This Will Give You A Little Perspective.............

Loads a little slow and goofy.
http://htwins.net/scale2/scale2.swf?bordercolor=white

The best comment I heard that gave me perspective was if you took every grain of sand on earth's beaches there would still be more stars in the Universe. The scale and size of the universe is really unfathomable. It' inevitable there is life outside of this solar system, potentially civilizations that are millions of years old and that is a scary thought.

Richard S. wrote:It' inevitable there is life outside of this solar system, potentially civilizations that are millions of years old and that is a scary thought.

I wonder what their taxes are like.

Mind boggling!

I have a similar one but it's just the micro stuff

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/ ... lls/scale/

jpete wrote:I have a similar one but it's just the micro stuff

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/ ... lls/scale/

The latest Nova on PBS is about the periodic scale, they had a microscope that could see single atoms. The perspective there was if you were looking at the entire US on your TV screen it would be like being able to zoom in on a bug on a blade of grass.

They were looking bronze from a bell. It was amazing how uniform the pattern of copper and tin atoms were.

Yes its very interesting to think about intelligent life other than our own. Not only is there the obsticle of great distances that are most probably between us and other life, but you have to factor in time too. Its possible that life came to be and then was taken out of existence from self annihalation or other cosmic catastophy even before us. Human kind is what a couple million years old? only a blink in cosmic time. Our sun is 4.5 or so billion years old? while the universe is 13 billion.. I watched a show that demonstrated life coming to be and then going out of existence at different times and in different places in the universe.

Its like an undefined number of light bulbs turning on and then off for 2 seconds at a random time inside of year - inside of an area the size of the United States. Kinda bleak

Richard S. wrote:

jpete wrote:I have a similar one but it's just the micro stuff

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/ ... lls/scale/

The latest Nova on PBS is about the periodic scale, they had a microscope that could see single atoms. The perspective there was if you were looking at the entire US on your TV screen it would be like being able to zoom in on a bug on a blade of grass.

They were looking bronze from a bell. It was amazing how uniform the pattern of copper and tin atoms were.

I've got it on the DVR. Haven't watched it yet.

Lightning wrote:
Its like an undefined number of light bulbs turning on and then off for 2 seconds at a random time inside of year - inside of an area the size of the United States. Kinda bleak

The thing that really made me think was what if there was a civilization that hasn't been in existence in a blink of eye but instead for a million years. Imagine the technology of such a society. You have to wonder if they show up here and look at us like just bunch of dumb ants and use ET's version or Raid. There was a physicist discussing this on the one show and to paraphrase, "If they have the technology to get here and they are aggressive it's not going to be like the movies, it's going to be like a caveman throwing rocks trying to fight the US military".

Richard S. wrote:The thing that really made me think was what if there was a civilization that hasn't been in existence in a blink of eye but instead for a million years.

I think the chances are very small. I have read that there have been about 30 billion species on earth; and only one has advanced intelligence. That's a 30 billion to one shot. Then, of course there is the distance involved meaning travel for thousands of years.

franco b wrote: That's a 30 billion to one shot. Then, of course there is the distance involved meaning travel for thousands of years.

Franco I've read estimates of up to 1 trillion stars in the Milky Way alone. For arguments sake lets say each star had 8 planets, that's 8 trillion planets and of course we aren't counting moons some of which could dwarf earth. The estimates for galaxies range in the hundred of billions that are observable and some of them are enormous compared to ours and could have a hundred trillion stars. See where this going? The stars alone even before we get into the number of planets and moons that could potentially support life is an absolutely astronomical number. You're 30 billion to 1 shot is starting to look like a pretty small number isn't it?

FYI if you could travel at the speed of light, or 186,282 miles per second, you could cross the Milky way end to end in about 100,000 years. The closest solar system is nearly 5 light years away. The distances are astronomical too.

Having said that if you had civilization that was advancing for 1 million years perhaps they might have some tricks up their sleeve? Imagine where we are now and even how much advancement there has been in the last 100 years alone. As you gain more knowledge it's a multiplying effect similar to how computers double their speed every year. Where would humans be in 1 million years if we are still here?

in the bottom of a long black shoe......yeah-ohh yeaah........?

Poconoeagle wrote:in the bottom of a long black shoe......yeah-ohh yeaah........?

"Long glass tube", I thought? 6565 IIRC.

I think the 30 billion to 1 shot idea is a little pessimistic Of course the other way to look at it is that there was a 100 % chance for intelligent life - if life started and if given time for evolution. We are living proof

And I think the conditions are right for life to get started in countless places across the universe. But the vast distances and timing prevent us from discovering them. I'm sure they are thinking the same thing lol

Lightning wrote:I think the 30 billion to 1 shot idea is a little pessimistic Of course the other way to look at it is that there was a 100 % chance for intelligent life - if life started and if given time for evolution. We are living proof

And I think the conditions are right for life to get started in countless places across the universe. But the vast distances and timing prevent us from discovering them. I'm sure they are thinking the same thing lol

Yes there is an axiom that states that if a thing is possible for something to happen, it will, given enough time.

Our species needed over 4 billion years to emerge and is only about 100 thousand years old, or less. A blink in time compared to the age of other species that are now extinct. We also carry a lot of instinctual baggage that could very well cause our own extinction. We have had evolutionary theory for over 150 years and still almost nobody believes it except to give it lip service and ignore the implications. Maybe a zoologist from another planet could study our species and let us know what it is. Intelligent life lasting a million years is a longer shot still.