The Scale of the Universe

[Stat Brother]

For those not watching Science Club with the latest member of The NSC Brainy Totty club (not Dara!), have a play with this:-

http://htwins.net/scale/

 

[Cheshire Cat]

• "Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space, listen..." H2G2

 

[Monkey Man]

Mind officially blown. Thanks for sharing.

 

[teaboy]

Nice to get some perspective now and again!

 

[Ravids]

The universe doesn't even need to be that big, perhaps God got a bit carried away.

 

[jgmcdee]

There's a slightly prettier version at http://htwins.net/scale2/ although it contains the same information. Great fun to play with.

 

[withdeanwombat]

" But, we can't enter the Eridanus Supervoid, Jim, and certainly not at warp 10. "

 

[Norman Potting]

Mind blown.

 

[Robdinho]

Incredible isn't it - and atheists claim that it's all just a random coincidence

Not really what they claim at all though, is it. At best a crass oversimplification.

Let's not get bogged down in another theological debate though, eh?

 

[Ravids]

Incredible isn't it - and atheists claim that it's all just a random coincidence

They don't.

I think you're on a wind up though tbf.

 

[Notters]

Incredible isn't it - and atheists claim that it's all just a random coincidence

Whoah here we go! Seems far more likely than intelligent design to me. Something that designed this vast and complex universe would itself have to be even more complex no?

Edit: 27 pages.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Incredible isn't it - and atheists claim that it's all just a random coincidence

What? Atheists like Stephen Hawking

 

[Hungry Joe]

Incredible isn't it - and atheists claim that it's all just a random coincidence

Oh yes, of course, it was your Sky Monkey wasn't it?

 

[Hungry Joe]

Hawking is agnostic and often talks about God, describing himself as "not religious in the normal sense"

No intelligent person would outright deny the existence of some kind of God if they gave it enough thought - it certainly seems as if the universe is fine tuned for our existence & prosperity

So some of the greatest minds including the likes of Richard Dawkins "haven't given it much thought" eh? That really helps your argument.

 

[Stat Brother]

Chaps chaps chaps.

This was a cracking little thread with a really nice gadget on it.

Someone start up a creationist thread and move over there!!

 

[Lethargic]

That would take a very big tape measure.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

I witnessed an interesting debate last week whilst strolling along the local beach and admiring the sea cliffs. A young man equipped with rock hammers was closely examining samples of the rocks at the foot of the cliff. We had a casual conversation about his findings and he introduced himself as a 'creationist' trying to prove that the age of the rocks fitted his beliefs about the timescale of the earth being created by God.

A friend walking with me just happens to be an eminent Professor of Geology and was clearly curious about the lad's comments but I could tell there was significant difference in their points of view. It was a brief discussion and they parted amicably rather than get drawn into a passionate debate but my mate (who was on his hols and just wanted some down time) quietly pointed out later that the timescale for how the rocks were formed is way in excess of what creationists tend to believe and they routinely overlook this without offering substantial evidence to counter the scientific evidence.

From my point of view I'm not the deepest thinker on the subject but do find it curious that if God does exist then why he would continue to inflict so much misery on the world. No doubt someone will have an opposite view. I'm ok with punters having different beliefs, as long as they respect that I don't have to share their views or try to inflict theirs on me.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Hawking is agnostic and often talks about God, describing himself as "not religious in the normal sense"

No intelligent person would outright deny the existence of some kind of God if they gave it enough thought - it certainly seems as if the universe is fine tuned for our existence & prosperity

In an interview published in The Guardian, Hawking regarded the concept of Heaven as a myth, believing that there is "no heaven or afterlife" and that such a notion was a "fairy story for people afraid of the dark." In 2011, when narrating the first episode of the American television series Curiosity on the Discovery Channel, Hawking declared that he believes that "there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. "This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either."

 

[teaboy]

Hawking is agnostic and often talks about God, describing himself as "not religious in the normal sense"

No intelligent person would outright deny the existence of some kind of God if they gave it enough thought - it certainly seems as if the universe is fine tuned for our existence & prosperity

Of course it seems like that - if the current state of the universe in this tiny part of it wasn't compatible with our existence we wouldn't be here. For most of time the universe hasn't been in this state, hence why humans didn't exist from the start. Most of the universe is not compatible with human existence, which is why we don't exist in most parts of it. It also seems like the sun goes round the earth, and that we're at the centre of the universe. It doesn't and we aren't.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I witnessed an interesting debate last week whilst strolling along the local beach and admiring the sea cliffs. A young man equipped with rock hammers was closely examining samples of the rocks at the foot of the cliff. We had a casual conversation about his findings and he introduced himself as a 'creationist' trying to prove that the age of the rocks fitted his beliefs about the timescale of the earth being created by God.

A friend walking with me just happens to be an eminent Professor of Geology and was clearly curious about the lad's comments but I could tell there was significant difference in their points of view. It was a brief discussion and they parted amicably rather than get drawn into a passionate debate but my mate (who was on his hols and just wanted some down time) quietly pointed out later that the timescale for how the rocks were formed is way in excess of what creationists tend to believe and they routinely overlook this without offering substantial evidence to counter the scientific evidence.

From my point of view I'm not the deepest thinker on the subject but do find it curious that if God does exist then why he would continue to inflict so much misery on the world. No doubt someone will have an opposite view. I'm ok with punters having different beliefs, as long as they respect that I don't have to share their views or try to inflict theirs on me.

There are creationists who are also biblical fundamentalists, who believe Bishop Ussher's calculation (published in 1654) that the time and date of the creation was the night preceding Sunday, 23 October 4004 BC. And there are creationists who believe that their God created the Big Bang.

In my rare encounters with Bishop Ussher's followers, I've been mightily impressed with the creativity of their imaginations, particularly when they get into a discussion about stuff like dinosaur fossils.