For any of you comets out there, as you read this, Voyager one is actually leaving the heliosphere and is probably in interstellar space right now. What a plucky little craft….In some ways it’s one of our most amazing achievements…
Actually, thinking about the Voyagers kinda makes me dizzy…The way they used the gravity from all the planets to get energy to shoot to another one and beyond…Obviously there are people who are smarter than me…No need to be shy about that accomplishment…Sometimes humans are awesome….
Truly amazing. The solar wind strips the atmosphere from other planets… except ours, which happens to have life — and “coincidentally” a protective magnetic field. Then this same solar wind (harmful at first) becomes a barrier that shields us from other harmful interstellar radiation. It’s almost as if Someone designed it all…but nahhh. Must’ve happened all by accident.
Ragtime, with billions and billions of planets, and billions and billions of galaxies, of course, life is going to arise somewhere, even by chance alone! And the tortured, convoluted process by which it arose on Earth, is further proof it was not planned.
If it were by design, then why does UV radiation penetrate our atmosphere causing cancer? Why are there tsunamis and earthquakes that kill thousands? Why do asteroids smash into planets and threaten all life on Earth? Pretty poor design, if you ask me!
Keep in mind that other planets have magnetic fields (Jupiter’s is immense), that the Earth does lose atmosphere to the solar wind, and there is even some controversy over the role the magnetic field plays! See http://www.space.com/11187-earth-magnetic-field-solar-wind.html
Sorry, but intelligent design has no place in science— though it does apply to the wonderful Brewster Rockitt! :-)
@Astroman“of course life is going to arise somewhere even by chance alone”." Of course", nothing. So far, there’s no evidence that points to the fact that life is going to arise. (And by the way, when you say “even by chance alone”, what else are you thinking of to add to “chance”?) By the “billions of billions” arguement, there should “of course” be a planet where the elements combined to produce a working Toyota Prius, complete with full gas tank, odometer set to zero, and Toyota logo on the hood. You think I’m kidding, but I’m not. The human being is many, MANY times more complicated than a car and it even fixes itself and replicates! Just because you’re used to seeing it happen often doesn’t take away from the sheer awesomeness of the phenomena.
You of course bring up the old, “if there’s a God, why is there so much pain, suffering and death in the world?” According to the tradition to which we’ve been entrusted, God is not some cosmic butler waiting to hear a person’s every whim and keep him constantly fulfilled. In fact he has to maintain doubt as to his existence, in order to give people freedom of choice. Were there to be absolute certainty of God, there would be absent freedom to choose. God is enabling man to EARN a place near Him by wrestling with his base desires and outside influences and to instead choose an ethical path. To see innocents suffer and die is certainly incomprehensible to us, but we don’t often get to see the bigger picture. We take it on faith that things happen for the best in the final result.
And before you dismiss faith, you should realize that scientists rely on faith in what they believe just as much a so-called religious person.
Read “Betrayers of the Truth” by William Broad and Nicholas Wade.
Bilan almost 11 years ago
Kenny, didn’t they tell you not to fly kites in outer space!
Peabody-Martini almost 11 years ago
One irradiated spleen coming right up.
Varnes almost 11 years ago
For any of you comets out there, as you read this, Voyager one is actually leaving the heliosphere and is probably in interstellar space right now. What a plucky little craft….In some ways it’s one of our most amazing achievements…
Varnes almost 11 years ago
Actually, thinking about the Voyagers kinda makes me dizzy…The way they used the gravity from all the planets to get energy to shoot to another one and beyond…Obviously there are people who are smarter than me…No need to be shy about that accomplishment…Sometimes humans are awesome….
Kali39 almost 11 years ago
So where’s the barrier that gives you silver eyes?
Ragtime78rpm almost 11 years ago
Truly amazing. The solar wind strips the atmosphere from other planets… except ours, which happens to have life — and “coincidentally” a protective magnetic field. Then this same solar wind (harmful at first) becomes a barrier that shields us from other harmful interstellar radiation. It’s almost as if Someone designed it all…but nahhh. Must’ve happened all by accident.
jreckard almost 11 years ago
They call it Mariah.
crobinson019 almost 11 years ago
Ensign Kenny would benefit from a Kite Eating Tree…
Astroman007 almost 11 years ago
Ragtime, with billions and billions of planets, and billions and billions of galaxies, of course, life is going to arise somewhere, even by chance alone! And the tortured, convoluted process by which it arose on Earth, is further proof it was not planned.
If it were by design, then why does UV radiation penetrate our atmosphere causing cancer? Why are there tsunamis and earthquakes that kill thousands? Why do asteroids smash into planets and threaten all life on Earth? Pretty poor design, if you ask me!
Keep in mind that other planets have magnetic fields (Jupiter’s is immense), that the Earth does lose atmosphere to the solar wind, and there is even some controversy over the role the magnetic field plays! See http://www.space.com/11187-earth-magnetic-field-solar-wind.html
Sorry, but intelligent design has no place in science— though it does apply to the wonderful Brewster Rockitt! :-)
GoodQuestion Premium Member almost 11 years ago
Tim is always welcome to shoot the breeze here . . . ☻.Birthday nod to R. A. Heinlein, a man of many words and worlds . . ☺
emjaycee almost 11 years ago
This is going into my “Dictionary of Irreverent Scientific Definitions”. Thank you.
Ragtime78rpm almost 11 years ago
@ne7minder55You also (supposedly) were given a brain to know when to come in out of the sun — or at least to afford yourself some protection.
Ragtime78rpm almost 11 years ago
@Astroman“of course life is going to arise somewhere even by chance alone”." Of course", nothing. So far, there’s no evidence that points to the fact that life is going to arise. (And by the way, when you say “even by chance alone”, what else are you thinking of to add to “chance”?) By the “billions of billions” arguement, there should “of course” be a planet where the elements combined to produce a working Toyota Prius, complete with full gas tank, odometer set to zero, and Toyota logo on the hood. You think I’m kidding, but I’m not. The human being is many, MANY times more complicated than a car and it even fixes itself and replicates! Just because you’re used to seeing it happen often doesn’t take away from the sheer awesomeness of the phenomena.
You of course bring up the old, “if there’s a God, why is there so much pain, suffering and death in the world?” According to the tradition to which we’ve been entrusted, God is not some cosmic butler waiting to hear a person’s every whim and keep him constantly fulfilled. In fact he has to maintain doubt as to his existence, in order to give people freedom of choice. Were there to be absolute certainty of God, there would be absent freedom to choose. God is enabling man to EARN a place near Him by wrestling with his base desires and outside influences and to instead choose an ethical path. To see innocents suffer and die is certainly incomprehensible to us, but we don’t often get to see the bigger picture. We take it on faith that things happen for the best in the final result.
And before you dismiss faith, you should realize that scientists rely on faith in what they believe just as much a so-called religious person.
Read “Betrayers of the Truth” by William Broad and Nicholas Wade.
Ragtime78rpm almost 11 years ago
@msheflerI wasn’t at first arguing anything. I was simply marveling at the way things had been set up.“Methinks (you) doth protest too much”.