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Star Just Ate a Planet, and It's Not Done Yet

nytimes.com

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Re: Star Just Ate a Planet, and It's Not Done Yet

#41

Post by altmanaltman »

owlninja wrote: post #7

I love stories like this. A subtle reminder how inconsequential our actions are on this planet in the grand, unplanned scheme. I look forward to reading HN with my breakfast each morning then going to a job that helps me raise a family and have fun on the weekends. I read stories of war, corruption, sadistic leaders, and great suffering. I've learned to appreciate the joys of life and have come to terms that we are n…

The star is also pretty insignificant compared to the whole universe to be honest. Almost everything is at that scale.

And I mean okay, alien intelligence life must be very smart and not contact us because we are so evil and petty and self involved etc. And every single living species we encounter is also the same. Why are we grandstanding these aliens? They are likley sipping coffee in their corner of universe and wondering man why do we keep doing all this nonsense when we are so insignificant etc. That is far more likely to me than aliens who know we exist but willingly stay away because we are humans.

Re: Star Just Ate a Planet, and It's Not Done Yet

#43

Post by altmanaltman »

bellowsgulch wrote: post #15
owlninja wrote: post #7

I love stories like this. A subtle reminder how inconsequential our actions are on this planet in the grand, unplanned scheme. I look forward to reading HN with my breakfast each morning then going to a job that helps me raise a family and have fun on the weekends. I read stories of war, corruption, sadistic leaders, and great suffering. I've learned to appreciate the joys of life and have come to terms that we are n…

> A subtle reminder how inconsequential our actions are on this planet in the grand, unplanned scheme. I don't like that our culture has developed statements like this. Every single action you make on planet Earth is more consequential and impactful than the countless parsecs of worthless unobtainable space dust that astrophysicists and science promoters like to glaze over. Space is nothing compared to the unfathomab…

[flagged]

Re: Star Just Ate a Planet, and It's Not Done Yet

#44

Post by bigDinosaur »

Waterluvian wrote: post #22
owlninja wrote: post #7

I love stories like this. A subtle reminder how inconsequential our actions are on this planet in the grand, unplanned scheme. I look forward to reading HN with my breakfast each morning then going to a job that helps me raise a family and have fun on the weekends. I read stories of war, corruption, sadistic leaders, and great suffering. I've learned to appreciate the joys of life and have come to terms that we are n…

Just don’t think about all the suffering you or I could ease with the money we spend on a “good time.” We’re not the good guys. We rationalize the inescapable selfishness placed there by ages of evolution.

If having a 'good time' makes me a bad guy then I'm sorry to say but I'm okay with that. I, of course, don't actually agree that that's true.

Re: Star Just Ate a Planet, and It's Not Done Yet

#45

Post by MichaelRo »

Waterluvian wrote: post #22
owlninja wrote: post #7

I love stories like this. A subtle reminder how inconsequential our actions are on this planet in the grand, unplanned scheme. I look forward to reading HN with my breakfast each morning then going to a job that helps me raise a family and have fun on the weekends. I read stories of war, corruption, sadistic leaders, and great suffering. I've learned to appreciate the joys of life and have come to terms that we are n…

Just don’t think about all the suffering you or I could ease with the money we spend on a “good time.” We’re not the good guys. We rationalize the inescapable selfishness placed there by ages of evolution.

>> Just don’t think about all the suffering you or I could ease with the money we spend on a “good time.”

Look man. I am not responsible for any random person or creature that suffers in this world. Lamentations like this ("ease all the suffering") originate in a primate brain that hasn't yet processed that we're no longer a tribe of 100 but there's 10 billion people in this world. Objectively you don't have resources to help more than a few people. And morally, you aren't obligated either.

And btw, I actually do help a person in need, every month with a substantial amount of money. Unlike the occasional act of kindness, helping a complete stranger on a recurring basis is a much harder nut to swallow. Makes you progress really quickly from superficial platitudes like the one you said to the hard, cold reality of the fact that you're losing resources and resources are finite. And that on top of half my income that the state grabs and mostly hands out as welfare anyway. So don't tell me I'm not paying to ease suffering, want or not, I pay through my teeth.

Re: Star Just Ate a Planet, and It's Not Done Yet

#47

Post by kannanvijayan »

altmanaltman wrote: post #43
bellowsgulch wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A subtle reminder how inconsequential our actions are on this planet in the grand, unplanned scheme. I don't like that our culture has developed statements like this. Every single action you make on planet Earth is more consequential and impactful than the countless parsecs of worthless unobtainable space dust that astrophysicists and science promoters like to glaze over. Space is nothing compared to the unfathomab…

[flagged]

The feeling one gets from observing and thinking of cosmic scale events, and the feeling one gets from eating a really good risotto, and the feeling one gets from watching through a microscope as a paramecium goes about the business of survival... they're all rich and meaningful in their own way.

The existence of one doesn't diminish the meaning of the others.

As an addendum: you may not realize that your response - in a roundabout and somewhat ironic way - serves to support the argument you are responding to.

Here we are, learning of a planet getting swallowed up by a star, and yet the focus of your argument? The ego of one of those insignificant little humans that are dwarfed in scale by those cosmic events.

Re: Star Just Ate a Planet, and It's Not Done Yet

#48

Post by yongjik »

excalibur wrote: post #13
im3w1l wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a pretty significant chance that ours will be a starfaring civilization and that our children will reshape the very heavens.

Our kids can't change a tire.

Sounds fine to me. Why would you need tires in interstellar space?

Re: Star Just Ate a Planet, and It's Not Done Yet

#50

Post by Larrikin »

dylan604 wrote: post #28
bellowsgulch wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A subtle reminder how inconsequential our actions are on this planet in the grand, unplanned scheme. I don't like that our culture has developed statements like this. Every single action you make on planet Earth is more consequential and impactful than the countless parsecs of worthless unobtainable space dust that astrophysicists and science promoters like to glaze over. Space is nothing compared to the unfathomab…

You can think they are old and pointless, but that's you just brushing off the fact that the universe is much much older than however old you think these ideas are. The entirety of the human species from its beginning to its eventual ending is merely a blip of time for the universe. You can argue that makes it that much more special, but so what? To the universe, there very well could have been numerous other special…

So why bother posting?
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