the age of the earth

[crowTrobot]

And still the same response. I've seen a few solar systems known to be inhabitable; that are 20 light years away; but no life yet to be seen. I think 1 is 10 times our gravity and each year is like 3 days or something; so even if they were human; they would probably look much different.

recent findings indicate most stars have planets. there are something like 9000000000000000000000 (9 sextillion) stars just in the visible universe, and we know we aren't seeing it all. it wouldn't take more than a miniscule fraction of those stars to have earthlike planets for there to be trillions or quadrillions of them.

 

[Denny Crane]

he said humans specifically on other planets, not other civilizations at our level. if we found humans on other planets it would be clear evidence humans were the result of intelligent design.

So many forms of life on earth have characteristics that make human life elsewhere not unlikely. That is, if there is life elsewhere at all.

Four limbs, pairs of eyes, nostrils, ears. Stereo vision and hearing gives a sense of distance and helps see predators in advance.

 

[Denny Crane]

recent findings indicate most stars have planets. there are something like 9000000000000000000000 (9 sextillion) stars just in the visible universe, and we know we aren't seeing it all. it wouldn't take more than a miniscule fraction of those stars to have earthlike planets for there to be trillions or quadrillions of them.

There are 8 planets, hundreds of moons, and billions of other objects in this solar system. Only one has life. What are the odds?

 

[magnifier661]

So many forms of life on earth have characteristics that make human life elsewhere not unlikely. That is, if there is life elsewhere at all.

Four limbs, pairs of eyes, nostrils, ears. Stereo vision and hearing gives a sense of distance and helps see predators in advance.

Like this?

 

[TripTango]

So many forms of life on earth have characteristics that make human life elsewhere not unlikely. That is, if there is life elsewhere at all.

Four limbs, pairs of eyes, nostrils, ears. Stereo vision and hearing gives a sense of distance and helps see predators in advance.

But how many ways are there to combine the basic functions into a sentient being, if starting from scratch?

 

[magnifier661]

But how many ways are there to combine the basic functions into a sentient being, if starting from scratch?

Yeah i was just thinking what you were saying. I mean if we did in fact come from a single celled organism; and you play it over 1 to the 100th power; how many would come out exactly the same?

 

[crowTrobot]

So many forms of life on earth have characteristics that make human life elsewhere not unlikely. That is, if there is life elsewhere at all.

Four limbs, pairs of eyes, nostrils, ears. Stereo vision and hearing gives a sense of distance and helps see predators in advance.

the reference was to specifically finding homo sapiens on another planet, not finding human-like species.

 

[TripTango]

Yeah i was just thinking what you were saying. I mean if we did in fact come from a single celled organism; and you play it over 1 to the 100th power; how many would come out exactly the same?

Exactly. The "common blueprint" argument of creationism is unconvincing to me here on our relatively self-contained earth, but matching blueprints (as it were) across the vastness of space is simply inconceivable without a common creator to connect them. That discovery would rock scientific and theological worlds alike.

 

[crowTrobot]

There are 8 planets, hundreds of moons, and billions of other objects in this solar system. Only one has life. What are the odds?

there are not billions of places where life as we know it could possibly exist. there are at most only a handful, and it does exist in one of those and we don't know for sure that it doesn't elsewhere. i don't think it's possible to figure odds.

in any case i wasn't making a claim about the probability of life, just pointing out it's likely there are an enormous number of earth-like planets in the universe. i don't have an opinion over funding SETI etc. so no need for rant ^^

 

[Eastoff]

there are not billions of places where life as we know it could possibly exist. there are at most only a handful, and it does exist in one of those and we don't know for sure that it doesn't elsewhere. i don't think it's possible to figure odds.

in any case i wasn't making a claim about the probability of life, just pointing out it's likely there are an enormous number of earth-like planets in the universe. i don't have an opinion over funding SETI etc. so no need for rant ^^

I thought there was some life evidence for one of the jupiter moons.

 

[blazerboy30]

sure you aren't confusing me with maris again? i haven't been saying anything intellectually different than TT or denny.



what god? i would believe in a superior being if i saw it and had the means to be sure i wasn't hallucinating. if that superior being appeared and told me the earth is 6000 years, or that the christian plan of salvation makes logical sense morally, i would think he was lying to me.

Here we go again... crowTrobot involved in a atheist discussion. It's only a matter of time until he starts arguing, lacking logic, that atheism isn't a set of beliefs, just like any other religion.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

lol, oh for fucks sake, here comes the literary critics.

 

[blazerboy30]

lol, oh for fucks sake, here comes the literary critics.

lol... ironic statement in a thread calling out inconsistencies in a piece of literature.

 

[crowTrobot]

Here we go again... crowTrobot involved in a atheist discussion. It's only a matter of time until he starts arguing, lacking logic, that atheism isn't a set of beliefs, just like any other religion.

any atheist would argue atheism isn't a set of beliefs. nothing special about me.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

lol

this thread is about the age of the earth, any ideas?

 

[3RA1N1AC]

atheists dont believe in god, but most would say that there is no way of really knowing. science says earth is old.

theists will tell you that they know, when the surely cant, which can get annoying. bible says earth is young.

and children go along happily on their way until some asshole ruins it for them

unicorn fart

 

[MadeFromDust]

theists will tell you that they know, when the surely cant, which can get annoying. bible says earth is young.

The Bible actually make no claims about the earths age, that's why the beginning chapters of Genesis are open to interpretation. I take them as the literal word of God though.

 

[Denny Crane]

But how many ways are there to combine the basic functions into a sentient being, if starting from scratch?

If the laws of physics and chemistry work the same everywhere in the universe, life should evolve the same everywhere.

I'd believe in God if he appeared before me in a burning bush and produced other supernatural feats.

 

[crowTrobot]

If the laws of physics and chemistry work the same everywhere in the universe, life should evolve the same everywhere.

speaking generally maybe. you could make a reasonable argument that the ape-like form is inevitably going to emerge from evolution at some point.

however the evolutionary path that led to humans specifically depends precisely on the exact circumstances of environment and available mutations over hundreds of millions of years. there's no way for nature to recreate humans exactly without recreating everything that happened in intricate detail.

 

[Denny Crane]

Maybe it takes 5B years instead of 4.4B.

I'm just saying that if nature can do it once, a second occurrence is also attributable to nature.

 

[blazerboy30]

atheists dont believe in god, but most would say that there is no way of really knowing. science says earth is old.

Sure, if you want to make up your own definition.

Or, we can take a look at the actual definition:

"The theory or belief that God does not exist."
"the doctrine that there is no deity"
"One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods."

That is a far cry from saying "there is no way of really knowing".

But carry on in your bashing of those with a set of beliefs or religion.

 

[blazerboy30]

this thread is about the age of the earth, any ideas?

I'd go with something in the range of 4-5 billion years. Thanks for asking.

 

[crowTrobot]

Maybe it takes 5B years instead of 4.4B.

I'm just saying that if nature can do it once, a second occurrence is also attributable to nature.

it would not be attributable to evolution. it doesn't work that way. for humans to emerge under different environmental circumstances there would have to be some sort of 'human template' already in place, implying design.

 

[blazerboy30]

any atheist would argue atheism isn't a set of beliefs. nothing special about me.

Then those atheists are morons, claiming to be something they aren't.

But don't take my word for it. Let's see what Webster and other dictionaries think...

"The theory or belief that God does not exist."
"the doctrine that there is no deity"
"One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods."

 

[Denny Crane]

it would not be attributable to evolution. it doesn't work that way. for humans to emerge under different environmental circumstances there would have to be some sort of 'human template' already in place, implying design.

There aren't that many templates that work, though.

Not only is it likely, the universe is so huge it's reasonable to expect an exact duplicate of YOU out there somewhere.

Edit - assuming there is life out there at all.

 

[crowTrobot]

Or, we can take a look at the actual definition:

if you want to argue over semantics of atheist/agnostic it's not a very interesting topic.

in practice people who call themselves atheists generally allow for the possibility that some form of higher power exists, since they don't claim to know everything. that is my position, the position of dawkins, harris etc.

what we do claim is that the evidence theists present does not constitute a good reason to believe in god. that's what these threads are about.

 

[crowTrobot]

Then those atheists are morons

they're morons because they don't agree with your definition of atheism as necessarily "strong"? that's pretty shallow of you.

 

[crowTrobot]

Not only is it likely, the universe is so huge it's reasonable to expect an exact duplicate of YOU out there somewhere.

if the universe is infinite (not just large) and there have been infinite trials for evolution, you would expect there to have been INFINITE duplicates of me that have existed or will exist.

even so it would be effectively impossible for 2 sets of homo sapiens to run into each other.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

Sure, if you want to make up your own definition.

Or, we can take a look at the actual definition:

"The theory or belief that God does not exist."
"the doctrine that there is no deity"
"One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods."

That is a far cry from saying "there is no way of really knowing".

But carry on in your bashing of those with a set of beliefs or religion.

when did i do that? im not even an atheist! you crack me up man wtf, so ANGRY all the time...GRRRR!!

 

[Denny Crane]

if the universe is infinite (not just large) and there have been infinite trials for evolution, you would expect there to have been INFINITE duplicates of me that have existed or will exist.

even so it would be effectively impossible for 2 sets of homo sapiens to run into each other.

The distance separating us from even the nearest star makes finding life anywhere but in our solar system unlikely. But that's a different thing than finding just one other homo sapien life form out there.