Stargazer Posted December 15, 2004 Report Share Posted December 15, 2004 would y'all agree though that sciences like astronomy help to debunk religion? (doubts it)Scientific theories describes the universe, as does religion. The difference is that none of the religious "theories" have been successful. The scientific method seems to have that effect... it throws away what doesn't work and sticks to what does - until a better theory comes along. Therefor I find it funny that people would chose to believe what is either superfluous or flat out wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tormod Posted December 15, 2004 Report Share Posted December 15, 2004 I don't disagree that astronomy helps a lot of people, but the question is whether the money is better spent on bringing more of the world's population to a basic level of comfort with food, water, clothes, and shelter, then on increasing the standard of living of people who already have those things. I disagree, of course. I don't for one second believe that stopping funding astronomy would solve the problems you list. Now, if we could stop wars...that might help. I don't know. Fair enough. :) I would like to think that astronomy should get the money, seeing as that is something that I am very interested in, but it is troublesome to think of what that money could do if it went to buying food for a small nation. I really dislike this kind of debates. No offense to you, but they tend to be very black and white. "We should stop doing A because of B" is not a good argument. There are tons of A's and B's that must be considered. I'm more interested in how the Russian manager for the soccer team Arsenal in England has so much money that he can pay 100,000,000 British Pounds (yes, about 200 million dollars) for a...house! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgrmdave Posted December 15, 2004 Report Share Posted December 15, 2004 $200,000,000 for a house! that's ridiculous! Of course, many Americans aren't much better lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aki Posted December 16, 2004 Report Share Posted December 16, 2004 Now, if we could stop wars...that might help. Yeah, that's a very good point. It would help if they stopped spending money on nuclear weapons. I'm not saying they should stop their research on nuclear energy/physics, but they should stop making weapons. I know the USA spends $1 million dollars US every day on weapons research. I think that's pathetic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freethinker Posted December 17, 2004 Report Share Posted December 17, 2004 $85-million U.S. missile test goes nowherehttp://www.freep.com/news/nw/missile16e_20041216.htm Star Wars missile defense financial black hole started by Regan. Which has failed virtually every test made on it so far. Yet they pump billions into it. Too bad it wasn;t operation back during 9/11.... ! Ops, guess it would not have been the first bit of help! Ah yes, the Bush admin fails miserably once again. And yet screams support for it to continue! We will not survive four more years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TINNY Posted December 17, 2004 Report Share Posted December 17, 2004 I'm more interested in how the Russian manager for the soccer team Arsenal in England has so much money that he can pay 100,000,000 British Pounds (yes, about 200 million dollars) for a...house!you meant Chelsea, didn't you Tormod? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tormod Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 you meant Chelsea, didn't you Tormod? Of course. I don't know what happened...must have been a gremlin in the database. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TINNY Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 this thread has turned out into a discussion on what is the best way of spending money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgrmdave Posted December 19, 2004 Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 To get back on track, what would the scientific ramifications of extraterrestrial life be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacobus Posted December 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 Ramifications? In all probability - none. That was my original point. Any intelligent life that might be out there would be too far away to even communicate with. Maybe some would feel better knowing we are not "alone", but that's about all, I think. If, on the other hand, the intelligent life had progressed to the point that they could journey here, ahhhh, then the ramifications would be tremendous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindagarrette Posted December 19, 2004 Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 We are not "alone" On this planet, there is wonderful diversity of life forms. Unfortunately, we don't always treat them with respect. How would we behave toward ETs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TINNY Posted December 19, 2004 Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 what are you getting at Linda? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacobus Posted December 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 As I mentioned earlier in this thread, if we had superior strength, we would possibly eat them. :D No, that's just my sarcasm poppig up again. Interesting subject, though. How would you react to a face-to-face meeting with an alien? I mean seriously, how would you react? Fear? Humble? Excited? Hungry? (whoops, there I go again.) Or just plain old disbelief? I don't believe you could tell anyone, because who would believe you? How would you attempt to communicate? Voice? Sign language? Music? How would you react if he/she/it held up the middle finger and in a computer-generated voice muttered "Peace on you!" Would you be offended? Ahhh, the trials and tribulations we face. But face them we will. I noticed the subject has drifted all over the place in this thread. I suppose that's all right, but getting back to my original question, "Who cares if there is life on other star systems?"We can't reach them, and it appears they can't reach us. We can't communicate with them. They can't teach us anything, and we can't teach them. Only if they finally make it here to our planet, will it become important. Meanwhile, we, as the supposedly intelligent lifeform on this planet, should be doing everything in our power to protect our little whirling planet. Have a super week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TINNY Posted December 19, 2004 Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 what are the possibilities of life forms that evolution can produce? I thought it unlikely that a random process of evolution on another planet would result in similar life forms as those on earth. Unless, ahem, there is the underlying template. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tormod Posted December 19, 2004 Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 We can't communicate with them. They can't teach us anything, and we can't teach them. Only if they finally make it here to our planet, will it become important. Meanwhile, we, as the supposedly intelligent lifeform on this planet, should be doing everything in our power to protect our little whirling planet. We may be supposedly intelligent, but I think more and more people realize that we are not the only intelligent species, nor have we always been so (depending on the definition of "intelligence", obviously). PG asked what the ramifications of finding life elsewhere would be, and you said "none". I think the ramifications would be extreme. First of all, it would prove that life is not unique to Earth. Second, it would be problematic to a lot of religious people. Third, it would be a discovery of historic proportions which would probably make people look for ways to overcome the problems of interstellar travel. Humanity's need for exploration has so far shown no bounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TINNY Posted December 19, 2004 Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 Second, it would be problematic to a lot of religious people.Yup. Not all. To some, it serves to show that life is not mere chance, but actually a natural consequence brought about by the 'underlying template'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tormod Posted December 19, 2004 Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 Yup. Not all. To some, it serves to show that life is not mere chance, but actually a natural consequence brought about by the 'underlying template'. Yes. This is the topic of a lot of sci-fi books. Carl Sagan's Contact and Michael P. Kube-Mc Dowell's Emprise come to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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