Guest peepshow Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Does this object, and countless millions more with similar enormous facts and figures associated with them, make you feel insignificant or proud to be part of a species that can sense these incredible objects? .............................20 billion solar masses/ 140 trillion times Earth's water. Does it make you more friendly or less? To part quote from the chap who just posted this on another forum............... " Gravitationally lensed Quasar APM0279+5255 in the constellation Lynx.This Quasar is over 12-billion light years away and the supermassive black-hole associated with this Quasar is estimated at 20 billion Solar masses.In 2011 vast amounts of water vapour were discovered around the Quasar - the oldest and largest mass of water in the known Universe - 140 trillion times more water than in all the Earth's oceans combined." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Insignificant I think!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 (edited) I feel proud to be part of a species that has the ability to discover such things that make us all so insignificant. Edited February 25, 2014 by Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Just pleased to be a bit of clever water and stardust. You can go out and look at Jupiter, Saturn and all the stuff beyond, and never get to take it for granted and get bored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stash Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 We are neither clever or insignificant. 1. So clever that we try to blow ourselves up or follow and die for a bit of coloured cloth. 2. Allow billions to starve 3. Use limited resources like the were going out of fashion - to produce such useful items as handbags when 1 handbag will do. Not insignificant because a. We have the power to destroy a planet - ours. Lots of ways Nuke,Chem etc b. We are like a virus that's spreading uncontrollable consuming all its path. Yes we have abilities but its how you use your abilities which determines how "clever" we are. But then that's Darwin theory for you and only time will tell. Glad I wont be around to see the outcome. But we could be , and often are, so good that's the really annoying thing about the human race. In terms of "out there" we arn't even a pimple on a bacteria's backside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 I feel humble. I know it wasn't an option, but that's how looking up makes me feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tibbz2 Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 (edited) I'm just happy to see it when we're actually able to! Edited February 25, 2014 by Tibbz2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuckstar Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 (edited) "For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love" Carl Sagan. Edited February 27, 2014 by tuckstar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ecopley Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Intelligence is knowing how to attach a rocket to a pigeon. Wisdom is knowing not to bother. I'm only significant to those who will miss me when I'm gone, but to those who want me to do things for them I'm powerful and clever. Perspective, innit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stash Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Intelligence is knowing how to attach a rocket to a pigeon. Wisdom is knowing not to bother. I'm only significant to those who will miss me when I'm gone, but to those who want me to do things for them I'm powerful and clever. Perspective, innit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peepshow Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 "For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love" Carl Sagan. That is ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuckstar Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 How so?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peepshow Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Why should the vastness be unbearable without love? Love is an irrelevance. If Sagan ever said that it must be out of context and he meant something different. The vastness is magnificent, amazing and wonderous to see, study, and enjoy for many, and has nothing at all to do with love. I amaze at the vastness but never love it, no matter how so very small I am in it. It's very bearable. I amaze at the smallness of insects but never love them, no matter how big I am to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peepshow Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 I believe that the quote may have come from Sagan's book, "Contact."...............a film was made of it. Quote........... “You're an interesting species. An interesting mix. You're capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you're not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable, is each other.†..........End quote. No mention of love here, but even so I find the emptiness quite bearable with or without others! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuckstar Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 The quote is direct from the original series of cosmos. Fantastic series watch it if you get the chance it's all on YouTube. The vastness is huge and can leave some feeling lost. The point is that it's love that keeps us grounded and sane. Humans have always, and by nature, always will fill the void with love, be it a place they love, something they love to do, the love of a family, making choices for their sake feeling needed by friends and family. These are the things that give us purpose in everyday life. I don't see these things as ridiculous. Maybe just my opinion. Personally I'm happy with the distances and masses involved and embrace them as astronomy is something I love to do and there's nothing we can do to change or effect any of it. We're mere observers to a cosmic theatre.;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stash Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Depends on what you mean by "love" Try reading this http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-without-limits/201111/what-is-love It all comes down to what you think "love" is and that's individual = " I love that car" does not mean I am going to marry it or anything else. So , I guess , Saga wasn't saying love in the man/woman meaning. Its not worth going to "war" over the word guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wobby83 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Makes me feel insignificant because our earth and us is like a spek on a micro organisms back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuckstar Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Depends on what you mean by "love" Try reading this http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-without-limits/201111/what-is-love It all comes down to what you think "love" is and that's individual = " I love that car" does not mean I am going to marry it or anything else. So , I guess , Saga wasn't saying love in the man/woman meaning. Its not worth going to "war" over the word guys No war just friendly debate ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 So what we are saying then is it's a question of perspective Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ecopley Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Rather like upgrading a hard disc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peepshow Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) Depends on what you mean by "love" Try reading this http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-without-limits/201111/what-is-love It all comes down to what you think "love" is and that's individual = " I love that car" does not mean I am going to marry it or anything else. So , I guess , Saga wasn't saying love in the man/woman meaning. Its not worth going to "war" over the word guys We are not ar war, just talking about what Sagan may or may not have said. One doesn't need love in any way to keep one grounded and sane. I think that too is ridiculous. No matter what meaning one puts on 'love' absolutely none is required to make any vastness bearable. Anyway if someone thought it unbearable what would they do? Commit suicide? Remember guys we all have something that all the vastness and enourmous masses and distances probably doesn't have to make it all bearable for you...............your intellect. So tell the vastness to put that in its pipe and smoke it. Edited February 28, 2014 by peepshow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toymaster Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) Think what it would be like if we only had the Sun in the sky and nothing at night? To me the night sky is totally unbelievable, as a mere mortal who is here just for a very very small moment in time..... Ade Edited February 28, 2014 by Toymaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peepshow Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Think what it would be like if we only had the Sun in the sky and nothing at night? Ade That would be quite unbearable. The price of guidance 'scopes would plummet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 I'm with Stash. We may be technologically astute and may well be the only beings capable of leaving their planet's atmosphere for hundreds of light-years around BUT we have a lot to learn. Perhaps truly intelligent life would be best advised to give us a wide berth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perkil8r Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Both. The vastness of our Solar system in comparison to us is immense. The vastness of the Milky Way in comparison to our Solar System is immense. The vastness of the Universe in comparison to the Milky Way is un fathomable. We are incredibly insignificant in relation to the Universe and the Milky Way. We are however less insignificant in our Solar System, and to Earth we are a significant part of it's very being. We have the power to alter our home in ways we never thought possible. I feel proud to be me, to play my part in the human race, I am not proud of some of the things we as a species do to each other and our home, but I am honoured to be part of a species that is capable of such great things as we can be when we put our energy into good things. Above all I feel humbled to be a part of a species that has feelings, emotions and consciousness enough to appreciate all of these things, to want to explore and discover things about this Earth and beyond. We are all significant and capable of great things, but in the context of the Universe we are but a tiny fraction of matter on a slightly larger lump of matter, orbiting a bit bigger lump of matter ad infinium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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