Global Eruption Rocks the Sun

[Gremlinzzz]

Good reason for the world to Excellarate the space exploration.
On August 1, 2010, an entire hemisphere of the sun erupted. Filaments of magnetism snapped and exploded, shock waves raced across the stellar surface, billion-ton clouds of hot gas billowed into space. Astronomers knew they had witnessed something big.
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/13dec_globaleruption/
There's no laws of nature preventing total extinction of life on earth.

[3Miro]

Good reason for the world to Excellarate the space exploration.


You mean yet another good reason. If we were to take what we spend on war globally and spend it on space exploration and scientific research we would be living in Star Trek times now.

[wilee-nilee]

You mean yet another good reason. If we were to take what we spend on war globally and spend it on space exploration and scientific research we would be living in Star Trek times now.

Can you show me any research that even comes close to supporting that statement,;)

[_outlawed_]

Can you show me any research that even comes close to supporting that statement,;)

Look at human technological advancements in the past few hundred years.

[3Miro]

Can you show me any research that even comes close to supporting that statement,;)

No, the research got canceled to spend more money on wars.

Don't take that as a political statement vs any particular country. I mean this as a flaw of humanity in general.

[wilee-nilee]

No, the research got canceled to spend more money on wars.

Don't take that as a political statement vs any particular country. I mean this as a flaw of humanity in general.

I agree just giving you a friendly ribbing.;)

[MisterGaribaldi]

Well, many (not sure about "most") of the technical advancements mankind has had over the centuries was either a result of or in response to waging war. Even peace-seeking people such as Leonardo designed weapons of war. Sad though it may be, it's still a historical fact.

[wilee-nilee]

Well, many (not sure about "most") of the technical advancements mankind has had over the centuries was either a result of or in response to waging war. Even peace-seeking people such as Leonardo designed weapons of war. Sad though it may be, it's still a historical fact.

I captain,;) it is hindsight bias that feeds this thread, so far.

[3Miro]

Well, many (not sure about "most") of the technical advancements mankind has had over the centuries was either a result of or in response to waging war. Even peace-seeking people such as Leonardo designed weapons of war. Sad though it may be, it's still a historical fact.

Computers and the Internet were first though as tools of war. The wanted computers to calculate ballistic curves fast on the battlefield and the Internet was supposed to be a computer network that can survive a nuclear blast at any one of its nodes.

My point is that this is a very inefficient way to do research. Only a small portion of the military budget goes into research and that usually is at times when two sides are somewhat even in power ... This is getting political. Bottom line is, make science not war (also make love).

[handy]

Well, many (not sure about "most") of the technical advancements mankind has had over the centuries was either a result of or in response to waging war. Even peace-seeking people such as Leonardo designed weapons of war. Sad though it may be, it's still a historical fact.

They were turbulent times, he needed funds, & though he abhorred man's inhumanity to man, he was also an engineer & did what he could to keep & feed himself & his helper in his sometimes forced travels in Europe.

[Viva]

You mean yet another good reason. If we were to take what we spend on war globally and spend it on space exploration and scientific research we would be living in Star Trek times now.

I couldn't disagree more. Some of the greatest inventions in human history, including the internet, are done by the military.

[3Miro]

I couldn't disagree more. Some of the greatest inventions in human history, including the internet, are done by the military.

Read my other posts (#9).

[wilee-nilee]

I couldn't disagree more. Some of the greatest inventions in human history, including the internet, are done by the military.

ROTFL. :popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

[handy]

I couldn't disagree more. Some of the greatest inventions in human history, including the internet, are done by the military.

Unfortunately, that is pretty much true.

[Sporkman]

I couldn't disagree more. Some of the greatest inventions in human history, including the internet, are done by the military.

Goes to show that government funding of basic & applied science works.

[wilee-nilee]

I realize that this is around the around cooler but attributing the military, and or war to major developments is just plain kookie. It is not true, and if at the least has a dualistic use of no military personnel and research.

Here is just one example of a independent institute and their achievements.
http://www.scripps.edu/intro/achievements.html
more subjective but still little military involvement. The Internet was invented by physicists at CERN I believe.
Or was it Al Gore.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/scientific-achievements-top-ten-scientific-discoveries-of-the-20th-century.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_scientific_discoveries

[Khakilang]

Is that the beginning of the end of the world? 2012 is just around the corner.

[Dustin2128]

Is that the beginning of the end of the world?
No.

[alphacrucis2]

I realize that this is around the around cooler but attributing the military, and or war to major developments is just plain kookie. It is not true, and if at the least has a dualistic use of no military personnel and research.

Here is just one example of a independent institute and their achievements.
http://www.scripps.edu/intro/achievements.html
more subjective but still little military involvement. The Internet was invented by physicists at CERN I believe.
Or was it Al Gore.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/scientific-achievements-top-ten-scientific-discoveries-of-the-20th-century.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_scientific_discoveries

What became the internet was originally established by the US DARPA. You may be confused by the CERN employee Tim Berners-Lee's idea of using hypertext linked over a network via hyperlinks. The idea of hypertext and hyperlinks didn't originate with TBL and the DARPA network that eventually became the internet was just one of many that were around at the time.

Edit. This is actually quite funny. According to the wiki article, the very first message sent over the original ARPANET was the text 'login' but the receiving computer crashed after receiving 'lo'.


The first message on the ARPANET was sent by UCLA student programmer Charley Kline, at 10:30 p.m, on October 29, 1969. Supervised by Prof. Leonard Kleinrock, Kline transmitted from the university's SDS Sigma 7 Host computer to the Stanford Research Institute's SDS 940 Host computer. The message text was the word "login"; the "l" and the "o" letters were transmitted, but the system then crashed. Hence, the literal first message over the ARPANET was "lo". About an hour later, having recovered from the crash, the SDS Sigma 7 computer effected a full "login". The first permanent ARPANET link was established on November 21, 1969, between the IMP at UCLA and the IMP at the Stanford Research Institute. By December 5, 1969, the entire four-node network was established

[wilee-nilee]

What became the internet was originally established by the US DARPA. You may be confused by the CERN employee Tim Berners-Lee's idea of using hypertext linked over a network via hyperlinks. The idea of hypertext and hyperlinks didn't originate with TBL and the DARPA network that eventually became the internet was just one of many that were around at the time.

No I'm just confused that people who I have at times considered, people who might make a sharper investigation before attributing the military to any area more then any other research. That is a broad brush of attributes that is just not accurate.

[MisterGaribaldi]

Actually, sir, it is quite accurate to say that the military (and/or government with political or military intents in mind) are and/or have been behind a very great number of the scientific and technical advances we've benefited from over the years. Dare I also add the many atrocities of numerous wars (none-the-least of which would include WWII and Vietnam) have greatly added to our medical knowledge specifically.

There have been many great advances and ideas which have sprung from completely civilian sources, too, and nobody here is disputing that. But to say those sort of advances are in the super-majority -- or even simple majority -- is inaccurate.

It would be more accurate to say that many political- or military-originating ideas and advances have later flourished and even greatly expanded in civilian circumstances (say, NASA spin-offs for example), but at the end of the day, digital teleconferencing, velcro, and cloud computing all have political, military, or war uses as their sources or at least conduits for functioning.

[wilee-nilee]

Actually, sir, it is quite accurate to say that the military (and/or government with political or military intents in mind) are and/or have been behind a very great number of the scientific and technical advances we've benefited from over the years. Dare I also add the many atrocities of numerous wars (none-the-least of which would include WWII and Vietnam) have greatly added to our medical knowledge specifically.

There have been many great advances and ideas which have sprung from completely civilian sources, too, and nobody here is disputing that. But to say those sort of advances are in the super-majority -- or even simple majority -- is inaccurate.

It would be more accurate to say that many political- or military-originating ideas and advances have later flourished and even greatly expanded in civilian circumstances (say, NASA spin-offs for example), but at the end of the day, digital teleconferencing, velcro, and cloud computing all have political, military, or war uses as their sources or at least conduits for functioning.

I can't argue with that it really is a immeasurable sort of idea, what is the most significant? and who decides this? Mandelbrots fractal discovery is really one of the greatest as it is actually part of everything in design from a single microbe to the cosmos.

Your original comment wasn't a all or nothing statement it was well put, but then it became this.


I couldn't disagree more. Some of the greatest inventions in human history, including the internet, are done by the military.

That is where I was really directing my comment.

[Paqman]

The reality is probably somewhere between the two ends of this argument. If you consider certain technologies (trauma medicine, jet engines, helicopters, rockets, radar, sonar, thermal imaging, etc) then they definitely came about through military research and development. But plenty of other technology was developed for civilian use.

As for the sun exploding, meh. The sun blows up to a greater or lesser degree all the time. Earth has a nifty magnetic shield that protects us from the worst effects, although our satellites sometimes get a bit scrambled by it.

[3Miro]

We (as in the human kind) spend enormous amounts of money for military purposes. Part of that money goes into research and some (or even most) of the developed ideas eventually made it to the civilian world. The bigger part of the money is spend on destruction of someone else's military and civilian infrastructure (not counting human lives). In the aftermath of a war, a lot of resources have to be spend to rebuild what was destroyed.

Suppose we take all the resources devoted to military research as well as all the resources devoted to destruction as well as all the resources we would have otherwise spend on rebuilding. Now suppose we put all of that into research, can anyone suggest that we wouldn't be better off as a species.

That is the original point that I was trying to make.

[Paqman]

Suppose we take all the resources devoted to military research as well as all the resources devoted to destruction as well as all the resources we would have otherwise spend on rebuilding. Now suppose we put all of that into research, can anyone suggest that we wouldn't be better off as a species.

That is the original point that I was trying to make.

Sure, but it's a bit of a hypothetical point. You could say the same about crime, or wastage in food production and distribution. Eliminating conflict from the world is a nice idea, but it's not practical.

[RandomQuestions]

Computers and the Internet were first though as tools of war. The wanted computers to calculate ballistic curves fast on the battlefield and the Internet was supposed to be a computer network that can survive a nuclear blast at any one of its nodes.

My point is that this is a very inefficient way to do research. Only a small portion of the military budget goes into research and that usually is at times when two sides are somewhat even in power ... This is getting political. Bottom line is, make science not war (also make love).


random@questions:~$make love
No rule to make target "love". Stop.
Sorry.

[3Miro]

Sure, but it's a bit of a hypothetical point. You could say the same about crime, or wastage in food production and distribution. Eliminating conflict from the world is a nice idea, but it's not practical.

Sure, put it all on the list. The entire original point was half of a joke and people took it too seriously. Now if we all stop trolling on forums and start working on making Linux better ...:D

BTW: This is semantics, but removing conflicts is "practical" (as in useful) just not "feasible" (as in achievable).

[MisterGaribaldi]

On the other hand, folks, maybe the Myans had it right and 2012 is the end of us. ;)

[iponeverything]

everything comes and goes.. people, planets, stars, galaxies, the entire universe. I would consider it quite lucky to be here at the point where our earth becomes a barren rock as the human life span is a fleeting spark in the history of this planet.

Maybe its little selfish, but I would much rather be incinerated by an epic cosmic event than die the regular old way.

I am not getting my hopes up as odds are against me.

[MisterGaribaldi]

everything comes and goes.. people, planets, stars, galaxies, the entire universe. I would consider it quite lucky to be here at the point where our earth becomes a barren rock as the human life span is a fleeting spark in the history of this planet.

Maybe its little selfish, but I would much rather be incinerated by an epic cosmic event than die the regular old way.

I am not getting my hopes up as odds are against me.

Um, I think not. But, y'know, hop a meteorite and fly it into the atmosphere if you like. And, while you're at it, grab some spicy Buffalo wings and beer to eat and wash it down with as you enjoy the ride of your own lifetime! :)

[dmizer]

Clearly, this thread has gone off track. Thank you all for participating.