Ask Chaos Anything!

[Chinkoln]

On 2/6/2021 at 2:51 PM, Chaos said:

Questions that are well-posed that are exciting to me would be like, why is the universe's expansion accelerating? Things like that. But realistically those sorts of things require a ton of math and physics before you can pose the questions in a way that you can test them.

Do you believe in the Big Bang Theory or that the universe has always been?

If you believe in the Big Bang, do you believe that the singularity was able to synthesize matter by converting unthinkable high levels of energy into atoms? Or do you believe that all matter was condensed into one and at a certain point it was spontaneously released?

If you believe the 2nd one, then do you think that there were universes before this one? I have discussed with multiple scientists and there are several who have theorized that the universe follows a pattern - Big Bang, then expansion, then slowing down, then contraction, and finally all matter is condensed into 1 point again. Soon after a Bug Bang occurs once again.

Is the universe stretching or expanding? What area is it expanding into?

[Chaos]

3 hours ago, roondawg valhalla said:

How do you feel about the rise of psychedelics being used in the medical field to treat various mental issues (ex. PTSD, depression)?

If they are shown to be effective, fantastic. If not, don't do it. Data speaks louder than opinion.

2 hours ago, Chinkoln said:

Do you believe in the Big Bang Theory or that the universe has always been?

If you believe in the Big Bang, do you believe that the singularity was able to synthesize matter by converting unthinkable high levels of energy into atoms? Or do you believe that all matter was condensed into one and at a certain point it was spontaneously released?

If you believe the 2nd one, then do you think that there were universes before this one? I have discussed with multiple scientists and there are several who have theorized that the universe follows a pattern - Big Bang, then expansion, then slowing down, then contraction, and finally all matter is condensed into 1 point again. Soon after a Bug Bang occurs once again.

Is the universe stretching or expanding? What area is it expanding into?

I don't have to "believe" in the Big Bang. It is a scientific fact that the universe was hot everywhere. We've measured it! It's the cosmic background radiation. It's an astoundingly simple result conceptually. The idea is that hot things give off electromagnetic radiation (light, but it's usually not visible). That's called blackbody radiation. It's how heat vision cameras work as well as stars. So when the Big Bang was theorized, well, that would mean after the Big Bang, things were pretty hot, right? Well they calculated what that should be like (though you can't observe things right after the Big Bang, basically because atoms were too close together, so any light that was given off would be absorbed into other atoms, so I think this was right around 300,000 years after the Big Bang), and we measured it! It fits exactly! When the experimental data matches with the theoretical so well, then... well, that's just a fact. That's rare to happen. So that means the universe did expand and was once very hot, everywhere. So it's not belief. I don't take such matters by faith. Lots of other people far smarter than me have mathed it out and experimented that such things are the most likely explanation for how things turn out. In the case of the cosmic background radiation, the data was extremely compelling.

As for most of these other questions, I have no opinion about them. They don't seem well-posed and I don't think we could ever test them. It seems like given the universe's expansion accelerating that a heat death is much more likely than a contraction. I think such questions are much more interesting to ask in a fantasy setting. 

As to your second to last last question, yes, it is expanding. They've measured the redshifts. The expansion is actually accelerating.

But your last question... that sort of shows some misunderstanding of physics. There doesn't need to be an area that it is expanding into. This is not problematic in the slightest. I'm sort of side-eyeing that one because that has quite a faulty premise, though a common faulty premise.

Anywho, I never took General Relativity, so all this stuff is kind of hard to talk about without sufficient mathematics. I don't mean to sound like a buzzkill, but it's like quantum mechanics... It's not super useful to talk about the weird quantum effects unless we are using the proper language of things, which is math. And the math for these big astrophysics things is really complicated and I don't know that much. I'm no expert.

I will likely stop answering weird philosophy questions, so let's tone those down. My answer to them is usually a shrug. Actual answers comes from data and experiments. 

[AonEne]

On 2/6/2021 at 0:51 PM, Chaos said:

No. I find that quite silly, personally. 

How mad would you get if I filled out your Contact Methods (in a clearly joking manner so that no one actually tried to contact them thinking they'd get to you) for April Fools? 

Do you and Jess have specific cat breeds you want, or will you just get whichever you bond with or is convenient? 

What was/were your favorite moment(s) out of all the MBI games you did? (Whether GMing or playing) 

[Chaos]

On 2/8/2021 at 9:02 AM, AonEne said:

How mad would you get if I filled out your Contact Methods (in a clearly joking manner so that no one actually tried to contact them thinking they'd get to you) for April Fools? 

Do you and Jess have specific cat breeds you want, or will you just get whichever you bond with or is convenient? 

What was/were your favorite moment(s) out of all the MBI games you did? (Whether GMing or playing) 

Let's not do that first one.

We'd like floofier cats, but I imagine we'd get them from a shelter, so we'll see.

Oh man, that was a long time ago. There was a lot of fun there. I had a character who was positively crazy and was a drunk who thought the effects of booze were what Allomancy was. She thought she was a Mistborn and very much was not. That entire noble house had some great characters and worldbuilding, but that never quite got off the ground. 

Another fun moment was where one of Matt's characters told one of my characters that she had no time for his pity parade. So the next day he hired a bunch of people to make his own parade and marched right to Keep Elariel until she would show up. It was hilarious and thoroughly obnoxious. That character was great fun.

[Frustration]

This is kind of an awkwardly worded question, but I'll try to do this the best I can

Of all the things in the development of the Shard that surprised you, what gave you the most joy?

[Chaos]

On 2/17/2021 at 8:07 PM, Frustration said:

This is kind of an awkwardly worded question, but I'll try to do this the best I can

Of all the things in the development of the Shard that surprised you, what gave you the most joy?

I'm going to give a cop out answer, but to be honest, it's the truest: meeting my incredible fiance, and very soon to be wife, @LadyLameness.

But aside from that...

I'd say the friends and relationships I've made here will be lifelong, and Shardcast has brought me closer to a lot of people. It's great. And seeing the kind reactions to our content is very flattering. And getting over a million posts here on the Shard, a super active Discord, and a wiki that is likely one of the very best fan wikis; it's all incredible. 

[Chinkoln]

This question has maybe some slight RoW spoilers, so I will just put the entire thing in a spoiler. Chaos can decide if he wants to answer in a spoiler or out in the open.

Spoiler

Are you going to change the part of your signature that talks about asking Brandon questions to reveal Shard names? We have almost all the Shards, so at some point soon you will probably need to change it. What will you change it to?

 

[Bejarden]

On 2/18/2021 at 11:37 PM, Chaos said:

and a wiki that is likely one of the very best fan wikis; it's all incredible

Facts

Also this doesn’t belong here but it says ask you anything 

So: Is there a way to turn off the star that tells me I posted in a topic

[Chaos]

45 minutes ago, Chinkoln said:

This question has maybe some slight RoW spoilers, so I will just put the entire thing in a spoiler. Chaos can decide if he wants to answer in a spoiler or out in the open.

  Reveal hidden contents

Are you going to change the part of your signature that talks about asking Brandon questions to reveal Shard names? We have almost all the Shards, so at some point soon you will probably need to change it. What will you change it to?

 

Probably not for a long time.

31 minutes ago, Bejardin1250 said:

Facts

Also this doesn’t belong here but it says ask you anything 

So: Is there a way to turn off the star that tells me I posted in a topic

No. That's core functionality. Not sure why you'd want that not to be here.

[Chinkoln]

What is one thing that you wish you could do over or change in life? For this situation, we are going to assume that there aren't tons of side effects and temporal ripples. You can change one thing, and that is the only thing that would change.

Do you prefer to get things done as quickly as possible, because you never know what will happen? Or do you prefer to wait until closer to the deadline?

Edited February 22, 2021 by Chinkoln
Added a question

[Tesh]

What color is the letter E?

How do you feel about the How To Train Your Dragon movies?

How do you feel about dragons in general?

Is it bad that it is 4:00 in the morning and I still am not asleep?

Want to see pictures of my bird? 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Tesh

[Emi]

What color is letter x?

How are you today?

do you like hugs?

[Bejarden]

So I saw in a different thread that you don’t get paid for being a mod and all( and heading the sight and probably a million other things)

is this true?

if so how do you find the determination and drive to do all this

If this is to personal then that’s ok

[AonEne]

On 2/17/2021 at 4:13 PM, Chaos said:

We'd like floofier cats, but I imagine we'd get them from a shelter, so we'll see.

Oh man, that was a long time ago. There was a lot of fun there. I had a character who was positively crazy and was a drunk who thought the effects of booze were what Allomancy was. She thought she was a Mistborn and very much was not. That entire noble house had some great characters and worldbuilding, but that never quite got off the ground. 

Another fun moment was where one of Matt's characters told one of my characters that she had no time for his pity parade. So the next day he hired a bunch of people to make his own parade and marched right to Keep Elariel until she would show up. It was hilarious and thoroughly obnoxious. That character was great fun.

FLOOF  

Ha, those sound amazing. What was her reaction to the parade? 

[Chaos]

On 2/22/2021 at 0:20 PM, Chinkoln said:

What is one thing that you wish you could do over or change in life? For this situation, we are going to assume that there aren't tons of side effects and temporal ripples. You can change one thing, and that is the only thing that would change.

Do you prefer to get things done as quickly as possible, because you never know what will happen? Or do you prefer to wait until closer to the deadline?

A specific thing doesn't really come to mind when I'm making a snap , but there are a lot of more minor things I suppose.

I'm a procrastinator, and it's real bad. It's always weird me teaching, because I had terrible study habits in school.

On 2/23/2021 at 3:45 AM, Tesh said:

What color is the letter E?

How do you feel about the How To Train Your Dragon movies?

How do you feel about dragons in general?

Is it bad that it is 4:00 in the morning and I still am not asleep?

Want to see pictures of my bird? 

1. Letters are not colors.

2. First one is great and a classic. I liked the second one. Haven't seen the third one.

3. Pretty cool but I prefer less standard fantasy races. 

4. Go to bed!

On 2/23/2021 at 3:46 AM, EmiTheNinja said:

What color is letter x?

How are you today?

do you like hugs?

1. Letters are not colors. I don't understand what's going on with this and the last question.

2. I'm fine. Pretty busy!

3. Hugs are good, but hugs from strangers are weird. 

18 hours ago, Bejardin1250 said:

So I saw in a different thread that you don’t get paid for being a mod and all( and heading the sight and probably a million other things)

is this true?

if so how do you find the determination and drive to do all this

If this is to personal then that’s ok

Yeah, I don't get paid. Like, the Patreon money goes to me, but I obviously distribute various things out. None of us even get paid minimum wage. Moderating is a thankless job everywhere on the internet. I find the drive because I want to be the best fansite around, and the Brandon fandom is great.

4 hours ago, AonEne said:

FLOOF  

Ha, those sound amazing. What was her reaction to the parade? 

Daerra was not pleased.

[Chinkoln]

8 minutes ago, Chaos said:

 Moderating is a thankless job everywhere on the internet. I find the drive because I want to be the best fansite around, and the Brandon fandom is great.

We appreciate you!!! Thank you for everything that you do!!! Looks like it is time to go revive the CHAOS APPRECIATION THREAD!!!!!!

[Tesh]

37 minutes ago, Chaos said:

Letters are not colors.

I believe this is subject to debate...

38 minutes ago, Chaos said:

First one is great and a classic. I liked the second one. Haven't seen the third one.

I personally refuse to acknowledge the existence of the second two movies. The first one is perfect on its own, in my opinion.

39 minutes ago, Chaos said:

Pretty cool but I prefer less standard fantasy races.

What would you say your favorites are?

You also didn't say if you wanted pictures of my bird or not, so... This is Kaladin!

Spoiler

 

And the picture is sideways, unfortunately...

 

[Bejarden]

3 hours ago, Chaos said:

Moderating is a thankless job everywhere on the internet.

Well not anymore

Thanks for all you do!!!

[Chaos]

What's this letter/color business? This is some dumb memey thing, isn't it?

3 hours ago, Tesh said:

What would you say your favorites are?

I mean Brandon's are fun. I can't say I have much time to read much non-Brandon stuff usually...

Cute birb! Though Jess generally likes birds much more than me. She's the Disney princess!

[Frustration]

Was there anything you expected to be big on the shard that ended up flopping?

[Hen]

Do you still enjoy being in this fandom? Or has being the Head Admin made it bittersweet? 

[AonEne]

44 minutes ago, Chaos said:

What's this letter/color business? This is some dumb memey thing, isn't it?

Not really a meme? More just a random fun thing people like to ask on AMAs. Sometimes there are normal questions, sometimes ones that come completely out of nowhere.

Edit: And I think what Tesh meant when she said that's debatable is that people can often associate colors strongly with some letters.

[Chinkoln]

1 minute ago, AonEne said:

Edit: And I think what Tesh meant when she said that's debatable is that people can often associate colors strongly with some letters.

I kind of do. For example, when I picture the letter “e” in my head, it is orange. W is blue. X is red. L is green.

I don’t know why, but that is how my mind always envisions them.

[Tesh]

1 hour ago, Chaos said:

What's this letter/color business? This is some dumb memey thing, isn't it?

No, some of us were actually all discussing this thread in a Discord server, and someone said we should ask what colors different letters were. 

1 hour ago, Chaos said:

Cute birb! Though Jess generally likes birds much more than me. She's the Disney princess!

He says thank you.  

[Chaos]

4 hours ago, Frustration said:

Was there anything you expected to be big on the shard that ended up flopping?

Hmmmmmmm... I can't think of anything right now.

4 hours ago, Hentient said:

Do you still enjoy being in this fandom? Or has being the Head Admin made it bittersweet? 

Reading new cosmere is always awesome, so I do love it. 

It can be frustrating to moderate different people for the same behavior that we've needed to deal with before. Like "oh another person getting upset about this" sort of thing, or very similar arguments over and over again. More people complaining about shipping (it's fine for people to like things you don't personally enjoy, you'll be okay), more people being gatekeepy about WoBs to newer readers (be nice to people), pedantic arguments that get heated about minor things for no reason (why are people getting so heated on the internet? Have fun, jeez). It happens a lot. I can't wait for when cosmere adaptations happen so we can have the same casting arguments about representation every hour for years on end! That'll be... super fun... 

I'm very rarely surprised with things these days... though we had to ban a literal Nazi a few months ago, so that was a horrifying new experience. I at least learned a new horrible racial slur... yikes. So I guess that was surprising. But most things are not surprising.

But I'm good; I'll be here for a long time to come.

4 hours ago, AonEne said:

Not really a meme? More just a random fun thing people like to ask on AMAs. Sometimes there are normal questions, sometimes ones that come completely out of nowhere.

Edit: And I think what Tesh meant when she said that's debatable is that people can often associate colors strongly with some letters.

Hmmm, yeah, can't say this has happened to me, but I don't even really visualize things as I am reading. I'm not a very visual person.