[Fidelista]

Originally Posted by pyritechips

Bingo!

http://myconsurmernews.blogspot.com/...ing-balls.html

I knew they didn't die . >f

[pyritechips]

Originally Posted by Fidelista

I knew they didn't die . >f

Veritas!

I have one thing to say about that fence. I bet that, long after the concrete of the wall has turned to sand those bowling balls will be excavated in situ by some future and uncomphrending civilization.

[valis]

Originally Posted by pyritechips

I think all physical objects are composed of both a composition and a form.

I like that. Dunno why, but it strikes a chord.....

The criteria should have been amended to address that. At what point in time will the bowling ball cease to be? Basically, when will it be gone?

As for my choice, Mt. Rushmore, at what point in time would it become just another featureless hunk o' granite?

[Wino]

Originally Posted by valis

I like that. Dunno why, but it strikes a chord.....

The criteria should have been amended to address that. At what point in time will the bowling ball cease to be? Basically, when will it be gone?

As for my choice, Mt. Rushmore, at what point in time would it become just another featureless hunk o' granite?

No doubt in my mind that Mt Rushmore loses more mass yearly than a bowling ball would and I seriously doubt proportionally. The mountain may last longer just due to it's mass, but I still believe the degradation of the bowling ball will be slower. The bowling ball, which is man made, will out last anything god made, since he doesn't exist.

[Fidelista]

Originally Posted by Wino

No doubt in my mind that Mt Rushmore loses more mass yearly than a bowling ball would and I seriously doubt proportionally. The mountain may last longer just due to it's mass, but I still believe the degradation of the bowling ball will be slower. The bowling ball, which is man made, will out last anything god made, since he doesn't exist.

Thats exactly the kind of talk that brought on hurricane Katrina !!!! .
You do know god could make it rain bowling balls if he got really mad , and we would have you to thank !.
>f

[Wino]

Originally Posted by Fidelista

Thats exactly the kind of talk that brought on hurricane Katrina !!!! .
You do know god could make it rain bowling balls if he got really mad , and we would have you to thank !.
>f

Thank you Padre Fidelista de Falwell, I will keep that in mind next I drink some peyote tea with my buddy Carlos Castaneda.

[pyritechips]

Originally Posted by valis

I like that. Dunno why, but it strikes a chord.....
The criteria should have been amended to address that. At what point in time will the bowling ball cease to be? Basically, when will it be gone?

As for my choice, Mt. Rushmore, at what point in time would it become just another featureless hunk o' granite?

Well Tim, if you really think about it, all objects have a percievable form and an underlying composition; that is the cornerstone of physics, chemistry and engineering. Imagine the Statue of Liberty. It has a definite shape recognizable around the world. No living human being not living in a cave could fail to identify it in a line-up. It's iron frame/copper skin is as part of it as it's shape. Now tell me: if that iron was to rust to the point that the statue's structural integrity was compromised and it collapsed into the harbour would it still be Lady Liberty? If tectonic forces reduced Mt. Rushmore to a pile of rubble would you tell your cousin from Australia "That is the famous mountain, but it has gone under some changes of late."?

By the way Tim. I both thank and curse you for this thread. It is a breath of fresh air, off at a complete tangent compared to the usual political/religious/outrage threads that have plagued this forum for the last few years, but it is also maddening in forcing one to think hard about a hypothetical and seemingly insignificant scenario. It is the perfect scientific and philosophical though experiment!

[valis]

Originally Posted by pyritechips

Well Tim, if you really think about it, all objects have a percievable form and an underlying composition; that is the cornerstone of physics, chemistry and engineering. Imagine the Statue of Liberty. It has a definite shape recognizable around the world. No living human being not living in a cave could fail to identify it in a line-up. It's iron frame/copper skin is as part of it as it's shape. Now tell me: if that iron was to rust to the point that the statue's structural integrity was compromised and it collapsed into the harbour would it still be Lady Liberty? If tectonic forces reduced Mt. Rushmore to a pile of rubble would you tell your cousin from Australia "That is the famous mountain, but it has gone under some changes of late."?

Enter the famous fractal. Mt. Rushmore would still be Mt. Rushmore, only in pieces. The Lady Liberty would still be Lady Liberty, albeit on a different scale, and under water.

God, I hate and love fractals. The concept is so simple, yet so elegant, that it bugs me endlessly.

Originally Posted by pyritechips

By the way Tim. I both thank and curse you for this thread. It is a breath of fresh air, off at a complete tangent compared to the usual political/religious/outrage threads that have plagued this forum for the last few years, but it is also maddening in forcing one to think hard about a hypothetical and seemingly insignificant scenario. It is the perfect scientific and philosophical though experiment!

thanks, man....didn't think I'd be getting this type of responses, truth be told (which is why I don't start many threads or polls, at least in civ/deb). But this one kept bugging me for a bit, so I thought I'd let you guys lose some sleep as well.

[BlackSpike]

I did see a program recently "Life after People" that looked at how long it would take for nature to destroy everything we have built.
They said that Mt. Rushmore could last thousands of years, and that Ms. Liberty would be long rusted to naught by then.
I've no idea what bowling balls are made of, or how fast they degrade.
Most of the train will be gone in decades.

It was also interesting to see how they suspected animal life would fare, with domesticated animals, and rats/mice would having to alter their lifestyles.
Very soon, our buildings would be home to all manner of fauna and flora, all adding to it's decay.

As to your fractal idea, it is an interesting concept, which I put alongside "My Grandfather's Axe" puzzle:
I still have my grandfather's axe. My father replaced the head, and I replaced the handle, but I still have my grandfather's axe!
It was posed a long time ago in relation to a ship crossing an ocean, and having parts replaced along the way. y the time it arrives, every part has been replaced at least once: is it still the same ship when it arrives?
I have personal experience of this with my own PC. I have slowly upgraded it through the years, gradually swapping out CD-drives for DVD-RW, adding extra HDD, replacing the mobo/CPU, upgrading RAM, putting it all in a new case ... it's still my PC, just a little upgraded.
I looked in my big box of bits, and re-assembled a PC from my original parts ... I now have 2 PCs that are "my PC" (And still a supply of spare parts)

[pyritechips]

Interesting quandry, spike. Are they really the same axe, PC and ship? I am on the fence with this one. I had the same scenario with a PC, My old one, a bare bones purchase, went throught the same evolution until the only thing remaining from the original was the case. In my mind it was not the same PC.

In philosophy the concept of "horse" and "horseness" are not the same. All horses on the planet can disappear yet the concept of "horseness" will remain, as does the concept of the dodo bird. Yet if Mt. Rushmore would one day crumble how could one say about the remaining pile of rubble "That is Mt. Rushmore, in the past, now, and forever."?

As Hendrix sang "And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually.".

But do bowling balls?

[BanditFlyer]

Originally Posted by Wino

No doubt in my mind that Mt Rushmore loses more mass yearly than a bowling ball would and I seriously doubt proportionally. The mountain may last longer just due to it's mass, but I still believe the degradation of the bowling ball will be slower. The bowling ball, which is man made, will out last anything god made, since he doesn't exist.

The problem with polymers is that those long chains have a tendency to break, especially after sitting in the sun for a while.

The problem with manmade objects is they have to be protected from the elements and/or maintained. And you'll notice that the structures we use to protect those objects are composed mainly of natural elements such as wood and stone. What's your garage made of?

[BanditFlyer]

Originally Posted by BlackSpike

I did see a program recently "Life after People" that looked at how long it would take for nature to destroy everything we have built.

I posted a link to something similar, earlier in this thread, I'll see if I can find it.

Originally Posted by BlackSpike

They said that Mt. Rushmore could last thousands of years, and that Ms. Liberty would be long rusted to naught by then.
I've no idea what bowling balls are made of, or how fast they degrade.

Leave it out in the sun. I guarantee you it won't be 10,000 years. If you were to bury it, it would last longer.

[BanditFlyer]

Originally Posted by BanditFlyer

I posted a link to something similar, earlier in this thread, I'll see if I can find it.

Here it is:

Originally Posted by BanditFlyer

Everything lasts forever if you take care of it, protect it from the weather, etc. I'd be curious as to what a bowling ball sitting in the exposed sun for twenty years looks like on it's sun-exposed face.

Maybe someone in TSG has seen one in a junkyard somewhere propping up an old '48 Studebaker or something?

Here's what happens to things that are left unmaintained by humans: http://www.worldwithoutus.com/

[pyritechips]

Originally Posted by BlackSpike
I did see a program recently "Life after People" that looked at how long it would take for nature to destroy everything we have built.

I think I saw the same show but the title doesn't sound right, but regardless, it is interesting how they made an argument for how man made objects would eventually break down and return to nature.

[JStergis]

I voted for the bowling ball...those things seem indestructible.

Second choice was rubber boot...I have a pile of car tires (22 of them) a little ways in the woods and they aren't going anywhere any time soon in terms of wearing down.

Third choice was Mt. Rushmore...my reasoning is that if it was carved like that, it couldn't take that much to degrade.

Fourth was the locomotive engine. Threw a 16 HP Kohler engine on the ground a couple days ago to bring to the metal bin at the dump and the thing's already rusting away pretty badly. I doubt a 1950s locomotive engine would fare much better than a 1992 lawn tractor engine.