Baby steps to nowhere
Prof. Stephen Hawkin says:
The long-term survival of the human race is at risk, as long as it is confined to a single planet.
I say:
The long-term survival of the human race is at risk, whether confined to a single planet or not.
I don’t know. I just feel that trying to leave a planet like rats abandoning a sinking ship is a pretty grim future.
You know those invading aliens in science fiction, the ones that invade our planet because their home world has run out of precious resources… do you really want to be them?
It’s like someone saying, ‘I couldn’t look after my first child so I decided to move on and get some more’.
And anyway, how close are we to being able to leave the pull of our spherical home – (geek points to anyone that can name the actual shape of the Earth without having to look it up) ?
You can stare at the stars all you want, but sooner or later you’re going to walk into a lamp post.
Technorati Tags: space, the+moon, astronomy, technology, the+future, stephen+hawkin, ecology, environment
Sean on 
Maddie on
I’m more interested in extraterrestrial life from the point of view of not wanting to think we’re alone than from the point of view of wanting to take over their turf.
Earth is pear-shaped, isn’t it? Something to do with the ice-caps?
I wish we’d done the 2001 A Space Odyssey thing and built moon bases and sent a mission to Jupiter six years ago. That seemed more interesting.
Ovaloid?
Oblique?
I know I know, but after 8 hours of welding fumes, I’m feeling kinda dumb.
Jeez dude, grim today? Look on the bright side, if we wipe ourselves out, atleast we will be gone.
It’s an oblate spehroid isn’t it?
Geoid!
Literally (earth-shaped!)
Basically spherical, but flattened at the poles and stretched at the equator.
It’s manifest destiny. It’s our obligation
to find new worlds to conquer and
civilize. The universe is waiting.
GW (do you mind me calling you that?), it would be cool, wouldn’t it to find out we’re not the only inhabitants of this universe. I mean where would that leave Earth based religion? I mean the scientologists would probably have a field day, but all those that belive we are singular and special would have a hard time. That’s why I think it would be more than likely that we’d try to exterminate them. It would be too uncomfortable for a lot of people to accept.
Joe, I suppose it’s just another case of feeling a little bitter that we haven’t really achieved the dream of interplanetary travel and it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen in my lifetime… that and just the sheer cost of it all.
Oh, and thanks for the blog post, much appreciated.
Welding fumes, eh? I can only just recall the smell of flux-cored arc welding… tangy… but I didn’t inhale.
Dave (hey, Dave!) and deadlytoque, you’re going to have to share the geek points between you as you are both correct:
The Earth is indeed an oblate spheroid and to describe it as a geoid is also technicially correct (if a little sneaky). I draw it as a sphere though. Do you know how hard it is to get hold of a compass that creates oblate spheroids?
Seraphine, I fear you are rather right there, though I suspect that if there is other life in the universe it’s possibly smarter than us and planning a very similar thing.
“…but all those that believe we are singular and special would have a hard time.”
Has any one ever read the book A Case of Conscience by James Blish? It’s about a Catholic priest dealing with alien life. A sobering piece of science fiction literature. I don’t want to give away the ending, but it’s pertinent to the discussion.
Also, I was TOTALLY gunna say oblate spheroid!
The universe is a very large place.
The chances of other life existing are almost equal to 1.
But the universe is a ver large place, so the chances of meeting other life with our current knowledge of physics is close to zero.
Roo, I haven’t read that, but since I’m catching up on my Sci-fi at the moment (just read ‘Roadside Picnic’ by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky…. top stuff), I’ll try to get hold of a copy… thanks.
And I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt on the old oblate spheroid.
Ben, did you come up with that or is it a quote? Either way, it’s very perceptive and pertinent. you see, I don’t think that we’re ever going to get to the point where we are sufficiently comfortable in space to go wandering. Though perhaps the other lifeforms will.
It was the conclusion that we arrived at in a large group discussion on the matter.
So it is a sorta quote, but not really mine.
Modesty is an excellent quality. You know you could have taken full credit for that and I’d have believed you, and for that, if we ever meet, I’ll buy you a drink of your choice.
lol, I don’t drink. I asorb all my fluids thru atmospheric osmosis ( I think that is the phrase.)
Tho I can fully support the theory and I am able to argue its finer details, unlike most theories where I only understand the basics or certain parts that relate to other areas of my knowledge. But then it is a very very simple theory.
isn’t the world banana shaped?
The future is bright the world is an orange - at least the old man I live with thinks it is!
“The world is an orange” is a Spanish saying that doesn’t translate very well. If I remember high school Spanish well enough, it’s basically saying it’s a small world. So whoever that guy is, he’s not crazy. Or at least not that much.
Maybe it means the world has a dimply hard peel with tart delicious juice on the inside?
gosh, i was bit slow off the mark for this one, wasnt i?
perhaps that old man is simply a wishful thinker. maybe he is one of the main contributors to global warming?
“Meh, it doesnt matter, we can always get another one. They grow on trees, did you know?”
Joe: “Maybe it means the world has a dimply hard peel with tart delicious juice on the inside?”
Reminds me of something my Grampa always said: “Life is like a watermelon — full of red sticky stuff inside.”
I like the turn of phrase, idiom-wise, of saying the world is an orange to say that it’s small. It’s got a neat sound to it. Idioms in other languages are awesome.
I’m not sure about you, but I some alien invading a new world because the last one ran dry.
I liked the move-on mother reference, because that is exactly what i’m making a fake commercial about.
Reading through your comics, I keep noticing a recurring theme about the fate of humanity and the fate of earth itself. You might be interested in “Ishamel” by Daniel Quinn, it’s a really different and fascinating look at these topics.
Yeah, I get a bit morbid from time to time and no matter where I start I always end up at ‘how’s it going to finish’.
Thanks for putting me onto Quinn’s book, it looks pretty good and I’ve added it to my reading list ofr the end of winter… thanks.
No problem.