Some of the thoughts in the Pluto thread seem appropriate for another thread. When you think about it just a little, we humans and most of the other creature here on Earth are rather tender little things. Not very strong and really have a very narrow environmental comfort zone. Did we just find our niche when we pick earth as home? Did we just spring forth out the surface litter? Or were we designed for our niche in the beginning? A list of many of the variable that must be quite right, does make our niche pretty darn rare. I am not sure we even know if it is not, simply unique. Our planet has these qualities that we require; The right size, so that the gravity is within our tolerance. The right amount of spin so the one side is not over exposed to the suns heat and the centrifugal forces are within our tolerances. The right distance from our heat source of a size, that fills our needs. A moon of the right size to work in tandem with the planet to move the oceans just right for habitat and cleaning. All the elements we require including carbon and water are here. The atmosphere is not toxic to us now, but only since the planet has matured. The atmosphere contain all the elements we require for us and our food sources. Including Oxygen, Hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. Contributed by Lanny "The right amount of iron in our core to provide the poles of sufficient strength to ward off dangerous solar radiation. This happened because Gaia was struck by Theia at just the right angle to not only form our moon but also to provide iron and a spin that is just right. The term 'amazing' hardly does it justice." This is indeed correct, without our Magnetic Shield, the Sun's Solar winds would strip away the Ozone lay which protects us for the Sun's ultraviolet light. Contributed by Denny The range of life on earth is compatible for all life, not dominated by an overwhelming predictor species. Next contributor. I suspect you guys can even add more, @crandc , perhaps even more yet. but then, that would brings us even closer to unique. I say, we were indeed designed for our niche. And this is why we find no others, even with the brightest seeking for centuries now. What say you?
I think we have far too many issues to deal with on this fragile little ecosphere to spend too much time trying to answer the unanswerable. That said, I believe in a higher power AND an afterlife, whatever either one of those might actually be.....
Yep! This will be off the page before the end of the day. We have just moved on to the really nasty shit now.
Wait, so this planet is perfect for us, and we're tender with a very narrow environmental comfort zone, but we're not polluting it?
Well since you did ask. I suppose I view it rather like too many head on a given range. I is not good for the habitat to exceed the sustainable capacity. When the Earth had a million people we were no stress at all, the other species may have been the culprits, but not men. When the Earth had a Billion people we were not an overall stress on the environment, but perhaps a few localized area were. Now that we are at Seven Billion and closing rapidly on 14 billion, no doubt way before the end of this century, our combined foot print is massive and most unsustainable. Not just pollution, but we over graze, over uses the habitat, and crowd out other species. Pollution indeed! We are the pollution in more ways than one.
Seems like a questionable argument to me. True, we have a very narrow ecological niche, but much wider than most other organisms on the earth. So if our niche means we were designed for our environment, rather than evolving/adapting to it, then certainly the cave salamander and the salmon and the Little Barrier Island Giant Weta must have been designed too, since they are even more specialized. And if you don't believe in evolution, and you do believe in divine creation of all living things, then that's fine, of course. barfo
I think we are afraid to believe that we are alone in this world, so man has made up gods since the beginning of our time. What makes this god any different than Oden, Zeus, Ra, or Jupiter? History has proven that even thousands of years ago, man has used religion to control the populace and profit. When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, he was told that if he went through their rituals to become the new Pharaoh, he would become their god and the people would be less likely to revolt. This was an amazing realization for Alexander, so he sent word back to Greece that the temples were to now start telling the people that he was a god. So what makes Christianity any different? It has been used to control the populace. The Catholic church has done terrible things in the name of God. All of the death and torture and persecution that has happened under Christianity. And it is still used today to take people's money and manipulate the people all over the world. I think there's still something larger than us, but I don't think it's the Christian god. That story has been twisted and altered and revised so many times, who even knows what really happened over 2,000 years ago.
There You Have It: Emails Confirm Coal, Oil, and Gas Extraction Drove Shrinking of National Monuments https://www.commondreams.org/news/2...m-coal-oil-and-gas-extraction-drove-shrinking
>>> I am down, barf does not understand. >>> I am up, barf is getting it >>>> Oh back down again, barf is lost in assumptions again, no one eliminated evolving and adapting as a tool. Here on earth of course, within our niche. >>>> Oh my, barf flew the coop, out into assumption land.
>>> Well, I will leave it to other much more qualified to teach Christianity. Perhaps @BrianFromWA or @PtldPlatypus. But I do think you confuse men using the religion for cover with the actually religion itself and the teaching of Jesus which I find very helpful to men. >>>Now this is and interest one to study a bit if you want to take the time. Bill O'Riely wrote a pretty good book, Killing Jesus. I was surprised to find they had done so much research into Jesus and actually found much of the stuff known about Jesus's life and Crucifixion in historical records.
Need to do the same for the vast amount of the Pacific Obama closed to us too. Rather emperor like. But perhaps a different thread.
You don't seem to understand the meaning of the word "if", but leaving that aside... Then are you saying that we are the product of evolution, but somehow this planet was chosen for us to evolve on? That seems an unnecessary addition. Probably I don't really understand what point you are trying to make. barfo
