Researcher links mass extinctions to 'Planet X'
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Re: Researcher links mass extinctions to 'Planet X'
#2It would be interesting to know where we are currently on this theoretical mass extinction cycle. Hopefully we have a few million years left.
Re: Researcher links mass extinctions to 'Planet X'
#3"So you think there's a chance" - Niburu
Re: Researcher links mass extinctions to 'Planet X'
#4Comet showers wouldn't explain things like orogeny, vulcanism, and the slow processes which also precede mass extinctions. If the super continent cycle is linked to Planet X, or merely correlated rather unfortunately in time, that would be quite astonishing but I suppose possible.
Re: Researcher links mass extinctions to 'Planet X'
#5It would be interesting to know where we are currently on this theoretical mass extinction cycle. Hopefully we have a few million years left.
If certain science fiction is to believed, there is a pan-dimensional super-intelligence that feeds on all sentience once they cross a certain technological level, so it's all futile anyway.
Re: Researcher links mass extinctions to 'Planet X'
#6It would be interesting to know where we are currently on this theoretical mass extinction cycle. Hopefully we have a few million years left.
If certain science fiction is to believed, there is a pan-dimensional super-intelligence that feeds on all sentience once they cross a certain technological level, so it's all futile anyway.
This sounds like a fun read. What particular story are you thinking about?
Re: Researcher links mass extinctions to 'Planet X'
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
If certain science fiction is to believed, there is a pan-dimensional super-intelligence that feeds on all sentience once they cross a certain technological level, so it's all futile anyway.
This sounds like a fun read. What particular story are you thinking about?
I was thinking of Star Control, an old game series which was the inspiration for Mass Effect apparently. There's a few other stories like that I'm sure.
SPOILERS AHEAD
In SC, there's a race of beings that wakes up once in a while whenever technology levels in the galaxy reach saturation, and basically eats up all sentient species. One highly-advanced species manages to escape the last cycle by devolving themselves into dumber creatures like cattle. Of course they get stuck in that state and it's up to the next generation of spacefaring civilizations (including us) to collect their relics and revive them and learn how to survive the next cycle.
Re: Researcher links mass extinctions to 'Planet X'
#8It would be interesting to know where we are currently on this theoretical mass extinction cycle. Hopefully we have a few million years left.
If certain science fiction is to believed, there is a pan-dimensional super-intelligence that feeds on all sentience once they cross a certain technological level, so it's all futile anyway.
In my opinion it's much more likely that sentient beings apathy themselves into extinction.
Humans already show a tendency towards addiction to technology that exploits dopamine triggers, as social networks like Facebook do.
Now imagine a world in which matrix style neural implants give you all the dopamine fulfillment that you want with no need for any effort. And combine this neural implant replacement for reality with extensive automation and AI that replaces the need for physical and mental effort. With an ever decreasing amount of stuff to do in the real world more people start hooking up to the matrix.
It's quite likely a massive portion of the population will dream itself to death without accomplishing anything or giving birth to a new generation of offspring because work, invention, and sex in the real world could never compete with the feeling of something that is tied directly into your brain making you feel like you just solved the world's hardest scientific problem, or ate the best meal ever, or had the best sex ever.
It seems probable that such neural implant tech and automation could be created long before a practical interstellar travel solution is created, which would also be a depressing, but realistic explanation for the Fermi paradox.
Re: Researcher links mass extinctions to 'Planet X'
#9It would be interesting to know where we are currently on this theoretical mass extinction cycle. Hopefully we have a few million years left.
This is what I came to ask. We won't have an exact year but I wonder how accurate of a range we could get.
Within the next ~100-200 years?
Re: Researcher links mass extinctions to 'Planet X'
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
If certain science fiction is to believed, there is a pan-dimensional super-intelligence that feeds on all sentience once they cross a certain technological level, so it's all futile anyway.
This sounds like a fun read. What particular story are you thinking about?
Not sure which book the parent was referring to, but that's the premise of Charles Stross' Laundry Files series: too many humans and too many computers doing too much complex mathematics attract tentacled horrors from beyond space-time.
Edit: I also like how in it, mathematics is the language of sorcery, and computing devices of any form - the implements.