Sean Carroll

It's basically playing a video game, right? There's not any, as far as I know, correlation with height and strength with ability to play video games, okay? But if you did this and did it next year, then I think what you would find is that the current

very good basketball players would still be the very good basketball players because they've been training for a very long time to do exactly this and in ways that other people haven't. If you're a casual basketball player, you haven't been put in the work compared to an actual NBA player. Some NBA players would not turn out to be very good. They're

very good basketball players would still be the very good basketball players because they've been training for a very long time to do exactly this and in ways that other people haven't. If you're a casual basketball player, you haven't been put in the work compared to an actual NBA player. Some NBA players would not turn out to be very good. They're

There are some who are just coasting by on their physical gifts and they would not do that well. But I think a lot of the actual basketball players to stay and flourish in the modern NBA, you have to be pretty talented and dedicated. You know, there's always going to be exceptions.

There are some who are just coasting by on their physical gifts and they would not do that well. But I think a lot of the actual basketball players to stay and flourish in the modern NBA, you have to be pretty talented and dedicated. You know, there's always going to be exceptions.

I remember just because of a similarity in names, there was a center in the NBA back in the 80s named Joe Barry Carroll. No relationship to me, but his important talent was he was tall. That was it. So his nickname, Joe Barry Carroll, was nicknamed Just Barely Cares. Because he was really not interested in putting in the work, getting better.

I remember just because of a similarity in names, there was a center in the NBA back in the 80s named Joe Barry Carroll. No relationship to me, but his important talent was he was tall. That was it. So his nickname, Joe Barry Carroll, was nicknamed Just Barely Cares. Because he was really not interested in putting in the work, getting better.

He was just standing out there and being tall, and he earned a lot of money doing that. I think it's harder to do that now, maybe, than it was in the 80s. Josh Flowers asks a priority question. Okay. You know, in principle, sure.

He was just standing out there and being tall, and he earned a lot of money doing that. I think it's harder to do that now, maybe, than it was in the 80s. Josh Flowers asks a priority question. Okay. You know, in principle, sure.

I mean, you have to be careful when you're talking about distances of objects in astronomy because there is no fixed reference frame, okay, with respect to which we're supposed to measure these distances.

I mean, you have to be careful when you're talking about distances of objects in astronomy because there is no fixed reference frame, okay, with respect to which we're supposed to measure these distances.

As Einstein taught us, if you're moving close to the speed of light, the distance that you think you would have measured if you had not been moving close to the speed of light might be very different. It's length contracted, as we say.

As Einstein taught us, if you're moving close to the speed of light, the distance that you think you would have measured if you had not been moving close to the speed of light might be very different. It's length contracted, as we say.

But the good news is that, in fact, the amount of velocity that typical astronomical objects have, galaxies and stars and planets and things like that, is small compared to the speed of light.

But the good news is that, in fact, the amount of velocity that typical astronomical objects have, galaxies and stars and planets and things like that, is small compared to the speed of light.

Even though there is not absolutely a reference frame in physics, there is approximately a rest frame in the universe where stars and galaxies typically move at about one one-thousandth the speed of light with respect to each other. So the Doppler effect is actually just not very big. There are circumstances in which it matters. In fact, there's a phenomenon called the finger of God.

Even though there is not absolutely a reference frame in physics, there is approximately a rest frame in the universe where stars and galaxies typically move at about one one-thousandth the speed of light with respect to each other. So the Doppler effect is actually just not very big. There are circumstances in which it matters. In fact, there's a phenomenon called the finger of God.

And the finger of God is this. If you have a cluster of galaxies, okay? So you have a cluster of galaxies and... That means you have a bunch of galaxies, and they're orbiting the common center, which means that some of them will be in the—you're measuring two things. You know, this is back in the day. You aren't measuring the distances directly.

And the finger of God is this. If you have a cluster of galaxies, okay? So you have a cluster of galaxies and... That means you have a bunch of galaxies, and they're orbiting the common center, which means that some of them will be in the—you're measuring two things. You know, this is back in the day. You aren't measuring the distances directly.

You're measuring the redshift and using that to infer a distance to the galaxy. And then you can accurately measure its position on the sky, right? You know, its angular position on the sky. So your inferred distance measure to the galaxies is contaminated by the fact that the galaxies are moving.