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What is the most astounding fact about the universe?

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HolySchimmel
Posts: 1601 - Karma: 1,297




Dr Neil DeGrasse Tyson awnsers.
Dunno if report or not, hope not!
Mar 7 2012 5:16PM
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Edward.
Posts: 9366 - Karma: 445
cool video. ns could use some more threads like this
Mar 7 2012 5:24PM
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dunkaroos
Posts: 2574 - Karma: 633
wow that was actually awesome
Mar 7 2012 5:31PM
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Dr.Gnar
Posts: 896 - Karma: 197
That was incredible and I gotta thank you for posting that. That sums up my entire religion, philosophy, mindset, perspective, purposeless-ness, freedom, attitude, and the way I look at myself and how I fit it to the enormous backyard that is our universe. Forget higher powers, forget assumptions on what/who may or may not have created this backyard, forget what may or may not happen after death, it just feels so good to be here and be a part of this gigantic incomprehendible number of atoms, knowing they won't ever combine ever again to make up what is "me" as time goes by. I am, inside, the happiest person I know, and I simply found it waiting right in front of me to reach out and hold. I am unimportant, worthless, insignificant, just a simple animal of this world, and I couldn't be more enlightened and at peace with that. Life is completely, utterly simple, and very, very short, so I'm getting out there to experience this consciousness while it's alive. I'm gonna go play mw3 or watch a hockey game now hahahah
Mar 7 2012 5:41PM
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GBS
Posts: 1386 - Karma: 33
Religion...
Mar 7 2012 5:44PM
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momentz
Posts: 875 - Karma: 285
awesome video! thanks man!
Mar 7 2012 5:45PM
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JamesR
Posts: 3396 - Karma: -12
Praise be to CoD.
Mar 7 2012 5:46PM
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Cahal
Posts: 945 - Karma: 594
pretty cool vid
Mar 7 2012 5:47PM
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k-rob
Posts: 14217 - Karma: 2,890
the way this guy describes how he feels about his atoms coming from stars, that's exactly how i felt the first time i did shrooms. i guess it says a lot about my character that i had to do drugs to feel like i belong in the universe, but experiencing that feeling, for the first time in my life, was totally worth it, and i'm really glad i did those drugs.
Mar 7 2012 5:50PM
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Dr.Gnar
Posts: 896 - Karma: 197
Haha I just had to end my post like that to bring it back down to earth.
Mar 7 2012 5:51PM
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Bam-Saker
Posts: 240 - Karma: 157
pretty cool. there was sooo much meaning in those 3 minutes
Mar 7 2012 5:51PM
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GayWolf420
Posts: 36635 - Karma: 110,219
Its humongus big.

Mar 7 2012 5:53PM
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PJS.
Posts: 11943 - Karma: 895
Neil DeGrasse Tyson is so goddamn cool. /nerd
Mar 7 2012 5:54PM
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Squeenerd
Posts: 731 - Karma: 186
lol 1:32 the reflection in the eye looks like master chief
Mar 7 2012 5:57PM
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Dr.Gnar
Posts: 896 - Karma: 197
Hahahah yes. At first I thought I was gonna click and get a dorky ass Halo video.
Mar 7 2012 6:13PM
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feihlination
Posts: 8356 - Karma: 1,084
good post.

i feel downright sorry for all those people who want to give life a meaning other than just living it.

searching for something that is right infront of their eyes the whole time.
Mar 7 2012 6:45PM
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Dr.Gnar
Posts: 896 - Karma: 197
Thanks. I wouldn't say I feel sorry for the "believers," only the "searchers" who are looking in the wrong direction and subsequently feel lost and unhappy. Why does life need meaning, right? I'm gonna call my "religion" ANIMALISM (it's already a coined philophy term but forget the subject of philosophy, it just teaches you how to argue hence why it's commonly taken pre-law, and has made or broken many a friend of mine). In other words, we are just animals like other animals and can't even begin to comprehend what is past the "edge" of the universe, or "space-time". How self-centered and self-assured of a creature some are, to think that us as human beings are personally even INTELLIGENT enough to confidently believe in anything other than what we collect with our five senses. It was only humans that invented the idea of "sentience" in the first place before we declared ourselves to be it. Like, wtf is with that? Others animals never even got a say in that matter. The term "sentient being" was just invented to justify putting our race on a pedestal. Oh man I'm spewing now but I hope you're still with me. Like a monkey in the jungle, I'm a human in the universe. I'm a science enthusiast and advocate, hardcore. What am I even doing on NS with this anyhow. I having fun with this anyways. If I wasn't I wouldn't even post. We are nothing special! There's no such thing as "special." There's just the universe, and everything physical within it. We also invented the word "spiritual" and "soul," but "spirit" is just natural feeling. Don't thank God for a good life, just thank the universe. It's much more concrete.
Mar 7 2012 7:23PM
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Mr.Turtle
Posts: 3690 - Karma: 96
infinity
Mar 7 2012 7:24PM
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Benji.
Posts: 1146 - Karma: 88
A well worded summary of the big bang theory.

niiceeee.
Mar 7 2012 7:28PM
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Bill.Nye
Posts: 4060 - Karma: 2,109
"We are a way for the universe to know itself."
Carl Sagan


Mar 7 2012 7:31PM
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Newschooleri.
Posts: 396 - Karma: 554

Mar 7 2012 7:40PM
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Dr.Gnar
Posts: 896 - Karma: 197
Wow...enough said! And I wrote so much, Mr. Sagan kinda said it all for me...in under 10 seconds.
Mar 7 2012 7:49PM
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Bill.Nye
Posts: 4060 - Karma: 2,109
He had a way of doing that.
Mar 7 2012 8:00PM
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Amadeus.
Posts: 3050 - Karma: 382
This is the shit right here. No need for superstition, religion, and fairy tales. What else could you ask for? We are so lucky to have been granted a brief spark of consciousness in this wonderful universe that we can observe and explore to great lengths. This is why i think science is beautiful, and hearing stuff like this about how we are a small little part of a great big machine (which we know very little about) is not degrading to me like it is to most religious people, but instead it is inspiring. If the world could just think in this way we would be in a whole lot better place.
Mar 7 2012 8:09PM
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Dr.Gnar
Posts: 896 - Karma: 197
Obviously I'm with you but what about moral and ethical code that governments base their methods on? That's the trick, right.
Mar 7 2012 8:21PM
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JamesR
Posts: 3396 - Karma: -12
What would you say determines the morals of a government?
Mar 7 2012 8:27PM
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Bill.Nye
Posts: 4060 - Karma: 2,109
Here's a pretty astonishing fact. Atoms are made of mostly empty space. Which means that all matter is made of mostly empty space. Which means everything is mostly nothing.


Mar 7 2012 8:32PM
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ForeverYung
Posts: 8385 - Karma: 2,060
Mind=blown. But the video in the OP was really great, fuck everything and do what you like
Mar 7 2012 8:42PM
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EricaMN.
Posts: 2704 - Karma: 346
because god
Mar 7 2012 8:47PM
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Cufe.
Posts: 1950 - Karma: 262
Semi-unrelated but still awesome
Mar 7 2012 8:51PM
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Dr.Gnar
Posts: 896 - Karma: 197
Religion, obviously, the national anthems are god-happy too. But it doesn't always work very well.
Mar 7 2012 8:55PM
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Amadeus.
Posts: 3050 - Karma: 382
Morality is innate in us. morals and ethics can also be derived using Kants method of morality, and with biology. you should read up about this, i suggest richard dawkins.

Pre-biblical civilizations were extremely moral, and were heavily governed by laws.

It seems incredibly insulting to me and to the rest of humanity that somehow we wouldn't know that killing someone was bad unless a bunch of deluded nomadic herdsmen in israel wrote a book that said killin was bad. And by the way in leviticus and deuteronomy (the section of the bible which contains the list of biblical laws) almost every passage start with "if someone does this" and ends with "they should be killed". Not to mention the great moral passage Kill anyone with a different religion. (Deuteronomy 17:2-7).
Mar 7 2012 9:04PM
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Bill.Nye
Posts: 4060 - Karma: 2,109
John Stuart Mill had a lot more influence on how most modern societies view government than any religious text. The morals of any government are ultimately determined by the collective morals of the people in that government, and the people who vote them into that position.
Mar 7 2012 9:05PM
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Amadeus.
Posts: 3050 - Karma: 382
LOL religion doesn't determine the laws of the U.S. we are completely secular, the founding fathers weren't even religious. You seriously should read up on arguments against this primitive position before you make such absolute statements
Mar 7 2012 9:11PM
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elemeno89
Posts: 1582 - Karma: 79
https://www.newschoolers.com/ns/forums/readthread/thread_id/682195/
Mar 7 2012 9:12PM
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Bill.Nye
Posts: 4060 - Karma: 2,109
Only in theory, not in practice.
Mar 7 2012 9:27PM
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Peter.
Posts: 23796 - Karma: 13,012
i enjoy carl sagan's voice more than morgan freemans
Mar 7 2012 9:29PM
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artfullydodged
Posts: 8358 - Karma: 1,674
Religion is not the moral foundation of this country. It merely sells itself like it is. Christianity and other religions say good morals are the backbone of their faith in order to legitimize all the bullshit they add in. Its fucking obvious that people should be good to each other, we don't need religion to tell us.
Mar 7 2012 10:13PM
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exile_ch
Posts: 715 - Karma: 609
Got some fact for you regarding Neutron Star.

( If you dont know, Neutron Stars are made pretty much only from Neutron and are EXTREMELY dense. They "come to life" when a Supernova collapses under its own mass )

Well a Neutron Star is SO DENSE that a tea spoon of its material would be heavier than 900 times the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Its gravitational pull is SO STRONG that if you dropped an object a meter high from the surface, by the time the object reaches the ground, it would travel at 7.2 million kilometers per hour.

MIND = BLOWN
Mar 7 2012 10:25PM
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GypsyLovin
Posts: 656 - Karma: 109
Threads for when Im home!
Mar 7 2012 10:35PM
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Dr.Gnar
Posts: 896 - Karma: 197
Okay forget anything I said about dem gov'ment foundations n shit. My hair is standing on end similar to when lightning strikes, sensing the coming religious+political shitstorm. Let's back up, calm down, and keep this thread on topic. Remember the video...first post....yeah it was AWESOME
Mar 7 2012 10:43PM
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squibble
Posts: 4569 - Karma: 104
wow i really didn't like that at all. He sounded too much like a preacher and I don't trust preachers
Mar 7 2012 10:53PM
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1337
Posts: 31038 - Karma: 29,000
so fucking crazy to think about.
Mar 7 2012 10:59PM
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Dr.Gnar
Posts: 896 - Karma: 197
Wrong, he sounded "preachy" because he's an astrophysicist that's fucking knows his shit and has got passionate enthusiasm for his career. He knows more than you will ever know by the time you die judging by the stupidity of your comment.
Mar 7 2012 11:02PM
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Billups
Posts: 3960 - Karma: 329
If this type of thing interests you, I'd suggest searching youtube for videos featuring Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Brian Cox, two men who are incredibly knowledgable and have made it their mission to make physics and science understandable for everyone. There is some really fascinating things to be learned, and I continuously have my mind blown listening to and reading their materials.
Mar 7 2012 11:18PM
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grown-ninja
Posts: 3031 - Karma: 175
my mom was friends with neil/ went to schol with him....claim haha. Great video
Mar 7 2012 11:24PM
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exile_ch
Posts: 715 - Karma: 609
I just watched Brian Cox "Wonders of the Universe" a week ago.

Truly inspiring stuff, very well made.
Mar 7 2012 11:25PM
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Lucas
Posts: 4877 - Karma: 1,518
I can't be the only one who though most of that stuff he said was pretty basic knowledge?
Mar 7 2012 11:25PM
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Amadeus.
Posts: 3050 - Karma: 382
believe it or not that is Brian Cox shredding the keyboard at 2:30. This was his band D.A.R.E. in the 80s. As bill would say . SCIENCE RULES!

Mar 7 2012 11:35PM
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Amadeus.
Posts: 3050 - Karma: 382
and the fact that brian cox was in a hair band might actually be the most astounding fact about the universe.
Mar 7 2012 11:39PM
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squibble
Posts: 4569 - Karma: 104
So he knows more than you, that means you take his words as pure gold?

It's cool and all, but I found it unsatisfying. problem? maybe cause I've thought of this before.
Mar 7 2012 11:58PM
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