It is possible that God really does exist...

faetal on 30/8/2013 at 10:35

Discussing religion is GREAT. Remember the thread we had which correlated intelligence to propensity to be religious? That was GREAT. Regarding the idea of religion in and of itself, I personally like infographics to do the work: (http://atheismandme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/The-Bible-How-it-came-to-be.jpg) LIKE THIS.

demagogue on 30/8/2013 at 10:57

Ah yes, that's right. IIRC iron is like the tipping point past which EM repulsion overtakes SNF attraction or something like that, so it takes a bucketload of energy for fusion past that line, basically just a supernova, and the rest plain old stellar gravity can take care of... although I imagine technically a lot of lighter elements are also created in a supernova, even though they didn't have to be. It's just past iron where that's the only way.

faetal on 30/8/2013 at 11:28

The universe is amazing.

SubJeff on 30/8/2013 at 13:30

It sure is.

Fuck you though - you'd better follow some rules or God is going to give you a good cornholing.

faetal on 30/8/2013 at 13:34

I'm pretty compliant when it comes to things like gravity, thermodynamics etc.
I'm even evolving at the accepted rate.

Pyrian on 30/8/2013 at 18:00

Another potential source of elements heavier than iron is the explosions of colliding neutron stars:

(http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/351795/description/Gold_seen_in_neutron_star_collision_debris)

demagogue on 30/8/2013 at 23:32

Reading that article, one thing I always like about the way scientists think is that even when that guy's own lifetime pet theory is getting validated, he's still downplaying it and say that other causes can't be ruled out, and the strongest word he'd use is comforting that it fits. I wish more people in other fields would be that clear minded about their own prejudices & not fall into confirmation bias.

Edit: The story itself is badass too BTW. I was always impressed by the big things that get studied in astronomy, and just the sheer sense of scale ... quasars, colliding stars, collapsing black holes, colliding galaxies, galaxy clusters, not to mention the big bang itself.

SubJeff on 31/8/2013 at 10:31

One of the greatest sadnesses of our time is that we know about all this stuff but none of us will ever get to fly to Betelgeuse.

Caradavin on 31/8/2013 at 23:54

How did I go wrong when I tried really hard to make that post as neutral as possible? :laff: No, I'm going to say something. Number one, this was one of my favorite communities. I said nothing wrong in that post.

I wasn't saying "don't talk about religion, stop that stop that!." I wasn't being frumpy or totalitarian. I truly thought that was one of the forum rules because I thought I'd read it here. That must have been another forum. I truly apologize for the offense, though.

Robert4222 on 1/9/2013 at 00:09

Quote Posted by Subjective Effect

One of the greatest sadnesses of our time is that we know about all this stuff but none of us will ever get to fly to Betelgeuse.

I only ask to go and explore the Moon :(