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thedojoofintellect · 27 days

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The Sciences

Approximately 13.7 aeons ago, the infinitesimal, primeval singularity underwent an explosion of space itself. After a hundred billionth of a yoctosecond passed, the temperature of the universe was 1,800 trillion trillion degrees Fahrenheit.

A quadrillion is ten to the fifteenth power, or a 1 with 15 zeroes after it. A quintillion is 10 the 18th power. A sextillion is 10 to the 21st power. A septillion is 10 to the 24th power. An octillion is 10 to the 27th power. A vigintillion is 10 to the 63rd power. A centillion is 10 to the 303rd power.

It was the Italian astronomer and mathematician Galileo Galilei who said "science is written in the language of mathematics." Galileo is considered the father of modern science and is known for refining the invention of the telescope.

A chronon is a billionth of a trillionth of a second, the time it takes for a photon (a quantum of light) to cross the width of an electron at the speed of light, which is 186,000 miles per second, or 300,000 kilometers per second. A yoctosecond is a septillionth of a second. A zeptosecond is a sextillionth of a second. An attosecond is a quintillionth of a second. A femtosecond is a quadrillionth of a second. A picosecond is a trillionth of a second. A nanosecond is a billionth of a second. A microsecond is a millionth of a second. A millisecond is a thousandth of a second. In astronomy and geology, an aeon is a billion years.

A light-year is about 5.9 trillion miles. With the exception of the sun, the nearest star is proxima centauri and it is 4.24 light-years away. The large magellanic cloud is 179,000 light-years away. The virgo cluster is 60 million light-years away. The nearest quasar is 1 billion light-years away. The edge of the visible universe is 13.7 billion light-years away.

Mars has two moons: Phobos and Deimos. Phobos is 16.6 miles long and Deimos is 9.3 miles long. Deimos is two and a half times farther away from Mars than Phobos. Jupiter has 63 moons. Uranus has 27 moons.

Sir Isaac Newton, an Englishman, and Gotffried Wilhelm von Leibniz, a German, invented calculus. The word "algorithm", which is a step-by-step process for solving a problem, comes from the Muslims. The Muslims invented algebra. Pythagoras came up with the Pythagorean theorem, which uses the equation A squared plus B squared equals C squared to find the hypotenuse of a triangle. The medieval Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci is the namesake of the Fibonacci sequence, which is a string of numbers in which the two preceding numbers add up to the following number. An example of this would be the following: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13, and so on.

Absolute zero is negative 460 degrees Fahrenheit or negative 273 degrees Celsius, the point at which there is a total absence of thermal energy and matter stops moving. Under different circumstances, displacements transpire, which generates kinetic energy.

This planet is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old. There is a theory which postulates that early on in our universe's history, a large amount of matter annihilated itself with antimatter.

One theory for how life began posits that there was a primordial soup of amino acids and molecules collided until the right combination came together to form life. Evolutionary biology asserts that life began in the ocean.

Quantum mechanics is the science of the very small.

According to Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, one cannot be sure of both the position and velocity of a particle. The four fundamental forces of physics are the electromagnetic force, the gravitational force, the strong nuclear interaction, and the weak nuclear interaction. Each force is carried by and/or corresponds with an elementary boson. The names of the elementary bosons are the graviton, the gluon, the virtual photon, and the W and Z bosons (also known as the intermediate vector bosons.) It is believed that these particles have no substructure.

The Multiverse theory posits that there are an infinite number of universes coexisting with ours on parallel dimensional planes. Other universes arose from the primordial vacuum when the big bang occurred. Some parallel universes are congenial to life, others are not.

Supposedly, any combination of anything and everything exists in the Multiverse, according to the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Matter absorbs bundles of energy called photons. A photon is a quantum of light and light is a form of electromagnetic radiation.

Radioactivity and radiation are determined by the amount of neutrons in atomic nuclei. The number of protons in an atom's nucleus determines the element of the atom.

The Higgs boson, also known as the God particle, is believed to have brought mass into the universe.

Einstein's famous E=mc2 equation means energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. The theory of relativity has to do with converting matter into energy and vice versa. Nuclear fission is the process whereby the nuclei of certain heavy atoms (fissionable isotopes such as uranium-233, U-235, thorium-232, and plutonium-239) are bombarded by neutrons and split into two nearly equal parts. Nuclear fusion occurs with the nuclei of the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium collide and coalesce, creating helium and giving off energy.

According to quantum computing, the universe is made up of information rather than matter and energy. Quantum computers utilize qubits, which can be a one, a zero, or both a one and zero simultaneously.

Technological singularity refers to the advent of human history during which technology surmounts all human obstacles and the post-human era begins. Human brains will be able to become vastly enhanced by having nanochips implanted in them and by having nanobots in the brain capillaries. Celestial mechanics will be able to be altered and the universe will be saturated with intelligence. Ray Kurzweil discusses these things in great detail in his book entitled "The Singularity Is Near".

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sciencespies · 1 year

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What would actually happen if we discovered a message from an alien planet?

https://sciencespies.com/space/what-would-actually-happen-if-we-discovered-a-message-from-an-alien-planet/

What would actually happen if we discovered a message from an alien planet?

It all seems so simple in the movies. An astronomer – often a maverick – is sitting alone in a radio telescope’s control room when a strange signal comes across the speakers. Somehow, the astronomer knows instantly that it’s from another world and, a few computer clicks later, the message is decoded and the plot begins to unfold.

But how easy would it be to understand what an extraterrestrial civilisation is saying to us in real life? With a renewed interest in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) sweeping across the world, that’s the question increasingly being discussed by linguists and other scientists.

“I’m optimistic. I’m quite certain that there’s no point in sending a signal that you don’t want to be understood. So it’ll be understandable,” says Sheri Wells-Jensen, associate professor of linguistics at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, and a board member of the Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI) organisation.

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When did we first think aliens existed?

The idea of other life in the Universe stretches back to antiquity. But according to David Dunér, a professor in the history of science and ideas at Lund University, Sweden, it became more realistic to consider the possibility in the 16th and 17th Centuries. This was the time of the Copernican revolution, when Earth was realised to be a planet circling the Sun, and the Sun was accepted to be just another star. This meant that all the other stars in the Universe had the potential to have planets around them as well.

During the 18th and 19th Centuries, scientists began to think of ways we might communicate with extraterrestrials. Thinking that the Moon could be inhabited, German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss suggested cutting down large swathes of the Siberian forest to display geometrical shapes. To be certain the signal was not misinterpreted as a natural phenomenon, he suggested that the forest be cut into a geometrical representation of the Pythagorean theorem.

It was in 1960 that American astronomer Frank Drake launched SETI as it exists today. He used the Green Bank Radio Observatory’s 26-metre dish to scan for alien radio signals from the nearby stars Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. He didn’t receive anything that stood up to scrutiny, but it established the idea of using radio telescopes to search for extraterrestrial radio signals.

Frank Drake, the founder of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence © Getty Images

Why are we searching for alien life now?

While interest in the endeavour has waxed and waned over the years, currently things are looking up. “There’s a resurgence in SETI at the moment,” says Prof Michael Garrett, director of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics and the current chair of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) SETI Permanent Committee.

He says that a catalyst for this new interest is the investment made by Russian-Israeli venture capitalist Yuri Milner, who studied theoretical physics at Moscow State University. As part of his Breakthrough Initiative programme, Milner has set aside $100m in funding for SETI. Beginning in 2016, Breakthrough Listen started using radio telescopes at the same Green Bank telescope where Drake began the search.

The programme is expected to last for a decade. Although this is primarily an American project, Garrett thinks that it’s fostering new interest in Europe and beyond. And with more observatories than ever spending at least some time searching for signals, there has never been a higher possibility of detecting something.

In the event that someone does receive a signal, the IAA SETI Permanent Committee has established a protocol for verifying a signal’s authenticity before making it public. While the protocol is designed to reflect the highest standards of scientific rigour to maintain credibility, the news would almost certainly leak beforehand, especially as the circle of people in the know widens as independent confirmation is sought.

“Even the best intention might be problematic to implement practically,” says Yvan Dutil, an independent researcher at SETI and member of the permanent committee.

How will we translate an alien signal?

Regardless of how and when the signal is made public, once confirmed as extraterrestrial, the question will be: what does it say? Almost certainly, finding out will be hard. Dunér, who is also a board member of METI, references the difficulty we encountered in deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphs. The meaning of that ancient writing system was lost to us for around 1,500 years.

The Rosetta Stone was key to our understanding of Ancient Egyptian language, as it with inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphs as well as Ancient Greek © Getty Images

We only managed to decipher it after Napoleon’s troops found the Rosetta Stone in 1799, which famously had the same text inscribed in three languages, one being hieroglyphs. Even so, it took another 20 years before French philologist Jean-François Champollion fully understood the Egyptian writing.

“It was very difficult, even though we had exactly the same brains as the Egyptians of 2000 BC. Interstellar communication is much more challenging because we won’t share the same biology or the same brain. We don’t even share the same planet,” says Dunér.

Without these things in common, communication is much more difficult. This is why some have suggested that mathematics and the laws of physics are the best things to begin a communication with because those will be universal.

And if the extraterrestrials are transmitting, then they have clearly developed technology, which means they have an advanced understanding of physics. But just because everywhere in the Universe runs on the same laws of physics, that doesn’t mean extraterrestrials will conceive of them in the same way that we do.

“The way we express mathematics is dependent on our culture, our history and also how our earthly brains are constructed. So, they might express mathematics in different ways,” says Dunér.

The same goes for the structure of language. For example, it seems entirely reasonable to expect their language to contain the equivalent of nouns, as there will be ‘things’ in their world. The aliens must also carry out activities, so there will be verbs too. But thinking like this might be a trap.

“The more I’m convinced that I know things, the more danger I’m in intellectually, if I’m wrong,” says Wells-Jensen.

In other words, to stand any attempt at deciphering a message, we must not rule anything out. She says that the best way to ensure that happens is to release all of the data, so that anyone who wants to can have a go at deciphering it.

“I have deep confidence in human curiosity. So we’ll take that sucker and we’ll poke at it and we’ll fuss over it until we get it,” says Wells-Jensen.

Will the alien message be friendly?

Exactly what might extraterrestrials put into their message? Wells-Jensen hopes for some helpful advice, saying, “It seems like we’re not doing so great down here and maybe we could use some input.” She subscribes to the idea that any extraterrestrial intelligence signalling across the Galaxy would be older and more advanced than our society, simply because of the technology needed to accurately target a planet from another star system.

The Hat Creek Observatory in California is home to SETI’s Allen Telescope Array © Getty Images

Dutil, on the other hand, strikes a note of caution. What if the message is a Trojan horse, he wonders, a subtle attack wrapped up as a message of help? He draws the analogy with misinformation campaigns during wartime, where information is leaked to an enemy to undermine them. “Imagine you’re the most advanced civilisation in the Galaxy and you don’t want to share the Galaxy,” he says.

One scenario he suggests is the dark inversion of Carl Sagan’s novel Contact. In that story, benign extraterrestrials send humans the plans to build a gigantic machine. On paper, no one can fathom its purpose, but they build it anyway. It turns out to be a device for interstellar travel, bringing us into contact with the aliens.

But what if the plans had been totally false, with the machine being all misinformation and nonsense? “Then it’s sucked up a huge amount of resources and commitment for nothing,” says Dutil. Or worse, the message contains plans for something that will work, but is a weapon to destroy the planet.

Even if the extraterrestrials don’t purposely set out to damage us, they may still end up fundamentally changing our intellectual capabilities, especially when it comes to practising science. Imagine the effect of deciphering the signal and finding that it’s a ‘core dump’ of the extraterrestrial’s knowledge base, and that they’re scientifically much more advanced than us. Surely a gift? Not necessarily, says Dutil.

Read more about space:

Receiving a massive amount of knowledge risks undermining the principal skill of our science: blue-sky thinking. This is because instead of investigating lines of enquiry based on personal interest or current world problems without a fixed idea of where that work might lead, researchers will be working towards a known end-goal. If you know the outcome that you’re working towards, says Dutil, then “you could lose the basic scientific skill of understanding how to we ask fundamental questions and investigate.”

These are dark thoughts, and they raise the possibility that perhaps the best outcome would be that we’re unable to understand the message. Even if that is the case, Wells-Jensen thinks that we would still gain a lot. “Even if we can’t squeeze the intended meaning from the message, we’ll squeeze some meaning from it. Just the understanding that we’re not alone out here would be a revelation. So even if we don’t get what they’re trying to tell us, we’ll take some lessons from it. And that will be a success.”

The detection of an extraterrestrial signal is often described as the greatest discovery that science would ever make. Clearly, it seems that’s true for the mere act of detection. It would prove to us once and for all that we’re not alone; that the dark realms of space are alive with intelligence looking back at us.

But when it comes to the deciphering that signal, the consequences become much more difficult to navigate. Rather than a straightforward gift, it seems that it would almost certainly be more like opening Pandora’s box. When it comes to SETI, be careful what you wish for.

Highway 375, aka the ET Highway, where many travellers have reported alien sightings and activity © Getty Images

#Space

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cancerbiophd · 3 years

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Re: feelings about graduating: I totally get the feeling you're describing. I finished my BS in physics in May and I'm a first gen college student. My and my parents' lifelong dream was watching me walk across the stage and get that college degree. So like, even tho I have it regardless and it doesnt change the work I did, it sucks not having that moment of celebration to demarcate "this is it, the thing is done because I did it and I am proud and my support system is proud and now it's time for a new chapter". I dont have any advice, it's been 5 months and I'm still sorting through it, but you're not alone and it's a perfectly reasonable way to feel <3

Congrats on graduating! That is super amazing and you and your family should be so sooo proud.

And yes, I totally agree! Celebrations--be they graduations, job promotions, weddings, health milestones, etc--are also ways to thank and acknowledge our support systems, because it’s also their achievement too! You definitely put another important aspect of why this “closure” is so important to physically celebrate into words.

I guess we’ll both figure this out together :) It’s always good to know we’re not alone in our struggles. Thanks for taking the time to send this message ❤️

#pythagorean-space-telescope

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rivkahstudies · 3 years

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This is going to be so hard because so, so many of you have touched my life in so many ways, but I am going to try my best to make this as comprehensive as possible.

Happy New Year to the new studyblrs that have started, against all odds, in 2020. Whether we've chatted once or many times, I admire how far you've come this year.

@spoonieacademia I love your strong and dynamic voice in my server. I'm excited to see what you've got for 2021!

@studybutch : your posts and your rock dove bring me joy!! Keep 'rocking' it!

Happy New Year to the 200+ amazing members of my Solidarity server who have kept me from a lot of lonelier moments and have inspired me when I felt so isolated. I really cannot begin to thank you all, but a special shout out goes to my mods,

@grey-and-lavender : you are such a kind, thoughtful person. The amount of times you've messaged me unprompted because you saw me struggling... I dont know where I'd be without you.

@sevenstudy : please keep me in the loop in your future endeavors!! I know things have been hard to maintain thanks to 2020 but you have been such a cheerful light in my server.

@suplanguages : your way of interacting with people and taking about your daily life is just... so wholesome and true to yourself, it really endears me. I've loved having you as a mod.

+ astra & athyrium, I am so grateful for you two and all you have done!! I cannot remember your urls jdjdjdjd

To new friends! Getting to talk to you has been a treat and I can't wait for more.

@untroubledkiss : keep in touch about your lovely band of plants!! I also alleviate a lot of my anxiety with my plant babies and seeing yours has brought me great joy

@fictional-ghost : I really love our talks of growth and writing. Please keep in touch next year!

@indie-bitch : your memes uplift me!!! Please keep being genuine and kind to yourself

@best-cranberry : meeting you through the server was amazing, and since then you've been such a down-to-earth and caring person. I have faith in the future.

@lovelybookworm : you are such a sweet person! I wish you health and success in the new year

@vkfujan : obrigada por tudo!! I wish you success and growth in the new year.

@studylikegeller : please keep in touch! You are a sweet person and I hope to get closer to you in 2021

@sonderstudy : you bring so much light to my dash! I know COVID has taken more strength than any of us wanted to offer and I'm cheering you on for a better 2021

@philology-studies : I admire you a lot from afar! Please take care of yourself in 2021

@lantern-academia : another crush from afar, hehe. Your original content is so motivating, and that has been really hard this year.

@languagessi : you really astound me in how much energy and passion you put into the langblr community!! It's been wonderful interacting with you and you inspire me to challenge myself in terms of original content and research

And to old friends, even those who've heard less of me this year due to... well yeah.

@salvadorbonaparte : I owe you letters! I miss getting your postcards and I want to send you some of my own.

@basilesstudy : congrats on your reintroduction! I love your kind tone of voice in our chats and letters.

@student-succulent : best of love to you and yours in 2021!! I can't wait to hear more about your endeavors, especially with your partner and your career.

@contre-qui : I'm sorry I've lapsed in our talks, I wish you all the best and hope to stay in touch with the new year

@coffeeandpies : I know it has been a while Pat!! I am so sorry!! I love following you and I hope we can catch up soon.

@saylorreads : you've grown so much since we last talked! I want to follow your business and your work here. 🌻

@pythagorean-space-telescope : I know this has been a hard year in terms of hiatus and social media, but I'm proud of you for still being here. Please let me know how your 2021 goes once in a while 💞 at whatever pace you need

@sosiaalitieteet : anaaaa! I love interacting with you, and I hope we do it more. Your ocs really fascinate me and I love your original content.

I know I am missing so many phenomenal people, even after tracking down so many urls for this post. If you are reading this, thank you. You have changed my life in ways you cannot begin to understand. Online friends are real friends.

Happy New Year my friends!! ✨🎆🌻💞

#rivkahstudies #friends #2021

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omg-physics · 4 years

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17 October 2020

Unfortunately work this week has really piled up and I’m probably not going to get a lot of sleep this weekend (to smol studyblrs out there do not emulate me I am being a bad example sleep is very important!!!). But I did get to grab lunch with a friend today which I really enjoyed.

Studyblr Community Challenge Day 17: Tag someone who is kind.

@pythagorean-space-telescope is kind in, like, aggressive way. Like, I went to a seminar they did on imposter syndrome in undergrad and it was like having self-care thrown in my face (in a very good way). They would totally pick a fight to stand up for someone, I feel like.

#studyblr community challenge #studyblr #gradblr #engblr #my posts

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the-replacemints · 4 years

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i was tagged by @aztrolab !

rules: you can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to! put your favorite playlist on shuffle and list the first 10 songs, then tag 10 people. no skipping!

1. der kommissar - falco

2. id have you anytime - george harrison

3. goodbye stranger - supertramp

4. fire in bone - the killers

5. all day and all of the night - the kinks

6. i sat by the ocean - queens of the stone age

7. cosmic dancer - t rex

8. cant get up - supergrass

9. higher love -steve winwood

10. i think we're alone now - tiffany

im not tagging 10 ppl cuz that is excessive and everyone has probably been tagged already, but i will tag @flightlesslovers @queerquasar @pythagorean-space-telescope @anthonycrowley

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eddiejpoplar · 5 years

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The 2019 Genesis G70 2.0T Manual Is Fun and Fleet-Footed

CABAZON, California—The traffic circle invited me to play, so I took the outside lane and tried to squeal the Michelins on my way to the third exit, the one for I-10 eastbound. From the inside lane, a plodding Mini Cooper veered for the second right, the one for Main Street, giving the 2019 Genesis G70 2.0T Sport M/T another way to prove itself. The strong Brembo brakes front and rear assured that neither the Mini nor I paid a price. Indeed, still in third gear, I nudged back into the accelerator and bounded up the ramp with alacrity.

It was the sixth night in my weeklong test, and the car was delivering new ways to please. Fifteen months ago, at the launch of the G70 series in South Korea, we got details on the four-cylinder version that would complement the V-6 envisioned as the mainstay of this all-new sport sedan. As it turns out, the four-cylinder G70 2.0T Sport M/T—it sounds Pythagorean, not Korean—is something special and will accomplish a few things.

First, all five of the 2.0T trim levels are offered at a wholly reasonable price point in the mid- to upper-$30,000 range. My test car stickered at $38,895 including destination and delivery. For a small premium over a well-equipped Honda Accord or Toyota Camry, the buyer gets a fast, fun, feature-filled sedan that’s distinguished-looking, sleek, and sporty. Choose between rear- and all-wheel-drive configurations, and in those other trims, let an eight-speed automatic transmission handle the business. But my car, the top four-cylinder variant, has rear-drive and a six-speed manual. For anyone who looks at a traffic circle as a playground, the 2.0T Sport M/T will be seen as an accomplishment: a driver’s car that gives the G70 series a lot of credibility, the automotive equivalent of climbing a high peak without bottled oxygen. It’s perfect for street racers who are graduating to greater seriousness and four doors with a roomier interior.

Besides the 19-inch wheels and Brembo brakes, the 2.0T Sport M/T comes with a multi-plate limited-slip rear differential, sport exhaust system, and handbrake to replace the electronic parking brake of the other models. Three aluminum pedal caps and a dead pedal in the driver’s footwell present an engaging proposition. The pedals are well-positioned, and it is possible to heel-and-toe downshift. But as happy as I was to use them, they’re also my biggest complaint about the car because of the car’s occasional recalcitrance to launching smartly from a stop. The problem with the 2.0T Sport M/T starts with a tricky, sluggish throttle opening. When matching revs during downshifts, I took to double-pumping the accelerator to ensure response. Combine this lassitude with an indecipherable clutch release, and getting off the line smoothly proved a bit chancy. As with training a handsome but inattentive young spaniel, it is understood to be worth the effort.

On the other hand, it’s hard to say enough about the smooth six-speed’s well-spaced ratios and the saucy character it gives the car, although we do wish it had a bit more positivity to its engagement. Sixth gear is the only overdrive, so midrange response is strong in all lower gears. In these moments, the note from the twin-outlet exhaust transforms from a hum to a howl. Under the hood, the direct-injection turbocharged four may not make any worthwhile sounds of its own, but it delivers 255 horsepower—3 more than the 2.0T with the eight-speed automatic—and 260 lb-ft of torque from 1,400 rpm, which explains, for example, the ability to resume in third gear after braking for the Mini. Boost from the turbo comes without whoop or whine. The 0 to 60 mph dash ends in about 6.0 seconds, and watch for 100 mph sooner than expected. Indeed, the V-6 makes 115 horsepower beyond the four, but then the G70 is more nose-heavy.

Besides the capable powertrain, the 2.0T Sport M/T delights with its chassis dynamics. The platform’s stability is always reassuring, steering has a just-right feel (especially with the driving mode set to Sport), and the suspension delivers a beautiful balance between taut and cushy. Body motions are well controlled in every situation. The car weighs 3,580 pounds, which is 64 pounds more than eight-speed automatic RWD variants of the 2.0T but 307 pounds less than a V-6 model with AWD. The weight seemed reasonable and reasonably well-managed, and the word “sumo” only floated through my mind once or twice.

For all this speed and agility, the 2.0T Sport M/T offers a sedan’s traditional practicality and comfort. Wind noise is a non-factor, so cocooning occupants can cherish the 15-speaker, 660-watt sound system that would leave Joseph Haydn pleased upon hearing the adagio movement of his Symphony Number 102. The infotainment system incorporates smartphone mirroring and proffers enough settings and submenus to satisfy Radar O’Reilly. Layout of the minor controls is very straightforward.

The 2.0T Sport M/T also happens to be a beautiful car with graceful roofline, flaring fenders, and elegant wheels. Sparkling in Adriatic blue, my example looked wonderful. I felt ambivalent about the bright body trim, but highest compliments go to the face that makes do without gauche and self-conscious display of the front air intakes. The interior, which is pretty conventional, doesn’t quite say “all-new design,” and the plastic door panels say “economy car.” But the leather-wrapped, power-tilting-and-telescoping steering wheel is perfect, and the leather-covered heated and ventilated front seats were very nice.

In sum, the G70 2.0T Sport M/T may take some practice, but it abounds in verve and seems like a good value for a rear-drive car with fine handling characteristics and a decent amount of snort. Apologies for not assessing the level of driver-assistance features on offer or even turning on the cruise control—I was having too much fun driving.

2019 Genesis G70 2.0T Sport Manual Specifications

ON SALE Now PRICE $38,895 ENGINE 2.0L turbocharged DOHC 16-valve I-4; 255 hp @ 6,200 rpm, 260 lb-ft @ 1,400 rpm TRANSMISSION 6-speed manual LAYOUT 4-door, 5-passenger, front-engine, RWD sedan EPA MILEAGE 18/28 (city/highway) L x W x H 184.4 x 72.8 x 55.1 in WHEELBASE 111.6 in WEIGHT 3,580 lb 0–60 MPH 6.5 second (est) TOP SPEED 145 mph (est)

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jesusvasser · 5 years

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The 2019 Genesis G70 2.0T Manual Is Fun and Fleet-Footed

2019 Genesis G70 2.0T Sport Manual Specifications

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jonathanbelloblog · 5 years

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The 2019 Genesis G70 2.0T Manual Is Fun and Fleet-Footed

2019 Genesis G70 2.0T Sport Manual Specifications

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spanish170 · 6 years

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“The Great Silence”, by Ted Chiang.

The humans use Arecibo to look for extraterrestrial intelligence. Their desire to make a connection is so strong that they’ve created an ear capable of hearing across the universe.

But I and my fellow parrots are right here. Why aren’t they interested in listening to our voices?

We’re a non-human species capable of communicating with them. Aren’t we exactly what humans are looking for?

The universe is so vast that intelligent life must surely have arisen many times. The universe is also so old that even one technological species would have had time to expand and fill the galaxy. Yet there is no sign of life anywhere except on Earth. Humans call this the Fermi paradox.

One proposed solution to the Fermi paradox is that intelligent species actively try to conceal their presence, to avoid being targeted by hostile invaders.

Speaking as a member of a species that has been driven nearly to extinction by humans, I can attest that this is a wise strategy.

It makes sense to remain quiet and avoid attracting attention.

The Fermi paradox is sometimes known as the Great Silence. The universe ought to be a cacophony of voices, but instead it’s disconcertingly quiet.

Some humans theorize that intelligent species go extinct before they can expand into outer space. If they’re correct, then the hush of the night sky is the silence of a graveyard.

Hundreds of years ago, my kind was so plentiful that the Rio Abajo forest resounded with our voices. Now we’re almost gone. Soon this rainforest may be as silent as the rest of the universe.

There was an African Grey Parrot named Alex. He was famous for his cognitive abilities. Famous among humans, that is.

A human researcher named Irene Pepperberg spent thirty years studying Alex. She found that not only did Alex know the words for shapes and colors, he actually understood the concepts of shape and color.

Many scientists were skeptical that a bird could grasp abstract concepts. Humans like to think they’re unique. But eventuallyPepperberg convinced them that Alex wasn’t just repeating words, that he understood what he was saying.

Out of all my cousins, Alex was the one who came closest to being taken seriously as a communication partner by humans.

Alex died suddenly, when he was still relatively young. The evening before he died, Alex said to Pepperberg, “You be good. I love you.”

If humans are looking for a connection with a non-human intelligence, what more can they ask for than that?

Every parrot has a unique call that it uses to identify itself; biologists refer to this as the parrot’s “contact call.”

In 1974, astronomers used Arecibo to broadcast a message into outer space intended to demonstrate human intelligence. That was humanity’s contact call.

In the wild, parrots address each other by name. One bird imitates another’s contact call to get the other bird’s attention.

If humans ever detect the Arecibo message being sent back to Earth, they will know someone is trying to get their attention.

Parrots are vocal learners: we can learn to make new sounds after we’ve heard them. It’s an ability that few animals possess. A dog may understand dozens of commands, but it will never do anything but bark.

Humans are vocal learners, too. We have that in common. So humans and parrots share a special relationship with sound. We don’t simply cry out. We pronounce. We enunciate.

Perhaps that’s why humans built Arecibo the way they did. A receiver doesn’t have to be a transmitter, but Arecibo is both. It’s an ear for listening, and a mouth for speaking.

Humans have lived alongside parrots for thousands of years, and only recently have they considered the possibility that we might be intelligent.

I suppose I can’t blame them. We parrots used to think humans weren't very bright. It’s hard to make sense of behavior that’s so different from your own.

But parrots are more similar to humans than any extraterrestrial species will be, and humans can observe us up close; they can look us in the eye. How do they expect to recognize an alien intelligence if all they can do is eavesdrop from a hundred lightyears away?

It’s no coincidence that “aspiration” means both hope and the act of breathing.

When we speak, we use the breath in our lungs to give our thoughts a physical form. The sounds we make are simultaneously our intentions and our life force.

I speak, therefore I am. Vocal learners, like parrots and humans, are perhaps the only ones who fully comprehend the truth of this.

There’s a pleasure that comes with shaping sounds with your mouth. It’s so primal and visceral that throughout their history, humans have considered the activity a pathway to the divine.

Pythagorean mystics believed that vowels represented the music of the spheres, and chanted to draw power from them.

Pentecostal Christians believe that when they speak in tongues, they’re speaking the language used by angels in Heaven.

Brahmin Hindus believe that by reciting mantras, they’restrengthening the building blocks of reality.

Only a species of vocal learners would ascribe such importance to sound in their mythologies. We parrots can appreciate that.

According to Hindu mythology, the universe was created with a sound: “Om.” It’s a syllable that contains within it everything that ever was and everything that will be.

When the Arecibo telescope is pointed at the space between stars, it hears a faint hum.

Astronomers call that the “cosmic microwave background.” It’s the residual radiation of the Big Bang, the explosion that created the universe fourteen billion years ago.

But you can also think of it as a barely audible reverberation of that original “Om.” That syllable was so resonant that the night sky will keep vibrating for as long as the universe exists.

When Arecibo is not listening to anything else, it hears the voice of creation.

We Puerto Rican Parrots have our own myths. They’re simpler than human mythology, but I think humans would take pleasure from them.

Alas, our myths are being lost as my species dies out. I doubt the humans will have deciphered our language before we’re gone.

So the extinction of my species doesn’t just mean the loss of a group of birds. It’s also the disappearance of our language, our rituals, our traditions. It’s the silencing of our voice.

Human activity has brought my kind to the brink of extinction, but I don’t blame them for it. They didn’t do it maliciously. They just weren’t paying attention.

And humans create such beautiful myths; what imaginations they have. Perhaps that’s why their aspirations are so immense. Look at Arecibo. Any species who can build such a thing must have greatness within it.

My species probably won’t be here for much longer; it’s likely that we’ll die before our time and join the Great Silence. But before we go, we are sending a message to humanity. We just hope the telescope at Arecibo will enable them to hear it.

The message is this:

You be good. I love you.

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