"...it's much more likely that he would form an even more sensational theory, and one that couldn't be proven/disproven in his lifetime..." What, you mean something like a humanoid, omnipotent being who goes through the work of creating an entire universe for the sole purpose of making some humans who would spend at most 100 years in the universe before departing to some celestial realm unknown to us? Oh no, that's not a sensational, unlikely theory at all. I don't want to start a debate here, it started the minute somebody brought Jehovah into the analysis of an experiment on bacteria.
Damn, it took me too long to type my reply... Definitely a long shot. But the universe has had a long time to play the long shots. I'm sure it's happened somewhere out there.
The bacteria used for the experiment were varieties known to survive in locations inhospitable to most life forms. One of them, the Archaea, live mostly in undersea volcanic vents. There are some varieties that actually live in active volcanoes. Pretty tough creatures. And while the atmospheric friction would probably kill anything living on the surface of any clump of rock torn off a planet, there could very well be more bacteria alive inside microscopic crevices deep inside the rock. And impact has little or no effect on creatures that small. I'm not saying there would be a lot of survivors, but if a hunk of rock containing 1 meg of bacteria (which isn't very much) crashes into the Earth and 0.001 of the bacteria survive, it's probably going to be enough for them to survive in the long run (if they get lucky).
I suppose it's faintly possible, but very unlikely. Humanity's "building blocks" are the same as the rest of life on Earth, including the dinosaurs and other extinct creatures. Also, our evolution goes back to before the end of the dinosaurs. Granted, the fossil record isn't complete, but there were mammals around that probably evolved into us. If we had arrived as microbial life on the comet that (probably) wiped out the dinosaurs, we would most likely be a form of life totally unlike other Earth life, and there wouldn't have been enough time for us humans to evolve yet.
Thanks - you have no idea how long I have been looking for that. Second-guessing MS is an art form that I am not very good at... Now, if they would only add a Reveal Codes button I might be happy with Word!
"Tools -> Customize -> Options" I'm not surprised at all, as rudeness has always flourished. Actually, it's my fault for not making it clear, but I was responding to the comment on Word's autoformatting, which cannot be turned off. My bad for not responding in the right place, I guess.
While I am very much in favor of studying everything that we can study just because it is all intrinsically interesting, the argument posted before was that we spend too much money on space, and that "in the long run", that money would be better spent on Earth. My point was that while in the short run, space exploration may be a financial waste, someday something will drastically change conditions on Earth. Call it the apocalypse if you want, but that doesn't make it less probable. And when something does happen to make the Earth unliveable,it would be nice if we already had at least a foothold in space. The old eggs-in-one-basket idea. Actually, overpopulation alone may make it imperative that we colonize space. The jury is still out on this one.
You CAN'T turn it off. At least, I have never been able to find out how. Word's autoformatting is a major pain in the arse, and the single best reason why I prefer to use a five-year-old version of WordPerfect. When I have a chart or outline that I want done a certain way, it is usually impossible to get Word to accept it. Oh, and it's even worse in the new Office 2000 version of Word. And here's me thinking the software might actually get BETTER with each new build...
"We spend... exploring our own oceans, certainly as interesting as outer space, and potentially far more important in both the short and long run."
Yes, obviously, because when Earth experiences its next major meteor strike, full-scale nuclear war, and/or extended Ice Age, we can all go live underwater until everything is back to normal.
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"...it's much more likely that he would form an even more sensational theory, and one that couldn't be proven/disproven in his lifetime..." What, you mean something like a humanoid, omnipotent being who goes through the work of creating an entire universe for the sole purpose of making some humans who would spend at most 100 years in the universe before departing to some celestial realm unknown to us? Oh no, that's not a sensational, unlikely theory at all. I don't want to start a debate here, it started the minute somebody brought Jehovah into the analysis of an experiment on bacteria.
Damn, it took me too long to type my reply... Definitely a long shot. But the universe has had a long time to play the long shots. I'm sure it's happened somewhere out there.
The bacteria used for the experiment were varieties known to survive in locations inhospitable to most life forms. One of them, the Archaea, live mostly in undersea volcanic vents. There are some varieties that actually live in active volcanoes. Pretty tough creatures. And while the atmospheric friction would probably kill anything living on the surface of any clump of rock torn off a planet, there could very well be more bacteria alive inside microscopic crevices deep inside the rock. And impact has little or no effect on creatures that small. I'm not saying there would be a lot of survivors, but if a hunk of rock containing 1 meg of bacteria (which isn't very much) crashes into the Earth and 0.001 of the bacteria survive, it's probably going to be enough for them to survive in the long run (if they get lucky).
I suppose it's faintly possible, but very unlikely. Humanity's "building blocks" are the same as the rest of life on Earth, including the dinosaurs and other extinct creatures. Also, our evolution goes back to before the end of the dinosaurs. Granted, the fossil record isn't complete, but there were mammals around that probably evolved into us. If we had arrived as microbial life on the comet that (probably) wiped out the dinosaurs, we would most likely be a form of life totally unlike other Earth life, and there wouldn't have been enough time for us humans to evolve yet.
Arnie was definitely a Model 101. Patrick was a T-1000. Maybe T3 will feature an Open Source Terminator...
Thanks - you have no idea how long I have been looking for that. Second-guessing MS is an art form that I am not very good at... Now, if they would only add a Reveal Codes button I might be happy with Word!
"Tools -> Customize -> Options" I'm not surprised at all, as rudeness has always flourished. Actually, it's my fault for not making it clear, but I was responding to the comment on Word's autoformatting, which cannot be turned off. My bad for not responding in the right place, I guess.
While I am very much in favor of studying everything that we can study just because it is all intrinsically interesting, the argument posted before was that we spend too much money on space, and that "in the long run", that money would be better spent on Earth. My point was that while in the short run, space exploration may be a financial waste, someday something will drastically change conditions on Earth. Call it the apocalypse if you want, but that doesn't make it less probable. And when something does happen to make the Earth unliveable,it would be nice if we already had at least a foothold in space. The old eggs-in-one-basket idea. Actually, overpopulation alone may make it imperative that we colonize space. The jury is still out on this one.
You CAN'T turn it off. At least, I have never been able to find out how. Word's autoformatting is a major pain in the arse, and the single best reason why I prefer to use a five-year-old version of WordPerfect. When I have a chart or outline that I want done a certain way, it is usually impossible to get Word to accept it. Oh, and it's even worse in the new Office 2000 version of Word. And here's me thinking the software might actually get BETTER with each new build...
"We spend... exploring our own oceans, certainly as interesting as outer space, and potentially far more important in both the short and long run."
Yes, obviously, because when Earth experiences its next major meteor strike, full-scale nuclear war, and/or extended Ice Age, we can all go live underwater until everything is back to normal.