Big Scary Universe

[FBM]

Why was I the only one to vote for shrimp cocktail?

I got yer back.

Universe is not scary to me. Except for the slightly depressing fact that I'll never be able to get off this rock and go out to explore it in person.

[hiyymer]

Yellowstone Park is about a 1000 miles west of where I live. When I was a kid I visited Yellowstone with my family. I thought the geysers were really cool, especially Old Faithful. A few years ago I watched a show on TV explaining that Yellowstone Park lies on top of a giant caldera. The land is gradually rising as the caldera bulges upwards ready to unexpectedly blow it's top making St Helens look like a tiny poof. If it did I would be smothered in a giant cascade of ash turning my lungs into useless crap. Those farther from the explosion wouldn't fare a lot better. Scientists believe that the Yellowstone caldera last blew some 300 or so thousand years ago and that it will probably happen again sometime in the next 100 or 200 thousand years. They also believe that a similar caldera, Toba, blew some 60 thousand years ago and reduced the population of humans to a few thousand survivors.

I only mention Yellowstone because it seems unavoidable, unlike the giant asteroid that has a high probability of hitting in a similar time frame. We are here because past extinction events accelerated the evolution of life on earth. It's odd because, although we know such things will almost surely happen again in the future, the chances of them happening in any one individual's lifetime are miniscule. Is that scary or just weird?

Not so scary if you can afford to move away from Yellowstone to a safe distance. Survival favors the prepared.

No safe distance. A super volcano eruption is like a world class event. Look at it this way. When Krakatoa blew it snowed in June in New England. Multiply that by an order of magnitude or two.

[Atheist-Lite]

Yellowstone Park is about a 1000 miles west of where I live. When I was a kid I visited Yellowstone with my family. I thought the geysers were really cool, especially Old Faithful. A few years ago I watched a show on TV explaining that Yellowstone Park lies on top of a giant caldera. The land is gradually rising as the caldera bulges upwards ready to unexpectedly blow it's top making St Helens look like a tiny poof. If it did I would be smothered in a giant cascade of ash turning my lungs into useless crap. Those farther from the explosion wouldn't fare a lot better. Scientists believe that the Yellowstone caldera last blew some 300 or so thousand years ago and that it will probably happen again sometime in the next 100 or 200 thousand years. They also believe that a similar caldera, Toba, blew some 60 thousand years ago and reduced the population of humans to a few thousand survivors.

I only mention Yellowstone because it seems unavoidable, unlike the giant asteroid that has a high probability of hitting in a similar time frame. We are here because past extinction events accelerated the evolution of life on earth. It's odd because, although we know such things will almost surely happen again in the future, the chances of them happening in any one individual's lifetime are miniscule. Is that scary or just weird?

Not so scary if you can afford to move away from Yellowstone to a safe distance. Survival favors the prepared.

No safe distance. A super volcano eruption is like a world class event. Look at it this way. When Krakatoa blew it snowed in June in New England. Multiply that by an order of magnitude or two.

I pass the Crumple baton of honour.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I only mention Yellowstone because it seems unavoidable, unlike the giant asteroid that has a high probability of hitting in a similar time frame. We are here because past extinction events accelerated the evolution of life on earth. It's odd because, although we know such things will almost surely happen again in the future, the chances of them happening in any one individual's lifetime are miniscule. Is that scary or just weird?

The reason the eruptions are irregular is partly due to the fact that the magma chambers can shrink after they've formed. So it's not a dead certainly that Yellowstone will go active again.

[Geoff]

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/ ... nbach-text

[The Red Fox]

No. If anything, understanding the universe liberated me from the god complex I was burdened with as a kid.

I have nothing but fondness for the cold, dead ether that spawned me.

[hadespussercats]

The universe isn't scary because it's big. It's scary because it's full of scary things that want to kill and eat us.
The size of the universe (whenever I have come close to beginning to speculate about the possibility of thinking about considering to possibly imagine understanding it... maybe) fills me with awe, not dread.

Yup.

[Pensioner]

I've got a good-sized picture of the Orion Nebula hanging in my study. I think it's gorgeous, not scary.

The universe is a massive place, though, and plenty about it could have a negative impact on this warm little nest we call Earth. Asteroid impacts, gamma ray bursts, Klingon conquerors, etc. But it does little good to worry about such things.

Massive, is it bigger than America?

[Ian]

I've got a good-sized picture of the Orion Nebula hanging in my study. I think it's gorgeous, not scary.

The universe is a massive place, though, and plenty about it could have a negative impact on this warm little nest we call Earth. Asteroid impacts, gamma ray bursts, Klingon conquerors, etc. But it does little good to worry about such things.

Massive, is it bigger than America?

You mean like Canada?
Heck, I think it's even bigger than Russia!

[Coito ergo sum]

Yellowstone Park is about a 1000 miles west of where I live. When I was a kid I visited Yellowstone with my family. I thought the geysers were really cool, especially Old Faithful. A few years ago I watched a show on TV explaining that Yellowstone Park lies on top of a giant caldera. The land is gradually rising as the caldera bulges upwards ready to unexpectedly blow it's top making St Helens look like a tiny poof. If it did I would be smothered in a giant cascade of ash turning my lungs into useless crap. Those farther from the explosion wouldn't fare a lot better. Scientists believe that the Yellowstone caldera last blew some 300 or so thousand years ago and that it will probably happen again sometime in the next 100 or 200 thousand years. They also believe that a similar caldera, Toba, blew some 60 thousand years ago and reduced the population of humans to a few thousand survivors.

I only mention Yellowstone because it seems unavoidable, unlike the giant asteroid that has a high probability of hitting in a similar time frame. We are here because past extinction events accelerated the evolution of life on earth. It's odd because, although we know such things will almost surely happen again in the future, the chances of them happening in any one individual's lifetime are miniscule. Is that scary or just weird?

Not so scary if you can afford to move away from Yellowstone to a safe distance. Survival favors the prepared.

No safe distance. A super volcano eruption is like a world class event. Look at it this way. When Krakatoa blew it snowed in June in New England. Multiply that by an order of magnitude or two.

Or ten. If the Yellowstone Caldera blows, it is the end of human civilization as we know it worldwide, and would mean probably the death of 90% of the human population, if indeed anyone would survive. 20 years after the Yellowstone Caldera blows up, any remaining survivors will be telling stories of the "before time" and people will visit the places of the ancient times, where great cities stood housing more people than one could imagine. Children won't believe the tale tales of the great things that were possible in the ancient times...

[Tero]

I hope they don't teach about Yellowstone calderas, mass extinctions and such in hairdresser school. They have enough to worry with hair, nails, God, husband and two kids. Doritos and diet Pepsi for lunch.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I've got a good-sized picture of the Orion Nebula hanging in my study. I think it's gorgeous, not scary.

The universe is a massive place, though, and plenty about it could have a negative impact on this warm little nest we call Earth. Asteroid impacts, gamma ray bursts, Klingon conquerors, etc. But it does little good to worry about such things.

Massive, is it bigger than America?

You mean like Canada?
Heck, I think it's even bigger than Russia!

Of course, the American universe is only a pale, watered-down, insignificant shadow of the English universe.

[Tero]

But we have great plains:


You might have some flat plains over there, but if you keep running you fall in the ocean

[charlou]

No. If anything, understanding the universe liberated me from the god complex I was burdened with as a kid.

I have nothing but fondness for the cold, dead ether that spawned me.

Nicely put.

It's a relief, and somehow appropriate, after being raised to think your existence, your every thought and action, are not only being monitored and manipulated, but judged from the viewpoint of being inherently evil, etc ... though I never did connect that with what I observed and learned about reality. Nature was always held separately to the belief, until I finally understood which made sense and which didn't. For me, too, an atheistic view of the universe is part of my liberation.

[roter-kaiser]

My daughter (5) yesterday estimated the universe to be 'about 80 metres' in diameter. That's not that scary, really.