Entropy

yeah you would say that. That's because you're inside the universe. [I assume]. The idea is, if you were outside the universe, with no other lights on, looking it, the combined light would be beige. -The universe would be beige from the outside.

BUT if you were outside the universe in daylight, it would be red, and outside the universe in indoors light, it would be blue.

so guys... I know I'm kinda jumping in here... but could someone define entropy for me?

Entropy is a measure of disorder, to put it simply. This can be by the number of different possible particle arrangements, or number of particles, etc. It's also connected to heat-more heat, more entropy, because a decrease in useful energy is an increase in entropy.... I'm pretty bad at explaining things... That's sort of it, around about.

If you're not in the universe, where are you??? outside. looking in on the universe?

They invented/are inventing a type of plastic that melts at 30'C. Somebody back me up on how STUPID that really is.

I read somewhere that we hiccup because we evolved from animals like lung fish. [check it out! I'm part lung fish!] And we kept the mechanism because it helps us know how to perform other tasks, like keeping food out of the windpipe. Interesting, huh? It's so cute how scientists just try to explain everything away.

Fool, the reason I like entropy is that it's why everything chemically occurs-eveything happens in order to increase entropy-more distorder.

there are some really good arguments out there against causality, faye. I went to a debate tournament at harvard when I was in high school and saw these two guys from some obscure university in kansas just rip into imperialism, metaphysics and science. what they said was that reality is always determined by culture . . . for example, we have weather forecasters who predict whether it will rain tomorrow or be sunny; indian tribes have a shaman who tries to coax the nature-gods into charity. now, if it doesn't rain, the forecaster might tell you that a warm front unexpectedly moved across the region and pushed the storm away from the city. he couldn't possibly have predicted that would happen ahead of time, it was just an honest mistake. now, if it doesn't rain after the shaman performs his ritual, then his answer is that an evil spirit hexed the whole thing. quite simply, his effort failed because of someone's bad karma, so the next step would be to find the force that is responsible, just as the weatherman did.

anyway, the lesson here is that the shaman rituals are always going to seem like bulls:hit to us westerners. we've inherited the greek way of viewing the world. we represent truth in the universe; we reside at the center (the polis). if you aren't at the center, you are a 'barbarian', which means everything you say is babble.

Every culture views itself as the center of the universe, the difference is that playing that role has different implications depending the culture.
Regarding the greek point of view, despite its many flaws, I think nobody embodied wisdom in the way those people did. The amount of things they've passed onto us is huge.

above all, eurocentrism.

most of their good ideas were stolen from the egyptians . . .

Not above all. They legacy is much richer than that, and you know it. And they didn't "stole most of their ideas from the egyptian". In fact, the only thing in common they have is a certain association between some of their gods, but that's all. But yes, I'll admit that eurocentrism is part of the deal. In fact, living in Europe (preferrably Scandinavia) is a recurring fantasy for me. But that doesn't mean I regard Europe as the epitome of perfection and morals. Every country (or group of countries) in a power trip wants to attract the attention of the others. In the case of the greeks, there are good reasons. Besides, seeing that we're a colonized continent, that was bound to happen.

I get the feeling most people will question the values of other cultures, but not of their own. The same probably holds true for means of thinking, scientific views, etc.

roughly 90% of socrates, plato and aristotle's philosophies were derived from egyptian doctrine at the time.

Very very roughly. :rolleyes:

I read a figure in a book a few years ago . . . it was higher than 85%, but I don't remember what it was exactly. they set it up by first explaining all of the major ideas that came out of greece. then they showed where they existed in egypt prior to the fab three and at what point(s) socrates, plato and aristotle had gone to egypt and studied.

Always with the Egyptians, isn't it blue? *sneer* :p
I heard they discovered Pythagoras theorem before pythagoras. So they should really call it something else.
'The square on an isoceles triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides'
'That's a right triangle, you idiot!'
'D'oh!'

Hey cris, can you pick up on by obscure Simpsons references? It'd be great if someone here could do that.