why?

[Squirtgunsquirter]

Why are sunspots dark? Shouldn't they be brighter? The inside being hotter?

How can we use a telescope to look back in time? At another Galaxy I get, it takes light time to travel here, so we see old light. But back towards the beginning of the universe? The first thing to leave an explosion is light. Next, blast wave front, the air transmitted shockwave, and finally, debris.

If we are standing on the congealed debris, that light is WAY long gone.

Why did we all evolve from one thing? If one thing could crawl out of the ocean and flop around, why couldn't lots of different things? I don't buy evolution, it makes no sense to me.

Why do we have stone tools and fur ponchos for most of human history, then wham! Sumeria and sophisticated technology and math and the oldest known written story? Cave art aside.


I'm sick. The cough syrup is kicking in.

 

[Maverick]

My laugh for the day lol

 

[jontte]

 

[DrHenley]

Why is whatever is beyond the boundaries of the universe not part of the universe?

 

[Gazrok]

I still think it's funny that we still think of our "known" Universe as the whole shabang.

It's actually pretty ridiculous when you think about it. All throughout our history, we were confident of the boundaries of existence, until of course, it kept proving to get bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and bigger....etc. Villages, nations, continents, planets, solar systems, galaxies, galaxy clusters, etc.

Who is to say that our "known" Universe isn't actually just one more aggregation of galactic clusters, and that yet another group of such, exists beyond our detectable range, and yet others beyond that, etc.

Who is to say that our "big bang" wasn't just one of many? Perhaps these big bang events are as common as neurons firing in our brains?

We humans can be so smug in our ignorance.

 

[jontte]

are we alone here? hope not..do they wanna make contact with us,not likely,at the moment we seem to be way to dangerous as species..

 

[Gazrok]

That's the rub. The Universe (as we know it even)...could literally be TEEMING with life, but due to the vast distances involved, and the assumed progression of tech, it's extremely likely that only a very small number of sentient lifeforms have mastered interstellar travel. Even then, they'd have to be looking for signs and signals that fit their current tech level.

Example, if you turn on an old, analog TV, not hooked up to cable, will you get anything? Nope. And that's just a matter of decades. Now apply that to tech detection methods for millions of species, in different levels of tech advancement, separated by billions and billions of miles in all directions.

We've found hints of life all over just our own solar system. I'm betting in my lifetime, we'll confirm microbes in moon ice, martian ice, and life in oceans on some moons. So I very much doubt we're alone, since our system is fairly typical, so these conditions are present elsewhere. (nor are we even sure that life couldn't exist in other ways, and conditions). We are constantly surprised where we find life.

 

[lonewolf]

got enough problems on this small rock in space to worry about other universes and other beings.

 

[Gazrok]

Star Trek actually had a neat idea....that our beacon to the other spacefaring races would be breaking the Warp barrier (faster than the speed of light for non-Trekkies). Many think our first atomic explosion was that same beacon. (and maybe it was, for at least one or some races), who knows?

So again, it could just be a matter of us not quite having the tech for the signal another race is looking for.

Other than distance, TIME is another factor. Civilizations far away from us, could have come and gone before we even learned to make fire. Still others may be at the fire stage themselves, so our signals to them go unheard. Yet another may be far beyond using radio, etc. signals, so it would be like us hunting for an 8 track player.

 

[brandx]

Why are sunspots dark? Shouldn't they be brighter? The inside being hotter?

How can we use a telescope to look back in time? At another Galaxy I get, it takes light time to travel here, so we see old light. But back towards the beginning of the universe? The first thing to leave an explosion is light. Next, blast wave front, the air transmitted shockwave, and finally, debris.

If we are standing on the congealed debris, that light is WAY long gone.

Why did we all evolve from one thing? If one thing could crawl out of the ocean and flop around, why couldn't lots of different things? I don't buy evolution, it makes no sense to me.

Why do we have stone tools and fur ponchos for most of human history, then wham! Sumeria and sophisticated technology and math and the oldest known written story? Cave art aside.


I'm sick. The cough syrup is kicking in.

I think you might need to take a nap.

 

[brandx]

Star Trek actually had a neat idea....that our beacon to the other spacefaring races would be breaking the Warp barrier (faster than the speed of light for non-Trekkies). Many think our first atomic explosion was that same beacon. (and maybe it was, for at least one or some races), who knows?

So again, it could just be a matter of us not quite having the tech for the signal another race is looking for.

Other than distance, TIME is another factor. Civilizations far away from us, could have come and gone before we even learned to make fire. Still others may be at the fire stage themselves, so our signals to them go unheard. Yet another may be far beyond using radio, etc. signals, so it would be like us hunting for an 8 track player.

You have quite an imagination there.

 

[lonewolf]

and a cold shower!

 

[brandx]

got enough problems on this small rock in space to worry about other universes and other beings.

Not just here but in my own freaking house.

 

[brandx]

I still think it's funny that we still think of our "known" Universe as the whole shabang.

It's actually pretty ridiculous when you think about it. All throughout our history, we were confident of the boundaries of existence, until of course, it kept proving to get bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and bigger....etc. Villages, nations, continents, planets, solar systems, galaxies, galaxy clusters, etc.

Who is to say that our "known" Universe isn't actually just one more aggregation of galactic clusters, and that yet another group of such, exists beyond our detectable range, and yet others beyond that, etc.

Who is to say that our "big bang" wasn't just one of many? Perhaps these big bang events are as common as neurons firing in our brains?

We humans can be so smug in our ignorance.

Oh, I'm sure there exists other forms of life somewhere, but I am just trying to exist in my life the way it is here and now. No brain time for contemplating all the possibilities.

 

[lonewolf]

I've got enough things to prepare for on this world without worrying about little green men from wherever

 

[brandx]

Why is whatever is beyond the boundaries of the universe not part of the universe?

Isn't the "boundary of the universe" an oxymoron? (you know the combination of a moron and an ox).

 

[user 7704]

Why are sunspots dark? Shouldn't they be brighter? The inside being hotter?

How can we use a telescope to look back in time? At another Galaxy I get, it takes light time to travel here, so we see old light. But back towards the beginning of the universe? The first thing to leave an explosion is light. Next, blast wave front, the air transmitted shockwave, and finally, debris.

If we are standing on the congealed debris, that light is WAY long gone.

Why did we all evolve from one thing? If one thing could crawl out of the ocean and flop around, why couldn't lots of different things? I don't buy evolution, it makes no sense to me.

Why do we have stone tools and fur ponchos for most of human history, then wham! Sumeria and sophisticated technology and math and the oldest known written story? Cave art aside.


I'm sick. The cough syrup is kicking in.

Send me some of that syrup. Sounds fun.

 

[Gazrok]

You have quite an imagination there.

Sometimes, I think I'm the only one looking at it logically....

Every single time we think we've found the furthest object, in time, we find more.

As more time passes, we find more and more evidence of life-sustaining conditions in pockets on other worlds, even in our own solar system. Going by evidence, not imagination, our system seems rather common, so it's logical to assume these conditions are possible on many other worlds.

Indeed, our own planet finder projects seem to suggest just that.

I don't think it's my imagination at all. It's really just logical deduction. With all those worlds out there, the chances of other lifeforms, and the chances of some of them being sentient, is just far too great, from a sheer statistical standpoint.

 

[Gazrok]

I get having enough here and now to deal with...believe me.

These are thoughts I've held for many, many years....so I can kind of rattle them off easily enough.

On some things, I love being right, when folks like Stephen Hawkings are wrong...(i.e. I've said String Theory was bunk the first time I heard it....same with Dark Matter).

 

[TexasFreedom]

G, get some sleep.

The 'so common' factor is part of the problem. The earth is unusually boring. Just the right distance from the center of our galaxy so we aren't torn apart. Just the right distance from an incredibly stable star. No other odd planets to destroy our atmosphere/orbit.

It's almost like all of this was put together on purpose and by design! Go figure... (or just read your Bible!)

 

[Gazrok]

Why are sunspots dark? Shouldn't they be brighter? The inside being hotter?

Sunspots are actually cooler, due to the intense magnetic fields in them.

How can we use a telescope to look back in time? At another Galaxy I get, it takes light time to travel here, so we see old light. But back towards the beginning of the universe? The first thing to leave an explosion is light. Next, blast wave front, the air transmitted shockwave, and finally, debris.

You seem to have explained this for yourself. But yes, though light is fast, the distances in space are just hard to fathom. So yeah, we have ways of figuring out how "old" the light is. (though often, I really question whether or not this is always correct).

If we are standing on the congealed debris, that light is WAY long gone.

No, what CAUSED it, could be gone, but that light is still traveling our way, even billions of years later.

Why did we all evolve from one thing? If one thing could crawl out of the ocean and flop around, why couldn't lots of different things? I don't buy evolution, it makes no sense to me.

Lots of things did crawl out, and evolve, etc. Here's a pretty decent article on it that may help:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/evolution-out-of-the-sea/

Why do we have stone tools and fur ponchos for most of human history, then wham! Sumeria and sophisticated technology and math and the oldest known written story? Cave art aside.

Technological advancement isn't linear, it's exponential. With more and more advances, new ones happen faster and faster. If you would have told me as a kid, that I could carry around something in my pocket, that could answer any question I might have, allow me to talk to someone on the other side of the planet, take instant photos, , and have a library with me, etc., I would have assumed you were mad.

Now, we don't even think twice about it.

 

[Gazrok]

It's almost like all of this was put together on purpose and by design! Go figure... (or just read your Bible!)

Oddly, I don't rule out the idea of intelligent design (as it seems neither more or less absurd than random chance). But to assume we are the only ones....what a waste of space!

 

[Gazrok]

Basically, whether physics, etc. I have an issue with the two extremes of infinity and nothingness. They really don't seem to exist in the observable Universe, yet they keep wanting to use these two concepts....when really, the REAL answer when these two are used, is that they simply don't know.

It's a cop out.

Like what happens at the center of a black hole, or how big really IS the Universe.

Well, if you walked the Earth's surface, it would SEEM infinite, but eventually, you'd be back where you started. I have a feeling most things in reality are much the same.

 

[TexasFreedom]

SGS,

I've had the 'evolution makes no sense when you apply science' discussion here. Too many here are deer-in-headlights stuck on evolution... or will not accept that there is one true God and Creator.

For example, intelligent design. If someone says an alien created us, my challenge would be who created them? Eventually you run out of aliens... but for those who reject God, they have to find another viable (in their view) option.

 

[Gazrok]

Yes, but it does not have to be YOUR God.... That's the issue, when folks have the deer-in-headlights (as you put it) view on it being THEIR God as the source.

As for evolution. Look at your fingernails. Look at the appendix. Look at our vestigial tails. To deny evolution is simply denying the evidence all around us. I know we'll have to agree to disagree on it....but evolution does not necessarily have to be exclusive of intelligent design. Such an intelligence could have set things in motion as well, of course. I personally don't put much stock in the idea, but I can't deny the possibility either.

I just have an issue with folks who insist their God over another, when all are equally just as plausible or just as absurd, to an individual depending on their beliefs... (i.e. to a true believer, others' Gods are absurd imposters).

 

[TexasFreedom]

G, I know we're getting off topic, but a question for you.

Can God lie? Does God lie?

And again, when you say 'evolution', please clarify if you mean microevolution or macroevolution. I don't know a single person who denies microevolution. A greyhound has the same ancestors as the great dane or the boston terrier. Macro evolution is when a chicken lays an egg and a mouse comes out of it. Yes, that's a bit absurd of an example, but it explains the gist of it. New body functions created out of nothing.

 

[DrHenley]

When asked how random events can lead to the synthesis of a complex biological molecule like an enzyme, evolutionists like to bring up the "Infinite Monkey Theorem" which goes something like this: If you give a monkey a typewriter, and he types random keys for an infinitely long time, eventually he'll type a Shakespearean sonnet.

This is right up my alley because it involves two areas in which I have some expertise: Enzymes, and statistics.

OK, let's break that down.

Shakespearean Sonnet #106 has 582 characters, including punctuation. The total number of different characters is 31, which includes the alphabet plus comma, period, space, semicolon, and apostrophe.
Alpha-amylase, an enzyme I worked with, has 496 amino acids. There are 21 different amino acids. In order for an enzyme to fold correctly, the amino acids have to be in exactly the correct order. So the "Infinite Monkey Theorem" is roughly appropriate.

Amino acids come in two flavors: Levorotatory (L), and Dextrorotatory (D)

Letters of the alphabet come in two flavors: lower case, and upper case.

Enzymes are composed of almost all levorotatory amino acids. This corresponds to a sonnet needed to have the correct case for each letter. In the analysis we'll ignore this aspect however, just to make the math a little easier.

Now, we obviously need more than one monkey with a typewriter if we want to approximate enzyme synthesis which can't just be allowed to occur in one spot, but everywhere there are amino acids that can combine.
So let's cover the surface of the earth with monkeys and typewriters. One monkey and typewriter for each square foot of the surface of the earth. That's 5,490,000,000,000,000 monkeys with typewriters. (5.49 quadrillion)

And let's say they can each type one letter per second.

With 31 different characters, the possible number of 582 character sequences of 31 unique characters is 31^582, or approximately 9.39x10^867

For a single monkey, the probability of typing Sonnet #106 in a single try is 1 in 9.39x10^867
It takes 582 seconds to type 582 characters, which is 9.7 minutes. So if we let the monkey type for an infinite amount of time, he will, on average, type Sonnet #106 once every 6.93x10^862 years.

But we don't just have one monkey, we have 5.49 quadrillion monkeys. So if we put them all to work, we can get Sonnet #106 once every 1.26x10^847 years.

The oldest estimate of the age of the universe is 13.8 billion years. That's 1.38x10^10 years.

So the probability of our 5.49 quadrillion monkeys typing Sonnet #106 JUST ONCE during the entire age of the universe is one in 4.7x10^828

Or, to put that in perspective: One chance in 470,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

In other words...

*Somebody* didn't do the math...

 

[jontte]

nature have time,all the time in the world...and I understand some you dudes and dudettes belive,some even belive the book is nothing but true,written
by man,different versions over centuries,but okay,have nothing against it,don't try to take it away from anyone...
what I find strange indeed is,if I say I think and belive in the evolutinary process,some,not all, comes and try to convert me to think into creationism...
any particular reason for that??

 

[DrHenley]

I don't quite fall into either camp completely jontte. You could say I am a "Creationist" because I believe God created. Exactly how, I don't know. The Bible just has a very rough outline that I believe is true, but it uses some "literary devices" to communicate to audiences that knew nothing about things like genetics and geological ages. So it communicated in their language in ways they could understand.

 

[user 5745]

Yes, but it does not have to be YOUR God.... That's the issue, when folks have the deer-in-headlights (as you put it) view on it being THEIR God as the source.

As for evolution. Look at your fingernails. Look at the appendix. Look at our vestigial tails. To deny evolution is simply denying the evidence all around us. I know we'll have to agree to disagree on it....but evolution does not necessarily have to be exclusive of intelligent design. Such an intelligence could have set things in motion as well, of course. I personally don't put much stock in the idea, but I can't deny the possibility either.

I just have an issue with folks who insist their God over another, when all are equally just as plausible or just as absurd, to an individual depending on their beliefs... (i.e. to a true believer, others' Gods are absurd imposters).

Yep, everyone's an atheist about other people's god(s). I'm fascinated by the notion that Judaism and those Christian sects that adhere to the Ten Commandments are not monotheistic but monolatristic, in that IHVH states explicitly in the First Commandment that there are other gods but that it must come first. All fascinating stuff.