Earth-like planet discovered around another star!

[Oneironaut]

It's not that they don't want to or that they aren't putting enough effort into it. It's that they're drastically underfunded. They receive far less money than any other government organization, and the government expects them to work on so many projects at once that they can't really get everything done that they want to. For example, Bush told NASA that he wants to see a man on the moon again and a man on Mars, but didn't provide them with any extra money to get that done, so they've had to cut current projects to start working on that. It's really sad, actually. We're wasting so much money building the largest military in the world into an even larger military so we can more efficiently battle other countries, when we could be investing in our species' common future in outer space.

[Runaway Jim]

For real dude im sure theyre doing all they can with their budget... Billions and billions of dollars, like theyre definitely not just sittin on their asses... NASA is one of the biggest costs in the US budget and teaming with astronomers theyre doin crazy shit im sure that we dont hear about... Damn im high haha

[Oneironaut]

NASA is one of the biggest costs in the US budget

No, that's just not true. NASA is tiny these days. They only have a budget of $16.3 billion. That's just $50 for every man, woman and child in the country. Nobody in politics seems to think it's very important.

On the other hand, the military has an annual budget of almost $450 billion (not including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars), amounting to $1500 per person, to build up and maintain a huge arsenal of weapons and trained killers so we can kick the shit out of other countries who are pissed off because we put so much effort into kicking the shit out of other countries, to maintain a nuclear arsenal capable of launching the planet into a nuclear winter that could destroy civilization as we know it. What the fuck are we doing?

We are the richest country on the planet, and what are we doing with our vast reserves of wealth? Are we feeding the poor, combatting diseases in the Third World, or assisting humanity in its transition to an interplanetary species? No. Our politicians are too worried about silly things like power and patriotism.

As Carl Sagan, my personal hero, put it:

The choice is with us still, but the civilization now in jeopardy is all humanity. As the ancient myth makers knew, we are children equally of the earth and the sky. In our tenure of this planet we've accumulated dangerous evolutionary baggage â?? propensities for aggression and ritual, submission to leaders, hostility to outsiders â?? all of which puts our survival in some doubt. But we've also acquired compassion for others, love for our children and desire to learn from history and experience, and a great soaring passionate intelligence â?? the clear tools for our continued survival and prosperity. Which aspects of our nature will prevail is uncertain, particularly when our visions and prospects are bound to one small part of the small planet Earth. But up there in the cosmos, an inescapable perspective awaits. National boundaries are not evident when we view the Earth from space. Fanatic ethnic or religious or national identifications are a little difficult to support when we see our planet as a fragile blue crescent fading to become an inconspicuous point of light against the bastion and citadel of the stars. There are not yet obvious signs of extraterrestial intelligence, and this makes us wonder whether civilizations like ours rush inevitably headlong to self-destruction. I dream about it, and sometimes they're bad dreams.

[CannabisCrooz]

Do you have some kind of terminal illness? If so, we'll letter the scientists and tell them to hurry it the hell up.

no but i don't think ill live long enough for us to figure out a way to travel 20 light years.

[Oneironaut]

Sadly true, even though 20 light years is just around the corner, galactically speaking.

[LIP]

SPACE WEED.

[Ubalubus]

I am certain that its just a matter of time now that we WILL be discovering life on the planets and moons in our own solar system. And with the discoveries made here on Earth in the past handful of years of life existing in what was thought to be totally inhospitable and extreme places, I think it all but clinches it. Inside of caves void of sunlight, around hot and volitle volcanic vents miles down in the oceans, in pools of sulfuric acid. Life has even developed where there is no water or oxgen. I wouldn't be surprised if life was brought to our planet (and solar system) from somewhere else in our galaxy or even the universe, perhaps from another universe dimension and/or time that we don't even know about. And when I say life, I mean "life as we know it". The universe is so big that there are probably forms of life that we can't even begin to imagine or comprehend!

Our earth is such an insignificant part of the grand scheme of things to small to even measure, yet at the same time to us humans we ARE the center of the universe.


P.S. Oh, and hi all - my first post. Long time lurker rearing my ugly head at last

[Eazy]

wtf is space weed u fool! mr t wants to know

[josh g]

There HAS to be life out there. Its nearly impossible for there not to be! There are billions and billions of stars out there.
And with those stars come solar systems. Our solar system is nothing out of the ordinary, its basic.
And there should be billions of other ones just like it. Meaning there are MILLIONS of habitable planets out there.

And maybe even extra-terestrials just like us. Watching tv, eating the same stuff, smoking space weed! :thumbsup:

[LIP]

The universe is infinate.

Therefore - somewhere out there there is a planet that is simply one, giant trichome.