ChuckGPT - Patreon Question Edition

It’s time for the Season 5 finale of The LIUniverse, which means another episode of ChuckGPT where we answer our audience’s most vexing questions – this time via video from our Patreon Patrons. And to help us answer those questions, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome back fan favorite guest and expert on ancient civilizations, author and educator Hannah Liu, M.Ed.

As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: the completion of DESI’s 5-year survey mapping millions of objects in the universe. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument completed the survey ahead of schedule, so there’s still time to map millions more.

Hannah tells us about mapping the universe in antiquity, starting with the first star catalog created by the Babylonians about 3,000 years ago. You’ll hear about the Venus tablet from the first millennium BC, Chinese star charts from the Tang dynasty, and Atlas, the mythological Titan who was the “first astrologer.”

Returning to the DESI survey, Chuck talks about the change in the dark energy content of the universe that we didn’t really expect. Allen, our resident mathematician, talks about the velocity of universal expansion and a concept called “the jerk.”

Then it’s time for audience questions, and for this episode, we’re doing something new. Both audience questions come from Patreon Patrons, and both are in video format so you can actually see our fans asking Chuck the questions – if you’re watching rather than listening, that is.

Our first question comes from Patron Lee Dubey, who asks, “Since atoms are mostly empty space, could all matter, including measuring devices, almost undetectably consume minimal space, warping the space around it? If so, could that cause gravity, and could the shrinkage cause a redshift related to dark energy?”

We’re not even going to try and summarize the explanation from Allen and Chuck here, except to say that the ensuing conversation includes the physics concept of “unparticles.” Hannah brings up Democritus, who, along with his teacher Leucippus in ancient Greece, first theorized the existence of atoms.

Our next question comes from our Patreon Patron Lee Williams, who asks, “If we live in a simulation, is it correct to assume that there’s an architect? Could there be a simulation without an architect?”

Given that there’s no scientific answer to either of these questions, Chuck turns to Hannah for enlightenment. While she explains that the question of whether we live in a simulation is a modern concept, Hanna discusses how humanity grapples with the questions of existence and higher powers, and why people engage with religion, magic, or quantum entanglement in the first place.

In the free-wheeling, far-ranging conversation that follows, Allen brings up how we create simulations now, by creating processes and letting them run, to offer some perspective on the role of the architect. And yes, H.P. Lovecraft, “The Devil and Daniel Webster,” “Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus,” and even Spider-Man somehow make it into the discussion.

And that’s it for this season of The LIUniverse. We want to thank all of you for your questions, your curiosity, and your help in keeping this experiment going. As Chuck always says, “Thank you for being a part of The LIUniverse.”

We hope you enjoyed this episode, and this season, of The LIUniverse. If you do, please support us on Patreon.

Credits for Images Used in this Episode:

• Map of DESI’s 5-year survey. – Credit: Claire Lamman/DESI collaboration.
• Roman statue of Atlas (2nd century AD). Credit: Lalupa / Creative Commons
• The Venus tablet recording astronomical positions for Venus dating from the first millennium BC. – Credit: FAI / Creative Commons
• Chinese Tang dynasty star map made around the year 700. – Credit: Public Domain.

CHAPTERS

00:00 - We Welcome Back Archaeology Expert, Author and Educator Hannah Liu, M.Ed.

02:28 - Joyfully Cool Cosmic Thing: DESI Completes Its 5-Year Survey of the Universe

04:33 - Mapping the Universe in Antiquity

12:06 - The Empty Space in Atoms, Gravity, Shrinkage, and Dark Energy

16:42 - What Are Unparticles?

22:53 - Do We Live in a Simulation? Is There an Architect?