Pipe Smoking Thought For the Day

[georged]

Every human alive today would fit into a building slightly over one cubic kilometer in volume.

Meaning, unless you knew exactly when and where to look down and used binoculars, the BHE (building holding everyone) couldn't even be seen if you flew over it in a commercial airliner at cruising altitude.

That's how insignificant humans are in relation to Nature.

We THINK we're all that, but...

Dinosaurs grew to the size of Boeing 737's and populated the Earth for a thousand times longer than H. sapiens has been around, and if it weren't for a persistently curious guy in the mid-1800's who was fascinated by some weird rocks in a riverbed, we would still be unaware they ever existed.

And Earth has 80% of its lifespan yet to go. (meaning until the Sun burns out)

Nah. We're not All That. We're just little beasties scratching away on a ball of rock. And there's only a cubic kilometer of us in a Universe that has 200 billion trillion stars, the nearest of which would take 3,600 years to reach in a spaceship going a million miles an hour.

 

[bullet08]

You mean after running through a blender? Cubic kilometer seems mighty small even for the population in China alone. What is it now.. 4 billion? Yes we are insignificant. But what are we gonna do about it? Most countries with top technology are already running into lack of new birth. Third world countries are still having good birth rate, but high mortality rate. Short of mass genocide, I don't see any quick option. And you know what happens with killing that many people. You go to hell? No even worse. People call you Hitler or Stalin. On the horror!!!

 

[georged]

You mean after running through a blender? Cubic kilometer seems mighty small even for the population in China alone.

Nope. Everyone, and standing packed together:

 

[brian64]

Every human alive today would fit into a building slightly over one cubic kilometer in volume.

Meaning, unless you knew exactly when and where to look down and used binoculars, the BHE (building holding everyone) couldn't even be seen if you flew over it in a commercial airliner at cruising altitude.

That's how insignificant humans are in relation to Nature.

We THINK we're all that, but...

Dinosaurs grew to the size of Boeing 737's and populated the Earth for a thousand times longer than H. sapiens has been around, and if it weren't for a persistently curious guy in the mid-1800's who was fascinated by some weird rocks in a riverbed, we would still be unaware they ever existed.

And Earth has 80% of its lifespan yet to go. (meaning until the Sun burns out)

Nah. We're not All That. We're just little beasties scratching away on a ball of rock. And there's only a cubic kilometer of us in a Universe that has 200 billion trillion stars, the nearest of which would take 3,600 years to reach in a spaceship going a million miles an hour.

That would be the reductive materialism point of view...but existence and consciousness is far more complicated and mysterious than that IMO. I would not gauge our significance on the scale of things in time and space.

But I do agree that the overpopulation stuff is BS...the problem is overcrowding and mismanagement. Those who advocate depopulation should lead by example and be the first to go.

 

[bullet08]

Nope. Everyone, and standing packed together:


View attachment 169922

Very interesting.

 

[alaskanpiper]

You sure that was tobacco you were smoking? Just kidding of course, it is in fact a fascinating visual.

As I sat on my deck this morning having a pipe with espresso, I stared out over the river at the bottom of the valley and it came to me that life is full of good decisions that feel terrible, terrible decisions that feel good, and everything in between.

After I dumped the dottle I stood up to continue the sisyphean task of finding the right balance between them in order to better the insignificant microcosm of my own tiny corner of the universe.

But I suppose every river is made of raindrops.

 

[georged]

After I dumped the dottle I stood up...

...turned around, and saw this guy staring at me from ten feet away.

Worried no one would believe me, I took a picture of him before (carefully and slowly) going back inside the house.

 

[ashdigger]

I absolutely find it amusing when someone tells us humans how powerful we are.

 

[alaskanpiper]

...turned around, and saw this guy staring at me from ten feet away.

Worried no one would believe me, I took a picture of him before (carefully and slowly) going back inside the house.


View attachment 169930

Aww, thats just a little guy! This time of year if he were full grown he’d be in trouble.

 

[captainsousie]

I believe Monty Python said it best, and I quote, "And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!"

Oddly enough, the whole song is germane to this thread. The lyrics to "The Galaxy Song" are quoted below for reference.

spoken)
Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,
And things seem hard or tough,
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft,
(sung)
And you feel that you've had quite eno-o-o-o-o-ough,

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at 900 miles an hour.
It's orbiting at 19 miles a second, so it's reckoned,
The sun that is the source of all our power.
Now the sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see,
Are moving at a million miles a day,
In the outer spiral arm, at 40,000 miles an hour,
Of a galaxy we call the Milky Way.

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars;
It's a hundred thousand light-years side to side;
It bulges in the middle sixteen thousand light-years thick,
But out by us it's just three thousand light-years wide.
We're thirty thousand light-years from Galactic Central Point,
We go 'round every two hundred million years;
And our galaxy itself is one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

(waltz)

Our universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding,
In all of the directions it can whiz;
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth;
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!

 

[romaso]

Aww, thats just a little guy! This time of year if he were full grown he’d be in trouble.
View attachment 169933

Kinda looks like you're in the bull riding rodeo chute, getting ready to go (if you both weren't so low).

 

[alaskanpiper]

Kinda looks like you're in the bull riding rodeo chute, getting ready to go (if you both weren't so low).

Haha now that would be an adventure! 7 feet off the ground rockin and rollin!

We sit that way because it’s the only way to get enough leverage to hold both antlers up for the photo. Standing to either side you can’t reach them both and still keep the head in position.

 

[bullet08]

That would be the reductive materialism point of view...but existence and consciousness is far more complicated and mysterious than that IMO. I would not gauge our significance on the scale of things in time and space.

But I do agree that the overpopulation stuff is BS...the problem is overcrowding and mismanagement. Those who advocate depopulation should lead by example and be the first to go.

Of course, depopulation is not the answer. Logically, proper management is the right thing to do. But it seems, at least in third countries, they have tried and failed. From what I remember, birth control education has been give to most people in most populous of the countries. China even had one child policy. But in those countries having more kids means having more hands to help out. Even in S. Korea, idea of having less than two kids in a family wasn't really kicked in until more recent time. I still remember those slogans from 70s. But S. Korea, Japan, and good number of European countries are having birth rates going down for some time. Overcrowding can be possibly resolved with relocation program, but most young people wants better life for themselves and flock to the big cities. B. F. Skinner's book "Walden Two" talk about people understanding what they are good and what they are not good at and making logical choice to lead to better society or something like that. I don't think we are there yet.

 

[mortonbriar]

Imagine trying to get 8 billion humans to come to a consensus about using a cube as storage rather than a rectangular container, or perhaps a pyramid

 

[beefeater33]

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this............

 

[brian64]

Of course, depopulation is not the answer. Logically, proper management is the right thing to do. But it seems, at least in third countries, they have tried and failed. From what I remember, birth control education has been give to most people in most populous of the countries. China even had one child policy. But in those countries having more kids means having more hands to help out. Even in S. Korea, idea of having less than two kids in a family wasn't really kicked in until more recent time. I still remember those slogans from 70s. But S. Korea, Japan, and good number of European countries are having birth rates going down for some time. Overcrowding can be possibly resolved with relocation program, but most young people wants better life for themselves and flock to the big cities. B. F. Skinner's book "Walden Two" talk about people understanding what they are good and what they are not good at and making logical choice to lead to better society or something like that. I don't think we are there yet.

Well, when I say mismanagement I'm not referring to birth control because I don't believe there is an overpopulation problem. I'm referring to the socio-economic engineering that has resulted in overcrowded cities and poor standards of living (by intentional design IMO).

To be more specific would be a discussion that cannot be had here, as it would be unavoidably political.

 

[Briar Lee]

I love this forum because there are others here fascinated with the wonderful mystery of life.

Those that calculate such things calculate there have been 117 billion living human souls on this planet.

How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?

The global population milestone of 8 billion people represents nearly 7% of the total number of people who have ever lived on Earth.

www.prb.org

There just had to be the first one.

I wonder how they ever survived, as helpless, naked, puny and weak as we are compared to the animals that would consider us tasty?

 

[Servant King]

This thread tells me that my worst fear has indeed come to pass--it would appear that all pipe tobacco* has now been cut with Captain Black Grape.

*Including Captain Black Grape

 

[bullet08]

This thread tells me that my worst fear has indeed come to pass--it would appear that all pipe tobacco* has now been cut with Captain Black Grape.

*Including Captain Black Grape

Crap. Forgot to order Capt Black Royal.

 

[JOHN72]

I'm going to ask an Amazon telephone operator, I'm sure she knows the answer and will refund the question to your checking account if you're not satisfied.