Yes, I have to wonder. As, I guess, we all do who contemplate any kind of physics and the way the universe works.
What I've been struggling with lately is the whole dark matter/energy war. I call it a war instead of a bar fight simply because of the scale of the fight going on. Everyone is trying to figure out why the universe as observed doesn't seem to show enough mass or energy to fill out what they have decided should be there. This has me wondering if these people are smart enough to balance their checkbooks every month.
Look at what they are up against:
First off, how do they decide how much matter there should be? If they're honest, they should admit that they have no idea if they could see all the matter in the universe. Ditto on detecting all normal energy. That's got to be the biggest boast in the history of our race. If any dictionary needs a definition of hubris, this is an easy shot. Consider this minor example- a star 50 lightyears away goes ultinova. It explodes with such violence that what is left inplodes and goes dark. This happened 500 years ago and the shockwave passed us 450 years ago. Now, how exactly will we know this happened? No-one noticed it, among the dozen (maybe) astronomers on Earth. They were all asleep at the time and there were no cameras. So, the blast wave and anything visible is 450 years in our past, along with the only chance to add the matter and energy to our supposed total. Multiply this by a few billion. Now tell me how you figure an accurate total.
Like I said, the very claim that that there can be an accurate guess, much less factual total, is suitable for fertilizing gardens much more than discussing in a serious setting. Then we get into 'dark matter' and 'dark energy'. I wouldn't try to get that into a comic book.
Well, let's get back to some serious science stuff. The most recent word is that Space-X will go for Mars by 2020. That is one to watch for. I have to support any attempts at planting extra-planetary bases. There is entirely too much crap zipping around out there of a size to make those who know lose sleep. Sometimes the only thing you can do about giant meteor impacts is not be home when it happens. Consider how much evidence has been left on the surface of every planet and moon we can see. It's like being in the infantry in a war- at some point your number is gonna come up. One of those bullets is going to end up in the same space you occupy at the same time. Only a fool counts on dodging all of them.
I actually feel the same way about ufo sightings. You can take any view you please about the existence of other life, but numbers don't lie. There are entirely too many planets out there to get odds on there NOT being other species with spaceflight. The only thing I am willing to bet on is that the half dozen or so that that have been observed are probably from within 50 or 100 lightyears. There are plenty of planets in that range and it ups the odds that we might be picked as a place to visit.
To finish up, I hope I will live to see a base on Mars and the moon. I will feel better about humanity's future.
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