In the greater scheme of things we are nothing

[Schoolmarm]

http://www.futilitycloset.com/2006/12/29/perspective/

 

[judrop]

Love that it is SO true, I wonder when people will finally take it on board ! ?

 

[Penners]

Good grief, Marm. Are you a bit depressed today?



I certainly am (now).




:wink:

 

[Penners]

Round and round the planet spins,
And round the sun we go.
We do not die of age, it seems,
We die of vertigo.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Good grief, Marm. Are you a bit depressed today?



I certainly am (now).




:wink:

I saw it on another forum and felt sort of relieved and depressed at the same time. :lol:

 

[Flyfisher]

That's very philosophical 'marm.
I wonder how many other 'motes of dust' out there are also supporting life?

The other amazing thing (I think) is that Voyager 1 is 1970's technology, operates on the same amount of power as Penners' shower pump (420W) and is expected to keep functioning until 2025.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1

 

[Penners]

Well if my shower pump manages that degree of longevity, it certainly won't be me who finally has to replace it.

I believe it's also true to say that the Eagle lunar module - Neil's and Buzz's Bacofoil taxi to the moon - had about the same computing power as the 32k BBC computer that I once owned.

But then I suppose the lads didn't have time to play Grand Theft Auto.

 

[Flyfisher]

Yes, they were too busy playing 'Lunar lander'

If they ever go back to the moon in my lifetime I don't think I'll be anywhere near as impressed as when they first did it with 1960s technology. They didn't even have portable colour video cameras for the first few missions!

 

[Nigel Watts]

How about a nice calendar to cheer us up?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/pic...izarre-calendars-available-for-next-year.html
A PPUK one could be fun. Scantily clad regulars on the forum posing in front of their proud creations accompanied by a hot tip on subjects like damp prevention or making a perfect lime plaster mix perhaps?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Nigel - I'm very worried at some of the photoshopped pics some of our regulars are now likely to post on this thread... :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[wobs]

Well if my shower pump manages that degree of longevity, it certainly won't be me who finally has to replace it.

But then I don't think your shower runs on plutonium-238 dioxide. Well, I'd be suprised if it does.

I believe it's also true to say that the Eagle lunar module - Neil's and Buzz's Bacofoil taxi to the moon - had about the same computing power as the 32k BBC computer that I once owned.

But then I suppose the lads didn't have time to play Grand Theft Auto.

I've also heard that the space shuttles only have 386 processors in their computers, as they are a bit more durable than later more compact ones (486, pentiums etc). At least they should be able to manage a game of Pacman if nothing else.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Calender :shock:


:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Gervase]

As a thought, it's rather beautiful. I do miss Carl Sagan - he had a lot more elegance than Dawkins.
To give him full credit, he went on to say:

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbour life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

Carl Sagan
Pale Blue Dot, 1994

 

[Schoolmarm]

All of it is beautiful. Thanks for the rest of it Gervase.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Humbling.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Its certainly poetic but it's full of non-sequitors.
If we are so small and insignificant in the greater scheme of the comsos what does it matter if we all bash each others' brains out?
Indeed the subjectivist philosophers would argue that the only thing we can be certain of is our own individual existence. Berkley solved this only by arguing that the objective world existed because it was in the mind of God.
A basis for ethics is possible in the absence of God, but Astronomy is not where I would look!

 

[judrop]

"To me it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another" .YES INDEED !

 

[Penners]

I do miss Carl Sagan - he had a lot more elegance than Dawkins.

And a touch less self-satisfaction.

How about a nice calendar to cheer us up?
A PPUK one ....Scantily clad regulars on the forum posing in front of their proud creations?...

Or, better still, behind their proud creation, in my case.

The world simply isn't ready for my Y-fronts. :x

 

[Moo]

their proud creations

Do offspring count as proud creations?

 

[Flyfisher]

I do miss Carl Sagan - he had a lot more elegance than Dawkins.

And a touch less self-satisfaction.

Absolutely. Sagan always seemed to exude a sense of wonder whereas Dawkins is a tad too fanatical for my liking, even though I'm on his side. Ironic, really, as was once the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford.