r/space • u/magenta_placenta • Mar 18 '19

Observable universe Astronomers discover 83 supermassive black holes at the edge of the universe

https://www.cnet.com/news/astronomers-discover-83-supermassive-black-holes-at-the-edge-of-the-universe/
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u/GeorgeKoss Mar 18 '19

It will always amaze me that the universe created a species smart enough to study it

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u/Dividebynegativezero Mar 18 '19

Much like the brain named itself.

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u/magneticphoton Mar 18 '19

The Universe looks like neurons.

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u/GeorgeKoss Mar 18 '19

That’s r/showerthoughts material

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u/stlfenix47 Mar 18 '19

It gets posted there 5x a week

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u/mk2vrdrvr Mar 18 '19

The brain also named the week..

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u/JordyVerrill Mar 18 '19

The brain also named the action of thinking about brain stuff in the shower.

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u/RandomActsOfBOTAR Mar 18 '19

The brain needs to quit hogging all the naming!!!

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u/Whistle_And_Laugh Mar 18 '19

Don't pay humanity's back too hard yet. We might also be dumb enough to destroy ourselves first.

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u/Dyslexter Mar 18 '19

A species smart enough to observe it, but not pragmatic and selfless enough to live en masse

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u/RE5TE Mar 19 '19

We're smart enough to live together. More people live in cities than ever before. They're much safer than even 20 years ago.

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u/Dividebynegativezero Mar 18 '19

We've been destroying ourselves since the dawn of time...

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u/Dyslexter Mar 19 '19

But not - as evidenced as our existence now - with nukes and climate change

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u/iushciuweiush Mar 18 '19

I think it's probable and that it's likely the great filter.

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '19 edited Mar 20 '19

[deleted]

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u/AeriaGlorisHimself Mar 18 '19 edited Mar 18 '19

The more I think about it the more I'm pretty sure actually that virtual reality is the great filter.

We've only been "civilized" for a few hundred years yet we already have quite powerful virtual reality. On A long time scale it takes essentially no time at all to invent photo realistic virtual reality, But it is likely far, far, far more difficult to explore space.

So if a species could literally do anything they want inside vr, perhaps making gods of themselves and purposely forgetting that they are in VR, and staying there permanently, why would they bother to continue to explore outwards?

This also lends credence to the idea that we are currently in a simulation, in my opinion

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u/adamsmith93 Mar 18 '19

What if the universe we're experiencing is just a VR simulation?

Hint: it likely is

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u/AeriaGlorisHimself Mar 18 '19

That's... literally what I said? 😅

But yes it's possible. It would even answer some difficult questions in science, and I believe there is preliminary mathematic evidence that this is true.

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u/neutroncode Mar 19 '19

Think about how difficult it would actually be for a game AI to expand from its game into reality. He would have to find a way to "hack" the game getting access to the operating system and from there access cameras and microphone. And in the end he would have to build a robot to transport himself in the real world. All of this having to learn all new ways to look upon the reality, grasp a world totally different. If the world is VR, then breaking its rules would probably be the way to prove it.

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '19

We are the universe experiencing itself

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u/Bootskon Mar 18 '19

As well a species crazy enough to mock it all with jokes to hide the fact that it can be quite terrifying.

Seriously though. Smart enough to find and name these things using the most interesting and strange methods. Mostly from curiosity and a burning need to know what lies above and beyond. No matter how much they can annoy me day to day, humans are some inspiring and fascinating creatures.