Life In Our Universe - Crash Course Pods: The Universe #8
video description
Date: 2024-08-01
Related videos
Comments and reviews: 17
vvcc9565
how i would answer the intro question, as someone who has extensively studied astrophysics/cosmology and theoretical physics, is that i fully disagree with the brand of nihilism that people have about the scale of everything. this is something that's bothered me for a long time now, wherein the communication to the public of the scale of the things studied in these fields, emphasizes humanity's (relative) insignificance to the rest of reality, largely due to scale (despite human existence falling pretty close to the middle, scale-wise. we, human (and non-human) life on this earth, are the only life we know of in existence, and the only way the universe is aware of itself. we are, very literally, the universe experiencing itself. just because we're small, and just because there's a lot happening around us we don't fully comprehend yet, doesn't mean anything for our significance as living, feeling things in the universe. we are significant relative to everything around us, our relationships, our experiences, our lives. everyway we learn and explore and grow is significant for the entire universe as we know it. there is nothing impressive or grand about a universe without someone to see it, and seeing it is the most significant thing we can offer.
reply
how i would answer the intro question, as someone who has extensively studied astrophysics/cosmology and theoretical physics, is that i fully disagree with the brand of nihilism that people have about the scale of everything. this is something that's bothered me for a long time now, wherein the communication to the public of the scale of the things studied in these fields, emphasizes humanity's (relative) insignificance to the rest of reality, largely due to scale (despite human existence falling pretty close to the middle, scale-wise. we, human (and non-human) life on this earth, are the only life we know of in existence, and the only way the universe is aware of itself. we are, very literally, the universe experiencing itself. just because we're small, and just because there's a lot happening around us we don't fully comprehend yet, doesn't mean anything for our significance as living, feeling things in the universe. we are significant relative to everything around us, our relationships, our experiences, our lives. everyway we learn and explore and grow is significant for the entire universe as we know it. there is nothing impressive or grand about a universe without someone to see it, and seeing it is the most significant thing we can offer.
reply
osanneart9318
When doctor Mack discusses potential past life on Mars at 43: 00 it's pretty funny to think that POTENTIAL evidence of past Mars life has been discovered this week. Getting the Samples back to earth will be difficult and will take a while, but there have been compounds detected that here on earth are mostly produced by life, in leaopard spot like patterns on the inside of rocks. These rocks were found in a place where water once flowed.
If you had spotted those kind of patterns in such a spot on earth, treating this as evidence for microbial life would be an easy assumption to make. To actually confirm if this is the case for Mars, we'll have to see in about 15 years or so, to have the samples brought to earth for further research.
No promises that life existed there yet, but we live in exciting times!
reply
When doctor Mack discusses potential past life on Mars at 43: 00 it's pretty funny to think that POTENTIAL evidence of past Mars life has been discovered this week. Getting the Samples back to earth will be difficult and will take a while, but there have been compounds detected that here on earth are mostly produced by life, in leaopard spot like patterns on the inside of rocks. These rocks were found in a place where water once flowed.
If you had spotted those kind of patterns in such a spot on earth, treating this as evidence for microbial life would be an easy assumption to make. To actually confirm if this is the case for Mars, we'll have to see in about 15 years or so, to have the samples brought to earth for further research.
No promises that life existed there yet, but we live in exciting times!
reply
mandirants
Why do I so often hear people say that we are insignificant So far, earth is the only life we are aware of. Yet people will say it is arrogant to think it possible that life, as we define it, may only have happened here. There are events in the universe that only happen once, all the time: the big bang or yesterday. And as far as we can determine, life only happened ONCE here, on the very planet where it seems so abundant and resilient. We still have NO idea how it happened - here. And we don't see life spontaneously generating from any second sources either.
The point I'm trying to make is that our rarity doesn't seem insignificant to me at all.
reply
Why do I so often hear people say that we are insignificant So far, earth is the only life we are aware of. Yet people will say it is arrogant to think it possible that life, as we define it, may only have happened here. There are events in the universe that only happen once, all the time: the big bang or yesterday. And as far as we can determine, life only happened ONCE here, on the very planet where it seems so abundant and resilient. We still have NO idea how it happened - here. And we don't see life spontaneously generating from any second sources either.
The point I'm trying to make is that our rarity doesn't seem insignificant to me at all.
reply
Pfhorrest
John, we may be very small and weird, but that doesn't make us insignificant. It makes is very significant. We are an extremely rare configuration of already pretty-rare stuff and we have done things that do not occur anywhere else in the universe. I've mentioned in previous comments like this that both the hottest and the coldest places in the entire known universe are here on Earth, because we were curious so we made that happen so we could study them. Can you just imagine if some day in the far future the whole cosmos was teeming with complex networks of weird things like us doing things that have never been done before
reply
John, we may be very small and weird, but that doesn't make us insignificant. It makes is very significant. We are an extremely rare configuration of already pretty-rare stuff and we have done things that do not occur anywhere else in the universe. I've mentioned in previous comments like this that both the hottest and the coldest places in the entire known universe are here on Earth, because we were curious so we made that happen so we could study them. Can you just imagine if some day in the far future the whole cosmos was teeming with complex networks of weird things like us doing things that have never been done before
reply
heart-lying-still
I love Dr. Mack defending herself about 0. 1 basically being 1 because it's within a couple orders of magnitude. John is right, that really is such an astrophysicist thing to say. When I was studying astrophysics in college years and years ago, I always got a kick out of the engineers who sometimes took astronomy courses (usually to fulfill an elective requirement. The engineers got really twitchy whenever the professor was walking through a calculation and rounded up or down within an order of magnitude or two. I think the engineers nearly rioted when one professor said let's just say that pi equals 10.
reply
I love Dr. Mack defending herself about 0. 1 basically being 1 because it's within a couple orders of magnitude. John is right, that really is such an astrophysicist thing to say. When I was studying astrophysics in college years and years ago, I always got a kick out of the engineers who sometimes took astronomy courses (usually to fulfill an elective requirement. The engineers got really twitchy whenever the professor was walking through a calculation and rounded up or down within an order of magnitude or two. I think the engineers nearly rioted when one professor said let's just say that pi equals 10.
reply
loquaciousky
I've been following the pod somewhere with a much less robust review/commenting functionality, so I'm just here to express thanks and support for longer-form Crash Course episodes like CC: The Universe has been. My difficulty with other CC series has always been that the individual videos are too short to keep my attention unless I binge an entire course in a day or two and retain much less actual information, so longer episodes with a bit less crash in the course has been a delight. Thank yall for continuing to be awesome, and bringing us in this instance the awe of the universe as a whole.
reply
I've been following the pod somewhere with a much less robust review/commenting functionality, so I'm just here to express thanks and support for longer-form Crash Course episodes like CC: The Universe has been. My difficulty with other CC series has always been that the individual videos are too short to keep my attention unless I binge an entire course in a day or two and retain much less actual information, so longer episodes with a bit less crash in the course has been a delight. Thank yall for continuing to be awesome, and bringing us in this instance the awe of the universe as a whole.
reply
MakeMeThinkAgain
Isn't it possible that there could have been a prior form intelligent of intelligent life on earth that left no trace behind that we can detect The continental plates exposed today were not always present in the past. Anything that existed in areas of major glaciation would have been erased -- this includes much of North America, Europe, and Antarctica. Between volcanoes and glaciers, the surface of the earth is pretty new.
reply
Isn't it possible that there could have been a prior form intelligent of intelligent life on earth that left no trace behind that we can detect The continental plates exposed today were not always present in the past. Anything that existed in areas of major glaciation would have been erased -- this includes much of North America, Europe, and Antarctica. Between volcanoes and glaciers, the surface of the earth is pretty new.
reply
MissMarilynDarling
One thing I think about often is we have gone through 2 mass extinctions and if there were civilizations out there they may have come and gone by now they could have guilt rocket ships and faster than light space ships been here and said Nope thats not the one and moved on its just a possibility.
reply
One thing I think about often is we have gone through 2 mass extinctions and if there were civilizations out there they may have come and gone by now they could have guilt rocket ships and faster than light space ships been here and said Nope thats not the one and moved on its just a possibility.
reply
MrCoophi
The distinction between chemistry and nuclear processes is the first time in this series I've found myself thinking: Ackshully Mr Green, that's not quite right. Every other summary has been spectacularly insightful.
More of these in my earholes please. Maybe delve into quantum mechanics next
reply
The distinction between chemistry and nuclear processes is the first time in this series I've found myself thinking: Ackshully Mr Green, that's not quite right. Every other summary has been spectacularly insightful.
More of these in my earholes please. Maybe delve into quantum mechanics next
reply
MrAmptech
Written language is one of the big game changers between us and other terrestrial animals. It appears that speaking in air works better than through water. Many aquatic creatures seem highly intelligent but lack the ability to pass it on.
reply
Written language is one of the big game changers between us and other terrestrial animals. It appears that speaking in air works better than through water. Many aquatic creatures seem highly intelligent but lack the ability to pass it on.
reply
LeonardoDaFinchy
I like how in the ad read each time John begins with the themes of the episode then pivots to life insurance and you can hear his smile as he is made aware once again of the absurdity of our existence in this time: )
reply
I like how in the ad read each time John begins with the themes of the episode then pivots to life insurance and you can hear his smile as he is made aware once again of the absurdity of our existence in this time: )
reply
thomassharp7775
The idea that the big bang happened from the extreme large area of void and the foam snapping into vertual particles the size of a grape fruit with the errors found by the jwts be somethings to look Into
reply
The idea that the big bang happened from the extreme large area of void and the foam snapping into vertual particles the size of a grape fruit with the errors found by the jwts be somethings to look Into
reply
TatianaBoshenka
There's nothing I enjoy more than having a conversation with Dr. Mack and John about life, the universe, and everything. This series is a wonder. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
reply
There's nothing I enjoy more than having a conversation with Dr. Mack and John about life, the universe, and everything. This series is a wonder. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
reply
Alice_Walker
As someone also going through The Depression. Thank you all so very much for spending your precious time and energy to bring us this wonderful series. I am loving it so so much!
reply
As someone also going through The Depression. Thank you all so very much for spending your precious time and energy to bring us this wonderful series. I am loving it so so much!
reply
RenayEmond
The JOY of Sharing something Cool is what Vlogbrothers have ALWAYS done & what Nerdfighteria is ALL about
DFTBA
THANK YOU DR. Mack for giving us ALL a little touch of HOPE
reply
The JOY of Sharing something Cool is what Vlogbrothers have ALWAYS done & what Nerdfighteria is ALL about
DFTBA
THANK YOU DR. Mack for giving us ALL a little touch of HOPE
reply
d14551
Thanks so much for this series, I'm always excited to see a new episode has been released. When it's over I'm going to start at the beginning and listen all over again.
reply
Thanks so much for this series, I'm always excited to see a new episode has been released. When it's over I'm going to start at the beginning and listen all over again.
reply
Thr3leven
A philosopher and a scientist agree we we're alright. Best news I've heard all week! (within a couple degrees of magnitude)
reply
A philosopher and a scientist agree we we're alright. Best news I've heard all week! (within a couple degrees of magnitude)
reply
Add a review, comment
Other channel videos
