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Here We Go Again
June 7, 2020 at 6:47 am
Astronomers Find Exoplanet. Or Maybe Not.
I get weary when people lose their collective shit over the discovery of exoplanets. I'm all for expanding the limits of human knowledge, but come on. The common reaction to stories like this is, 'Great! We can go live there!'
No. We can't. Not now, not ever. The human race hasn't got time to get there, the resources to get there, or the will to get there. Maybe Mars, maybe someday. But planets hundreds or - in this case - thousands of light years away are forever out of reach.
Then again, it might not even be there:
Quote:Right now the researchers say it’s 85% probable KOI-456.04 is an actual planet. But it could still be an artifact of Kepler’s instruments or the new analysis.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
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RE: Here We Go Again
June 7, 2020 at 7:22 am
As out of reach to us as the new world was to european settlers, until it wasn't.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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RE: Here We Go Again
June 7, 2020 at 7:27 am
(June 7, 2020 at 7:22 am)The Grand Nudger Wrote: As out of reach to us as the new world was to european settlers, until it wasn't.
The New World was NEVER out of reach to European settlers.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
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RE: Here We Go Again
June 7, 2020 at 7:29 am
(This post was last modified: June 7, 2020 at 7:34 am by The Grand Nudger.)
It very much was. The ships that we used to explore and colonize this continent were the spacecraft of their day, using the latest materials and methods, and the highest quality labor. It would not have been possible before we had all that lined up. We eventually managed to bring the bar down so that any old joe in a mass produced dingy could make it. It might also be the case with other habitable planets. The distance is greater, and the trip even more hostile, but it's a difference in the scale of the problem, not the type.
It's only food for thought. I don't think that you or I are going to see it, or our children, or our children's children. I just wouldn't rule us out as a species. We've been known to dive into problems like this.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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RE: Here We Go Again
June 7, 2020 at 7:32 am
Some of them walked. Other than a few hunting tools, no technology needed.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
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RE: Here We Go Again
June 7, 2020 at 8:31 am
(June 7, 2020 at 6:47 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Astronomers Find Exoplanet. Or Maybe Not.
I get weary when people lose their collective shit over the discovery of exoplanets. I'm all for expanding the limits of human knowledge, but come on. The common reaction to stories like this is, 'Great! We can go live there!'
No. We can't. Not now, not ever. The human race hasn't got time to get there, the resources to get there, or the will to get there. Maybe Mars, maybe someday. But planets hundreds or - in this case - thousands of light years away are forever out of reach.
Then again, it might not even be there:
Quote:Right now the researchers say it’s 85% probable KOI-456.04 is an actual planet. But it could still be an artifact of Kepler’s instruments or the new analysis.
Boru
We're so special that the aliens will come and rescue us.
I don't have an anger problem, I have an idiot problem.
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RE: Here We Go Again
June 7, 2020 at 8:48 am
(This post was last modified: June 7, 2020 at 8:50 am by The Grand Nudger.)
I'm sure we'd appreciate it if some strange cosmic process gave us a temporary land bridge from here to there, too, lol.
If it doesn't, we'll have to do what we did last time and build a shuttle to take us. I don't know if we'll make it, but I'm certain that we'll try. If the past is any indication..no amount of danger or misery and however slim the chance of success...we'll insist. It's an issue of logistics, not impossibility (or even improbability). We don't have the boat, we don't have the crew, but we do have a map. We've been here before.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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RE: Here We Go Again
June 7, 2020 at 11:50 am
It was possible at at least one point to walk from the Cape of Good Hope to Terra del Fuego. Some glaciers would have had to be negotiated, and I have always favored the kayak migration theory, but a person could have gone the distance without a boat if need be.
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RE: Here We Go Again
June 7, 2020 at 3:42 pm
It is impossible now, but forever? I don't think so.
We have an incomplete understanding of physics and what is possible technologically. FTL, in a way, is possible with stuff like the Alcubierre drive, and that's with the science we know of today. What won't we discover down the line in 10, 20 or 100 years?
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool." - Richard P. Feynman
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RE: Here We Go Again
June 7, 2020 at 5:21 pm
(This post was last modified: June 7, 2020 at 5:24 pm by ignoramus.)
(June 7, 2020 at 3:42 pm)Sal Wrote: It is impossible now, but forever? I don't think so.
We have an incomplete understanding of physics and what is possible technologically. FTL, in a way, is possible with stuff like the Alcubierre drive, and that's with the science we know of today. What won't we discover down the line in 10, 20 or 100 years?
Agree with all the above.
But we also have to acknowledge that one day, we may realise, through science and technology, why FTL is physically impossible in this universe.
When we hit that road, we'll realise then that there's no plan B.
Alchemists never gave up for centuries either!
We'll use up our resources and die out as a species long before going interstellar. (My favourite Fermi explanation why we haven't been visited. Also because we're xenopgobic assholes!@ lol)
No God, No fear.
Know God, Know fear.
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