, so they don't recall any of their actual lives.  Their real memories, skills, and personalities are suppressed, so they only have the memories of the characters they have been playing inside the system.  

The same thing happens to me (Calico).  I get imprinted with the personality of the construct I possessed ("me"), upon exit.  

So, like I said, specifically tailored for this group.  If you want to hear more, I can start a new thread, rather than hijacking this one (apologies to Ajax).

[Anonymous]

Heh, I have always wanted to be in a role play that just goes on but no one I know ever really wants to do it or has the motivation. I used to play a bit of D&D but that was just minor, so right now I am really interested in getting into an ongoing role-play.  The problem with Matrix ones is that they can be very limiting, but if you really wanted to you could get a good story going I guess.