I am saddened when I see topics as important as this being diluted by "yar-boo" name calling. Yes, life on Earth has survived many large climactic (and climatic) changes; yes, we cannot be absolutely certain about the observations we are making about past climate; yes, the ice actually is melting, and this will have... some effect or other, we cannot be absolutely certain. But what we do know is that (1) the survival of Life does not mean the survival of Humankand, and (2) the Earth's various systems, though strong, do have points of instability, and we are getting nearer to some that we already know about.
The raising of sea level by 60 metres, though sad (for those who live near the sea - and that is thousands of millions of us), is not, in itself, what should worry us. It is the trigger instabilities, such as the large quantite of extra carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere - which will not wipe out Life, but will wipe out mankind.
Please don't ignore, or make fun of, this problem - it will deny you (and me) any grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc.
How sad that this observation (about the observability of the outside universe) has become a forum for name-calling and and a discussion centre for fine semantics. Beacuse all of this basic problem gives us more evidence for the fact that mankind is poisoning the planet (from the point of view of many species - mankind included), and that we are anihilating ourselves and our descendants. The sky is cloudy? OK, we'll put our telescopes on the Moon. The air is moving from transparent to translucent to opaque? OK, we'll use infrared or radar or sonar to detect things at a distance. The quantity of carbon dioxide is increasing? OK, we'll... we'll what? We'll die, that's what.
Telescopes and astronomy are not important (and I speak as a keen amateur astronomer, with a telescope of my own) compared to the survival of mankind. Folks, we are killing ourselves - that's why this observation is important, and too serious to joke about,
Alas, despite your optimism, it is possible for this Earth to anihilate the whole of mankind. Although it might (and might not) have been an astronomical intervention that wiped out the dinosaurs, there have been at least six mass exinctions of life upon this planet. We can not, therefore, from past experience deny the possibility of this happening again. The rising of the sea levels, though very serious, would (in itself) wipe out only (say) half or a third of us. But the consequential changes in global climate - massive changes - would (not could but would) lead to the arable areas of the planet shrinking dramatically - very dramatically. With as little as a five degree (Celsius) average teperature increase the Sahara desert would expand to cover more than half of the African continent, the whole of Australia would be unfit for human habitation, and ony a tiny part of EurAsia would remain open to cultivation. Granted Canada would be a new, warm and attractive location (for some of the year), but the whole of the southern half of the United States would be arid, and barren. Ah yes - all the cattle in Texas will die from drought.
Perhaps I exagerate in saying all of us will die - but a ten degree temperature rise (rather extreme, but just possible) would leave fewer than a tenth of a percent of us around. Are you (honestly) happy to see the population falling from seven thousand million to just five million? I am not.
You are not the first person to think of a deadly virus. I grant that there is currently no evidence that such a virus exist - but do you know that research for such a thing is not taking place? It certainly could exist. And BTW, what are we doing with the stockpiles of Smallpox virus that we have still not destroyed? Not knowing the answer to that makes me a little uncomfortable.
Homo Sapiens adapts, and we have adapted to climate change - but there are limits, and we must not push them to breaking point.
It is a shame that this discussion has (at points) descended into yar-boo name-calling. The base subject is far too important to allow these ad hominem squabbles to get in the way. The raw facts are that the Earth is warming, and that despite political/economic shouting, this will anihilate mankind. Not just some of us, not just many of us, but all of us.
We can (perhaps) save the situation - but only if we all work together. That is, the whole of humankind must be aware of this "clear and present" danger, and must change its energy and waste usage before it is too late.
I am 60 years old, This warming will not (probably) affect me directly - but it will (unless countered) remove the possibility of my having any great-great-grandchildren.
A point of information: you do not have to be a British citizen to have a Britsh passport. I, for example, am a British subject and have a British passport. My wife, though, is a citizen - and both of us are as English as it is possible to be!
The first computer I programmed was the Elliot 803 (and, yes, that was in 1963), then I moved on to Atlas - and after that - well, you know the way things go. Now - I program the NEC SX6 (amongst others). But I did not (and do not) own any of these. Does anyone else remember the Superbrain, or the GRI 909? Sigh. Time to go back to my hot cocoa and biscuits now.
I am curious about your claim on Fermat. He was - I think mathematicians agree - a great mathematician. Granted he had personality problems (don't all geniuses?) but to claim that that "virually everything written" by him was wrong is either to appeal to the (possible) fact that virtually everything ever uttered however by whomsoever is also wrong, or just an incorrect statement. I believe, sir, you are incorrect. And, yes, IAAM (I am a mathematician).
That said, don't you just love cold-fusion scams^H^H^H^H^Hdiscusions?
Hmm. I suspect you are badly wrong. Certainly English will change, and German will change - but it will take much more than a mere centrury to anihilate either of these languages. Only languages that have fewer than half a million speakers can conceivably die in just two generations. IMHO there will be more speakers (both in number and proportion) of Madarin in a century. We are stuck with at least four thousand spoken languages in the world for a few centuries yet, I'm afraid. Oh - and by the way - I am a linguist.
But only in America is a billion 10^9 For us more linguistically aware UK people a Billion may well still relate to bi-million, and therefore be 10^12 Alas this older and more accurate usage is losing ground here so we should now always state the explicit power of ten, to be sure that both sides of the Atlantic (and Indian) Ocean are in agreement. (I love the concept of 10^playground!)
Suddenly I am puzzled. What, other than 1 and itself divides 1? That - I thought - is the definition of a Prime. Hence 1 is prime. And (by the same definition) 0 is composite. And, yes, IAAM (I Am A Mathematician)
See The Universal Solution of Einstein's Equations of General Relativity, by Wayte, R. in Astrophysics and Space Science91 (1983).
This (refereed) paper indicates that black holes do not exist, attractive gravity exists between matter and antimatter, and the gravitaional mass is the Newtonian mass and not the relativistic mass of a moving body.
Hmm - "schadenfreude" is also (by English's delightful propoensity for importing words) an English word. So, is that what I am feeling now as I insult you?:-)
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The raising of sea level by 60 metres, though sad (for those who live near the sea - and that is thousands of millions of us), is not, in itself, what should worry us. It is the trigger instabilities, such as the large quantite of extra carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere - which will not wipe out Life, but will wipe out mankind.
Please don't ignore, or make fun of, this problem - it will deny you (and me) any grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc.
Telescopes and astronomy are not important (and I speak as a keen amateur astronomer, with a telescope of my own) compared to the survival of mankind. Folks, we are killing ourselves - that's why this observation is important, and too serious to joke about,
Perhaps I exagerate in saying all of us will die - but a ten degree temperature rise (rather extreme, but just possible) would leave fewer than a tenth of a percent of us around. Are you (honestly) happy to see the population falling from seven thousand million to just five million? I am not.
You are not the first person to think of a deadly virus. I grant that there is currently no evidence that such a virus exist - but do you know that research for such a thing is not taking place? It certainly could exist. And BTW, what are we doing with the stockpiles of Smallpox virus that we have still not destroyed? Not knowing the answer to that makes me a little uncomfortable.
Homo Sapiens adapts, and we have adapted to climate change - but there are limits, and we must not push them to breaking point.
We can (perhaps) save the situation - but only if we all work together. That is, the whole of humankind must be aware of this "clear and present" danger, and must change its energy and waste usage before it is too late.
I am 60 years old, This warming will not (probably) affect me directly - but it will (unless countered) remove the possibility of my having any great-great-grandchildren.
But I suppose, the more experience you get, the more frustrating it becomes!
A point of information: you do not have to be a British citizen to have a Britsh passport. I, for example, am a British subject and have a British passport. My wife, though, is a citizen - and both of us are as English as it is possible to be!
The first computer I programmed was the Elliot 803 (and, yes, that was in 1963), then I moved on to Atlas - and after that - well, you know the way things go. Now - I program the NEC SX6 (amongst others). But I did not (and do not) own any of these. Does anyone else remember the Superbrain, or the GRI 909? Sigh. Time to go back to my hot cocoa and biscuits now.
Girlfriend? Anyone on the FIRST moon landing trip can have anything he d*mn well wants! And good luck to him!
I am curious about your claim on Fermat. He was - I think mathematicians agree - a great mathematician. Granted he had personality problems (don't all geniuses?) but to claim that that "virually everything written" by him was wrong is either to appeal to the (possible) fact that virtually everything ever uttered however by whomsoever is also wrong, or just an incorrect statement. I believe, sir, you are incorrect.
And, yes, IAAM (I am a mathematician).
That said, don't you just love cold-fusion scams^H^H^H^H^Hdiscusions?
Hmm. I suspect you are badly wrong. Certainly English will change, and German will change - but it will take much more than a mere centrury to anihilate either of these languages. Only languages that have fewer than half a million speakers can conceivably die in just two generations. IMHO there will be more speakers (both in number and proportion) of Madarin in a century. We are stuck with at least four thousand spoken languages in the world for a few centuries yet, I'm afraid. Oh - and by the way - I am a linguist.
But only in America is a billion 10^9 For us more linguistically aware UK people a Billion may well still relate to bi-million, and therefore be 10^12 Alas this older and more accurate usage is losing ground here so we should now always state the explicit power of ten, to be sure that both sides of the Atlantic (and Indian) Ocean are in agreement. (I love the concept of 10^playground!)
Suddenly I am puzzled. What, other than 1 and itself divides 1? That - I thought - is the definition of a Prime. Hence 1 is prime. And (by the same definition) 0 is composite.
And, yes, IAAM (I Am A Mathematician)
If you have a lot of data to backup you could always look at FileTek http://www.filetek.com/ who have several levels of archive service.
See The Universal Solution of Einstein's Equations of General Relativity, by Wayte, R. in Astrophysics and Space Science 91 (1983).
This (refereed) paper indicates that black holes do not exist, attractive gravity exists between matter and antimatter, and the gravitaional mass is the Newtonian mass and not the relativistic mass of a moving body.
Hmm - "schadenfreude" is also (by English's delightful propoensity for importing words) an English word. So, is that what I am feeling now as I insult you? :-)