[extropy-chat] A crushing defense of objective ethics. Universal Volition and 'Ought' from 'is'.

[Eugen Leitl]

On Wed, May 11, 2005 at 06:15:51PM +1200, Marc Geddes wrote:

> According to current knowledge, we know next to
> nothing about the ultimate fate of the universe. 

We do know that the Omega point theory has been falsified.
Also, we have empirical data on the past, current, and can extrapolate --
though not into far future.

I wouldn't call this next to nothing -- that's be well before Edwin Hubble.

> Since next to nothing is known about the nature of the
> dark energy, conclusions about the ultimate fate of
> the universe are seriously premature at this time. 

You're making a prediction. You have to make a prediction using the current
state of cosmology, or refrain from doing so.

Current state is that dark energy is accelerating the expansion, limiting
where you could go/signal, and even what you could see, and ultimatively put
an end to computation altogether (things pick up seriously at +100 GYr).

> Exactly what is 'dark energy'?  Exactly how does it

Nobody knows!

> work?  Can you be sure that its effects will remain

Nobody knows!

> constant?  Why?  Can you be sure that the sign of the
> dark energy pressure won't suddenly flip at some point
> in the future- so expansion becomes contraction?   

You seem to maximize the amount of surprise in your predictions.

> All we know is that the universe is *currently*
> accelerating.  No more can be said until there is a
> causal understanding of the dark energy. 

Excellent. This means you'll stop making predictions about the future fate of
the universe, and how can/cannot shape its future.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a>
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