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We've only got another 1.75 billion years

vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
in General Banter
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/life-earth-has-another-good-1-75-billion-years-go-4B11199461

Interesting about how long the earth will remain habitable, at least in terms of the solar system.
riverflowZero

Comments

  • robotrobot Veteran
    I hope my savings will last.
    riverflow
  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator
    I wonder how many rebirths I can fit into that.
    It's crazy to think about that time span. Once when I was on a hike with a friend who has a couple different science degrees, he made a comparison of the time of a human life and various things in the earth's geological history and the solar system and so on. Obviously it wasn't new information but the way he explain it made it more comprehensible while at the same time being mind-blowing. Fascinating stuff.
    DaltheJigsaw
  • oceancaldera207oceancaldera207 Veteran
    Unfortunately that means we'll miss the big show when our galaxy collides with the andromeda galaxy several billion years later :(
    Cory
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    karasti said:

    I wonder how many rebirths I can fit into that.
    It's crazy to think about that time span. Once when I was on a hike with a friend who has a couple different science degrees, he made a comparison of the time of a human life and various things in the earth's geological history and the solar system and so on. Obviously it wasn't new information but the way he explain it made it more comprehensible while at the same time being mind-blowing. Fascinating stuff.

    When I was teaching earth science, each year I had the kids do a geologic timeline. They each had a adding machine tape that was 5 meters long (representing the roughly 5 billion years of earth history). They would then mark off the 4 geologic eras (Pre-Cambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic, and all the Periods and Epochs, and then draw the life forms along the time scale. They were always amazed at how man came around at the very end of the tape. It was a good activity and one that kids always remembered.

    CoryriverflowMaryAnne
  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator
    If I thought I could recall how he explained it, I would, but I'd do him a huge disservice. He used a 12 hour clock to basically say "your human life amounts to a fraction of a second on the clock. The life of the earth amounts to 1 hour. The life of the Universe amounts to 8 hours" and so on. Obviously those are not the #s he used, like I said I cannot recall them, but I recall him saying a human lifespan is a fraction of a second and then compared to the rest of the time line. It was interesting to think of it in that way. Making the timeline you mention I'm sure stuck with the kids far more than seeing it in a book!
    MaryAnne
  • mfranzdorfmfranzdorf Veteran
    Somewhere between 1.75 and 3.25 Billion years. Wow, really nailing it down! Haha. I wonder during these next couple billion years just how many people will think they are living in the "end times", are sure that they are going to burn up from warming, freeze to death from cooling, or whatever else is sure to wipe out humanity if we don't "do something".
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    My main hope for such info is that it points out the ridiculousness of trying to exist anywhere outside of this present moment.
    Beejmfranzdorf
  • JohnGJohnG Veteran
    I hope to obtain sentience in around 1000 years. :D

    riverflow
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    Something else to worry about.... :hair:

    :D
    mfranzdorfriverflow
  • footiamfootiam Veteran
    vinlyn said:

    http://www.nbcnews.com/science/life-earth-has-another-good-1-75-billion-years-go-4B11199461

    Interesting about how long the earth will remain habitable, at least in terms of the solar system.

    It would be great to be able to enjoy that long span of time. I am very sure all of us would have to leave first and would not live to be able to say that that is true, that the earth will remain habitable until then. Even to be able to stay another day more is a blessing!
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    edited September 2013
    If there is rebirth and/or reincarnation, I wonder if Earth is the only planet involved.

    Somehow, I doubt it.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    I think of the bad karma I earned just in this life. Over all of that span I must have created even more.
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