Death by Giant Meteor - Neil DeGrasse Tyson

@Chris: :rofl:

Those are some fine nuggets Chris :smiley:

You are right, just eat some nugget, pop another one into your mouth, be happy and do not think further then what the next nugget will taste like :beer: burp…

[FONT=“Georgia”]There’s a difference between being aware of something and worrying about it.

If awareness allows you to plan for and avoid a bad incident then it makes perfect sense!

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Yeah, but not much I can do to battle a giant astroid, I’d end up leaving it to someone else. So, I’m basically made aware of something that could whipe out a good chunk of humanity, and I’m helpless to stop it. I think I’ll take more preventive awarness on things like “I better not cross the street, because that car is going really fast and might run into me” than that. Unless, it decides to get in the way of me writing a Crier… then it gets personal and I roundhouse kick that stupid rock into a black hole :mad:

[FONT=“Georgia”]I prefer transparency to having people make decisions that affect me without my knowledge.

Also knowing when and where it will hit means that you can plan yourself to suit… aka… don’t vacation in Malibu in April 2036…

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[FONT=“Georgia”]By the way, Datura.

I’ve been meaning to pick this bone with you…

Don’t confuse humility with meekness. Meekness isn’t a virtue. But humility can be important!

Unless someone is humble, there’s no way they can allow themselves to learn anything from others.

I’m sure you must have come across people like that already. Persons who never seem to advance to the higher levels of whatever skill they practice because they’re so convinced they’re right, they completely shut out the valid advice and criticisms of others.

Of course it’s also true that you can’t listen to every criticism or else you’d be going around in circles doing the same things over and over, and also never get confidence in your ability.

But there has to be a balance somewhere, so I think a certain amount of humility is important.

Not to be confused with meekness, which is just a sheer lack of backbone.

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Not having humility does not mean being arrogant or not listening and learning. Humility to me means that you feel humbled by greatness or by vastness (as the universe) and feel small or insignificant in comparison. I admire greatness, but I am never humbled by it. I am in awe, but that is not being humble. Admiring greatness means that you strive to emulate if you can. Feeling humbled means that you have no pride in your own achievement.

Humbleness to me means underestimating the capacity you have within yourself. We all have different interests and capabilities in certain fields, we should admire people who have gotten to the level of excellence in their area of knowledge. No question about that. We must also acknowledge that we can not know everything, that is only accepting the reality of who we are. But nobody should feel humbled. Humbleness goes along with many belief systems/philosophies for the purpose of keeping you small in your own mind so you become a willing follower. That lies also at the root of this idea that there must be more intelligent beings than we are somewhere out in space. I do not except that. Why can we - humans - not be the ones that have reached the highest level so far?

[FONT=“Georgia”]Hey they do it here too… camparing us as inferior to other Earth-bound animals. It’s only natural that we’d think that way of other, distant beings as well.

Remember the cougar?

Maybe that’s part of “human nature”. Or maybe it’s been fed to us too much of the years.

I get what you’re saying now. I looked up the definition of “humble” and apparently I had it wrong. They did actually define “humble” as “meekness”. ha!

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Dictionary:
humble (hŭm’bəl) pronunciation

adj., -bler, -blest.

  1. Marked by meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful.
  2. Showing deferential or submissive respect: a humble apology.
  3. Low in rank, quality, or station; unpretentious or lowly: a humble cottage.

hahaha

:slight_smile: Yes indeed. That is why I would not classify myself as humble or would never strive to be such.

Climate change cannot be stoped even if we tried, it is natural. The world is coming out of an ice age, that is what is really causing the globe to warm up. There are political reasons for the whole greenhouse gas thing, not that I am against it, I think reducing polution is a brilliant thing, and reducing our dependency on oil is even better.

I undestand that nukes are important in helping to avoid war, but do you really think a single country needs many thousands of nukes? Imagine if any country that has thousands of nukes, had say 50, and spent all the rest of the wasted money on making life better for the people in the country.

After all, it only takes one well positioned nuke in most More Economically Developed Countries (MEDC’s) to bring it to its knees. I mean if the initial mass destruction followed by the mass poisoning, that completely smashes the economy isn’t enough, the psychological effect cannot be underestimated either.

ro0bear :smiley:

[FONT=“Georgia”]Just as a follow up…

For anyone who’s interested, I found the full, half-hour long interview on Fora.tv .

Here’s a link… http://fora.tv/2008/02/19/Neil_DeGrasse_Tyson_Death_by_Black_Hole

It also begins with that black-hole part I posted in the Kaku thread.

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Yet another dooms day possibility, this centry doesn’t look bright!

Thank goodness for escapism!!

p.s. maybe we have finally found a use for all those nuclear weapons!

ro0bear :smiley:

…Surfs Up! lol

[FONT=“Georgia”]You’re one of them!

“Let’s blow der sucka outta der sky.”

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Lol, I am one of the lets try and tow it off path, and if that fails, “Let’s blow der sucka outta der sky!” as a back up.

It would be a great excuse to get rid of all the worlds nuclear weapons!

ro0bear :smiley:

[FONT=“Georgia”]In my head I’m thinking if I was the president of the United Nations’ Zone of Interstellar Planning, I’d park a space-ship on the off-side of the Earth, waiting for the meteor to pass by, then fire nuclear rockets behind it (if deflection fails and it threads the “keyhole”).

Can’t fire in front because pieces may be blasted back into Earth’s path. Granted that could also happen if you fire from behind… Or a large piece could remain floating somewhere for Earth to trip over as she orbits. But I still think it’s a better bet than firing from in front.

Also, you make it sound as though there’s a willingness for countries to get rid of their nuclear weapons. The nukes are playing-cards in a global game of poker. Half of the players are bluffing… the other half want the leverage so they can wager on the pot.

I’m sure we at the United Nations’ Zone of Interstellar Planning would need to make our own nukes for the job. There won’t be any bureaucratic sponsorship or donations (of munitions) toward the cause. After all, planetary destruction doesn’t put food on peoples’ plates…

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I just love watching the man speak. I love his humor, I love what he has to say.

Stuff like this always creeps me out :frowning:

Well, when they pass legislation to stop “climate change”, maybe they can pass a bill to stop this as well.

While, we’re at it…we need to vote to stop all forms of destruction and human suffering.

We should have done this a long time ago.