talkmagic.co.uk

themagicwand wrote:I think your question should be "would it matter if human life on earth disappeared"

Well, I would miss you.

bananafish wrote:Well, I would miss you.

I'd miss you too!

This all reminds me of one of my favourite extracts - all very doom and gloom, but in the vein of Nietzsche there is something quite calming threaded through it; it's from A.J. Balfour's 'The Foundations of Belief':

"Man, so far as natural science by itself is able to teach us, is no longer the final cause of the universe, the Heaven-descended heir of all the ages. His very existence is an accident, his story a brief and transitory episode in the life of one of the meanest planets. We survey the past, and see that its history is of blood and tears, of helpless blundering, of wild revolt, of stupid acquiescence, of empty aspirations. We sound the future, and learn that after a period, long compared with the individual life, but short indeed compared with the divisions of time open to our investigation, the energies of our system will decay, the glory of the sun will be dimmed, and the earth, tideless and inert, will no longer tolerate the race which has for a moment disturbed its solitude. Man will go down into the pit, and all his thoughts will perish. The uneasy conscience, which in this obscure corner has for a brief space broken the contented silence of the universe, will be at rest. Matter will know itself no longer. ‘Imperishable moments’ and ‘immortal deeds’, death itself, and love stronger than death, will be as though they had never been. Nor will anything that is be better or worse for all that the labour, genius, devotion, and suffering of man have striven through countless generations to effect."

You know that film, The Matrix? Based on a true story, that.

Replicant wrote:You know that film, The Matrix? Based on a true story, that.

Wouldn't surprise me. I'm convinced there's something much larger at play here than we know of. Realities within realities, dimensions wrapped around each other, universes dancing around larger universes, and all of them within the bell of a dog collar that's fastened around the neck of a dog called Frank.

Oh wait. That was Men In Black.

Tomo wrote:

jhmagic1 wrote:if all life on earth disappeared?

Earth will carry on without us, just as it did before us. Why do you ask. Is the death ray ready?

Heh heh, reminds me of the sketch on "That Mitchell and Webb Look" a few weeks ago, where a professor invents "the Death Ray", a huge laser which has the power to... scan barcoded items and store the information.

"But Professor... erm, Professor..."
"Death."
"Yes, Professor Death! What I don't understand is why you chose to call this the Dea- oh yes, I see."

jhmagic1 wrote:if all life on earth disappeared?

How do we know for sure it hasn't happened once already. If it did, does it matter to us now ? Ask yourself.

Farlsborough wrote:Heh heh, reminds me of the sketch on "That Mitchell and Webb Look" a few weeks ago, where a professor invents "the Death Ray", a huge laser which has the power to... scan barcoded items and store the information.

"But Professor... erm, Professor..."
"Death."
"Yes, Professor Death! What I don't understand is why you chose to call this the Dea- oh yes, I see."

Ha ha! There was one in Hyperdrive a bit like that. It had the power to disintegrate victims in under a week.

themagicwand wrote:

Replicant wrote:You know that film, The Matrix? Based on a true story, that.

Wouldn't surprise me. I'm convinced there's something much larger at play here than we know of. Realities within realities, dimensions wrapped around each other, universes dancing around larger universes, and all of them within the bell of a dog collar that's fastened around the neck of a dog called Frank.

Oh wait. That was Men In Black.

It was a cat, actually

I predict that seeing as Global Warming is innevitable, we will all freeze or melt, and humans will die out, leaving insects and animals to flourish and the earth will live on until the next cancer of the earth evolves.

Nice!

Either that, or Swine Flu will kill us all!

And Tomo, whenever a thread pops up about some interesting topic, you already seem to have a good understanding about it already. I really admire that... in a manly way, of course.

babyshanks wrote:And Tomo, whenever a thread pops up about some interesting topic, you already seem to have a good understanding about it already. I really admire that... in a manly way, of course.

You're very kind. <shakes hand in a manly way>

New Scientist ran an article that investigated what would happen if human life suddenly stopped.
How long before all traces of humanity were lost?
Basically, not that long. The republic of insects and grass takes over and poof!
The only issue with life arriving from space, is where did the pansperm come from? Perhaps it really was a Golgafrinchan ship full of hair dressers and estate agents ...

aporia wrote: where did the pansperm come from?

From Neverland of course. All you gotta do is believe.

Ew, pansperm. The yukkiest of all sperm (is I expect what Lomster's comment would be)

aporia wrote:The republic of insects and grass takes over and poof!

the omipalones shall inherit the earth...ducky...