That's arithmetically incorrect. 100,000,000 * handful/15000 * 2 * 1 * 100,000 does not equal between 6 and 25. I'm not sure what you are trying to prove. I said maybe there are only a few. You seem to seem to be trying to prove that a few means less than one. It doesn't. And besides, I merely said maybe there are only a few. Maybe there are more. Maybe there are none. Maybe there are billions. No way to tell for sure at this point. barfo
It could be just as easily said they are completely random. Somebody wrote them because of the movie "Contact"? Give me a fargin break.
Considering we don't even know what the majority of matter in our universe actually is, isn't it a little early to make conclusions about how much life populates it? For all we know, dark matter is a form of matter that some life form evolves into. Or maybe every extraterrestrial species that achieves a certain level of technology figures out the dark matter lifestyle is way more cool and they just stop caring about things like reaching Earth. *shrug*
If my allegory is correct, just one. And if you don't believe me, take off! [video=youtube;1BFPt001PYU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BFPt001PYU[/video]
The most widely known version appears in Stephen Hawking's 1988 book A Brief History of Time, which starts: “ A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!"[2] ”
Henry David Thoreau, in his journal entry of 4 May 1852,[6] writes: “ Men are making speeches… all over the country, but each expresses only the thought, or the want of thought, of the multitude. No man stands on truth. They are merely banded together as usual, one leaning on another and all together on nothing; as the Hindoos made the world rest on an elephant, and the elephant on a tortoise, and had nothing to put under the tortoise.
I think you missed the point of my post. Sagan seemed to have been looking for something more than what science offers when faced with his own mortailty. It is something you can see from his book. The question I asked at the end of my post are the big questions that science doesn't have answers for. There is a branch of science that is way out there and is tackling those kinds of questions. String theory. Scientists are in love with it because it has mathematical beauty, even though none of it is observable. This is why it is called "theoretical physics." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory For example, scientists tend to agree that there was a big bang, but nobody has an answer as to why there was a big bang, or what was there before the big bang. String theory proponents have suggested that the big bang occured due to the collision of two "branes" in an alternate universe/dimension. And more interestingly (to my previous post), they propose that there are alternate universes where the laws of physics are not the same as here (e.g. speed of light is not 186,000 miles/sec).
it has been a long time since i read it, but i seem to recall in the book ellie discovers evidence for an underlying order to the universe - something that could be evidence of some sort of purpose to life, but not necessarily something "more than what science offers". the book was more about discovering that there might be more to the universe than we think through science. i also recall being surprised at how much to gist of the movie will all the emphasis on religious-type faith seemed different than the book.
Do you have any more information on this. I know I heard a few months back somewhere that the poles were already in progression towards a flip and that it mostly likely would happen within the next 50 years. Edit - Nevermind, found some info which is interesting and says we may have a few thousand years more... http://scienceblogs.com/highlyallochthonous/2009/02/is_the_earths_magnetic_field_a.php
The sad part is most people don't believe in God because of religion but religion is NEVER mentioned in the bible nor does it say to believe in one, crap it barely even mentions going to church. God does not ask you to give money to church or rape kids. Quit blaming God for people who are abusing there power (Priests, Religion) and trying to take advantage of everyone. We live in a shady ass world and it doesnt stop at religion. Science is corrupted, The president is corrupted, the list goes on. The Biggest test you can do is just ask God, Pray and talk to him yourself and TRULY mean it. Clear your mind of doubts and give it a shot, It wont hurt ya and if you feel like its a big sham then move on and say you gave it a try.
i hope you mean the *politics* of science is corrupted, not science itself. the scientific community itself very effectively self-polices against non-scientific agendas.
in his defense, scientists are occasionally corrupted, and make up evidence. but that only lasts for about a year before they got ostracized forever.
I've heard that some physicists are backing off on the "holy grail" that is string theory. Somethings weren't being found that should, or measurements were off from expected values. I would have liked it to be true though =[
that's rare and it doesn't mean science itself is corrupt. the scientific community by its own rigorously self-policing nature weeds out potential corruption very quickly.
