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My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

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Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#161

Post by towaway15463 »

pohl wrote: post #118
seydor wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also technically an impossibility, since evolution would not be possible without extinction

Sure, there's no life without death, but you're kind of underselling the Anthropocene Mass Extinction a wee bit, aren't you?

Not really. As sentimental and time limited beings we don’t want to see things go extinct since we won’t be able to experience them again or be around to see what comes next. But in the larger picture we’re actually quite tame when it comes to extinction events. At least we are making an effort to limit the damage we’re doing. Space rocks and chemistry can’t do that. In the long run other species will evolve and maybe with luck we’ll have a hand in steering that evolution.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#162

Post by trinsic2 »

loceng wrote: post #119
seydor wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also technically an impossibility, since evolution would not be possible without extinction

Not sure why you're being so downvoted, must be people who haven't read Darwin or know about mass extinction from things like floods and meteorites - like that wiped out most dinosaurs. If we don't get society under "control" - and not through the ideological-tyrannical effort underway globally currently - but through voluntarily taking action through adequate organization of listening to and following competent lead…

I gather that tyrannical forces are something our species will continue to deal with for our evolution.

I'd counter that tyrannical forces actually spurs humanity in the right direction. I say this because I have notice over the years that our species have been dealing with this problem since the birth of mankind. This is an observation, not a plug for tyranny.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#163

Post by jerome-jh »

Unfortunately sending every millionaire into space for them to realize this is an hostile environment is taking us closer to earth destruction. Sorry to be sour about this, but people could just teach themself astronomy and realize there is no place out there to welcome us when the earth will be on the verge to become unlivable. Even assuming a colony of a dozen women/men is ever established on the moon or Mars, they will die in a matter or months or years once the tether to earth is broken.

Reading this guy paid millions of $ to realize these basic facts fills me with overwhelming sadness too. Can his experience be of value for us? Given that he could have discovered what he just experienced by reading good books, I think this n+1 experience has zero value. Send human beings in space to perform scientific experiments. Period.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#164

Post by towaway15463 »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #143
seydor wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also technically an impossibility, since evolution would not be possible without extinction

That's technically wrong. Evolution is possible via expansion into new biomes, or by being able to use/exploit as-yet unmetabolized compounds, or through shifting inter-species relationships (e.g. entering (or leaving) symbiosis).

Technically it’s possible in any environment except those that kill 100% of the population. Whatever survives, survives and reproduces.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#165

Post by amelius »

xwolfi wrote: post #147
baxtr wrote: post #98

> It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna . . . things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will n…

But he must also accept that life comes from death and the evolution (we should really call it a competition) he speaks off extinguished a large numbers of species. We might be one of them, and we're also victim of our own nature. We can try to resist it, but what will arise from our extinction ? Maybe something better, we have no special purpose nor duty.

No. We are the first species that can understand the consequences of our doings, and thus we are fully accountable. Saying that maybe something better will arise is wishful thinking.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#166

Post by towaway15463 »

trinsic2 wrote: post #162
loceng wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you're being so downvoted, must be people who haven't read Darwin or know about mass extinction from things like floods and meteorites - like that wiped out most dinosaurs. If we don't get society under "control" - and not through the ideological-tyrannical effort underway globally currently - but through voluntarily taking action through adequate organization of listening to and following competent lead…

I gather that tyrannical forces are something our species will continue to deal with for our evolution. I'd counter that tyrannical forces actually spurs humanity in the right direction. I say this because I have notice over the years that our species have been dealing with this problem since the birth of mankind. This is an observation, not a plug for tyranny.

Tyranny generally results in stagnation. It’s a bottleneck. All the power and decisions reduced to a single individual or group of individuals leaves no room for experimentation and growth. Progress becomes single threaded instead of parallel.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#167

Post by bhaak »

sp332 wrote: post #50
colanderman wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> [Zaphod] had seen the whole universe stretching to infinity around him—everything. And with it had come the clear and extraordinary knowledge that he was the most important thing in it. —Douglas Adams

Missing some important context on that one lol. The "real" version of that device drives people crazy with their insignificance. The one Zaphod goes into is in a simulation designed for him, where he really is the most important thing.

Even then I never got the nagging feeling out of my head that Zaphod would have had the same reaction in the real device. That's why it was even remotely believable at all.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#169

Post by TYPE_FASTER »

jerome-jh wrote: post #163

Unfortunately sending every millionaire into space for them to realize this is an hostile environment is taking us closer to earth destruction. Sorry to be sour about this, but people could just teach themself astronomy and realize there is no place out there to welcome us when the earth will be on the verge to become unlivable. Even assuming a colony of a dozen women/men is ever established on the moon or Mars, they…

Honestly, I had a really similar reaction to watching The Expanse.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#170

Post by therealdrag0 »

towaway15463 wrote: post #161
pohl wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, there's no life without death, but you're kind of underselling the Anthropocene Mass Extinction a wee bit, aren't you?

Not really. As sentimental and time limited beings we don’t want to see things go extinct since we won’t be able to experience them again or be around to see what comes next. But in the larger picture we’re actually quite tame when it comes to extinction events. At least we are making an effort to limit the damage we’re doing. Space rocks and chemistry can’t do that. In the long run other species will evolve and mayb…

If we domesticate the majority of the planet nothing substantial will evolve without us controlling it. We have replaced a large percentage of wild organic biomass with us and our pets and cattle and farms.
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