Evidence Shows we are Here by Luck


Why or how is planet earth here? We humans insist on figuring this out. 

It is refreshing to read about probabilities scientists have come up with. The odds of a habitable earth for such a long period are low. 

So are odds of hitting the lottery. If you buy a lottery ticket billions, or trillions, of times the odds are you will win. That is how we won the chance to be here on earth--changes over billions of years tossed things together just right. The odds are good some other place or places in the universe will have a climate like ours and will sustain life for a while.

The earth has had a habitable climate for four billion years. Humans developed only about 300,000 years ago. About 66 million years ago an asteroid hit the earth and killed about 75% of life at that time. Among the animals lost were dinosaurs. There are many asteroid larger than the one that hit earth. If one just a bit bigger had hit it all life would have been erased and we would not be here.

During all these four billion years earth has teetered between forces that could have made it too hot or too cold to be habitable. Mars, for example, was habitable at one point but became uninhabitable. 

The link is about scholars who run probability models of other "earths" to calculate whether and for how long they could be habitable. Of 100,000 planets about 9% once had habitable climates at one point in their history.  

Every reader knows during the past few decades as awareness has grown earth's ability to feed itself may be in jeopardy. Yes, there are critics of this few but the facts are there. A conservative path is to stay within the boundaries of sustainability ever if we cannot be absolutely certain about where the boundaries are. 

What role does religion play in all of this? If it could help people make wise decisions about sustainability religion would contribute to a better earth. If it cannot help with this we will be better off without it.

Comments

  1. HenryDecember 22, 2020 at 7:19 PM

    Need more CO2 in order to put the chlorophyll to work. Let's put science to work instead of this one-horse pony political agenda intended to make people's lives miserable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jon LindgrenDecember 23, 2020 at 9:20 AM

    Henry--I'm trying my best to follow events. Trump bragged that he took his magic medicine. Then he got the coronavirus. The magic medicine did not work. Am I missing something here?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HenryDecember 24, 2020 at 5:19 PM

      I will have to assume you are referring to Hydroxychloroquine as "his magic medicine". It is a therapeutic, not a prophylactic for corona. He has represented this. All doctors I have heard that advocate it have represented it as an effective therapeutic (after the disease occurs) He took it during the height of all the concern over its safety. He had no fear. He took it like every soldier that deploys overseas takes it. It did not work later because corona had not happened in Trump yet.

      Delete
    2. Jon LindgrenDecember 24, 2020 at 7:58 PM

      Henry "He has represented this."

      Well, sometimes, maybe the majority of times, he said it was to reduce the symptoms but I see in this video he used the word "preventive" when talking about it. I remember back when this was discussed and he talked in circles my impression was he thought it was preventative.

      Delete
    3. Jon LindgrenDecember 25, 2020 at 7:08 AM

      Henry--Trump created the impression hydroxy was a "cure" in this way. During that period of time, whenever he was asked what the Federal Government was doing to stop the spread, or, was he endorsing masks, distancing, etc. he would answer by talking about hydroxy. It was the only "solution" he endorsed.

      Delete

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