Universe size comparison in 3d

[+GKABS 8,791]

I feel so tiny almost nothing in this universe. 

 

[+Erik 1,812]

 

Size of the known universe: 150,000,000,000 light years - Circumference of Earth: 24,901 miles - Speed of light: 186,282 miles per second

If you were traveling at the speed of light (186,282 miles per second), you'd travel the circumference of the earth (24,901 miles) in .0074 of a second. The human eye blinks in .3333 of a second, so at light speed you could travel the earth's circumference forty-five times in the time it takes to blink. If you traveled across the universe at the speed of light it would take you 150,000,000,000 (150 billion) years or 54,750,000,000,000 (fifty-four trillion, 750 billion) days or 1,898,734,177 (one billion, eight hundred ninety-eight million, seven hundred thirty-four thousand, one hundred seventy-seven) average human life spans.

We still think we're the only ones in the universe.

My brain hurts.

 

[+Nightshade/PR 7,951]

2 hours ago, Erik said:

We still think we're the only ones in the universe.

Because these numbers don't seem real to the vast legions of science-denying people that continue to spout the same nonsensical line as "proof" that we are alone in the universe: "IF there's someone else out there, why haven't we heard from them?' There is absolutely no conception of the distances involved in that statement.

They're just numbers to many people, and being mathematically challenged to begin with, the figures don't translate into anything they can understand. And sadly, these same vast legions have no desire to learn or understand any of this. If they did, they would realize their beliefs about their place in the universe was BS from the word "GO", and as one former work acquaintance put it, "If I let myself believe any of that, it would make me feel insignificant".

Edited August 26, 2021 by Nightshade/PR
Grammatical corrections

[+daddyairplanes 10,248]

meh,

i have subscribed to the belief for years that we are not in fact alone

we are just the neighborhood the aliens roll the windows up and lock the doors as they pass through

[macelena 1,070]

2 hours ago, daddyairplanes said:

meh,

i have subscribed to the belief for years that we are not in fact alone

we are just the neighborhood the aliens roll the windows up and lock the doors as they pass through

Smug green/grey wimps...we don't have that many wars, pandemics, or nuclear incidents. What's the worst we could do with their tech, ram a planet at relativistic velocity, or tear space-time with a gravity powered drive? 

[KJakker 901]

You guys should take at look at the YouTube channel Science and Futurism with Isaac Arthur.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFipeZtQM5CKUjx6grh54g

[+daddyairplanes 10,248]

8 hours ago, macelena said:

Smug green/grey wimps...we don't have that many wars, pandemics, or nuclear incidents. What's the worst we could do with their tech, ram a planet at relativistic velocity, or tear space-time with a gravity powered drive? 

you really need to check out the WorldWar series by Harry Turtledove

first four books cover an alien invasion during World War 2. per the recon drones they sent and had radio back, they were expecting mediaval knights.

second part covers the peace in the 1960s, just as the colonization ships start arriving. and yes, its amazing to see what people do with the alien tech they had captured two decades ago or bought/stolen/traded for in the years since

final book sees humanity matching then overtaking the aliens within the same book (technically 20 year span, though only a couple are really covered)

only distinct spoiler is the alien races shock to see a human spacecraft over their homeworld.  armed with nukes "for self defense"

[macelena 1,070]

8 hours ago, daddyairplanes said:

you really need to check out the WorldWar series by Harry Turtledove

first four books cover an alien invasion during World War 2. per the recon drones they sent and had radio back, they were expecting mediaval knights.

second part covers the peace in the 1960s, just as the colonization ships start arriving. and yes, its amazing to see what people do with the alien tech they had captured two decades ago or bought/stolen/traded for in the years since

final book sees humanity matching then overtaking the aliens within the same book (technically 20 year span, though only a couple are really covered)

only distinct spoiler is the alien races shock to see a human spacecraft over their homeworld.  armed with nukes "for self defense"

Will try, although lately i can't get into books as much as i wish i could. Not long ago found some short stories about the trope "Humans are Space Orcs" and to be honest I got interested. 

[+EricJ 4,246]

I would mention Star Citizen, but it's still basically in development.

But like daddyairplanes I believe there is life out there, they just haven't found us or we haven't found them yet.

[macelena 1,070]

Something i feel kind of "split" regarding how ET life could be is what would they be like. Our definition, or rather our concept of life is based on what we've seen on Earth, so whatever we might eventually encounter, and I feel it is quite unlikely we get to meet them, could be too different...too "alien" to even identify it.

What i mean is, life developed under such a different environment could be quite detached from what we might expect, and I still feel like it could be an spectrum of beings that might fit an open minded definition of sentient life.

Taking SciFi works for reference, I think it could go from "Solaris" like stuff to humanoid species we might see in "light" science fiction (Star Trek, Star Wars, Mass Effect) through convergent/parallel evolution, and in between something like the aliens from "Starship Troopers", "Forever War" or "Ender's Game" with so many differences we could barely reach any understanding or communication with before we start slugging it out. 

Think of the different takes on warfare of different cultures here on Earth, and how different does it evolve. Some might go for kill counts, others for gaining ground, showing off, putting up a good fight according to their concept of honor...you name it. But if warfare is hardly understood the same way by, say, Spanish vs Aztecs, US vs Imperial Japan, Afghans and everybody else and so on, imagine that with alien species. And i would apply that to society, trade, religion, science, language, trade and economy, diplomacy...

[+Nightshade/PR 7,951]

I worry more about WHAT is out there, versus WHO.

Using Eric's distances, I have to wonder about WHAT is out there coming our way, that we don't have any knowledge of due to those distances. And therefore we have no plans, no strategies, nor any real ideas on what to do about it. As we have read, star, planetary, and galaxy formations are a mussy business, with lots of remnants left over roaming the cosmos until they run into something. If there is any one thing that gives me the chills where the universe is concerned, it's this. There may be all sorts of cosmic anomalies and fragments of unbelievable sizes & densities headed our way that will destroy us completely, and we'd never know until they entered our neighborhood.

When I think of all the money we have wasted over time (as a species) over things that would not matter on iota should that come to pass, instead of using that time to learn more about the universe and creating technologies to save us from what eventually WILL come, up to and including leaving this ball of dirt, I feel only despair. Because it seems the epitaph we'll leave behind for the rest of the universe will be that we were "too busy defending ourselves from ourselves" to concentrate on saving ourselves.

Edited September 1, 2021 by Nightshade/PR

[+Nightshade/PR 7,951]

Speaking of those distances....

https://www.space.com/bernardinelli-bernstein-comet-close-approach-2031