# What if glass was alive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 7, 2023, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-glass-was-alive/982285 "2023-04-07T01:43:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2023, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-glass-was-alive/982285/22 "2023-04-07T13:54:36Z")
Some glass is telephoto… ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2023, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-glass-was-alive/982285/23 "2023-04-07T14:23:32Z")
Plexiglass would be the black sheep of the family. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2023, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-glass-was-alive/982285/24 "2023-04-07T16:11:49Z")
I imagine the OP is glassy-eyed by all these responses. At least that glassy stuff is alive. Probably, once the hangover wears off in a few more hours. Whatever form the glass-critters take they’d be lousy liars; too transparent. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2023, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-glass-was-alive/982285/25 "2023-04-07T16:31:14Z")
The first clue would be cute Swarovski crystal figurines getting up and moving. Which might be adorable, or terrifying, or both. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2023, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-glass-was-alive/982285/26 "2023-04-07T21:52:43Z")
Illinois **really does** have legal weed! Look at your hand. It’s made of …_molecules !_ 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-glass-was-alive/982285/27 "2023-04-08T00:31:21Z")
Soooo… What if, like, the color that I call, like, green, isn’t, like… the color that, like, you see that, you know, like, _you_ call… green? … Aaannnnd, so, okay, so, like, if glass was, like, green, and also, like, alive, would it, like, see green, or just, you know, like, _be_ green? ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-glass-was-alive/982285/28 "2023-04-08T03:30:55Z")
In all seriousness… You know tardigrades and how they’re nearly indestructible? The reason is that they can turn themselves into glass. Or something. > **[Scientists finally figure out why the water bear is nearly indestructible](https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/scientists-finally-figure-out-why-the-water-bear-is-nearly-unstoppable/#Echobox=1680905780)** > > Freeze it, boil it, or expose it to radiation. The water bear shrugs it off. Now we know why.    ---
**Author:** ![Feurmann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/779978/32.png) [@Feurmann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feurmann)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-glass-was-alive/982285/29 "2023-04-08T12:20:16Z")
What this question reminded me of was a factoid (incorrectly remembered) that medieval window panes are thicker at the bottom than at the top. The conclusion was therefore that, over the centuries, the panes of glass were oozing toward the bottom, under the force of gravity. I found a [Scientific American article](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-fiction-glass-liquid/) which addresses this (as it turns out) mistaken causal attribution to gravity. I won’t try to explain the business about crystal structures and supercooled liquids – someone will get into me for b\*ggering up the physics of it. So I am outing myself as a scientific illiterate and will just say what I thought was the case, isn’t the case. The article explains the true state of affairs. Even if glass were constantly moving, at a speed too slow for human perception, that would be a stretch to call it alive. A stone step can be worn down over centuries by people walking on it. Salts can transpire through slabs of stone or masonry, and form salt crystals on the surface of those things. But that doesn’t make them alive. Is this a category problem? Things that are unarguably alive (like bones in a living creature) are subject to gradual and continuous change. But just because something is subject to change doesnt make it alive. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-glass-was-alive/982285/30 "2023-04-08T12:30:51Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Soooo… What if, like, the color that I call, like, green, isn’t, like… the color that, like, you see that, you know, like, _you_ call… green? I recently learned of a thread about that! > [@My Personal Theory of Everything (Kaleidoscopic Reality)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-personal-theory-of-everything-kaleidoscopic-reality/623627): > > My intentions in this thread are the following: To sew together every “Personal Belief Theory” that I have gathered since I was a small child, into the intricate web of thought it currently is, but able to be perceived as the tapestry of sound reasoning that it is. The fact is any “effect”, “acton”, “reaction”, or “observation” made in our current perception is subject to psychological programming or conceptual bias. Meaning there is no guarantee of any cosmic effect, ie. Perception of color, ti… ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-glass-was-alive/982285/31 "2023-04-08T19:59:54Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Look at your hand. “They call 'em fingers but I never seem them fing.” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Reruwp\_Fs3Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Reruwp_Fs3Y) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-glass-was-alive/982285.md?page=1)