The Factory Floor

Mithrandir24601

07:10

@HDE226868 this isn't a surprise though :P

Worldbuilding Meta

08:27

0

Q: Please lower the reputation requirement to participate on WB.SE Meta

This is a follow-up to the well-received discussion Should the rep requirement for Meta be lowered to 1? Currently users need 5 reputation to participate in Meta. The reason for this requirement, according to the privilege description, is: Because we allow anonymous participation, we require...

HDE 226868

13:52

@Mithrandir24601 Shhhhh. . . Maybe nobody will notice.

AndyD273

So I heard an interesting solution to the Fermi paradox this morning that I hadn't heard before

FoxElemental

@HDE Hmm? Notice what? Could you repeat that? I feel I have temporarily gone deaf . . . .

Deja vu, anyone? I feel we've been through this before . . . .

HDE 226868

@FoxElemental Notice that GR is very much favored over Newtonian gravity, and has been for . . . ~100 years.

Oh. You were joking?

FoxElemental

@HDE yes.

Jul 23 at 14:14, by HDE 226868

@FreezePhoenix I have gone temporarily deaf and haven't any idea what you said.

Gryphon

@AndyD273 What is this solution?

AndyD273

14:08

@Gryphon Apparently there is some evidence that some of the constants of physics aren't universal constants. The Fine-structure constant for instance looks like it could be variable by distance/time, and if it changes very much chemistry as we know it stops working. So it's possible that the area of the universe we live it is compatible for life, and elsewhere it is not.

Gryphon

That makes a lot of sense, actually. Although, no constant can change enough within the observable universe to prevent star/galaxy formation, because those still exist everywhere within the observable universe.

AndyD273

And I had a thought last night that is probably dumb...

So photons are massless, but you can actually use them to push a spacecraft by using a solar sail. So somehow they are imparting inertia while having no mass at all.

Hosch250

@AndyD273 That's the massless momentum @HDE226868 and I were talking about a while back.

AndyD273

So what if they do have a mass, but because of the particle/wave duality their mass is kind of spread out by uncertainty. So maybe the dark matter mass is actually the mass of photons that they just kind of pack away somewhere out of the way where we can't find it until they need to run into something.

Hosch250

FWIW, there are equations to calculate the mass of something based on the momentum and speed.

How they don't apply to photons is beyond me, but apparently they don't.

AndyD273

14:21

Maybe once you hit C the equations break. The answer is actually NaN, so they say "well, I guess that means massless" just to avoid confusing people.

Hosch250

Probably I was given a "simplified" equation in HS.

Because that one didn't become NaN.

AndyD273

Either that or the people running the universe simulation just put a zero in there to make things simpler. Kind of like the spherical cows in a frictionless pasture in a vacuum.

Hosch250

Oh:

> If the body is a massless particle (m0 = 0), then (1) reduces to E = pc. For photons, this is the relation, discovered in 19th century classical electromagnetism, between radiant momentum (causing radiation pressure) and radiant energy.

@AndyD273 :O

HDE 226868

@AndyD273 If they were massless, they wouldn't travel at c. . . Massive particles uniformly travel at the same speed.

(. . . in a vacuum)

AndyD273

"Why does this universe simulation keep crashing!?!"
"It keeps happening every time we set the mass of a photon above zero."
"Ugg, fine. Just fudge it for now and we'll see if we can fix it for the next round."

Hosch250

14:25

Let's just say that I'm probably better off NOT discussing this as I've only covered it just enough to know that I don't know what I'm talking about.

Gryphon

@Hosch, so you're slightly ahead of me. I have to take it on faith that I don't know what I'm talking about.

HDE 226868

Also . . . I think I mentioned symmetry breaking and the electroweak force when talking with @Hosch250? You can think of the photon as a cousin to the W and Z bosons of the weak nuclear force. The latter are given mass thanks to the Higgs field; the former remain massless. That's a difference between the weak force and electromagnetism.

AndyD273

I'm sure it has something really to do with the Higgs field. Normal baryonic matter moves through the Higgs field like a boat. Small particles like electrons and protons skip across the top like hydrofoils. "Heavier" elements like uranium are like super tankers, wallowing through the field. Photons are like sea gulls, flying above it, completely massless.

Hosch250

 <----  That statement
 O
/|\
 ^        Me
/ \

There.

Well, now it doesn't link.

Ugh.

(HDE's statement.)

HDE 226868

I regrettably can't give you a deeper understanding of that - and nothing math-y. :P

Gryphon

14:33

Hey, I was just wondering if everybody had seen this yet:

3

Q: Please lower the reputation requirement to participate on WB.SE Meta

This is a follow-up to the well-received discussion Should the rep requirement for Meta be lowered to 1? Currently users need 5 reputation to participate in Meta. The reason for this requirement, according to the privilege description, is: Because we allow anonymous participation, we require...

feature-request sandbox new-users reputation

FoxElemental

14:54

Yes, upvoted it, @Gryphon

Meta feeds posted it earlier

@HDE I didn't want to waste a mod flag, because I wasn't sure about it

But do you think that that discussion (worldbuilding.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/6464/…) is worthy of a [featured] tag?

because it looks like it's gonna be a pretty big discussion (and a small but serious change.)

HDE 226868

Done.

And flagging about something like that isn't a bad idea, by the way.

AndyD273

@Gryphon Added option 5 as an additional answer

FoxElemental

15:14

@HDE All right. Thank you for tagging.

@HDE It doesn't show up on main as featured, though

Hosch250

Let's just unfeature the SO announcement.

I mean, who cares that they hired someone?

FoxElemental

LOL. But we can't remove mod tags since none of us moderate on Meta.

Perhaps remove the featured tag on "Election Results?"

Hosch250

Yeah, was about to suggest that. Basically, we hit our limit on featured questions.

Someone needs to make a post on main meta about SE business shouldn't override site business.

Journeyman Geek

lol

Hosch250

Or rather, SE daily operations shouldn't override site business.

Like hiring/firing.

Journeyman Geek

15:21

@Hosch250 actually a new CM is big news

Hosch250

How?

Journeyman Geek

they've not hired a new one in years

FoxElemental

All right . . . you wanna flag the "Mod Election Results" with a mod flag to get the featured tag removed from WBmeta?

Hosch250

So? It's still daily operations, and doesn't affect any of the sites.

Journeyman Geek

and its an unusual time cause SE's basically trying to reorganise things to put QA back in the forefront.

Hosch250

15:22

They still will be doing the CM work as defined by SE in the way SE tells them to.

Journeyman Geek

which includes taking care of the sites

and the team the new CM's in is focused on small community growth

FoxElemental

Sigh. I feel bad for poor HDE. We seem to be pinging him all the time.

Journeyman Geek

so COC? Affects everyone. New CM? Affects everyone. New features... duh...

AndyD273

@JourneymanGeek Ooh, small site growth, like taking care of sites that graduate? Swag confirmed!

FoxElemental

So . . . . mod flag or chat ping?

Hosch250

15:27

Ohhh, I need to get 9k rep quick!

Journeyman Geek

@AndyD273 ... I wish but ehh.

but IME the focus has been off Q&A as a whole for a bit

CMs have been pulled off on other projects like docs and some background stuff

so I'd be happy to see them back in the community evagelist/interface role more ;)

(also the promised WB T was awesome :( )

AndyD273

@JourneymanGeek They got pulled off?

Journeyman Geek

@AndyD273 more that their focus was heavily on other projects ;p

I think Jon was doing docs, possibly others

AndyD273

So is this a case of trying to get people to stop asking question wrong?

HDE 226868

16:04

@FoxElemental It might take a while - it's not instantaneous. I blame caching. :P

@Hosch250 Maybe I'm biased because I know the new CM, but . . . as @Journeyman's saying, it represents a huge shift in focus.

See, for example,

46

Q: New Resources for Our Stack Exchange Network

It's nice to be here! Hello, fellow humans! My name is Juan M and I’ve served as the Community Manager of Stack Overflow en español as well as the Manager for the International Stack Overflow communities. I realize that many of you have never heard of me or my roles at Stack Overflow and that’s ...

discussion stackexchange announcements community-managers

Journeyman Geek

Yup

HDE 226868

Juan's team will be dedicating a lot of CM-hours to giving non-SO sites attention. I think Worldbuilding's healthy enough that we might not be a primary target, but still, I assume we'd get trickle-down effects at the least.

Journeyman Geek

@HDE226868 and well, the fact that the other CMs are more visible as well

HDE 226868

Yeah, that too.

Journeyman Geek

and we're hearing good noises.

Not sure how it will shape out yet

HDE 226868

16:09

I know. They've been . . . maybe purposefully vague? Although they definitely want a lot of community feedback, and I think that's going to mold the future.

Journeyman Geek

Yup

Personally I think its a start

Assuming they do everything they have promised to and follow through - its going to be pretty interesting

HDE 226868

I agree.

Journeyman Geek

I have a lot of unknowns though

(money, the role of the rest of the network after the heavy focus on SO...)

cause I've probably annoyed a few CMs by accusing our corporate overlords of not caring about smaller sites ;)

Hosch250

16:33

@JourneymanGeek The CR mods did the same before graduation.

One of them eventually started tweeting bad puns at Joel, and we got our swag a couple weeks later.

Journeyman Geek

lol

I jokingly threatened to tweet sad dog pictures at him if SU didn't get a redesigned redesign

FoxElemental

16:57

Yes . . .

@HDE Oh, okay, thanks for checking. Sorry for us pinging you so much here.

AndyD273

17:46

@Hosch250 Oh, We need to get our master punners in here then. If only @Daaaaawhoosh hadn't abandoned us.

Hosch250

20:23

@AndyD273 Pretty sure Joel would've called them Monster Punners.

FoxElemental

22:30

Slow in here

Transcript for