The human race has come up with all kinds of tools to extend our physical capabilities. And computers allow us to process data in larger amounts. Could we ever invent a machine that would expand our comprehension as well? I wouldn't put it past us. But I sure wouldn't want to be the beta tester... ;-)
What if there are things that the human mind isn't capable of comprehending?
Besides Republican dogma, you mean?
I am sure there are such things. We can describe them abstractly without comprehending them, though.
For instance, "the Universe is fourteen billion years old" is an abstract description of an idea that in no way conveys real comprehension of the idea.
In related news, here's something I found myself pondering recently...
If life on Earth has evolved from single-celled organisms to... us... in a mere half-billion years, couldn't this sort of thing have happened before, given the Earth's four-billion-year span?
And if it had, would there be any sort of trace, given radical climate change including the freezing of nearly the entire surface, multiple impact events, mass volcanic activity, chemical decay, etc?
“couldn't this sort of thing have happened before”
Seems to me that it definitely could -- although, given that this life would've needed to develop in an ecosphere utterly different to our own (e.g., no free oxygen), we would be talking about lifeforms that might as well have developed on other planets. Utterly unlike anything we know.
But quite possible. This is an extremely spiffy idea.
But if I recall correctly, said plants woulda needed to develop under much hotter conditions than now, so chances are they were still biochemically very different? (Or do I not recall correctly? Been a long time since I read up on any geology...)
I don't think we know -- we think the oceans were liquid and that the Earth rapidly cooled after coalescing, and the Sun was supposed to be yielding a lot less energy then than now.
Obviously if Snowball Earth scenarios happened multiple times, though, there were radical variations in temp across time.
(One thing you can be sure of is that any earlier civilization that used Celsius to measure that temp wouldn't have lasted long.)
The next question is: If you posit the existence of any such civilization, where -- despite everything -- would you look for evidence of it?
It would be the first stop for any advanced civilization, it has no atmosphere nor has ever had one, it is not subject to plate tectonics, objects left there would not be subject to chemical decay. So, despite being repeatedly hit by bolides, it would still preserve traces for 700 million+ years far better than the Earth.
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Besides Republican dogma, you mean?
I am sure there are such things. We can describe them abstractly without comprehending them, though.
For instance, "the Universe is fourteen billion years old" is an abstract description of an idea that in no way conveys real comprehension of the idea.
In related news, here's something I found myself pondering recently...
If life on Earth has evolved from single-celled organisms to... us... in a mere half-billion years, couldn't this sort of thing have happened before, given the Earth's four-billion-year span?
And if it had, would there be any sort of trace, given radical climate change including the freezing of nearly the entire surface, multiple impact events, mass volcanic activity, chemical decay, etc?
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Seems to me that it definitely could -- although, given that this life would've needed to develop in an ecosphere utterly different to our own (e.g., no free oxygen), we would be talking about lifeforms that might as well have developed on other planets. Utterly unlike anything we know.
But quite possible. This is an extremely spiffy idea.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_catastrophe
Subsequently, not much life would have survived circumstances like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball_earth
Throw in plate tectonics and there's not a lot of trace-leaving going on in this cyclical scenario.
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But if I recall correctly, said plants woulda needed to develop under much hotter conditions than now, so chances are they were still biochemically very different? (Or do I not recall correctly? Been a long time since I read up on any geology...)
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Obviously if Snowball Earth scenarios happened multiple times, though, there were radical variations in temp across time.
(One thing you can be sure of is that any earlier civilization that used Celsius to measure that temp wouldn't have lasted long.)
The next question is: If you posit the existence of any such civilization, where -- despite everything -- would you look for evidence of it?
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It would be the first stop for any advanced civilization, it has no atmosphere nor has ever had one, it is not subject to plate tectonics, objects left there would not be subject to chemical decay. So, despite being repeatedly hit by bolides, it would still preserve traces for 700 million+ years far better than the Earth.