Ahhh space, curiosity takes a whole new level when I think about space, at least for me. Ever since I was a kid I'd often find myself looking up at the night sky, wondering what's out there, basking in life's sweet breath. Life is a very beautiful thimg and I believe people need to begin to see the brighter side of life. Do you think these corrupt politicians ever go outside, look at the night sky and feel is though you are one with life and earth? Of course not. I feel like I'm in control of my own reality - in a good way. I don't mean this in a cocky way but its almost like I feel better than these careless politicians or wall street traders purely because I am a human that is curious of different philosophical things, rather then worry about if nasdaq is down. I believe weed plays a part in my Life style and cognitive thinking. Thoughts?
gotta say im the same man, especially after some good weed. space is like the most facsinating top of mine, ive just had a vape and was looking at 'oldest galaxies in the universe' on google, just looking at some of the galaxies that are actually happened over 13 BILLION years ago. its just crazy to think - light travels at a lightening distance of 186,000 miles in just 1 second, a light year is 5.88 TRILLION miles, and these distant places are BILLIONS of light away. whatseven more interesting are black holes though, just watching a documentary on them.. they weigh about the as like a TRILLION suns ( like a galaxy), and from the outisde they look small. but from the inside, apparently if you were to just breach the event horizon, you would get a peak in, only for a couple of seconds, and youd be greeted with just total, blinding white light, and youd die after that. its cus the gravity holds the light down, all that shit inside the blackhole all that energy and light, its all there but its invisible to the eye. that s what maes it such a hard concept to grab hold of. it seems science fiction, like some sort of magic joke youd play on your friends as a kid, but its real.i think all black holes are at the centre of their galaxy, which would sort of make sense, cus the supermassiveblack hole is the only thing massive enough to be able to keep all the stars and everything in that galaxy together.
I like how you mention the politicians and if they ever take the time to wonder about a topic such as space. I highly doubt it. It is really a tragedy that a huge portion of humanity are so busy with our insignificant "problems" that we don't take time to appreciate the truly awesome (and I mean the word awesome in it's true form: to inspire awe) realities of the universe that we live in. We (I'm generalizing humanity here) have become so disconnected with nature that we have lost appreciation for something so breathtakingly beautiful as a night sky absolutely lit up with thousands of stars. Instead, many live in cities who's light pollution drowns out any hopes of seeing the night sky in it's full glory. Learning about space, and planet earth's place in it all, is such a humbling experience. There's no way a person could not come out the other end as more fulfilled and changed on some level. Sadly, many are more interested in technological entertainment, and I would argue that more than entertainment, it is distraction from a depressing life brought on by a hollow consumer society life. I'm not trying to be so critical of our modern society, but I am trying to bring attention to the issue that we are ignoring something fundamentally inherent in being human, a love for nature. It is sad that our society doesn't place a higher focus on things like space. I truly feel that quality of life would increase, and a deeper fulfillment would be had by all. Here are some youtube videos to kind of reinforce, and hopefully make some people think... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFO2usVjfQc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pfwY2TNehw
I could not have said it better myself. The fact that NASA struggles financially, shows how little the space program in America is respected. Sure, it might not really get us anywhere on earth but I think it's important for us to know all we can about what lies beyond in space, its a key component needed for humans to philosophically progress. Also, in Colorado, the cities light pollution is awful, but when you go camping in the mountains whew that sky is lit up.
Speaking of light years and how looking at galaxies is looking back in time, I was watching The Desolation of Smaug for the jillionth time last night and the she-elf explains that light is memory. How right Tolkien was when he wrote that a few generations ago. Light transmits what happened in the past, the Universe's memories. I remember a Superman comic where Superman goes far enough fast enough to look back at the Earth and see the past. The further light goes, the memories it carries get older. Space is a time machine.
Yeah that's just it. The benefits from space exploration aren't necessarily immediate financial gain, it's just a deeper understanding philosophically. Unfortunately, many politicians aren't interested in that. In the first episode of that Neil DeGrasse Tyson video, he talks about how it was funny how the main reason that the US went to the moon was to beat Soviet Russia in the space race. So even that amazing achievement wasn't accomplished because of some pure motive, but more so just to simply beat those damn "ruskies". It just kind of shows where the minds of politicians are at.
Most great achievements have been motivated by competition or survival which may be the same thing. It's easier for a dog to learn to catch a treat if you toss it at him with other dogs around. It's not a bad thing.
It kind of is a bad thing though. The idea that we have to be motivated by war or competition in order to advance scientifically is pretty sad. Imagine if the mission to the moon had simply been because as a human race, we wanted to explore our cosmic surroundings. That would truly be something to be proud of. I would argue that we could actually advance FAR more if we didn't rely on competition, but rather cooperation. Imagine if humankind could come together and realize that these imaginary lines that we've drawn on the earth don't actually matter, and that we can advance scientifically to achieve a new understanding as an entire species. Instead of wasting man hours and resources towards fighting each other, while researching separately, we could pool together all of our resources and work together. If we could manage to get our act together long enough to do that, I claim that we would be waaaay more advanced than we are right now, and it would be due to cooperation, not competition.
I guess since we live in this reality we'll never know for sure, eh? It would be just as accurate to imagine if there was no competition we wouldn't be able to discuss it because the technology that allows it may not exist.