Pale Blue Dot, by Carl Sagan
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there -- on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
--Carl Sagan, _Pale Blue Dot_, 1994
Beautiful, isn't it? Means more to me than any religious or political statement that was ever written. Unarguable and breathtakingly frank - this is it: make the most of it and the other inhabitants you share it with.
Except for Mancs.![]()
It was good, but not sure I would entirely agree with the writers thoughts. A pale blue dot and very small stage, gives us some sort of significance - to which I would disagree. We are nothing, and until we can travel time, then eventually that cosmic will consume us, and leave no history/evidence we ever existed. Maybe that is billions of years away, but it will happen nonetheless, unless we can leave a foot print many light years from here.
Yes, we are 'nothing' - except to the others we share this almost indescribably minuscule portion on now and reality with. All energy was produced in the creation, the Big Bang. All we are, is a particular coalescence of those particles in this moment. In terms of our place in the big picture, we are as insignificant as it gets. But to all other living beings, we are something and so are they. And what was once 'you' will be something else in this universe when you've gone. and the only footprint left is the memories of you by others.
As Bill Hicks was wont to say, enjoy the ride, it isn't for long.
Yes its head twisting and the main reason I believe that aliens and UFOs coming anywhere near the Earth is pure fantasy .There will eventually (in billions of years) be no memories, no footprint. There will be nothing. Our creation can only ever be a theory. We look into space, we can see places, we can never reach, we see nothing looking back (with our current capabilities). It's like an ant trying to understand the existence of a human, it only understands the part that affects it's existence, what don't we as humans see, what don't we know, who is studying us, in the same way that we study microorganisms. The truth is out there, but I doubt we can even imagine it. Where's Mulder and Scully when you bloody well need them!
Yes its head twisting and the main reason I believe that aliens and UFOs coming anywhere near the Earth is pure fantasy .
The distance is mind boggling
In the universe originally there was only hydrogen, to become the other elements it has to fuse in a sun, which then had to go supernova to release them. To become the heavier metals though, it's had to go through a few supernovas first. for a sun to be born, die, and then reform and die again a few times will take as bit of time. So it could conceivably be that there simply hasn't been the environment in the universe to support life until comparatively recently.How old is Earth, it is 4.45 billions years.
How old is the Universe, it is 13.8 billions years.
How old is the Oldest planet, it is 12.7 billions years.
So considering our planet is quite young in terms of measurements on the next two listed above, I think it has to be highly likely that life will be out there. If there was human life, and we weren't just a freak of nature, then that life surely is likely to be more advance than us, and if they still can't travel to us, then we are less likely on the law of averages to find a solution to closing the gap. Considering the huge gap between the age of our planet and the oldest planet, it is unlikely we will ever be able to do so......unless of course, we are that freak of nature, then there is nothing measurable to go by.
As you state, head twisiting and mind boggling.
Yes its head twisting and the main reason I believe that aliens and UFOs coming anywhere near the Earth is pure fantasy .
The distance is mind boggling
In the universe originally there was only hydrogen, to become the other elements it has to fuse in a sun, which then had to go supernova to release them. To become the heavier metals though, it's had to go through a few supernovas first. for a sun to be born, die, and then reform and die again a few times will take as bit of time. So it could conceivably be that there simply hasn't been the environment in the universe to support life until comparatively recently.
How old is Earth, it is 4.45 billions years.
How old is the Universe, it is 13.8 billions years.
How old is the Oldest planet, it is 12.7 billions years.
So considering our planet is quite young in terms of measurements on the next two listed above, I think it has to be highly likely that life will be out there. If there was human life, and we weren't just a freak of nature, then that life surely is likely to be more advance than us, and if they still can't travel to us, then we are less likely on the law of averages to find a solution to closing the gap. Considering the huge gap between the age of our planet and the oldest planet, it is unlikely we will ever be able to do so......unless of course, we are that freak of nature, then there is nothing measurable to go by.
As you state, head twisiting and mind boggling.
Pale Blue Dot, by Carl Sagan
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there -- on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
--Carl Sagan, _Pale Blue Dot_, 1994
Within the dimensions we experience, yes.

Yes, I think death is the only way
I reckon as celestial beings we can travel all over the universe and meet others. It'll be great fun just wait.
After you?
Does the exploration and new discoveries of the universe, destroy the beliefs and theories of religion?
My comment was just a joke with perhaps some element of Faith to it.
But in all seriousness to answer the question - not for me, I've always seen all science as explaining the how, not the why.
Is there a why ?
Beyond what we as humans attribute to it all.
Copied from google:
Adam and Eve were the first humans, according to the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian religions, and all humans have descended from them. As stated in the Bible, Adam and Eve were created by God to take care of His creation, to populate the earth, and to have a relationship with Him.
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So this is a fake of science then...
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