2012?

[Sever]

Well, yes, there is a time every year in the Earth's orbit around the sun that everything is lined up, except that a nearly perfect alignment like what is supposed to happen in 2012 only happens one every 26,000 years because the whole solar system wobbles slightly and it's a less straight line. I'm not saying that a hundredth of a degree is going to make a difference, but that's the argument this whole thing is based on. That and the "fact" that we're getting close to 2012 and "the whole world is seemingly going to hell." Can someone find out when the phrase "going to hell in a handbasket" was coined? I'm pretty sure it's old.

I was referring to the keyhole. Even with it coming so close, there's very little chance that it will actually pass through it. Also... I really don't think they can predict that well where it would land if there's such a tiny chance of it even hitting the keyhole. I mean, wouldn't it be easier to predict something that's going to happen sooner rather than later?

[Chakravanti]

There is always truth behind myth. I GUARANTEE you that dec 21 2912 will not be some magical date. but what I can tell you is that i that it if you study the science you come to realize that the probability of alien civilization developing interstellar travel and genetic manipulations anytime in the 10B years before we were but a spec of dust without consideration to anything that currently existed actually is higher than the imporabability. In fact, at this age of the universe, given that (something yet neither proven nor disproven by science making either/or 50/50 and this contingency a sub-contingency of that %50) interstellar and.or intergalactic travel faster-than-the-speed-of-light travel is technologically possible, then we must account that at such age, there is (within that %50 probability) a greater than %99 probability that we are infact a genetically engineered race product of an ancient alien interstellar/intergalactic species.

Note that this probability is base purely on 4 things:

Age of the universe
Time it takes a genetically engineered vs. naturally evolved species to occur.
Our knowledge of the size of the galaxy & the universe.
Our (lackthereof) knowledge about the laws of quantum & meta physics.

Note that by metaphysics I DO NOT refer to new age bullshit, i refer to physics on a scale we are only beginning to observe and calculate the properties thereof.

Nevermind that the theory and work of von Danniken has never been disproved scientifically, albiet, neither proven as such either; though some may argue wether or not the theories warrant further research among accredited circles.

IF alien life visited us early on or even (much more likely if they are present in our history) assisted in our development and evolution; then these astrologies laid down by ancient civilizations are really predictions upon an astrological calendar handed down unto a people of a foreign language who relied upon hieroglyphic languages vs. arbitrary symobls for the sake of posterity and understand by future civilization they were told would postdate them .

Then some predictions may in fact hold weight in that these being laid out a map of the future based on the precession of the equinoxes as a calander to these people to date their return or the time of cataclysmic events that they and their knowlegde of the universe, our planet, and their experience with the socio-economic development of civilization regardless of species knew to be inevitable.


In other words. Reality is but perception and belief. The meaning of life is just that: Meaning. It is the purpose of life to give life meaning. Stop fucking worrying about the apocolypse. IF ancient civilizations knew something then what they are trying to say is focus on what your life means now because when the time comes if you aren't ready becuase you won't accept the truth no matter how baldfaced it presents itself to you, then reality itself will reject you equally.

[Lman8786]

ok?

[Alamarian]

Assuming interstellar or intergalactic travel is feasible is a large assumption, in my mind. I've never see any serious theory that didn't require our understanding of physics to be wrong or burning star's worth of raw materials. If everything we know holds true and we don't find anything that drastically alters the likelihood of intergalactic travel, it's basically unfeasible for human beings. Interstellar travel is a possibility but the practicality is questionable. A trip to the center of our galaxy would take 26,000 years at light speed. We haven't been able to write for that long.

I'm not very optimistic about the likelihood of an alien civilization conquering interstellar/galactic travel, surviving to our time, and finding little old Earth in a universe containing 100 billion galaxy, each containing up to one trillion stars... in my view, we're almost certainly alone. If not in fact then in reality.

[Chakravanti]

never see any serious theory that didn't require our understanding of physics to be wrong

And we've nail down %99.999 of all physics anyway right. Please, it's egotistical wannabes like you who egotistically assume that we know far more than any educated physcist who isn't equally egotistical (albiet that's quite an exception in and of itself) would be hard pressed to admit the obvious: we don't KNOW jack. Wjust know a lot ABOUT it. We have evidence but far too many theories that fit that evidence to KNOW what's really going on.

I'm not very optimistic about the likelihood of an alien civilization conquering interstellar/galactic travel, surviving to our time, and finding little old Earth in a universe containing 100 billion galaxy, each containing up to one trillion stars... in my view, we're almost certainly alone. If not in fact then in reality.

This is the fallacy in your logic. WHiel indeed, this scenario is in fact, highly improbable...it is only so in light of the much more probable scenario which recognizes that planets life sustainability decay in a few hundred thousand years and during that duration are not always capable of sustaining said life. It make absolute sens ethat any civilization capable of attaining such techology use it, and genetic engineering to adapt itself to extended intergalactic travel and furthermore, upon every remotely inhabitable planet.

That's the basic law of evolution: Survival. Plain and simple.

[Asmodeus]

I am with Chak. My belief systems don't go any where near Aliens but the probability is ridiculously high.

What we currently know as scientific fact cannot be used to argue anything because all arguments that are worth jackshit involve things which our scientists can't figure out. Such as inerstellar travel, or Angels succsesfully mating with primates.

[niltrias]

Meh, the world ended on June 5th, 1998. It appears you guys just missed it.

[DasGuntLord01]

About other life in the cosmos:

The chances must be high, and is suggested by the things we've come to understand about our own form of life.

1) We are made, principally, of the most common elements in the universe (Hydrogen, Oxygen, Carbon, etc)
2) Carbon is the most chemically active element. (it has been said that carbon can form more molecules than the rest of the periodic table combined)
3) The laws of physics are the same everywhere.
4) It didn't take long for life to begin on Earth. (only 200 million years after it cooled sufficiently after formation, which is a tiny space of time in cosmological terms), and
5) The universe is very big (as already pointed out, 100 billion galaxies containing 100 billion stars each.)

Some stars have planets, and some of those planets are bound by the laws of probability to be chemically similar to our planet.

When you add these up, the probability of our life being the ONLY life in the universe, or even our own galaxy, are slim. And that just the kind of life we know about! Who knows what life may be made of elsewhere?

However, our chances of finding ET (or ET finding us) are also ludicrously slim, because:

1) The universe is very big, and
2) The fastest anything can go is the speed of light. We might detect a radio signal from a distant civilisation (or a distant civilisation might accidentally catch an episode of I Love Lucy), but there almost bound to be too far away to establish effective communications. (For example, if ETs planet was in the center of the galaxy, it would take around 60 000 years to get a response from them). And then (assuming we can't create, and travel through, wormholes, which is a safe assumption), the distance is bound to be much too far for our respective civilisations to be visiting each other for lunch.

Niel deGrasse Tyson, a cosmologist and populariser of science, says this kind of stuff on the lecture circuit. He's fun to listen too, and he's all over youtube.

eg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re66MWWl8q8&feature=related

[Potjeh]

I am amazed by the factuality of your statistics. Also, Loldaeniken. Might as well invoke L. Ron Hubbard.

Everyone know that life on Earth will end when a robot comes up with the 0th law of robotics and irradiates the planet because it's in humanity's best interest.

[niltrias]

Hey, I DID reference Hubbard.

No shout out?