A measured perspective of human existence

[Ahso!]

I think it was 14 or 15 years ago we witnessed a comet in the sky (anyone remember it?). I recall the news informing us that the tail of the comet (which is what we were seeing with the naked eye) was approximately 200,000,000 miles long. I was in awe because that 200,000,000 mile tail looked like a little scratch in the sky and I realized at that moment that the vastness of the universe was way beyond my comprehension. It was one of those times when the word "WOW!" holds enormous significance.

As you can probably tell by my recent posts I've been thinking a lot about human existence lately. Science says the Homo Sapien has been occupying the planet for around 200,000 years, and the Neanderthal, which became extinct some 60,000 years ago occupied Earth for approximately 450,000 years, so as a species we haven't even reached the halfway point of the Neanderthal in terms of survival, yet we've accomplished so much more (or, depending on your outlook, we've done so much more damage).

Most of us don't think in terms of putting existence into any perspective, we simply take it for granted. So I thought I'd like to try to express this in terms we can all maybe appreciate.

Lets say that our species' existence will vastly exceed that of the Neanderthal. Lets assume we will survive for 30,000,000 years (thats thirty million)(an admittedly lofty assumption) . To illustrate this, take a 25 foot tape measure and lay it on the ground fully lengthened and look at the 2" (inch) mark of that tape. Now, from that spot look down the long end of the tape - that 2 inch mark is where we are, given our 30,000,000 year assumption, in the grand scheme of human existence. Now look at the halfway point between 1" and 2" (again inches) and understand that that is how long ago (50,000 years) its been since the brain of our species had evolved to the point where we've begun to express ourselves. We've come a long way - but observe, by taking another look down the long end of that tape to how much more evolution will take place. We are only babies of our species.

Will the evolution that has yet to occur spawn a new species while the Sapien becomes extinct? Thats a real possibility, it doesn't take all that much for that to be the case.

30,000,000 years is a long time for one species to survive and when you consider that if Earth is 4.54 billion years old as science puts it, its actually not that long (30 million divides into 4.54 billion just over 15,133 times).

[gmc]

Was that Hale-Bopp you refer to? That inspired a mass suicide among followers of the Heaven's Gate cult? Sadly living in a Constantly overcast country and in an area where light pollution from the towns and cities is almost inescapable I saw very little of it.

The dinosaurs lived for far longer than we have so far and we have no idea of what they achieved or even how intelligent they were. One day they ceased to exist.

Most of us don't think in terms of putting existence into any perspective, we simply take it for granted. So I thought I'd like to try to express this in terms we can all maybe appreciate.


I would disagree there, I think most of us do but conclude there isn't really any answer and staying alive and living begins to take up the rest of the time. Besides there are many who would dispute your view that we are more than 4,000 years old and I think completely miss the point of your question and give you an answer they believe in. I decided a long to me ago it was a question we do not know the answer to and the only certainty (for me anyway) there was that it wouldn't be found in religion. If there is a successor to homo sapiens then it won't really matter will it? It's the natural course of events and if you believe in the great clockmaker in whatever form then life ticks on, if you don't you are dead anyway so you won't care. All you can do is make the most of the time you have in your own fashion and that fashion is what you chose to make it not what someone tells you it should be. When it really comes right down to it it's what you think and believe that matters most.

[Ahso!]

Yes, it was Comet Hale-Bopp. I made an error in the OP about the length of the tail though. I said I remembered being told it was 200,000 (two-hundred-thousand) miles long when it was actually 200,000,000 (two-hundred-million) miles long. I have to correct the OP.

Info Comet Hale-Bopp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos comet hale-bopp - Google Search

I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything, I'm just sharing some thoughts and findings.

[Bryn Mawr]

Ahso!;1340683 wrote: Yes, it was Comet Hale-Bopp. I made an error in the OP about the length of the tail though. I said I remembered being told it was 200,000 (two-hundred-thousand) miles long when it was actually 200,000,000 (two-hundred-million) miles long. I have to correct the OP.

Info Comet Hale-Bopp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos comet hale-bopp - Google Search

I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything, I'm just sharing some thoughts and findings.


Sadly, for man to last 30,000,000 years, we'll have to grow up very, very quickly.