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Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

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Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#161
post #24

This is an incredible tool. I know there are other ways to look at timelapses of aerial views but this is just so easy and useable. Watching the change of specific suburban areas in the US brings a lot of negative emotions for me. Seeing what used to be green areas slowly transform into more suburban sprawl, I can't help but think of the number of species who experienced their ecosystem's walls closing in on them. As…

Hasn't this tool been available at https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/ for several years now?

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#162
post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would it? How do you know? You are just projecting what you think on this hypothetical advanced species. They might find, instead, that they don't need or care for any of that and just wipe it out faster.

Yep, that's my interpretation of "advanced". Yours could be one that retreats into hermetic shelters and plays Call of Duty between themselves all day long.

Mine isn't either of those, or any other variation. The point is that since you are not them, you can't know what they would do.

Your "interpretation" is just making them after your self image, thinking that that is what it means to be "advanced".

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#164

The growth of Dubai is crazy, as well as most major Chinese cities. What are some interesting, less obvious things to look at with this feature?

Filling of the three gorges dam?

Or find some of the ghost cities in China as well

Rainforest everything.

Singapore

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It works on all the usual suspects (anything that supports SteamVR). Valve Index, HP Reverb G2, WMR headsets, Oculus Quest (via link cable or wifi streaming) etc

I can't find any way to get it to work with the Quest on my Mac. (Short of installing Bootcamp that is.)

Unfortunately SteamVR dropped Mac support last year

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I couldn’t agree more regarding misanthropy. I would like to note though that if we start mining and settling space, our growth would in fact be essentially unbounded. Combined with the fact that some types of stars are expected to continue radiating energy for trillions of years...

This discussion reminds me of Isaac Asimov's favorite story, The Last Question https://www.multivax.com/last_question.html

Sorry to nitpick, but is it your favorite story of Asimov's or has he actually said it was his own favorite?

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#167

What's really striking to me about timelapse videos of the Earth is how, at a grand enough scale, the growth of human settlements on Earth really looks no different than the growth of bacterial and fungal colonies on Petri dishes. We think of ourself as special, as having conquered environments, technology and more - and when zoomed out you could explain everything we've built and accomplished as the achievements of…

Sure, we’re the same if you ignore a bunch of important differences. Growing our own food, not reproducing rapidly during food excess, etc.

We don't grow our food. The chloroplast inside plants that we live around grow it. Fungi can do the same thing. See lichen, for example.

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This discussion reminds me of Isaac Asimov's favorite story, The Last Question https://www.multivax.com/last_question.html

Sorry to nitpick, but is it your favorite story of Asimov's or has he actually said it was his own favorite?

It was Asimov's favorite
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