Did The Past Really Happen?

Did The Past Really Happen?

Did The Past Really Happen?

Greece is full of wonderful new things and wonderful old things. But when WE become old things, will our ruins also be tourist attractions?
Sources and extra info below!!

me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tweetsauce
on instagram: http://www.instagram.com/electricpants

Humorous/interesting videos about how future archeologists might interpret us:

VIDEO: “Beatles 3000”:    • Beatles 3000  

VIDEO: “Neil deGrasse Tyson On Manhattanhenge”:    • Neil deGrasse Tyson On Manhattanhenge  

Toto: http://allanellenberger.com/toto-find…

“highway” vs “freeway”: http://sgtalcastro.blogspot.co.uk/201…

why are old things so often underground?:

http://goo.gl/u8SFFw
http://www.archaeological.org/educati…

“Motel of Mysteries” (great book I remember from when I was a kid): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motel-Mysteri…

Last Thursdayism:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omphalos…
http://www.last-thursday.org/

Occam’s Razor: http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics…

Newton’s Flaming Laser Sword: https://philosophynow.org/issues/46/N…

other razors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_(p…)

Interpreting the past (including us, when we become “the past”):

http://www.heritagedaily.com/2014/01/…
http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320hist…
http://bigthink.com/videos/how-will-f…
http://www.albany.edu/~scifraud/data/…

This American Life on people in the future: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio…

The 15th century wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15th_cen…

conservation of energy: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t…

history of perpetual motion: http://www.hp-gramatke.net/perpetuum/…

Why old computers and consoles turn yellow: http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index…

the Second Law of Thermodynamics: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/…

Heat Death of the universe: http://www.physlink.com/Education/Ask…

Good entropy resources:

http://entropysimple.oxy.edu/content.htm
   • Entropy  
http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2…
http://www.askamathematician.com/2011…
http://www.learner.org/courses/chemis…


Content

0.28 -> Hey, Vsauce. Michael here. The dog
3.61 -> that played Toto in The Wizard of Oz was credited
7.58 -> as Toto, but in reality the dog's name
11.559 -> was Terry. And when Terry died in 1945
15.839 -> her owner and trainer Carl Spitz buried her on his ranch
19.97 -> in Los Angeles. But in 1958
23.73 -> the Ventura Highway was constructed right
27.3 -> through Terry's grave. Her remains were
30.789 -> disturbed and have never been found. Fifty-three years later
35.85 -> a memorial was erected in Hollywood Forever Cemetery
39.03 -> in her honor but because she isn't burried
42.6 -> there, the memorial is not a grave. It's what's known
46.64 -> as a cenotaph, an empty
49.76 -> tomb. I was reminded of Toto's
52.82 -> cenotaph when I saw the cenotaph of Philopappos, atop the Hill of the Muses
57.68 -> in Athens. You see, I was recently in Greece
60.829 -> talking about YouTube with YouTube creators. The
63.93 -> all seen eye of Guy came along and we visited
67.51 -> the Acropolis, a Lion Gate - nearly a thousand years older than the Acropolis.
72.729 -> The earliest known analog computer. Plenty of beautiful
76.96 -> cats and I even took a selfie in
80.479 -> Delphi. I've seen all of these things and
84.72 -> how old they were, it made me wonder how will we
89.009 -> be remembered.
91.2 -> How will future archaeologists react to the ruins of today's
95.62 -> society they find thousands of years from now.
99.12 -> Will they do a good job piecing it
102.12 -> together? Will anything about you in particular
106.23 -> be remembered? And, for that matter,
110.42 -> how do we even know that the past really happened?
114.52 -> Not just the way we think it happened, but it all.
120.39 -> Seriously, can you prove that the universe wasn't created
125.06 -> last Thursday? That everything - every person, every memory you have,
129.72 -> every photo you've taken didn't just pop in into existence
134.02 -> last week or five minutes ago?
137.03 -> Last Thursdayism is the belief that the universe was created
141.71 -> last Thursday. It doesn't have actual
145.63 -> followers or rituals but proving it wrong
149.709 -> is impossible. Not because the universe
152.72 -> actually was created last Thursday but because Last
155.94 -> Thursdayism is not also falsifiable.
160.1 -> It cannot be shown to be false. In the evidence you bring up against it can be
164.65 -> explained away as part of the
166.79 -> everything that was created last Thursday.
170.739 -> Many people believe that in order for a theory
174.11 -> and explanation to be scientific it must be possible
178.54 -> to refute it, to prove it wrong, to test it.
181.84 -> So, instead, Last Thursdayism falls into the domain
185.85 -> of philosophy, where luckily
188.87 -> there are razors - little rules of
192.209 -> thumb that help shave off unlikely explanations.
195.53 -> The most famous is Occam's Razor. When faced with the choice between
200.4 -> explanations,
201.769 -> choose the one that requires diffused assumptions.
205.48 -> Occam's Razor can shave off
207.87 -> last Thursdayism because it requires
211.42 -> fewer assumptions to believe that, say, this beehive
215.109 -> tomb was constructed way back in the Bronze Age
218.719 -> and that I just visited it later than it does to believe that
222.859 -> the tomb, my memories of it and this footage of me
226.47 -> inside it just happen to coincidentally pop into existence at the same time
232.09 -> last Thursday. One of my favourite philosophical razors
236.299 -> cuts off so much stuff it's not even
239.799 -> called a razor. It's called Newton's
242.84 -> Flaming Laser Sword. It states
246.25 -> if something cannot be settled by experiment, then it is not worthy
250.939 -> of debate. So let's move on
254.439 -> to the past. What does Newton's
257.539 -> Flaming Laser Sword tell us about the past? I mean, it doesn't exist in the same
261.32 -> way
262.259 -> gravity or light or protons do. We can't do experiments on it,
267.84 -> build control groups, run trials. The past
271.34 -> just is what it was.
274.8 -> We will one day be the past and no matter how well we try to record
280.099 -> our stories ourselves, without
283.389 -> time machines future archaeologists are going to have to make a lot of guesses
287.86 -> about us.
288.699 -> But that's kinda cool.
291.58 -> Future humans will likely know way more than us today
295.2 -> about medicine, about exoplanets, about physics.
298.96 -> But one thing they almost surely
302.35 -> will not know more about than we do is
306.04 -> today. Will your great great great great grandkids
310.87 -> know your name? Will aliens, who visit Earth
314.18 -> millions of years after humans leave or go extinct,
317.7 -> understand that Animorphs was just
321.25 -> fiction, and not a history of our people?
324.68 -> You are destined to become whatever the future
328.53 -> thinks you were, if you're lucky.
332.2 -> Vandals, fire, natural disaster,
335.889 -> conquerors, thieves, all of these forces obscure facts
339.71 -> overtime, but no matter how well we tried to preserve
343.75 -> today for future history books, there's one type of
348.05 -> fog we are unlikely to avoid.
351.95 -> Apathy. Ira Glass put it well
355.06 -> when he asked his listeners a simple question: name
358.89 -> 10 people from the 15th century.
363.6 -> We have records of more than 10 people but to most of us
367.68 -> they don't matter. In five hundred years
372.07 -> radio host will be making the same jokes but about us.
376.01 -> However, there is a legacy leave behind
380.57 -> that is irreversible. Immutable,
384.31 -> and in a way, unforgettable.
387.93 -> To conserve energy, turn off when not in use.
391.59 -> Or just keep them on. Energy will be conserved
396.12 -> no matter what you do. Even if you leave lights on all year,
400.45 -> there will be no less or more energy in the universe.
404.37 -> What's really being conserved when we turn off lights
407.729 -> are the resources we turn into energy
410.729 -> the lights can use. But if you counted up
413.83 -> all the energy in the system, before and after turning the lights on,
418.289 -> it would be the same. Energy also does something else.
422.56 -> Unless hindered from doing so, energy
426.05 -> will spread
427.819 -> out - it will disperse. That is,
431.529 -> in so few words, the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
435.169 -> It's how our universe works. It's why things that happen spontaneously
440.159 -> do. Energy spreads.
443.319 -> Even when a process locally concentrates energy,
447.379 -> like when a crystal forms or life grows,
450.55 -> the Second Law isn't violated because these processes
454.15 -> aren't independent from the larger world around them. They aren't
457.96 -> 100 percent efficient. Hindrances can hold back the inevitable spread of energy for a
463.099 -> long time. The Second Law doesn't say
465.889 -> when energy will disperse - just that when it can,
469.849 -> oh it will. Balloons will deflate,
473.669 -> objects will fall, hot objects will cool down,
478.289 -> and perfume sprayed across the room will eventually migrate to your nose
483.129 -> even in really still air. How much
487.219 -> or how widely energy has spread out is measured
491.159 -> in entropy. Entropy is often called
494.779 -> "disorder", "chaos". But entropy is very different from macroscopic
501.229 -> messiness. This deck of cards is
504.599 -> themed after Greek philosophers. It's also arranged by
508.56 -> value and suit - the entire deck. But if I take the deck
513.069 -> and shuffle it, that is, disorder it, I haven't
517.05 -> actually increased the deck's
520.05 -> entropy,
520.999 -> because nothing about this deck of cards'
524.029 -> energy is different than it was before. However,
527.8 -> entropy in the greater world around us
530.899 -> has increased because in order to shuffle the cards
534.899 -> my body has to do work. It has to take energy concentrated in my cells
539.98 -> and change and disperse that energy into kinetic energy,
543.04 -> movement, and a little bit of heat from my body and from the cards,
546.649 -> friction, and a little bit of sound energy - that rustling noise.
551.489 -> So there's your real legacy.
556.029 -> Your contribution to the universe's growing
559.6 -> entropy. No process will be able to
563.399 -> undo the net increase in entropy
566.459 -> you accomplish in your life. History may forget you,
570.949 -> or misinterpret your accomplishments, or what stood for.
574.679 -> The ripples you leave behind may get redirected
578.29 -> but the universe will never be able to forget the
581.999 -> entropy you add. That's the law.
585.74 -> The Second Law of Thermodynamics.
589.47 -> Many scientists believe that this means that eventually
592.959 -> energy - heat - will be completely spread out
597.329 -> evenly throughout the universe. It will be the same temperature
602.329 -> everywhere, and at that point nothing will be able
606.509 -> to happen. Because in order for something to happen
609.92 -> entropy needs to increase, energy needs to spread, the move to change.
614.17 -> This may be the ultimate fate of the universe -
618.829 -> thermodynamic equilibrium. The
622.389 -> "Heat Death" of the universe. It's been estimated that at the rate things happen
628.93 -> this end the universe will occur in about
631.93 -> 8 googol years, and you're contributing to it
636.92 -> by simply existing. A funny consequence of all this
640.899 -> is the fact that people who aren't very active, people who don't do much but lay
645.56 -> around
646.36 -> aren't just being lazy. In a way
649.98 -> they're being considerate. Sloth
653.24 -> maybe of vice, but to the universe
657.04 -> it's a fountain of youth. Choosing to do as little as possible
662.02 -> means consciously limiting your contribution
665.1 -> to the inevitable dispersal of energy and thus
668.3 -> in a teeny-tiny way postponing
671.5 -> the "Heat Death" of our universe.
674.66 -> Relaxing adds time
677.76 -> to the universe's life: in amount of time, to be fair, almost indistinguishable
682.25 -> from zero,
683.49 -> but still theoretically real. Being
687.11 -> lazy will make the universe last
690.61 -> longer. So thanks for
693.69 -> chilling out. Thanks for taking it easy. And, as always,
698.02 -> thanks for watching.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2jkV4BsN6U