Goddidit Vs Naturedidit

[Baruch]

"never to be again" is not as bad as "never was in the first place".  I find that regret to be worse.  So ... thoughts are imagination, but emotions are reality?  Why the self indulgement, Don't you want to be a cyborg or have your non-soul uploaded into a supercomputer?

[SGOS]

"never to be again" is not as bad as "never was in the first place".  I find that regret to be worse.

Contemplating the odds in favor of your "never was," is a bit unnerving.  Try to imagine never having achieved the experience of life.  It's kind of spooky.  Statistically speaking, you should have never gotten past the first mating 4 plus billion years ago that led to you, nor the second mating, or the ones after that.  Yet you survived them all, each against huge odds.  In addition, each one of your parental pairs lived to create you before getting squashed by a bigger more nimble glob of protoplasm.  By rights, you shouldn't have made it.  You shouldn't be here.  You are part of a world that was never meant to have you.  And hence the question posed by Christians and philosophers down through the countless ages, "What the fuck am I doing here?"

[Baruch]

Contemplating the odds in favor of your "never was," is a bit unnerving.  Try to imagine never having achieved the experience of life.  It's kind of spooky.  Statistically speaking, you should have never gotten past the first mating 4 plus billion years ago that led to you, nor the second mating, or the ones after that.  Yet you survived them all, each against huge odds.  In addition, each one of your parental pairs lived to create you before getting squashed by a bigger more nimble glob of protoplasm.  By rights, you shouldn't have made it.  You shouldn't be here.  You are part of a world that was never meant to have you.  And hence the question posed by Christians and philosophers down through the countless ages, "What the fuck am I doing here?"

Not what I meant, but an excellent response.  The son I never had ... perhaps that doesn't affect him, but it does me.  As an alive person, I can experience regret.  Also ... what if my divorce hadn't happened ... or if my marriage hadn't happened.  Of course for me, I have the burden of potentially regretting both.

[SGOS]

Not what I meant, but an excellent response.  The son I never had ... perhaps that doesn't affect him, but it does me.  As an alive person, I can experience regret.  Also ... what if my divorce hadn't happened ... or if my marriage hadn't happened.  Of course for me, I have the burden of potentially regretting both.

There you have it.  The purpose of life is to regret it.  It's part of the plan.

[Cavebear]

I read one mind boggling statistic once that 99.99 % of all the species that ever existed on Earth have gone extinct.  It was a comment in passing and not explained, but it's fun to consider. 

To me it says that the ultimate fate of every species is extinction (actually that was stated in the book while musing about the implications of the given percentage).

Ah, but there has never been a sentient species on Earth before.  That throws all the stats right out the window.  If we don't kill OURSELVES off, we might last as long as we have a planet or planets to live on.

[SGOS]

Ah, but there has never been a sentient species on Earth before.  That throws all the stats right out the window.  If we don't kill OURSELVES off, we might last as long as we have a planet or planets to live on.

I doubt it, but we can always rely on faith.

[Cavebear]

I doubt it, but we can always rely on faith.

Is that humor or satire?  Faith is the one thing we can't count on.

[SGOS]

Is that humor or satire?  Faith is the one thing we can't count on.

Ha!  Gotcha.  April fools.

[Cavebear]

Ha!  Gotcha.  April fools.

Except it is April 7th...

[SGOS]

Except it is April 7th...

Yeah, but it's still April.

[Cavebear]

Yeah, but it's still April.

So it is.  We will resume the subject in 358  days.  ;)

[Mike Cl]

Yeah, I think that's largely a semantic difference.  I think I prefer referring to it as a belief since it's an extrapolation from a single data point, which is statistically dubious under the best of circumstances.

Fortunately, given the billions of potential habitats, this is the best of circumstances.  I even expect microbes to turn up on Mars, Europa and/or Ganymede, and can't rule out Titan and the upper atmospheric reaches of Jupiter and Venus.

And as for the emotional attachment... I just got back from COSI After Dark, a monthly adults-only night at the local science museum (really amazing booze from one of the local distilleries).  In the planetarium show, one of the segments just counted time and circled stars as planets have been discovered around them, slowly at first, then coming thick and fast.  You have to see it to understand how very everywhere they are.  I don't mind admitting that I had to keep wiping my eyes.

I would love to be alive when life is actually found somewhere else.  I don't think I'll see it personally--but I have no doubt that it will happen.

[trdsf]

I would love to be alive when life is actually found somewhere else.  I don't think I'll see it personally--but I have no doubt that it will happen.

It is my hope that some time before I die, we'll get one radio hit that is best explained as ETI in origin, even if it's not definitive or even translated.  And that we'll find microbes on other bodies in this system.  And that spectrographic analysis will uncover one planet elsewhere that is in its star's habitable zone, that has an oxygen atmosphere.  Those are the best indicators we can realistically hope for, short of a Rama-like visit.

[Baruch]

I would love to be alive when life is actually found somewhere else.  I don't think I'll see it personally--but I have no doubt that it will happen.

Still dissing all the species we already have here?  The dolphins ... sad!  Is there even intelligent life on the Internet? ;-)

[Drew_2017]

It is my hope that some time before I die, we'll get one radio hit that is best explained as ETI in origin, even if it's not definitive or even translated.  And that we'll find microbes on other bodies in this system.  And that spectrographic analysis will uncover one planet elsewhere that is in its star's habitable zone, that has an oxygen atmosphere.  Those are the best indicators we can realistically hope for, short of a Rama-like visit.

Your wish may be granted. I read today on a 'super earth' planet a atmosphere has been detected.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/04/07/scientists-discover-atmosphere-around-distant-earth-like-planet.html

Its the first detected around an earth like planet and it only 6 trillion miles away. That can't be too far away after all we are $20 trillion in debt and no one seems worried about that. Oh I forgot I was recently told I'm anti science so actually I hope we don't discover anything and return to the dark ages as soon as possible.