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if all life on earth disappeared?

Nope

jhmagic1 wrote:if all life on earth disappeared?

Yes, but that would never happen - or at least not for a kerzillion years or something. I think your question should be "would it matter if human life on earth disappeared". The answer to that question is "no". In fact the earth would probably sigh a huge, er... , sigh of relief.

As for life in general, it always finds a way. I'm sure that life on Earth came from the stars, probably from an asteroid or comet or something hitting Mars and some Mars life arriving here from the blast.

My thinking was that if everyone and everything on earth died there would be no one around to be sad/upset about the loss of life, and as sadness is a human emotion - sadness would not exist.

themagicwand wrote:Yes, but that would never happen - or at least not for a kerzillion years or something

I'm no expert, but I think the sun may have a few more billions of years of life left in it before it burns itself out. I think we're more likely to kill ourselves off with nuclear war way before the sun expires. Either that or some horrible disease will come along and wipe us all out.

To answer the OP's question, no, I don't think it would matter in the slightest. Unless we happen to have colonised another planet(s) when it happens, in which case it might matter.

jhmagic1 wrote:sadness is a human emotion

But is it? If, for whatever reason, this planet ceased to exist, who's to say that life elsewhere in the universe did not experience sadness as we know it?

But the only thing we are sure of is that sadness exists here on earth - That is definate - We cannot be definate about other planets experiencing sadness.

Besides, if all humans/animals on earth died our curiosity about other planets would also not exist.

jhmagic1 wrote:But the only thing we are sure of is that sadness exists here on earth - That is definate - We cannot be definate about other planets experiencing sadness.

Just because we can't be definite about it, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Besides, if all humans/animals on earth died our curiosity about other planets would also not exist.

Again, just because we cease to exist, it doesn't automatically negate the possibility of other civilisations elsewhere in the universe, who may or may not (but in all likelihood, do) experience sadness as we know it.

But would they be sad about our plant dying?

jhmagic1 wrote:But would they be sad about our plant dying?

Our plant is dying? For heaven's sake somebody water the poor thing!

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?

jhmagic1 wrote:if all life on earth disappeared?

There won't be anyone left to applause at the end of the show.

Oh no. All of humanity coming out for three bows? That'll take up another eternity.

But what if we're not actually here at all? What if this is just a dream? What if we're just specks of ice on a snowflake tumbling through eternity? What if this is (and I quote Willow) just "some kid's whacky Broadway nightmare"? What if the universe is actually a giant firework exploding in a dimension where time moves really slowly, and our entire civilisation will rise and fall in the time it takes someone to light the blue touch paper and retire?

themagicwand wrote:But what if we're not actually here at all? What if this is just a dream? What if we're just specks of ice on a snowflake tumbling through eternity? What if this is (and I quote Willow) just "some kid's whacky Broadway nightmare"? What if the universe is actually a giant firework exploding in a dimension where time moves really slowly, and our entire civilisation will rise and fall in the time it takes someone to light the blue touch paper and retire?

These sorts of questions are partly why I think it's a good idea for people to read a for-the-public online introduction to physics or watch Feynman's Douglas Robb Memorial lectures on the electron. Reality is absolutely mind blowing.