Towards A Virtual Williamsburg!

[Adder]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

That's conventional wisdom? We either have the evidence or we don't. (I guess someone could be misreading something, or have misplaced a file containing all the dispositive evidence... but those guys with telescopes are really fucking smart.)

Neil deGrasse Tyson seems to think there is life out there, so I'll go with that.

ETA: Not sure what he thinks about "intelligent" life.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Adder

"intelligent" life.

We don't have that shit here.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mo...ng-up-for-guns

TM

[taxwonk]

Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch

You inserted the modifier "intelligent." Is that necessary to your argument?

I anticipate (not "believe"; anticipate) that there is matter capable of self-replication elsewhere in the universe. I also anticipate that bipedal, bilaterally symmetrical carbon-based humanoids that are universally described by 20th-21st century alien encounterists starting, by some enormous coincidence, exactly during the Jet Age are utter horseshit. I anticipate our peculiar brand of intelligence is an adaptation to our environment, which is staggeringly unlikely to exist in precisely this form anywhere else. Whether there are clouds of plasma capable of what we consider consciousness is a matter of doubt, although given the vast distances necessary to get the math for infinite alternate environments, on the timescales of human civilization from inception to destruction I doubt we'll ever be in contact with any of them, or that we would ever realize it if we had.

What? You mean it's possible to think Hank's full of shit without doing the math?

[taxwonk]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

translation: Every week i pray to the baby Jesus.

Yep. I was right.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

Are you looking for a fucking equation? If so you're on the wrong board (and you know it).

TM

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?

I stand corrected.

TM

[ltl/fb]

Does anyone want to do the thing where you get points or whatever for referring a friend?

[dtb]

Originally Posted by ltl/fb

Does anyone want to do the thing where you get points or whatever for referring a friend?

me me me me me me me (set to music -- warm up for singers)

but really, me

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Adder

Neil deGrasse Tyson seems to think there is life out there, so I'll go with that.

ETA: Not sure what he thinks about "intelligent" life.

Most of us here believe that life began not from a creator, but just began. There is a theory that a primordial ooze had a mix of chemicals that has been recreated in a lab. Scientists have been able to create proteins from the mix. This required some long odds though. Then the proteins could come to life if struck by lightening, although this would only be a one in a billion chance (I'm making up the numbers, but not the concept). so that by the time you get to there being organisms moving around, it's a trillion to 1 shot, BUT there are 10 trillion stars, so the odds aren't that long.

To me that math says there are other planets with life, or that the odds are in favor (of course every estimate is a crap shoot too ).

One there are organisms, intelligent life doesn't seem a stretch to me, evolution gets you to that.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

SKIP IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH

Worse. Theismann's was a clean break as a result of LT coming down on it. Ware's tibia and fibula just seemed to shatter, with breaks in multiple spots. His bones came way out of the skin and it seemed as if his skin was the only thing that kept the lower part of his leg and foot from being separated from the upper part altogether.

TM

I just watched it on Youtube. Yep. That's much worse than Theismann. It's also the freakiest injury I've ever seen. He landed at some perfect non-replicable combination of angle and pressure to cause the bone to shatter like porcelain.

He needs to eat more dairy.

[taxwonk]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Most of us here believe that life began not from a creator, but just began. There is a theory that a primordial ooze had a mix of chemicals that has been recreated in a lab. Scientists have been able to create proteins from the mix. This required some long odds though. Then the proteins could come to life if struck by lightening, although this would only be a one in a billion chance (I'm making up the numbers, but not the concept). so that by the time you get to there being organisms moving around, it's a trillion to 1 shot, BUT there are 10 trillion stars, so the odds aren't that long.

To me that math says there are other planets with life, or that the odds are in favor (of course every estimate is a crap shoot too ).

One there are organisms, intelligent life doesn't seem a stretch to me, evolution gets you to that.

That's the math you were getting all aflutter over?

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Most of us here believe that life began not from a creator, but just began. There is a theory that a primordial ooze had a mix of chemicals that has been recreated in a lab. Scientists have been able to create proteins from the mix. This required some long odds though. Then the proteins could come to life if struck by lightening, although this would only be a one in a billion chance (I'm making up the numbers, but not the concept). so that by the time you get to there being organisms moving around, it's a trillion to 1 shot, BUT there are 10 trillion stars, so the odds aren't that long.

To me that math says there are other planets with life, or that the odds are in favor (of course every estimate is a crap shoot too ).

One there are organisms, intelligent life doesn't seem a stretch to me, evolution gets you to that.

I've been struck by lightning. It's fairly common and confers no special powers. (Other than glow in the dark semen, and suddenly speaking Portugese.)

[Fugee]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Most of us here believe that life began not from a creator, but just began. There is a theory that a primordial ooze had a mix of chemicals that has been recreated in a lab. Scientists have been able to create proteins from the mix. This required some long odds though. Then the proteins could come to life if struck by lightening, although this would only be a one in a billion chance (I'm making up the numbers, but not the concept). so that by the time you get to there being organisms moving around, it's a trillion to 1 shot, BUT there are 10 trillion stars, so the odds aren't that long.

To me that math says there are other planets with life, or that the odds are in favor (of course every estimate is a crap shoot too ).

One there are organisms, intelligent life doesn't seem a stretch to me, evolution gets you to that.

This all seems more likely to you all than a creator?

SMH

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by taxwonk

That's the math you were getting all aflutter over?

yeah, I'm not looking for anyone to calculate anything- assume what i wrote is the theory- how cannot you not believe in other planets with life being likely?

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

yeah, I'm not looking for anyone to calculate anything- assume what i wrote is the theory- how cannot you not believe in other planets with life being likely?

Who believes that? I don't think any thinking person has looked the universe and said, for any sensible reason, "Nope. We're it. Nothing out there in that endless expanse, given billions of years within which do so, has blossomed into intelligent life."