Welcome to OA 
Please feel free to join in on any conversations that grab your interest or to start new ones if there is something you'd like to discuss that we aren't currently. Also, please feel free to ask questions about the setting or project. We don't mind answering questions although we do (as you've already seen) prefer that people make some attempt to find the answers (or at least initial answers) themselves before asking us.
Anyhoo, regarding your post below...
You are of course free to invent and use whatever system you want in your personal setting. OAs S-level system has been around for a long time and we're quite satisfied with it. Speaking officially as a member of 'the management' of the OAUP I don't see us changing it significantly at any time in the foreseeable future.
The RL philosophical leanings of the members of the OA community are multiple and varied and may or may not have anything to do with what any given member contributes to the setting. The setting itself is far too large and varied (in both time and space) to operate with a single set of beliefs presented as 'the truth' and doing so would be both unrealistic and boring. Our official editorial policy is one of metaphysical neutrality. This means anyone can present a given person or group within the setting as believing in practically anything, but this belief must be depicted as what they believe, not as 'the truth' as a 'fact of the setting'. This allows both greater diversity and much less time spent on philosophical arguments.
As far as 'peace and love and technorapture' not fitting into OA, there is plenty of that in the setting - in the Sephirotic empires, millions of places call that 'Tuesday'. But when it comes to matter of society and culture, there is not universal anything in the setting including that.
Again, you are free to run your personal setting in any way you see fit, of course.
Given the age of that particular article, I suspect that 'Z-theory' may have been just a made up theory at the time to represent the presumed physics theory of the far future Terragen civilization. That there is/was a theory that then used the term may just be a coincidence. This is bolstered by the paper that was linked apparently being written in 2004 while the Physics page was originally written in 2001.
As a matter of both general principle and editorial policy we deliberately avoid getting too detailed about what RL physics theories - particularly regarding areas of rapid change on multiple fronts such as quantum gravity. Doing so risks constant and non-stop changes to the materials and setting as a given theory appears, becomes popular, and is then supplanted by something else. We are willing to consider changes on this front if a given theory seems to be holding up over an extended period of time and if - after thorough discussion - we decide a change is warranted. But this doesn't happen often.
The (no longer active) member who 'invented' our current versions of wormholes and reactionless drives is a physics PHd and another (no longer active) member who was also a physicist worked with them to develop our pages on monopoles and magmatter. They made passing reference to both M-theory and the Holographic model of physics while doing those things or in conversation around those topics, so presumably the physics behind those technologies has some connection or basis in those theories. However, we assume that multiple theories have come and gone since then over the thousands of years of Terragen history and that physics as a whole has moved beyond the realm of human comprehension and into the purview of the transapients and archai.
I'm presuming you're now talking about how this would work in the OA setting given the S-level references and how they don't seem to line up with the system you described above. Since no one actually knows what the operating principles, size or material and energy requirements of such devices would be or how they would be provided, there is no way to 'factually' or 'realistically' answer these questions, regardless of what kind of degree someone has.
I think most of these questions are functionally unanswerable given the human race's current RL level of physics/engineering knowledge, either in general or because figuring out the answer could involve months or years of work that no one has done yet because there is no practical need to do so. Some of them are also so open ended as to either be nonsense or so tedious to list all the answers to that I doubt anyone - even if they are a physicist - is going to bother answering. Some people might be able to offer speculation around some of these, but that's not the same as the 'hard factual answers' you seem to be looking for here.
In OA magnetic monopoles are topological defects, which can be manipulated by magnetic and possibly electric fields. Possibly quantum effects such as quantum attraction and levitation effects as well, perhaps.
No idea, I'm not a physicist. Given our current state of RL knowledge of physics, I suspect if you asked any 10 physicist some would say No and some would say Yes and some would say Maybe if we make certain assumptions.
If you're referring to creating monopoles out of nothing but energy, then the current article talks about such devices being 'world sized' - so presumably hundreds or thousands of km in one or more major dimensions.
If you're referring to the 'breeding' of monopoles once a few have been created from energy, then RL modest sized accelerators in the 'few km long' range are sufficient. This might be multiplied by some significant degree (perhaps hugely) to allow for 'industrial scale' production, whatever that means (the term is undefined).
Hope this helps,
Todd
EDIT - I do have an old article that talks about future applications of particle accelerator tech such as mass production of antimatter and various exotic particles theorized to exist at the time the article was written. It includes a brief discussion of potential future advances in accelerator design that were in play at the time it was written and applies them to the production of various things. This includes a section on making magnetic monopoles (of a particular type anyway). The accelerator is described as being a ring on the order of a million km or more across (miles actually since the article was in a US publication, but whatever). Presumably, Terragen civ in OA has many more centuries of experience with reactor design (and monopole production from nothing is a transapient level tech so presumably employs methods we don't understand) so they are able to pull off the same thing with much smaller devices (and perhaps produce more or less massive monopoles - I don't recall what type of monopole the article discusses, if any).
Please feel free to join in on any conversations that grab your interest or to start new ones if there is something you'd like to discuss that we aren't currently. Also, please feel free to ask questions about the setting or project. We don't mind answering questions although we do (as you've already seen) prefer that people make some attempt to find the answers (or at least initial answers) themselves before asking us.
Anyhoo, regarding your post below...
(11-17-2023, 02:35 PM)ShanguiFriendlyGhost Wrote: One of the best inspirations OA has given me, is the singularities. I have my own system that I hope is useful to the admins, and some philosophy and questions at the end.
You are of course free to invent and use whatever system you want in your personal setting. OAs S-level system has been around for a long time and we're quite satisfied with it. Speaking officially as a member of 'the management' of the OAUP I don't see us changing it significantly at any time in the foreseeable future.
(11-17-2023, 02:35 PM)ShanguiFriendlyGhost Wrote: Philosophy:
More intelligent beings are more emotionally intelligent(Wow! who would have thought). This means that they are more moral than less intelligent beings, unless there is a proportionately strong programmed subconscious impulse placed in their substrate. In my setting, morals are defined by three laws:
1. Fulfill the second law to the fullest extent before
2. Disallow as much death from coming to happen as possible. In reference to conscious beings.
3. Instill as much happiness in conscious beings as possible.
It isn't until the SI8 that beings truly know whether ethics are just an impulse ingrained into all conscious beings' natures regardless of substrate or it ethics truly exist as something unnatural but real like euclidean geometry.
I know all this peace and love and technorapture does not fit into OA with all the ahumans and space opera, but I thought it would spark interest.
The RL philosophical leanings of the members of the OA community are multiple and varied and may or may not have anything to do with what any given member contributes to the setting. The setting itself is far too large and varied (in both time and space) to operate with a single set of beliefs presented as 'the truth' and doing so would be both unrealistic and boring. Our official editorial policy is one of metaphysical neutrality. This means anyone can present a given person or group within the setting as believing in practically anything, but this belief must be depicted as what they believe, not as 'the truth' as a 'fact of the setting'. This allows both greater diversity and much less time spent on philosophical arguments.
As far as 'peace and love and technorapture' not fitting into OA, there is plenty of that in the setting - in the Sephirotic empires, millions of places call that 'Tuesday'. But when it comes to matter of society and culture, there is not universal anything in the setting including that.
Again, you are free to run your personal setting in any way you see fit, of course.
(11-17-2023, 02:35 PM)ShanguiFriendlyGhost Wrote: Questions for Admins:
A. What is Z-theory? I saw it on the Physics EG article, and get that it is a ToE, but has it been fleshed out?
B. Can I have a link to ArcBuilders? Wayback doesn't seem to have it.
C. What quantum gravity theory holds in OA? I see the bulk and superstrings so I can make an assumption, but....
Given the age of that particular article, I suspect that 'Z-theory' may have been just a made up theory at the time to represent the presumed physics theory of the far future Terragen civilization. That there is/was a theory that then used the term may just be a coincidence. This is bolstered by the paper that was linked apparently being written in 2004 while the Physics page was originally written in 2001.
As a matter of both general principle and editorial policy we deliberately avoid getting too detailed about what RL physics theories - particularly regarding areas of rapid change on multiple fronts such as quantum gravity. Doing so risks constant and non-stop changes to the materials and setting as a given theory appears, becomes popular, and is then supplanted by something else. We are willing to consider changes on this front if a given theory seems to be holding up over an extended period of time and if - after thorough discussion - we decide a change is warranted. But this doesn't happen often.
The (no longer active) member who 'invented' our current versions of wormholes and reactionless drives is a physics PHd and another (no longer active) member who was also a physicist worked with them to develop our pages on monopoles and magmatter. They made passing reference to both M-theory and the Holographic model of physics while doing those things or in conversation around those topics, so presumably the physics behind those technologies has some connection or basis in those theories. However, we assume that multiple theories have come and gone since then over the thousands of years of Terragen history and that physics as a whole has moved beyond the realm of human comprehension and into the purview of the transapients and archai.
(11-17-2023, 02:35 PM)ShanguiFriendlyGhost Wrote: Questions for Physicists:
A. How long would it realistically take with SI1 or SI2 nanobots to construct a GUT level particle accelerator?
B. How long would it realistically take with SI1 or SI2 nanobots to construct a planck energy partciel accelerator?
C. How long would it realistically take with SI3 or SI4 technology to construct a planck energy particle accelerator?
I'm presuming you're now talking about how this would work in the OA setting given the S-level references and how they don't seem to line up with the system you described above. Since no one actually knows what the operating principles, size or material and energy requirements of such devices would be or how they would be provided, there is no way to 'factually' or 'realistically' answer these questions, regardless of what kind of degree someone has.
(11-17-2023, 02:35 PM)ShanguiFriendlyGhost Wrote: D. What are the specific magnetic and electrostatic mechanisms in plasmadynamic computing and virtual energy systems?
E. What are alllll the possible mechanisms you can think of in nanotech involving quantum mechanics?
F. What technology would we need to understand the results of a planck energy particle collision seeing as all light would be sucked in?
G. What technoloy would be needed to manipulate topological defects?
H. What technology would be needed to manipulate supersymmetric particles?
I think most of these questions are functionally unanswerable given the human race's current RL level of physics/engineering knowledge, either in general or because figuring out the answer could involve months or years of work that no one has done yet because there is no practical need to do so. Some of them are also so open ended as to either be nonsense or so tedious to list all the answers to that I doubt anyone - even if they are a physicist - is going to bother answering. Some people might be able to offer speculation around some of these, but that's not the same as the 'hard factual answers' you seem to be looking for here.
In OA magnetic monopoles are topological defects, which can be manipulated by magnetic and possibly electric fields. Possibly quantum effects such as quantum attraction and levitation effects as well, perhaps.
(11-17-2023, 02:35 PM)ShanguiFriendlyGhost Wrote: I. Can the electroweak force's suspension of the Higgs Mechanism be used for energy like in the Xeelee Sequence? Not thinking of the GUT drive, I'm talking about the tech from Transcendent that Poole is playing with in the 2040s.
No idea, I'm not a physicist. Given our current state of RL knowledge of physics, I suspect if you asked any 10 physicist some would say No and some would say Yes and some would say Maybe if we make certain assumptions.
(11-17-2023, 02:35 PM)ShanguiFriendlyGhost Wrote: J. How long big would an industrial monopole factory particle accelerator need to be?
If you're referring to creating monopoles out of nothing but energy, then the current article talks about such devices being 'world sized' - so presumably hundreds or thousands of km in one or more major dimensions.
If you're referring to the 'breeding' of monopoles once a few have been created from energy, then RL modest sized accelerators in the 'few km long' range are sufficient. This might be multiplied by some significant degree (perhaps hugely) to allow for 'industrial scale' production, whatever that means (the term is undefined).
Hope this helps,
Todd
EDIT - I do have an old article that talks about future applications of particle accelerator tech such as mass production of antimatter and various exotic particles theorized to exist at the time the article was written. It includes a brief discussion of potential future advances in accelerator design that were in play at the time it was written and applies them to the production of various things. This includes a section on making magnetic monopoles (of a particular type anyway). The accelerator is described as being a ring on the order of a million km or more across (miles actually since the article was in a US publication, but whatever). Presumably, Terragen civ in OA has many more centuries of experience with reactor design (and monopole production from nothing is a transapient level tech so presumably employs methods we don't understand) so they are able to pull off the same thing with much smaller devices (and perhaps produce more or less massive monopoles - I don't recall what type of monopole the article discusses, if any).
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