Exploration & discovery: land, water, space...?

[Phait]

I'm most interested in the extreme depths of the ocean, we can't even reach there yet, but I'm certain we'll get to the bottom before we ever get beyond galaxies in space. I just wonder what kind of "alien" (truly the real 'aliens' in a sense) lifeforms are down there. A lot of deep sea creatures that have surfaced are godawful ugly but still fascinating. I actually wonder if there's some huge sea monster living down there :p

[Micki!]

My favorites are Water and Space... But space is so much more different than "here-on-earth" stuff, so i voted for space

[Hudson]

I voted for space, but considering there's still so much stuff buried miles upon miles under the ocean we haven't even seen yet, that too is very exciting.

[Dead Chief]

I still wonder how the government can't make a proper device to get really deep in the sea and explore yet. Maybe nothing strange shows up in their radar so they don't bother :p. What if there's some monster whose body doesn't show up in radars or something ? :D

[NetNessie]

Space, only because I think the knowledge that aliens do exist would give this world one giant reality check (and screw with religion). :D

[Sang]

the government

teh government of earth

I don't know anything about the depths of the oceans and I can't say I really care about that either (unless there could be some OMG THIS CHANGES THE WAY WE THINK stuff down there but I doubt it).. I think outer space looks really gorgeous though, with all the planets and nebulas and stuff.. So I'm voting for Space!

[hell-angel]

In case you don't know. There was one submarine (specially made of course) that made it all the way to the deepest point on earth.
They found fascinating things there iirc.

I voted for space because it fasinates me somehow ;)

[Phait]

Do you have any idea the name of that expedition/submarine?

[Mr.Fibbles]

Space; mostly because there is no real end to it that we know of.

[Usurper]

Do you have any idea the name of that expedition/submarine?

Gotta be the Trieste in 1960.

http://www.marianatrench.com/mariana_trench-exploration_001.htm

[Waiter]

Yupp.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathyscaphe_Trieste

[Destructor]

Space is a waste of time.

[wayskobfssae]

Space is a waste of time.

I'm more interested in locations that has no humans living on it.

[Dead Chief]

Space is indeed a waste of time, at least now that we can't travel at lightspeed, and even if we could...it would be pretty useless too.

[NetNessie]

at least now that we can't travel at lightspeed, and even if we could...it would be pretty useless too.

:doh: 5char

[Dead Chief]

Well, I'm pretty sure you know that most interesting things are Light YEARS away, so even if you could travel at light speed, it would take years to get there, other galaxies for example are more than 10.000 light years Away, now think again before posting that stupid smiley.

[Dave-ros]

If we could build ships capable of being lived in for long periods of time, and if we could get them up to even half light-speed, we'd have a load of star systems within range, that could be reached within human lifetimes. It's just that we're so impatient and want to get to Sirius NOW, not in 16 years or however long it'd take. Plus, if we started a war, we'd have the Douglas Adams situation of sub-lightspeed war fleets arriving long after the war had ended :hhg:

[Sang]

Space is indeed a waste of time, at least now that we can't travel at lightspeed, and even if we could...it would be pretty useless too.

Keep in mind that our planet seems to be going to hell gradually (ya know, GLOBAL WARMING) so I wouldn't be surprised if colonization on other planets would save our asses eventually. But for that to happen, we'd have to explore the universe first to find locations that can support the ginormous population of Earth.

And to explore the universe more efficiently, we need fast spaceships.

You'd be right in saying that the technology for this is very far off, but I wouldn't be so quick to call it a "waste of time".

[Opus131]

Space is indeed a waste of time, at least now that we can't travel at lightspeed, and even if we could...it would be pretty useless too.

If everybody had that sort of attitude we would still be living in caves.

[Dead Chief]

Right, because I think everything else we do here on earth is completely useless, right?.

Let me reprhase what you just said but in a more fitting way " If everybody had that sort of attitude towards EVERYTHING we would still be living in caves".

[Commando Nukem]

Right, because I think everything else we do here on earth is completely useless, right?.

Let me reprhase what you just said but in a more fitting way " If everybody had that sort of attitude towards EVERYTHING we would still be living in caves".

He was saying the mindset you were using is akin to the many many closedminded fools over the ages that have said "This serves no purpose." If not for exploration we would not have some of the most basic facts we have today, The Earth is round, and Europe is not the only continent on Earth.

Let me just let you in on a little secret... The space program has probably contributed to saving millions of lives... It gets a fraction of the budget it deserves. Did you know we just recently discovered a planet that may be able to harbor life? The space program is what has given us satelite communication which has connected the world like never before. Hubble has taken photographs so amazing and awe inspiring... There are clouds and nebulas that are so vast out there that it takes hundreds of years just for light to pass through them all the way... trillions of miles acrossed. There are millions and millions of galaxies... as the video once said "There are thousands of galaxies in a blank patch of sky seen from Earth."

Useless? I think not. I think for many people it has humbled them to their existance... I look up at that great vastness and I can't help but have my belief in God be strengthed, looking at those images of those beautiful vivid purple and blue cloud masses. So bigger then I, so older then I...

We're still in our infancy of discovery, but like the european nations of centuries ago, if they had not given Columbus the chance to sail, we would not have the modernised world we live in.

[Sang]

While I agree with most of what you said..


I look up at that great vastness and I can't help but have my belief in God be strengthed, looking at those images of those beautiful vivid purple and blue cloud masses. So bigger then I, so older then I...

What does God have to do with it?

[Dead Chief]

I liked your little secret commando nukem until you brought an inexistent entity into the conversation.

[Sang]

an inexistent entity

Now that's not true either - It can't be set in stone that The Big Guy doesn't exist. I'm just wondering why he brought him up.

[sawn_off]

Drop the god talk. For the sake of the thread.

[Destructor]

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:reY9yIPQfFFsrM:http://www.pixelhaus.co.uk/images/spanner.jpg

[Phait]

Drop the god talk. For the sake of the thread.

Agree. I don't want this thread locked, I think this is cool stuff.

[Rider]

I voted space...

Let's live on the moon!

[Krust]

I voted space, but the most interesting thing to truely explore imo is the human brain. If we fully understood how it works, things could change forever (for worse or good, we'll have to see).

[Hyperactive Slob]

I voted water because it's in the near future unlike space travel which will take a couple of decades for our space technology to advance so it's more efficient and economical.

[Phait]

o/\o Finally

[Kalki]

I voted water because I think it's more interesting. I am intrigued by the life forms we've yet to discover in our oceans' depths.

And no, haven't played any Bioshock but I'm sure that was some inspiration for this thread. ;)

[Steve]

Water here. I'm sure there's all sorts of plants\material down there that could benefit people. (manufactured into some sort of drug\s.)
Space is cool ;)

[Sang]

I voted water because I think it's more interesting. I am intrigued by the life forms we've yet to discover in our oceans' depths.

And no, haven't played any Bioshock but I'm sure that was some inspiration for this thread. ;)

Wouldn't it be awesome if there turned out to be something like Rapture in real life? :o

[Dead Chief]

Exactly, the deepest part of earth has been reached but why does it have to be the deepest part that contains something? Maybe the second or third part have something more interesting :)

[Dave-ros]

Wouldn't it be awesome if there turned out to be something like Rapture in real life?
There probably is, but it's full of Deep Ones and shoggoths :eek:

[Destroyer]

Space because its endless.
I had a dream a few nights ago that we found life on some planet(not sure what planet it was)
and then we go to war with them, and they have an invasion feet comming towards us, and it gets taken out by asteroids :)


Perhalps I do play too many video games.

[Dead Chief]

It would be pretty freaky if you could go 50000 times the speed of light and you went really far into space in a straight line...then suddenly you see earth again, get down there to say "hey the space is circled!" only to find that it's planet earth....millions of years ago :o. I'm crazy I know.

[thefly]

I'll go with land.

[bobthefish]

ill go with space...unless were hunting Russian submarines!
LONG LIVE TOM CLANCY! :D

[peoplessi]

Space, only because I think the knowledge that aliens do exist would give this world one giant reality check (and screw with religion). :D

It is very likely that there are other lifeforms in space, only thing is: why in the heck would they be interested in us, or we at them. Since the distances are way beyond humanlifetimes. Very possibly there are other lifeforms, but the distance is too much for human civilization to travel ever. Space is currently the most abstract thing there is, no one knows where it ends if it ends, whats beyond it. Scientist only reason these things, and develop new theoremas.

[Dave-ros]

why in the heck would they be interested in us, or we at them.
Not that old chestnut again. Why would we not be interested in other life in the cosmos, any kind of life? And the notion that we're not interesting to aliens is spurious -- if we found a planet full of cavemen, would we say "oh, they haven't got any technology we can rip off, they're useless", or would we say "hey, they're where we were thousands of years ago, and by studying them we can learn about our own history!"? :p

It's interesting that some great sci-fi epics, like Frank Herbert's Dune and Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, have humans as the only intelligent life in the Galaxy (and possibly the Universe)... aside from man-made life forms ;)

[John]

I've always been interested in whether or not there are other lifeforms out there. Sometimes I assume our best programming/media comes from outerspace because it obviously couldn't be produced in such an environment as Earth. :D

[peoplessi]

Not that old chestnut again. Why would we not be interested in other life in the cosmos, any kind of life? And the notion that we're not interesting to aliens is spurious -- if we found a planet full of cavemen, would we say "oh, they haven't got any technology we can rip off, they're useless", or would we say "hey, they're where we were thousands of years ago, and by studying them we can learn about our own history!"? :p

It's interesting that some great sci-fi epics, like Frank Herbert's Dune and Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, have humans as the only intelligent life in the Galaxy (and possibly the Universe)... aside from man-made life forms ;)

If they are far superior to us, I don't think they are that interested. And we on the other, would probably send hellos in form of violence. There is no lifeforms enough close to us, to make such beyondly interest wise. That caveman simile isn't really related.

[Sang]

If they are far superior to us, I don't think they are that interested.

Of course they would. If they would be as superior as you're thinking they could be, surely they would want to learn everything, know everything? Including the history of this planet?

And if they aren't that "superior" they might still just export us to their homeplanet for us to be used as slaves or gladiators ;)

[wayskobfssae]

It would be pretty freaky if you could go 50000 times the speed of light and you went really far into space in a straight line...then suddenly you see earth again, get down there to say "hey the space is circled!" only to find that it's planet earth....millions of years ago :o. I'm crazy I know.

You'd be like Christopher Columbus, thinking you'd circled the Earth and found India, and started calling the native people Indians... only to find out that you'd actually only gone half way and found a parallel Earth that just kinda looks like ours. :p

[The Red Slaughter]

I would love to explore space.

The way I see it, unless aliens get a better enviroment, better researchers or technologic relics on their planets, they are probrably just as advanced as us. It's all about niches. What if there's few to no components required to make gunpowder and bullets on their planet, but enough components to easily make laser weapons? A parallel evollution would be interesting...

[wayskobfssae]

I would love to explore space.

The way I see it, unless aliens get a better enviroment, better researchers or technologic relics on their planets, they are probrably just as advanced as us. It's all about niches. What if there's few to no components required to make gunpowder and bullets on their planet, but enough components to easily make laser weapons? A parallel evollution would be interesting...

Or just to come across a civilization that early in its development just went off on a different tangent for whatever reason. I had this complex thing written out as a backstory for this War of the Worlds thing I did, because I needed some groundwork for the Martian civilization, which took into account the fact that giant walking machines by our standards and understanding are entirely impractical. From very early on, for the Martians with their extremely alien way of thinking, the concept of wheels just never occurred to them.

[Jeff]

Definately outer space.

[Commando Nukem]

While I agree with most of what you said..



What does God have to do with it?

God and the universe? Being humbled? Not seeing the connection are we sang? It reasserts my belief in God because of how massively complex and organised a lot of it is, theres a balance to the whole thing that PER-CHANCE doesn't quite cover for me. Why GOD is easily banished, but talk of violence, sex and the like in movies is perfectly okay, but I mention God as part of how I feel about space and OH GODS COMMANDO IS GOING TO GET THE THRED LOCKED. Holy crap people, that is so freaking backwards.

Im not gonna shut up about it because its a core part of how I perceive space and the universe. People looking to water for answers, and to the caves and land masses aren't looking at the long route. SPACE is where every piece of matter that makes up the planet, every element, every chemical... all of it originates from somewhere in space, somewhere out there is where it all began, where all the matierials originated from... and I happen to think that origin is God, and the only way to find out whether its God, or just a really wonderous accident, or a super concious(something one could still easily interpret as God or God like) or something along those lines... Thats where the ultimate answers are, Space... and its closer to our grasp then many of you might think.

[Dave-ros]

I think there are just worries about bringing up God because religion always causes arguments here, and gets the thread locked. We could all just agree that some forum members believe in God and some don't, and leave each other's beliefs alone... but what are the chances of us all being able to do that? :(

[wayskobfssae]

OH GODS COMMANDO IS GOING TO GET THE THRED LOCKED. Holy shit people, that is so freaking backwards.

Saying "God" may not cause an issue with the mods this time, but saying that might....

That said, I totally understand what you mean about exploration being just as much of a spiritual/self-seeking endeavor as a scientific one. Pretty sure Armstrong said something to the effect of, "The real reason for going to the moon was so we could look back at the Earth." If the resources and safety were there, I dare say it should almost be mandatory for all humans to make that trip just once to get a new outlook on our existence. In the long run, I think it would do society a whole lot of good. Of course, as we probe deeper into the fabric of reality, we're all going to come away with something different, and its just a waste of time (and if it escalates far enough, human life) starting a crusade if one person's path of discovery doesn't match up to another person's.. and that goes for both the religious and the atheists :p

[peoplessi]

God is a word you use when you have no other explanation to things.

[Phait]

Enough. Stay on topic or I get my non-existant ban stick :tinyted: :p

[wayskobfssae]

.God is a word you use when you have no other explanation to things..

.and that goes for both the religious and the atheists :p..

[Commando Nukem]

Enough. Stay on topic or I get my non-existant ban stick :tinyted: :p

It is on topic. Which is more important? Water, Land, Or Space? I don't see that it says anywhere that the specifics can't be disscussed of one or the other, you opened the door to disscussion phait.

God is a word you use when you have no other explanation to things.

God is a word I use when im referring to a super-evolved ancient being with the capacity to alter the universe,change history, manipulate matter with his mind, and be pyschically connected with potentially trillions of life forms at any given time, and has a fundamental understanding of the universe that he inhabits. One who is invincible, capably of changing a single life forms fate, capable of altering entire galaxys on a whim, who tries to teach lesser evolved beings under many guises. Hoping to rattle a few noggins in there, and religion HAS done that over the ages, even if the outcome was violent. If God is the father, Earth the mother, then the universe is the backyard of our history. If God does not exist, then the universe is one very large, wonderous accident.

Saying "God" may not cause an issue with the mods this time, but saying that might....

That said, I totally understand what you mean about exploration being just as much of a spiritual/self-seeking endeavor as a scientific one. Pretty sure Armstrong said something to the effect of, "The real reason for going to the moon was so we could look back at the Earth." If the resources and safety were there, I dare say it should almost be mandatory for all humans to make that trip just once to get a new outlook on our existence. In the long run, I think it would do society a whole lot of good. Of course, as we probe deeper into the fabric of reality, we're all going to come away with something different, and its just a waste of time (and if it escalates far enough, human life) starting a crusade if one person's path of discovery doesn't match up to another person's.. and that goes for both the religious and the atheists :p

I concur, I adjusted my post. I was just really on the edge of my seat at that point.

Armstrong is right in two sense. It was an experience of the species, and a piece of history that can never be taken away from any member of the human species. But it was also a very scientific reason to go there. Examining the moon did allow us to "look back" on the Earth, its history... and to see the relationship between the Moon and Earth much more clearly.

[Phait]

It is on topic. Which is more important? Water, Land, Or Space? I don't see that it says anywhere that the specifics can't be disscussed of one or the other, you opened the door to disscussion phait.


With all respect I started the thread, I know what my intentions were of it and they were not to get into a pissing contest over the existence or not of God which this has already or will further become.

While I agree with you that Earth and much around is proof of something higher/creator, I just don't want it in this thread because it leads to crap. I was looking for discussion on exploration involving physical environments, not spiritual.

[wayskobfssae]

With all respect I started the thread, I know what my intentions were of it and they were not to get into a pissing contest over the existence or not of God which this has already or will further become.

While I agree with you that Earth and much around is proof of something higher/creator, I just don't want it in this thread because it leads to crap. I was looking for discussion on exploration involving physical environments, not spiritual.

The point was that exploring physical environments can lead to inspiration on the meta-physical. And certainly many explorers are not exploring for the sake of science. Some just have a basic drive to "see what's out there." O don't think anyone was implying that our venture into space is simply a search for God. And to be fair, it only came as a result of the argument that space exploration is meaningless.

[December Man]

I voted for space, but considering there's still so much stuff buried miles upon miles under the ocean we haven't even seen yet, that too is very exciting.

<sings>
Rapture, Rapture
Rapture, Raptu...nvm

Earth Federation of Conquest of Space and of Aliens' Planets of Stuff! Here we come!<voted space :p>