I don't believe in many things. I do however believe that man will be one of the species in the universe to travel beyond their planet of origin and conquer other regions of the universe. I believe that in some evolutionary form, our species (human or super human) may outlast the Sun. Though I find it more probable that instead of outlasting the Sun in 6 billion years, we will be the means of its destruction much sooner.
On one planet orbiting a star, there are millions of different life forms. Humans are the only one of all of the different species on Earth that has left this planet. Humans are the only species on this planet that has changed what Earth looks like from outer space and the climate on Earth. If we had serious competition from another species for planetary supremacy would we have developed technology quicker to fend off the forces of our foe like we do in wars with other humans? Or, would we never get to this evolutionary point because we would be more concerned with getting food for ourselves in new regions of less competition from extreme climates or other creatures and never be able to call one place home?
I believe that in order for a species to develop as we have, and be able to leave their home planet, control the climate of a planet, and control the destiny of other species - there has to be a dominant species. One organism has to be allowed to develop both in knowledge and in physical evolution to grasp certain concepts (like language, writing, math, and agriculture) in order to thrive as we have.
Is there life on other planets? All sorts. More than we can imagine. Earth has life, Europa may have life, Mars had life. May it be possible for life to exist in pockets of ice if not solid ice on planets or flying around space? Do our giant planets have the right chemicals to support life? I think that the answer is that it is most probably, yes. I also think that it is highly probable that we are the most advanced species in our solar system - but only by 7 to 10 thousand years of evolutionary progress. That's not all that much time. If we get past our stint into global warming and into a new generation of actually learning how to control our climate at whim instead of just warming and cooling a whole planet, I think we will witness other species in our solar system attain technological tools of their own design.
We learned to harness fire about 100,000 years ago. Then from discovering iron and copper to making bronze and steel about 2,000 years ago; before this time we used slate - rock. For thousands of year the highest man made structure was the Great Pyramid in Egypt. Then, for almost a millennium the Leaning Tower of Pisa, stood as the tallest sky scraper. And the Great Wall of China was the only man made object that the unaided eye of a human could see from an orbiting space craft.
And now? In the last hundred years we have stunted all of these achievements. Plastics have the strength of steel. Towers are built in a couple of years that would tower over the structures that Egyptians took decades to build. And when man goes into space, he can still see the Great Wall of China, but what he can see most are the lights from big cities.
There were 1 billion humans on earth in the year 1900 and 6 billion in the year 2000 - does our rapid technological development have anything to do with this? I think that better communication and transportation is playing biggest factor in this growth in population, as well as the exponential growth of our technology.
I believe that this forum will help me with my writing in a couple of ways. Firstly, it will help me get the documents that I have prepared on this subject off of my computer which i think will help to better preserve them. Second, it will give me the incentive to make much needed spelling and grammar corrections to them. As I hope to present a bit more than 'fluff' - what an english teacher referred to writing that I think she would have preferred to call 'crap' - and something that people might enjoy reading versus being turned off by countless grammatical and spelling errors (as I often am when reading well thought but poorly written articles. Third, I would hope to get *thoughtful* feedback.
I think that my third incentive needs a bit definition when concerned with the loose term thoughtful. I don't expect Hubble, Dirak, Einstein, Newton, or Galileo to be reading my writing - as they're dead. Though, I doubt that Hawking, Tyson, or any other - still alive - great minds to read my work. What I would expect is that if you wish to give me feedback, you abide by a couple of 'rules', so please:
Last, the pictures on the slide show may or may not have been taken by me. Most were taken on family vacations and since we only had one (fairly) high end camera - the talented photographers that we all are - had to share. So I can't say which of these pictures I took and which I didn't (unless I was in it - and that is rare).
I think that my third incentive needs a bit definition when concerned with the loose term thoughtful. I don't expect Hubble, Dirak, Einstein, Newton, or Galileo to be reading my writing - as they're dead. Though, I doubt that Hawking, Tyson, or any other - still alive - great minds to read my work. What I would expect is that if you wish to give me feedback, you abide by a couple of 'rules', so please:
- Say more than five words - "You're an idiot" "Love your writing" - I DON'T CARE
- Unless you are pointing a unbiased and blunt untruth I have stated, take more than five minutes to think about what you are saying.
- Make your point and be done with it - don't keep reiterating a point you've already made, don't put incessant carriage returns (aka - 'enter') like a teenage chat room.
- Don't type everything big and bold, small and blending in with the background, or using all caps.
Last, the pictures on the slide show may or may not have been taken by me. Most were taken on family vacations and since we only had one (fairly) high end camera - the talented photographers that we all are - had to share. So I can't say which of these pictures I took and which I didn't (unless I was in it - and that is rare).