Believe
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- liberonscien
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Believe
What would life be like if the universe shaped itself to reflect the shared beliefs of its inhabitants?
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Re: Believe
As a solipsist, I believe the universe would be pretty much the same.
Or do you mean "shared beliefs" as in "agreed upon by all inhabitants" and assuming solipsists are wrong? Then the universe probably would stop working as soon as people learn classical mechanics and think it works on all scales*, because then relativity and the weak and strong forces would stop existing. Or they never existed in the first place and only started existing when people started believing their wrong measurements.
*insert "even the bathroom scale? because I surely can't be that heavy" joke
Or do you mean "shared beliefs" as in "agreed upon by all inhabitants" and assuming solipsists are wrong? Then the universe probably would stop working as soon as people learn classical mechanics and think it works on all scales*, because then relativity and the weak and strong forces would stop existing. Or they never existed in the first place and only started existing when people started believing their wrong measurements.

*insert "even the bathroom scale? because I surely can't be that heavy" joke
- flicky1991
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Re: Believe
liberonscien wrote:What would life be like if the universe shaped itself to reflect the shared beliefs of its inhabitants?
Discworld.
any pronouns
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eran_rathan wrote:And then the four Hobbits return to the Shire, to find Wario has turned all the Hobbits into Cybermen, and they have to fight in an epic battle involving kaiju & mecha - that's how it ends, right?
- Soupspoon
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Re: Believe
flicky1991 wrote:liberonscien wrote:What would life be like if the universe shaped itself to reflect the shared beliefs of its inhabitants?
Discworld.
I turtally agree.
- liberonscien
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Re: Believe
Flumble wrote:As a solipsist, I believe the universe would be pretty much the same.
Or do you mean "shared beliefs" as in "agreed upon by all inhabitants" and assuming solipsists are wrong? Then the universe probably would stop working as soon as people learn classical mechanics and think it works on all scales*, because then relativity and the weak and strong forces would stop existing. Or they never existed in the first place and only started existing when people started believing their wrong measurements.![]()
*insert "even the bathroom scale? because I surely can't be that heavy" joke
This.
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- liberonscien
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Re: Believe
flicky1991 wrote:liberonscien wrote:What would life be like if the universe shaped itself to reflect the shared beliefs of its inhabitants?
Discworld.
I am not familiar with this.
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- flicky1991
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Re: Believe
liberonscien wrote:I am not familiar with this.
One of the fundamental rules of the universe in the Discworld series of novels by Terry Pratchett is that the world works the way it does because people believe it. The world is flat, orbited by the sun. All gods exist; the Tooth Fairy and bogeymen exist. In the plot of one novel, one god loses all his power because almost no-one actually believes in him any more - they believe in the religion, and the rule of the church, but not the god behind it. In another, not enough children believe in the Hogfather (the equivalent of Santa Claus) any more, so he stops existing - Death takes over the job for a while.
Death actually takes vacations a couple of times, one time resulting in no-one in the world dying until he takes on the job again. But that can only happen because he's an anthropomorphic personification of death (with the skull face and scythe) - if people didn't think of Death that way, then death as a process would function without him. It's only because people believe he's necessary that it all goes wrong without him.
any pronouns
----
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(tell me if link doesn't work)
----
Forum Games Discord
(tell me if link doesn't work)
eran_rathan wrote:And then the four Hobbits return to the Shire, to find Wario has turned all the Hobbits into Cybermen, and they have to fight in an epic battle involving kaiju & mecha - that's how it ends, right?
- liberonscien
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Re: Believe
flicky1991 wrote:liberonscien wrote:I am not familiar with this.
One of the fundamental rules of the universe in the Discworld series of novels by Terry Pratchett is that the world works the way it does because people believe it. The world is flat, orbited by the sun. All gods exist; the Tooth Fairy and bogeymen exist. In the plot of one novel, one god loses all his power because almost no-one actually believes in him any more - they believe in the religion, and the rule of the church, but not the god behind it. In another, not enough children believe in the Hogfather (the equivalent of Santa Claus) any more, so he stops existing - Death takes over the job for a while.
Death actually takes vacations a couple of times, one time resulting in no-one in the world dying until he takes on the job again. But that can only happen because he's an anthropomorphic personification of death (with the skull face and scythe) - if people didn't think of Death that way, then death as a process would function without him. It's only because people believe he's necessary that it all goes wrong without him.
Huh. That sounds pretty interesting.
Terry Pratchet, right?
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- flicky1991
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Re: Believe
Yep.
any pronouns
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(tell me if link doesn't work)
----
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eran_rathan wrote:And then the four Hobbits return to the Shire, to find Wario has turned all the Hobbits into Cybermen, and they have to fight in an epic battle involving kaiju & mecha - that's how it ends, right?
- liberonscien
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Re: Believe
flicky1991 wrote:liberonscien wrote:What would life be like if the universe shaped itself to reflect the shared beliefs of its inhabitants?
Discworld.
Alright, what would happen if one day the universe started operating like that?
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- Soupspoon
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Re: Believe
Perhaps Dr. Rjinswand, the renowned Swedish international expert in nuclear physics, might know...
- liberonscien
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Re: Believe
Soupspoon wrote:Perhaps Dr. Rjinswand, the renowned Swedish international expert in nuclear physics, might know...
Are you trying to suggest that I Google this person?
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- gmalivuk
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Re: Believe
Then the universe would probably start looking (even more) like has already been extensively described in these books.liberonscien wrote:flicky1991 wrote:liberonscien wrote:What would life be like if the universe shaped itself to reflect the shared beliefs of its inhabitants?
Discworld.
Alright, what would happen if one day the universe started operating like that?
- liberonscien
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Re: Believe
gmalivuk wrote:Then the universe would probably start looking (even more) like has already been extensively described in these books.liberonscien wrote:flicky1991 wrote:liberonscien wrote:What would life be like if the universe shaped itself to reflect the shared beliefs of its inhabitants?
Discworld.
Alright, what would happen if one day the universe started operating like that?
I should clarify: this universe.
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- Angua
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Re: Believe
Perhaps you should read the Science of Discworld series. They pretty much answer your questions about this universe.
'Look, sir, I know Angua. She's not the useless type. She doesn't stand there and scream helplessly. She makes other people do that.'
GNU Terry Pratchett
- gmalivuk
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Re: Believe
liberonscien wrote:gmalivuk wrote:Then the universe would probably start looking (even more) like has already been extensively described in these books.liberonscien wrote:flicky1991 wrote:liberonscien wrote:What would life be like if the universe shaped itself to reflect the shared beliefs of its inhabitants?
Discworld.
Alright, what would happen if one day the universe started operating like that?
I should clarify: this universe.
The universe would probably start looking (even more) like has already been extensively described in those books, apart from the specific details of geography and race.
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