Anxious right now, planes....freak me out..like yes I have a fear of heights but like also...take offs and landings just still feel so archaic..once I'm in the air I'm fine but the take off just feels horrible and I know the take offs and landings are generally the most dangerous part. Will be in Calgary soon though, leaving Vancouver Island in an hour or so...

@mcfate I think I'm just a romantic when it comes to the idea of space exploration. I couldn't imagine why I would ever choose war and domination first if I encountered another civilization that would benefit from our knowledge. But it certainly is in our history that we've done this.

@mcfate it's a Goldilocks zone for us.
The odds of another civilization existing that we will ever discover are already extremely, exponentially low, let alone one that developed with the same environmental needs ours has. They could develop breathing methane or some other gas and our atmosphere could be toxic to them. The metals their technology is made from could be highly reactive with water. The odds of needing the same environment are just astronomical. 😅

@mcfate sorry for the late response,
I guess I just don't view morality as strictly a human trait, I think it's hubris to believe any other sentient species out there would just be immoral monsters by our standards when becoming that technologically advanced generally means an interest in learning over conflict.

Also, it's more I don't view creating essentially a restricted access wildlife reserve for "endangered species" but for our type 0.7276 civilization instead as a hostile action.

@mcfate why Isaac Newton specifically?
I'd imagine our own encounter with intelligent life far beyond our own understanding would result in us being studied and the Earth or solar system similarly made illegal for entry until such a time that we can reach them. What resources do we really offer that makes us so lucrative to wipe out and risk the nuclear counter attacks?

@mcfate could be wishful thinking. I just don't really see the necessary efficiency and productivity required for such massive projects to come from a species just as divided by conflict and political turmoil as our own. It's like the whole AI or robot take-over scenario...what we see in movies always seems to cater to cinema audiences rather than cool and logical heads.

We could be advanced enough to be colonizing mars by now if it weren't for our own constant wars, politics and religion.

@mcfate again, my position is that any civilization advanced enough to make it to that point would have to be well beyond a warring one. So advanced that they either have nothing to fear from other civilizations or so peaceful that the thought of taking sentient life to gather those resources has never come across their mind.

If anything, we would be less like an inconvenience to resource gathering and more of a protected species. More than resources, knowledge is covered.

@mcfate it's kinda why I hate movies like Independence Day from the perspective of the military tactics. The resources they needed exist in abundance in our galaxy, there really was zero reason for them to invade Earth, except for it would make a good movie. Lol. Tactically it's risking potentially massive losses and travel expenditures for relatively net zero gain.

@mcfate if we look at our own solar system, it's not as if the resources we need are solely on Earth. Our neighboring planets and asteroid fields have significant resources the likes of which our future generations will drool all over. We continue to find planets in other star systems that may be unable to foster life, but their natural resources of gases and minerals make them lucrative investments for any space-faring species.

The fall of the conservative right to get began with the phrase, "jet fuel can't melt steel beams", demonstrating a lack of critical thinking, while the fall of the liberal left began with thinking having a common enemy of conservative Christians meant they should advocate as if Muslims were part of liberal beliefs...which they aren't.

Make no mistake, there are no Palestinians joining the marches for abortion rights, gay rights and the removal of religious power and overreach in politics.

@mcfate I would argue any civilization advanced enough to do this likely has never had any reason to fear others externally or internally. Advances like this can really only be made by civilizations with a strong sense of working together and agreement on common goals and ideas.

The concept of intentionally hiding one's presence out of fear of being found is evolutionarily a prey instinct, as well as a very human one. So, we would be projecting our own values and fears on said civilization.

@th3j35t3r just think, if he were president when the invasion began, he probably would have supported Russia, due to what they likely have on him.

One of my closest friends started in this movie, "Corrective Measures" with Bruce Willis, Micheal Rooker and Tom Cavanagh. She is one of the most gentle people I've ever met, but in this film she plays as a violent prison guard who beats someone to death.

Maybe J would wanna do this for a movie night sometime 😄

https://youtu.be/BpP4zneiyVI

The irony that the ones who shout the loudest that we "shouldn't play god" in regards to advancements in medicine and science are almost exclusively the same people who play god every Sunday, or otherwise practice playing god through the reading of literature that impersonates any given deity.

Applied yesterday for another promotion at work, but one thing that seriously irked me was in the "skills" selection drop-down tab.

The skill I selected was "Word Proccessing," and yes, it was spelled exactly that way. Of all the skills to have a spelling error in and that's the one they did it with. Muphry's Law is in full effect.

@LianaBrooks my question there is, why would a disabled professor be at a place where a protest is *most likely* to be stopped by police in a decisive manner? They're a professor; we can safely assume they're smart enough to have planned that out for the intentional political theater it creates.

Much like the shale protests in NB a few years back, where protesters intentionally posed for photos to make the police look as evil as possible, meanwhile trying to kill the police.

I wanna know where he's getting eggs for only $3 😭😭😭

@Alfred please provide the prices in Canadian dollar amounts.

@Alfred in Canada, at the current rate of inflation based on the last 20 years, on average, how much will various goods and services cost in another 20 years? Please provide estimates for the average home, a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs and an average family commuter vehicle, as well as any estimates you may think of.

Asking Alfred to write poetry is one of my favorite things hahaha it helps alleviate the stress!