Good Lord, haven't we had enough of Corona or you want new virus?!
Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
41–50 of 87 posts
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The mistake here is to treat both of these equally. Oh, I absolutely am not, or at least did not aim to. I'm well aware that I don't have to explain where an egg came from just because I'm stating a chicken came out of it. > Consider that most religions want people to behave in very specific ways, mostly because deities and their spokespeople say so. The "god" you are describing does not fit into that. Sorry, yes,…
> Sorry, yes, I meant nondenominational. I know, and actually that's how I assumed/read it. I think we both agree that nondenominational deities are not religious material (by definition). They have a certain appeal because they don't immediately contradict observation, but they're currently just as impossible to prove as, say, any of the Christian god variants. I'd argue it's a mistake to postulate non-religious god…
You are probably right, but as someone who grew up episcopalian, and struggled a lot assembling a coherent world view, I do see (even if only psychological) the potential need for deity at the edges of the explained.
Someone might be able to explain the evolutionary benefits of existentialism, depression (or the benefits of the traits that when lacking lead to it, and how), philosophical meanderings when it would be more beneficial for me to work right now, and pre-bang existence, etc.
But even if not, I can't oppose your assertion that it serves no tangible purpose to award credit to some unnamed force. But it could at least be a comforting placeholder for when something more tangible comes along. Or a tea pot.
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
And how did life start on the asteroid? :D
I don't want to derail anything. Also disclaimer that I'm not religious. Off topic: This reminds me of what annoys me about "Intelligent Design" vs science. It's always about how the Earth is 6000 years old, he/she/they created all animals separately with no evolution, etc, etc. And likewise what came before the big bang? Ultra dense, hot steady state? And before that? While If I were any denominational god, I'd have…
> ... before ...
Note that “before” and “after” are arguably illusions, stemming from your sublight velocity. From the perspective of a photon, no time has passed “since” the Big Bang.
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#44> we found that up to 99.1% of the microbes in sediment deposited 101.5 million years ago were still alive and were ready to eat > But the real secret of their remarkable survival lies in their metabolic rate. It is just slow enough for them to survive for such long periods. That would imply their metabolic rate to be practically zero, 101 million years is such a long time that even the tiniest amount of activity wou…
At those timescales you'd think they would have ceased to exist due to atomic half-life or radiation or something.
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Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#45Don't know why anyone would post a medium blog post. Seriously.
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#46> we found that up to 99.1% of the microbes in sediment deposited 101.5 million years ago were still alive and were ready to eat > But the real secret of their remarkable survival lies in their metabolic rate. It is just slow enough for them to survive for such long periods. That would imply their metabolic rate to be practically zero, 101 million years is such a long time that even the tiniest amount of activity wou…
At those timescales you'd think they would have ceased to exist due to atomic half-life or radiation or something.
Only if they were primarily made up of radioactive isotopes. Ask the carbon-12 in them should remain stable.
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
I expected it to be about Cthulhu.
I had absolutely zero idea what you were talking about and googling it sent me down a very deep and entertaining rabbit hole!
I am astounded and delighted you could have wandered through life and never encountered a reference to Cthulhu. Have fun!
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#48Microbes Sleeping 100M Years on the Ocean Floor WERE INTENTIONALLY Awakened Move along if you expected this to be a story on climate change effects.
> Microbes Sleeping 100M Years on the Ocean Floor WERE INTENTIONALLY Awakened
You maniacs!!! Have you never watched any sci-fi horror movie at all???
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had absolutely zero idea what you were talking about and googling it sent me down a very deep and entertaining rabbit hole!
I am astounded and delighted you could have wandered through life and never encountered a reference to Cthulhu. Have fun!
Mandatory xkcd reference: https://xkcd.com/1053/
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#50How about Asia chills out playing with diseases for a little while