Would colonies on Mars or in orbit be “places where whatever conflicts and disasters that threaten Earth are less able to reach”? Aren’t most of the threats we face right now due to our failure to use high technology in a sustainable way? Wouldn’t space colonists be even more dependent on high technology, therefore even more vulnerable to system collapse?
The insurrection at the Capitol was part of a larger fight against facts.
“Facts are stubborn things.” — John Adams (1735 to 1826)
“The current, best available science is not opinions — it’s facts.” — Greta Thunberg September 2019
The January 6 insurrection in Washington can be characterised several ways, for instance as an attempted self-coup and as an anti-democratic putsch.
It was also a revolt for denial—part of a larger, on-going conflict between those who take well-established facts seriously, and those who deny facts that don’t fit their narrative.
Like Donald J. Trump, the insurrectionists were in denial of Biden’s election victory, which had already been confirmed by the Electoral College and…
Diverse living worlds may be bad news for would-be galaxy colonists
There are good reasons to think that Titan and Venus may have life, or something very like it. If so, it implies an awe-inspiring diversity of living worlds in the Milky Way Galaxy. For those who dream of humans colonising the Galaxy, this would be bad news, because of what it says about the Great Filter…
The recent report about Venusian phosphine is the latest in a series of surprises from that planet, and from another world with clouds, Saturn’s moon Titan.
The phosphine report by Jane S. Greaves and others was both serious and exciting, though we don’t yet…
Why Venus microbes could be as comfortable with concentrated sulfuric as Earth living things are with water…
Life in the clouds of Venus?
The recent report of phosphine there looks like a serious clue.
The apparently successful quest for phosphine was conducted because Clara Sousa-Silva and others singled out the compound as a strong biosignature — a compound whose discovery on a rocky planet would be an major indicator of life there, because it is unlikely to be produced by non-living processes.
The biggest apparent obstacle to Venusian life is neither temperature nor pressure, but the presence of sulfuric acid…
And which other worlds could have done the same. Looks like answers are emerging.
How could life emerge on a previously lifeless planet? Is life’s origin a chance event, or a stepwise process? Is it likely that worlds other than Earth have also come up with life; and if so, which ones?
After many frustrations and false starts, developing lines of research are finally offering answers to these questions.
A recent paper in the scientific journal Astrobiology concludes — subject to further testing — that life could be produced via a step-by-step process in and around hot springs on a volcanic island about four billion years ago.
Like earlier theories of life’s origin, the…
The technophobic narrative of “Planet of the Humans”
The documentary film Planet of the Humans, by Michael Moore, Jeff Gibbs, and Ozzie Zehner, which used to be available free on Youtube, has attracted over eight million views, but also some very serious criticism.
The film makers identify as environmentalists, and they recognise the seriousness of global warming and destruction of forests. But they disagree passionately with mainstream environmentalists about renewables, including solar energy.
Critics have generally focused on specific problems with the data provided in the film, for instance its reliance on obsolete figures about performance of solar panels, and on statements it makes about population.
They have…
A lot of people enjoy air travel. But it not only raises CO2 levels, it also helps viruses get around…
Airline travel has boomed in recent years.
According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, airlines carried over 4 billion passengers in 2017. Presumably people who flew twice were counted twice etc, but even so, it’s a lot of flying…
Flight statistics for 2020 will be another story, due to COVID-19. Governments round the world today are restricting travel, not because they want to, but because they have to.
We’ve basically been forced to stop. And perhaps it is time to stop and think.
When the new virus is brought under control, should the world go back to air travel as…
Because of older climate complacency. And because history didn’t end.
Youth-led movements can be difficult for older people to understand.
Like Mr Jones in Bob Dylan’s “Ballad of a Thin Man”, you know something is happening, but you don’t know what it is.
I’m old enough to remember Dylan’s heyday. And lately I’ve been feeling a bit like Mr Jones.
I went to a very large climate protest in Sydney on September 20 last year, which was part of the global strike initiated by Greta Thunberg. I was very pleased to see this new wave of climate activism, yet for me there was something unexpected and challenging about how young…
It’s an old theory with evidence piling up in its favour. Is it bad news or good?
The term Lycopithecus, “the wolf-ape”, was put forward a century ago by British evolutionary theorist Carveth Read (1848 to 1931). It sums up Read’s ideas about the origins of human intelligence, cooperativeness, and violence, presented in his short book The Origin of Man and of his Superstitions (1920).
According to Read’s theory, we’re descended from a population of apes who were more wolf-like than other apes in terms of their diet and behaviour. Like the other apes, our ancestors were omnivorous, but they ate more meat than the others. They got their meat by hunting as a pack, like wolves…
A dialogue between my two OCs. I’ll let them introduce themselves.
- Suspicius: I know climate change is a serious problem for the world. But I have serious questions about how Greta Thunberg’s climate revolution may affect people of faith.
- Nerdicus: I’ve been looking for answers to those questions, and was lucky enough to find some. I’m going to provide links so you can check whether what I’m saying is right.
Suspicius: Here’s my first question, Nerdicus…
In May this year, Greta Thunberg and 46 other youth activists made a statement asking people of all ages to take part in climate…
Colin Robinson
Someone who likes sharing factual information and fragments of the big picture
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