Spaceship Earth

Free discussion of anything human or divine ~ Philosophy, Religion and Spirituality

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Aah, some great posts guys. Nathan, I was LMAO when I read your post. And Nuk, although I thank you for raising the excellent point, it makes no difference whatsoever.

Fist, as Edge said, absolutely mind-boggling. And MM, doesn't "planet" mean wanderer? ;)

Yep it never ceases to amaze me. Whatever turns out to be real, whether we're HLT's rotating petri dish, (which I quite like, and find most likely) or some divinely created or inspired form, (and does it really matter?) the simple truth is that the world is an amazing and beautiful place, and one we're only barely understanding so far.

I'll join you in that toast Matrix Man, with the greatest of pleasure. :)

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Fist - great links!
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Post by Kymbierlee »

Words of a true philosopher....
Space is big. REALLY big. You just can't believe how vastly, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think its a long walk down the street to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space......
Douglas Adams, The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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:LOLS:

I've always loved that section. :D

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Post by matrixman »

Yeah, no argument about space being BIG, but I thought we were talking about Plan--um, Spaceship Earth. Which has nice BIG IMAX theatres, which (as far as I'm aware) do not exist anywhere else in the universe, and that are watched by creatures that also don't exist anywhere else.
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:LOLS:

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Post by Fist and Faith »

Kymbierlee wrote:Words of a true philosopher....
Space is big. REALLY big. You just can't believe how vastly, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think its a long walk down the street to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space......
Douglas Adams, The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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:haha: :LOLS: Thanks, Kym. I know I'm an idiot for not having read those books long ago. Just never got to them. But soon! Yeah, that's it, I'll read them soon. That's the ticket!
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What? Can't believe you haven't read them yet. Get to it. How can you go around insisting everybody reads some other books and still be so dreadfully under-read yourself? ;)

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Post by matrixman »

Just to further annoy everyone with my IMAX fetish: I caught a show on the Discovery channel a couple of days ago that took a behind-the-scenes look at the IMAX technology and showcased some of the most incredible IMAX theatres in the world today.

France has a totally wicked IMAX theatre that uses two of the huge projectors! One shows the movie on the regular front screen, while the other shows its part of the picture onto a screen underneath the floor where the audience sits! The floor is made of glass so people can see the image right beneath their feet. They can pretend they're suspended in mid-air above a forest or Niagara Falls as the movie does a fly-by. Crazy! :D
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Never been to an IMax showing. There are a couple of them here and there in SA (or were) but I've never got around to it. :lol:

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Post by Fist and Faith »

Avatar wrote:What? Can't believe you haven't read them yet. Get to it. How can you go around insisting everybody reads some other books and still be so dreadfully under-read yourself? ;)
Do as I say, not as I do! Troublemaker!!! :x

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:Hail: Yes Magister. :Hail:

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Post by ur-bane »

The universe...and our "Spaceship Earth" are truly awe-inspiring to say the least.
But I don't associate the awe of beauty with the awe of unlikeliness. Why is it so unlikely? Because our limited human minds say it is so?

I tend to swing toward the "We are not alone" end of the spectrum.
Just look at Edge's Hubble images......all those galaxies with all those potential suns and potential life-supporting worlds......and that's just one tiny glimpse in one direction.
Everytime I look up at the stars, I wonder how many eyes are seeking through space for a world with the possibility of life that just may happen across our galaxy in their observation of space billions of light years away.

But I guess that is just adding more awe to the awe. ;)
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Post by safetyjedi »

Having a degree in microbiology, it is also awe inspiring to look at the inside of a cell, and the complexity of cellular functions. It is mind boggling. There is beauty to be found everywhere if you only look for it. I believe that we and our universe are wonderfully created.
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safetyjedi wrote:Having a degree in microbiology
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safetyjedi wrote:There is beauty to be found everywhere if you only look for it.
On this, I strongly agree. Very strongly.

Oh, Ur-Bane, even if we are not alone, it's still bloody unlikely, I think. The incredible conjunction of matter, energy, and timing that makes it all possible, the sheer immensity of space, the tiny bubble of atmosphere floating through it in defianc of all probability, awesome indeed.

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Post by ur-bane »

While I see the quality of awe....(as I feel it myself)...I still don't find it unlikely.
Rather, I find it very likely that life exists elsewhere in the universe. Why should life be limited to our planet?

Sure, a bunch of conditions need to be met for the formation of life, but why do we find it so unlikely that those conditions couldn't have been met elsewhere, especially when considering the immensity of the universe?

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No no, I think you misunderstand me. It's not the fact that, if those elements combined one, there is no reason they shouldn't do so again, (which I agree with), it's the fact that they combined at all that so amazes me.

The amount of synchronicity required for it to happen is just mind-boggling. I mean, it's mind-boggling to realise the "unlikeliness" of any historical event, of the interplay of a huge number of factors that goes into something as simple as two people meeting. When you expand that into a universal scale...well, the mind boggles. :D

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Post by ur-bane »

Avatar wrote:No no, I think you misunderstand me. It's not the fact that, if those elements combined one, there is no reason they shouldn't do so again, (which I agree with), it's the fact that they combined at all that so amazes me.
That, my friend, is exactly how I see it. It certainly is mind-boggling. But I guess 3 randoms make an order. ;) Ummm...or is it 3 lefts make a right....
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Post by Avatar »

The second option makes more sense. Three randoms just make a fourth random in the way that I look at it. ;)

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