Wapsi Square

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"That One Thing"
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That One Thing
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That One Thing

by Paul Taylor on June 1, 2017 at 12:18 am
Story: Wapsi-Archive
Characters: Atsali, Nadette
Location: Monica's Island

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Discussion (40) ¬

  1. TheDOCTOR
    June 1, 2017, 12:38 am | # | Reply

    Atsali, I think you broke Nadette. Pretty Heavy thinking though.

    • Dave
      June 1, 2017, 12:57 am | # | Reply

      As I recall, back in my college days some decades ago, most discussions of that sort didn’t take place until after the second or third joint.

      • FreeFlier
        June 1, 2017, 2:24 am | #

        OTOH, I’ve regularly observed the effect after one pitcher of beer per two active conversants.

        Gripping hand, the truly enlightened do not require chemical aids.

      • CptNerd
        June 1, 2017, 12:12 pm | #

        Sometimes all it took was just being up late at night/early in the morning…

      • ThorfinnTK
        June 1, 2017, 12:56 pm | #

        Been there, done that. I remember sitting over a bottle of wine with a friend. His wife had gone to bed a couple of ours before, but woke up and came down, saying she would keep us company for a bit – so what were we talking about. So we explained that we were discussing, whether the space the universe is expanding through might have an existence prior to and independently of Big Bang – and she looked at us and said ‘Better get back to bed.’

      • Treesong
        June 1, 2017, 4:39 pm | #

        Or more usefully, the universe isn’t expanding into an external space; it’s all there is. Space is expanding. There couldn’t be a pre-existing space because the initial universe would be like the center of a superhypergigunda black hole and nothing could get out. Don’t get me started on Hawking radiation.

      • Weertangel
        June 18, 2017, 3:11 am | #

        Indeed, that stuff is WAY to hard to think about on the beach, or when not high.
        Poor Nadette,that can’t be easy to get hit by all the time.

      • Iceburgh69
        September 18, 2017, 6:42 am | #

        And yet, physicists manage to think about things like this all of the time.

      • Fairportfan
        February 9, 2018, 10:28 pm | #

        …physicists manage to think about things like this all of the time…

        Every seventeen seconds, right?

  2. GrantCMcCormick
    June 1, 2017, 12:55 am | # | Reply

    I’m surprised that Atsali didn’t say that the one thing that wasn’t moving was her!

  3. Dave Van Domelen
    June 1, 2017, 1:18 am | # | Reply

    Oooh, baby, talk Galilean Relativity to me.

  4. gyrre
    June 1, 2017, 1:37 am | # | Reply

    Question; do the 11 dimensions count 3 for space, 1 for time and 7 for other stuff, or are we talking about universes?

    • FreeFlier
      June 1, 2017, 2:31 am | # | Reply

      It starts with T.

      Then X is established perpendicular to T.

      Then Y is established perpendicular to both T and to X.

      Third, Z is mutually perpendicular to T, X and Y.

      Fourth, W is established mutually perpendicular to T, X, Y & Z.

      Repeat until all eleven mutually perpendicular dimensions have been established.

      Consult A. Square from Flatland if you run into trouble.

      Oh, I almost forgot: the dimensions are divided evenly between space and time . . . and Q is kind of odd.

    • liamstrain
      June 1, 2017, 6:44 am | # | Reply

      Ten spatial dimensions, plus time.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqeqW3g8N2Q

    • RBZ
      June 1, 2017, 8:41 am | # | Reply

      Like others have said, 1 dimension of time, 3 large dimensions of space, and 7 small dimensions of space. Think of the dimensions of a piece of string: 1 large = length, 1 small, cross-sectional circumference. Or a sheet of paper: 2 large = length & width, 1 small = thickness. The sheet of paper is slightly easier to visualise, but the piece of string is more representative of the universe: the spatial dimensions, although finite, have no ends.

    • GrantCMcCormick
      June 1, 2017, 11:01 am | # | Reply

      The currently (as of a decade ago) popular flavors of String Theory and Loop Quantum Gravity have eleven dimensions, of which 4 are uncompactified (big), and the other 7 are compactified (small). The analogy is a garden hose or drinking straw as an object in three-dimensional space: one dimension (length) is big (on the order of 10 meters [33 feet] for the hose or 15 cm [6 inches] for the straw), and the other two (width & height) are small (on the order of 2.5 cm [1 inch] for the hose, or 3 mm [1/8 inch] for the straw). Our universe’s big dimensions are 3 space dimension (at least 14 billion light years) and time (at least 14 billion years), and 7 small (about 1 Planck length, which is really tiny http://www.physlink.com/education/askexperts/ae281.cfm ).

  5. WEKM
    June 1, 2017, 3:11 am | # | Reply

    TILT!

  6. Tombone
    June 1, 2017, 3:11 am | # | Reply

    Here’s a youtube video that explains each dimension and what is contained within them in layman’s terms. It only briefly brushes on string/superstring theory and its role.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ca4miMMaCE

  7. The Old Wolf
    June 1, 2017, 4:34 am | # | Reply

    LoL what a mind.

    • How Now Brown Cow
      June 4, 2017, 10:34 am | # | Reply

      http://yudkowsky.tumblr.com/writing/level1intelligent

  8. How Now Brown Cow
    June 1, 2017, 8:12 am | # | Reply

    Is this intended to be a real brain teaser for us, or something in universe and para-related? It’s set up like a puzzle, but then has a line about eleven dimensions

  9. RBZ
    June 1, 2017, 8:35 am | # | Reply

    What if there never is, was, nor will be an object with zero movement with regard to the rest of the universe?

    • Treesong
      June 1, 2017, 7:01 pm | # | Reply

      Well, that would be dull. But even if there were one, how could you tell?

      Our velocity relative to the rest frame of the cosmic microwave background is 368 km/sec. I don’t know if another person in motion relative to us could also find themself with the same velocity. I think so.

    • Guesticus
      June 2, 2017, 9:42 pm | # | Reply

      Let me put it this way: you will know it if and when you encounter it, well, what’s left of you anyway, and hopefully a part that can do more than scream in pain

  10. Robert Nowall
    June 1, 2017, 9:51 am | # | Reply

    You are aware, Atsali, that the atoms that make up your body are also moving constantly? It goes in both directions.

    • Random Guy
      June 3, 2017, 7:10 pm | # | Reply

      Yeah, but if you cool them down enough they become a waveform.

  11. Colin McKenzie
    June 1, 2017, 11:36 am | # | Reply

    I thought that was just a way of re-stating Newton’s first law. (There exists a reference frame from with all other reference frames are inertial.)
    However that probably doesn’t hold when relativity is taken into account.

  12. bargamer
    June 1, 2017, 3:22 pm | # | Reply

    Oh, this one’s easy. Take the calculus approach, and just pick one, assume the variable is 0, then justify it by working backwards. Once you’re done with the first part, assume the variable is 1, work forwards again until you’re drunk. XD

    PS: My mum, who is a math major, helped me with this comment.

  13. Centaur71
    June 1, 2017, 5:34 pm | # | Reply

    SAY WHAT, ATSALI???

  14. Dave
    June 1, 2017, 6:34 pm | # | Reply

    “All I wanted was to snuggle, now I’m brainlocked in an existential quandry. THANKS.”

  15. TomHCinMI
    June 1, 2017, 9:13 pm | # | Reply

    FreeFlier said “gripping hand”! We read the same books!

    • TomHCinMI
      June 1, 2017, 9:14 pm | # | Reply

      (I mean, the Mote in God’s Eye)

  16. TazManiac
    June 1, 2017, 10:55 pm | # | Reply

    That really beats “Hey!, Lay down flat on the ground and feel the Earth Rotating!…”

  17. Alex
    June 2, 2017, 7:15 am | # | Reply

    More like “The Gripping Hand”. Yes, the concept of the three-handed Moties was first introduced in “The Mote in God’s Eye”, but I believe the trope of “on one hand, on the other hand, and the gripping hand” was introduced, not surprisingly, in the sequel: “The Gripping Hand”

  18. N.C. Weber
    June 2, 2017, 9:22 pm | # | Reply

    Too meta for me. I’m watching the waves now.

  19. GaijinGuy
    June 7, 2017, 1:28 am | # | Reply

    Oh, come on. We all know the real answer is 42.

    • Bratty Roger
      June 7, 2017, 10:11 am | # | Reply

      😄😅😂😅

  20. Jechtael
    June 23, 2018, 6:10 pm | # | Reply

    I’m confused. Isn’t there a 100% certainty that, from a certain frame of reference (its own), there is always at least one thing that’s standing perfectly still? Is she referring to something less universal that I’m not getting?

  21. Dave
    February 14, 2019, 2:03 pm | # | Reply

    I dunno about eleven dimensions, but in the four we have observational evidence for, there turns out to be something that does sit still relative to everything else: the cosmic microwave background radiation. Mostly. I mean, General Relativity breaks spatial invariance, so relative *orientation* is path-dependent, which leaves the relative orientation of distant vectors undefined in the general case. But even in the Minkowskian limit, the CMBR frame is just a simple transform away from any other inertial frame, so there’s nothing particularly special about “motion” or “rest.”

    It’s not *that* complicated, Asalti. C’mon.

  22. Hinoron
    January 10, 2024, 9:47 pm | # | Reply

    Nadette: “…My ability as a seer tells me I’m going to spend a lot of time tonight binge-watching Neil Degrassi Tyson Youtube videos… and I can’t decide if I should thank you or smack you.”
    Atsali: “Mmm… so the choice is kiss me or spank me, is it? I bet if we have enough time, we could fit both in.”
    Nadette: “…It’s weird when you combine an obvious sexy flirt with a double entendre you clearly didn’t notice.”
    Atsali: “Huh?”

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