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+--- Thread: Pointless thread (/showthread.php?tid=16816)
RE: Pointless thread - Guest - 02-16-2016
Jamming a stick in the eye of humanity so it is blind to half the universe is not Aloha. It is a shrewd political move by secessionists and their handlers, but it is not Aloha.
Maybe someone can explain to me how anything can be sacred without Aloha. I am deeply misunderstanding something because I do not see how it is possible. All I see is a naked contradiction.
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You can't fix Samsara.
RE: Pointless thread - TomK - 02-16-2016
"http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141010-radio-telescope-green-bank-west-virginia-astronomy/
This is how it's done on the mainland USA."
I'm just waiting for some to say the we'll have no cell service or will be banned from using microwave ovens if the TMT is built...
RE: Pointless thread - TomK - 02-16-2016
"http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-35588083
That's how they do it in China."
Fortunately, Hawaii isn't under the control of the Chinese government.
RE: Pointless thread - TomK - 02-16-2016
quote:I just read that article again. Either the director-general of the Chinese Astronomical Society is a complete fruitcake, or the author of the article is just as nuts.
Originally posted by TomK
"http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-35588083
That's how they do it in China."
Fortunately, Hawaii isn't under the control of the Chinese government.
"Residents will be moved from their homes in the south-western province of Guizhou to prevent interference with the telescope's electromagnetism."
Interference with the telescope's electromagnetism? That makes no sense at all.
"Wu Xiangping, director-general of the Chinese Astronomical Society, said the telescope's high level of sensitivity "will help us to search for intelligent life outside of the galaxy", Xinhua reported."
What nonsense. Looking for life outside of the Galaxy? I don't think so. Something lost in translation?
RE: Pointless thread - Hawaii Bound - 02-17-2016
Maybe they just meant life outside the Milky Way galaxy. I mean we are one of Billions right? Had it said life outside the Universe then I would have the same reaction that you are having.
RE: Pointless thread - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 02-17-2016
Maybe they just meant life outside the Milky Way galaxy.
There are many potential star systems with planets inside our own Milky Way Galaxy, so why begin a search even farther away in another galaxy? Looking closer to earth, relatively speaking, a telescope can focus on individual star systems and rule out interference from other sources. When attempting to detect signals in a distant galaxy containing billions of suns, it would probably not be possible to narrow down an individual signal.
"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." -Annie Dillard
RE: Pointless thread - PaulW - 02-17-2016
"Fortunately, Hawaii isn't under the control of the Chinese government."
Maybe one day... Wouldn't that be ironic.
Thanks HOTPE, I couldn't figure out for myself what was wrong with that "galaxy" statement.
RE: Pointless thread - TomK - 02-17-2016
Although HOTPE is correct, the more relevant issue is signal strength. Remember light, or any electromagnetic wave, weakens as the distance squared. It's much easier to detect signals from a star 100 light years away in our own galaxy. The same signal sent from, e.g., the Andromeda galaxy, would be about 600 million times weaker.
RE: Pointless thread - dakine - 02-17-2016
Unless it was near by, like in our own solar system, what would knowing there is a planet that would support life, or even knowing there is life, even intelligent life, in our own galaxy or beyond, get us?
All this talk about how great it would be to have the TMT, and what a massive loss it would be to not have it, is missing one part of the equation for me, a product, something we can point to as the payback, the gain. Sure it's great to talk about finding other life supporting planets, and oh man it'd be awesome when (not if) all those fantastic discoveries are made. But after they are, and there's a round or two in the news, and a thread about it here, what will be different the day after? Will we be better equipped to deal with our social problems? Will our energy and waste problems be solved? Will we have better food sources? Will wars end? Poverty? Will idiots like Donald Trump and his followers mysteriously disappear? Really what would be the upside? I mean so many here speak so glowingly about it and are willing to be so harsh to those that don't there's got to be gold at the end of that rainbow, yes?
RE: Pointless thread - TomK - 02-17-2016
"Unless it was near by, like in our own solar system, what would knowing there is a planet that would support life, or even knowing there is life, even intelligent life, in our own galaxy or beyond, get us?
All this talk about how great it would be to have the TMT, and what a massive loss it would be to not have it, is missing one part of the equation for me, a product, something we can point to as the payback, the gain. Sure it's great to talk about finding other life supporting planets, and oh man it'd be awesome when (not if) all those fantastic discoveries are made. But after they are, and there's a round or two in the news, and a thread about it here, what will be different the day after? Will we be better equipped to deal with our social problems? Will our energy and waste problems be solved? Will we have better food sources? Will wars end? Poverty? Will idiots like Donald Trump and his followers mysteriously disappear? Really what would be the upside? I mean so many here speak so glowingly about it and are willing to be so harsh to those that don't there's got to be gold at the end of that rainbow, yes?"
Yes, let's just stop fundamental scientific research because it has never benefited us, has it? It's extraordinary to me that one of the most fundamental human characteristics, curiosity and the need to explore and discover without having any preconceived notions, should be stopped because in the opinion of a few, there are no immediate benefits. And to discover life elsewhere? What a game changer that would be. To know we are not alone and to start understanding how life may have started? Yeah, no-one's interested that.
Of all the fields in science, astronomy has attracted the most into science and technological fields. It has led to discoveries that are used in all sorts of fields, from medicine to engineering, and has explained space to billions who want to know about the universe and our place in it.
Some light reading for you:
https://www.ras.org.uk/images/stories/Publications/beyondthestars.pdf
https://www.iau.org/public/themes/astronomy_in_everyday_life/
http://www.universetoday.com/106302/how-astronomy-benefits-society-and-humankind/
https://astrogeo.oxfordjournals.org/content/51/3/3.25.full