Dear Moon

[TigerTedd]

19 minutes ago, Lambchop said:

You're talking about this in terms of ever increasing material wealth. As has been pointed out, this is neither possible nor even desirable. Our present, excessive, levels of consumption are not making people any happier. I simply do not accept your criteria for what represents a good quality of life, or a worthwhile existence. 

Getting dangerously philosophical here, but what is happiness? What is a worthwhile existence?

i am trying to accumulate wealth, not because I think money will make me happy, but because i think the knowledge of knowing I don’t have to work my arse off everyday to eat will make me happy. I don’t want to be stupid rich, just rush enough to have a few nice things, and generally mooch about watching box sets.

wouldnt be a very worthwhile existence, but I’d be happy. Is that what we hope for everyone? Any back breaking work is done by robots (replicants) on far off planets, and all 10 billion people on earth / the moon / mars are able to live in their little bubbles and generally sun bathe, fish, paint little models, learn to the play the guitar etc. in an equal level of relaxed comfort and security.

If I get bored of that, I may pick and choose the projects I work on. 

Thats basically where Elon musk is. He doesn’t have to do anything, but he’s vastly wealthy and can now pick and choose the projects that make him feel self fulfilled. 

[TigerTedd]

I saw a documentary the other day that said, not long after life began, when it was just bacteria in the oceans, the bacteria produced oxygen. This neutralised the natural greenhouse gases in the environment. This cooled the planet down to the point that the whole planet was covered in ice. 

Life cling on to the bottom of ice flows until, millenia later, volcanoes started erupting and filling the atmosphere with greenhouse gases again, and warming the planet up. 

Life nearly killed itself before it had barely begun. Is that the fault of those bacteria? All they did was live and breathe, they didn’t understand the consequences. 

Either way, the earth itself didn’t really care. It kept spinning, and will keep spinning, whether it’s a ball of ice, or a blazing inferno (and it’s been both in its time). 

So the whole thing about being in tune with Mother Nature, and Mother Earth... the earth doesn’t really give a poo. We’d have to work really hard to outright destroy it. All we’re doing is making it less hospitable for ourselves, like setting fire to your own house. 

[Sith Happens]

Well one thing that no one can deny. Its got to be a positive thing that we are going to the moon and @Carl Sagan started this thread.

Poor old @Lambchop has been like a lost soul on here since david banned politics et al. At least its given her something to do.

 

[Carl Sagan]

3 hours ago, StivePesley said:

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/09/20/mars_radiation_levels/

This might be a problem too, hard to colonise a planet when everyone has got cancerous gonads

Though in a SpaceX vessel, because of in-orbit refuelling, the travel time will be rather less and the humans will also have radiation shielding (eg water tanks). It's useful that there was a radiation meter onboard to measure the dosage, but wrong if anyone directly extrapolates the readings to claim humans would receive the same amount. 

[eddie]

12 hours ago, StivePesley said:

@eddie - can you confirm?

Lightbulb? I don't think so. After all, is it not written...

♫"All the nice girls love a candle, all the nice girls love a wick,

because there's something about a candle, that reminds them of"♪... something something.

[McRainy]

6 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

Getting dangerously philosophical here, but what is happiness? What is a worthwhile existence?

i am trying to accumulate wealth, not because I think money will make me happy, but because i think the knowledge of knowing I don’t have to work my arse off everyday to eat will make me happy.

That sounds too much like provisional living; I'll be alright in the future, when I've achieved such and such. The future never comes  

If there is any philosophy which seems to me to be universal, it is to live fully in the present moment. It's all there really is, and acceptance and appreciation of what we have, and who we are now, is the only guaranteed path to contentment.

Everything else is contingent. 

 

[ketteringram]

7 hours ago, Lambchop said:

That sounds too much like provisional living; I'll be alright in the future, when I've achieved such and such. The future never comes  

If there is any philosophy which seems to me to be universal, it is to live fully in the present moment. It's all there really is, and acceptance and appreciation of what we have, and who we are now, is the only guaranteed path to contentment.

Everything else is contingent. 

 

Are you not living proof, that the future did arrive? 

I love your way of thinking. I really do. But it's so opposite to mine. That's probably why I love it. I've great admiration for people who think like that. I can't imagine how they do it. I'm not sure it's possible to change from one way to another. 

I have a sister, who has a very similar outlook to you. We get on great, but she doesn't understand how I live the way I do, and vice versa. 

[McRainy]

3 hours ago, ketteringram said:

Are you not living proof, that the future did arrive? 

How so? There is only the eternal present. The past is memories, the future projected hopes and fears. Only in stillness can we see the content of the mind for what it is. 

Life goes so quickly; we charge from one thing to the next. We have been tricked into thinking life is a process of acquisition, which is why so many are dissatisfied. I don't think that's a question of outlook, more a matter of being honest with ourselves about how things are. 

There's a poem I love by Salvatore Quasimodo:

Everyone stands alone at the heart of the earth 

pierced by a ray of the sun

and all at once it is evening. 

[mozza]

As soon as we arrive at our holiday destination,  my missus is discussing where to go on our next holiday,  all seems a bit pointless to me. Enjoy where you are now, I say, life's to short.

[Day]

Just now, mozza said:

As soon as we arrive at our holiday destination,  my missus is discussing where to go on our next holiday,  all seems a bit pointless to me. Enjoy where you are now, I say, life's to short.

One would argue that if had we started thinking of the future more, we might not be in this environmental mess now which will have an impact on future generations. 

Live for today of course, but don't ignore the future........might be fully booked.

[mozza]

1 minute ago, David said:

One would argue that if had we started thinking of the future more, we might not be in this environmental mess now which will have an impact on future generations. 

Live for today of course, but don't ignore the future........might be fully booked.

I hear that the Co-op is pushing for recycleable carrier bags, i'm all for that..

[Day]

2 minutes ago, mozza said:

I hear that the Co-op is pushing for recycleable carrier bags, i'm all for that..

I've stopped buying carrier bags.

 

 

Send the missus shopping instead.

[ramit]

 

 

 

Satellite

You turn the tide to ebb and flow
A pockmarked face of craters wide
Yet some of us still want to know
What's concealed on your other side
 
Groovy gray satellite in the sky
Who placed you there and why?
 
It is said at night you're cold as hell
And burning sunlight makes you glow
We hit you hard you rang like a bell
So we calculated you must be hollow
 
Groovy gray satellite in the sky
Who placed you there and why?
 
The lunatics they worshiped you
They fell into obscurity long ago
But maybe it was they who knew
And more respect to them we owe
 
Groovy gray satellite in the sky
Who placed you there and why?

[Carl Sagan]

21 hours ago, mozza said:

 

Love this..

Thanks. I can't believe I'd forgotten this song, which of course I loved at the time. 

One thing about living in the future is that the music is really nowhere near as good. 

But we have beautiful electric cars and amazing reusable spaceships, both of which are solely down to Elon. Hope this tweet embeds:

 

[DarkFruitsRam7]

9 hours ago, David said:

One would argue that if had we started thinking of the future more, we might not be in this environmental mess now which will have an impact on future generations. 

Live for today of course, but don't ignore the future........might be fully booked.

Your comparisons get more ridiculous by the day, but they continue to make perfect sense.

[Carl Sagan]

Wondering if this gif of the Big "Falcon" Rocket will embed? 

 

[TigerTedd]

Just heard on the news that walkers have committed to bringing in recyclable or biodegradable crisp packets by... 2025!

elon musk has committed to getting a manned project to mars by 2024, but walkers need more than 7 years to develop a paper crisp packet. It’s not bloody rocket science is it. 

[McRainy]

He could be banned from running public companies, or even face jail  

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/business/elon-musk-sec-lawsuit-tesla.html

[Stive Pesley]

9 hours ago, Lambchop said:

He could be banned from running public companies, or even face jail  

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/business/elon-musk-sec-lawsuit-tesla.html

That's incredible really. The jist is that he said something speculative on Twitter that affected share prices.

Given the massive amounts of corruption and mass tax avoidance that goes on amongst the tech giants that now run our lives - seemingly with impunity - isn't it telling that the first credible threat of punishment comes to the guy who dared to mess with Wall Street investors

This is where we are ...

 

 

[Sith Happens]

On 26/09/2018 at 17:43, TigerTedd said:

Just heard on the news that walkers have committed to bringing in recyclable or biodegradable crisp packets by... 2025!

elon musk has committed to getting a manned project to mars by 2024, but walkers need more than 7 years to develop a paper crisp packet. It’s not bloody rocket science is it. 

They will still look a mess on slip roads and the side of the A38 when people launch them out the car window because that is clearly the only place to dispose of them.