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[Criptfeind]

Anyway, a topic for discussion if you (not you specifically to Khan, but to the thread in general) wish: lady at my university says she's Jewish and Christian because those are the only two religions that teach their followers to be nice to one another. I already know she's full of crap, but what do you think?

Welllllllllllllllllll... First: I do believe that it is impossible to be both Jewish and Christian, despite the fact it is the same god there is some huge differences, the one that springs to mind is the fact that a Christian would be doing the worst sin ever from a Jewish stand point.

Second: lol wut? Out of thousands of religion in the world she thinks only two tell each other to be nice? Since most religions started as a social tool (most likely, I don't know, maybe.) I bet that there is not one religion that does not have some provision for being nice to other.

[Heron TSG]

You say that this universe is perfect for human life, but there are a few flaws with that.

1. The Moon will one day crash into Earth, possibly killing everyone.

2. The Earth will one day crash into the Sun, definitely killing everyone.

3. The Sun will expand into a red giant, definitely killing everyone.

4. Supervolcanos, of which we have many, are known to cause mass extinctions.

5. There are no other places to live within easy distance of Earth, so we are limited in how far we can expand. (for now.)

[Criptfeind]

Is it just me or does there seem to be several post missing? About China?

[Urist Imiknorris]

6. The Andromeda galaxy will eat the Milky Way.

[Criptfeind]

7: Heat death.

amidoingitrite?

[Dakk]

6. The Andromeda galaxy will eat the Milky Way.

Thats so far away that there's a good chance we'll have gone poof by them, either that or reached technological singularity and found a way to survive.

[Urist Imiknorris]

It will almost certainly happen before the sun actively kills us all.

[Sowelu]

Not "this is a utopia for humans".  Just "if the constants were slightly off, there would be NO humans at all".

Existential issues are a way bigger deal than whether we get hit by a moon after a couple billion years.  Silly.  I'm sure in a few million years we can make it to another star, anyway, either that or blow ourselves up.  And I'm sure we're not the only life in the universe besides, because that would be even more silly.

Nah, the universe just has very very very narrow parameters for supporting life at all.  Nobody's this lucky.  Flip a coin ten times and have it come up heads each time, and you're having a pretty good day.  Flip it a thousand times and have it come up heads each time...well, something's fishy.  The fact that we can exist means that something's real fishy in our favor.

[Phmcw]

You now, some poeple won the jackpot, but if you play, your chances to win are neglectible.
And you're simply being guilible if you think that our exobiological model are somewhat reliable.
So you don't know if our existance is likely or not.

[Shrugging Khan]

It's no big feat. It happens all the time.

Not often enough.

Anyway, a topic for discussion if you (not you specifically to Khan, but to the thread in general) wish: lady at my university says she's Jewish and Christian because those are the only two religions that teach their followers to be nice to one another. I already know she's full of crap, but what do you think?

I think it's quite poor to require religion in order to be nice...also, to be nice to one another among the faith? That's easy. Try being nice to someone who believes differently. I know I've given up on that.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

You say that this universe is perfect for human life, but there are a few flaws with that.

1. The Moon will one day crash into Earth, possibly killing everyone.

The Moon's orbit is decaying away from Earth.

2. The Earth will one day crash into the Sun, definitely killing everyone.

Current projections say that the Earth will physically survive the Sun's lifecycle, although not with life.

3. The Sun will expand into a red giant, definitely killing everyone.

That said, this will be several billion years from now, and if we can't create a method of saving Earth by then then we probably deserve what we get.

4. Supervolcanos, of which we have many, are known to cause mass extinctions.

Humanity has been through more than one Supervolcanic event, and that was without civilization or technology.

5. There are no other places to live within easy distance of Earth, so we are limited in how far we can expand. (for now.)

Oh, we have vez of making you habitable.

However, Earth is still a crazy geological powder-keg covered in lifeforms very unfavorable for human life. It says somthing about us that, with the comparatively abysmall disease resistance of humans and existance of human-preying microorganisms, that we still managed to take over the whole planet and are now extermanating said organisms.

[Criptfeind]

I know I've given up on that.

We know.

[Andir]

I do believe in a creator though.  Mostly because, seriously...Math?  Physics?  That is AWESOME, and I firmly believe that there is Someone out there who needs a high-five.

To me that sounds self-destructive (self-deprecating?).  To think that humans could not come up with such concepts and that they were created by something divine and handed down.  Why do you "hate" humanity so much to think that we could not do such feats without "divine inspiration"?

[Dakk]

It will almost certainly happen before the sun actively kills us all.

Are you absolutely sure? I'm pretty sure all astronomers and every documentary ever mentioned the event of the two galaxies colliding happening around a number of years that falls into the "90 zeros" tier. The sun will mostly likely go batshit before that.

[Sowelu]

I do believe in a creator though.  Mostly because, seriously...Math?  Physics?  That is AWESOME, and I firmly believe that there is Someone out there who needs a high-five.

To me that sounds self-destructive (self-deprecating?).  To think that humans could not come up with such concepts and that they were created by something divine and handed down.  Why do you "hate" humanity so much to think that we could not do such feats without "divine inspiration"?

No, you misunderstand.  I'm not saying that God came to our mathematicians in a blinding flash of inspiration.  I'm saying that the very existence of all the crazy shit we have is totally awesome.  Euler's Identity for one.  The wonderful thing about math is that it's a universal language--it reveals truths inherent to the universe, things that are true whether we discover them or not.  And some of those truths are so whacked-out crazy awesome that, well, they're like works of art.  Literal works of art.