I had thought that going into space would be the ultimate catharsis of that connection I had been looking for between all living things—that being up there would be the next beautiful step to understanding the harmony of the universe. In the film “Contact,” when Jodie Foster’s character goes to space and looks out into the heavens, she lets out an astonished whisper, “They should’ve sent a poet.” I had a different experience, because I discovered that the beauty isn’t out there, it’s down here, with all of us. Leaving that behind made my connection to our tiny planet even more profound.
It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna . . . things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will never see them again because of the interference of mankind. It filled me with dread. My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral.
I had a feeling it was like that. Earth is unique and any similar planet is not within the reach of any human lifeform even if we develop the technology generations of humans would have to live on a spaceship which may never find such a fertile environment. In the words of TKmaxx, once it’s gone it’s gone.
I remember a great episode of Parkinson which had both Shatner and Carl Sagan on it. Shatner was a strong believer that there was life out there and that one day we will become acquainted with them.
Sagan rattled off the Drake equation, and was somewhat more sceptical.
I went on line and looked at the pictures being sent back to Earth by the latest space telescope. To call it an awesome sight is doing it an Injustice . It is overwhelming. So far after 100s of 1000 s of years of evolution all we’ve managed to do is set the planet to self destruct.
The taxi driver yesterday was explaining the theory that we are cloned by aliens who are farming us so that we can send them a gold supply for masks that are needed on the other planet. There is someone called Bashar who is channelling them. It was a very strange conversation to have after several glasses of vino at a family Christmas celebration!
Good post Dex…I’m on the side of the Drake equation (even though I don’t fully understand it)
However, I do understand this…
Distances in space are well beyond most peoples comprehension, so it’s very unlikely that we will ever leave this solar system.
As far as other intelligent beings making the journey here…We assume that they have developed more advanced than us…
In the few thousand years that man (and woman) have walked on the surface of this planet it has only been in the last couple of hundred years (the last 50 since space travel has been possible) So another civilization would have had to evolve more or less the same time as we have…
With a slightly different configuration of atmosphere, would this other life have developed to look like we have imagined?
Gravity would also play a part in development…the stronger the force ie. The larger the planet, the more muscular the inhabitants would have been, and smaller the planet, the less muscular. We are the shape that we are because of things like ‘gravity’ and air pressure.
14.7 pounds per square inch
When gravity acts on the air, the air exerts a force upon the earth called pressure. The typical pressure at sea level is 1013.25 millibars or 14.7 pounds per square inch. A millibar is a unit that is used to report the the atmospheric pressure.
Size…Would the visitors be massive, or resemble the size of an ant? Perhaps they are here already…
And finally…but by no means all of the questions…planet dwellers only have the resources available on the planet they exist on…What if it were physically impossible to build a craft capable of the speeds and protection required to travel these great distances with just the materials at hand? If you put someone in prison, don’t present them with a hacksaw!
As far as you and I are concerned Annie, there are only three dimensions that we can traverse…If there are any more, just like frequencies below 20Hz and above 20kHz, they are well beyond our range.
Time travel will never be achieved…Like most things, they are figments of somebody’s imagination…Usually writers or film producers.
