
The Greatest Human Achievements - nuclear_eclipse
http://lbrandy.com/blog/2009/05/the-greatest-human-achievements/
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wallflower
Re: Landing on the moon

National Geographic's special Aftermath: Life After People was rebroadcast
last night. It examines what would happen if humans simply disappeared from
the planet. It was sobering because it seemed like Earth would recover and
heal itself, in time, without us.

Day 14 after humans: Diesel backup generators that kept the cooling pools
pumped at Nuclear power plants run out of fuel, causing catastrophic nuclear
steam explosions, releasing multi-Hiroshima levels of radiation locally.

100-150 years after humans: Earth absorbs the excess CO2 that was generated by
humans and the baseline level returns back to normal.

500 years: The outer shell of cellphones made of plastic still look like they
were made a couple years ago.

100K+ years after humans: The only sign that humans existed on planet earth
would not be on planet earth but on the moon (the flag, the footprints, the TV
camera, the rovers).

~~~
pavel_lishin
> 500 years: The outer shell of cellphones made of plastic still look like
> they were made a couple years ago.

Then why does the one I bought four years ago look like crap? Damnit!

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pj
What about Guttenberg and his printing press. We may not be having this
discussion right now if it weren't for him.

That could also be said about Tim Berners-Lee and his crazy idea called the
World Wide Web.

~~~
ATB
"Steve Guttenberg," unless there is a much more intellectual seventh _Police
Academy_ sequel uncovering his secret time traveling invention, probably
didn't contribute very much to the printing press.

"Johannes Gutenberg," in spite of not appearing in _Police Academy 7: Mission
to Moscow_ or kissing Sharon Stone in _Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol_
(the true highlight of the series, as many aficionados will readily attest),
probably deserves our thanks instead.

~~~
pj
You got me! Edited. Thank you.

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sachmanb
Eurocentric some? Thanks for the sagan quote, though, and the thoughts about
euclid, ramanunjan, siddartha, bodhidharma, proudhon, and the vague admiration
for people's names that i don't know, people who comprehended before there
were equations, people who saw that all of life is emergent transformation,
recognized not only introverted and extroverted states, but what people are
today calling 'flow' and what some ended up calling 'zazen', and 3000 years
ago they said was the third state, oh - and the fourth state, i supposed we
don't have that here yet....but oh, still, love for arabic mathematicians and
mayans obsessed with time. before we get to 'greatest' the question arises,
greatest at what? if efficiency is the game, perhaps another read of brave new
world and a reminder about The Ford is in order. if ability is the game,
perhaps we should smile again at oppenheimer yelling that he is shiva. if the
quality of human experience, the joy of living is the game, then is it really
the internet, or is that just a medium through which we can share the real
wealth? i got my gitosis working, made me smile, gotta love the internet - was
walking to my car when she smiled and made small talk, gotta love the
internet, but true wealth is somewhere between wisdom and that girl's smile.

------
jerryji
Relentlessly pursuing our dreams.

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mojuba
s/Plank/Planck/

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ErrantX
Quantum theory

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TweedHeads
Wikipedia is static

Wolfram Alpha is dynamic

Google is the linker

We need all of them, but if you ask me ten years from know who will be the
unifier, I'd go with W|A, but google has the money.

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SingAlong
Wikipedia? Sounds a bit pre-WolframAlpha to me :)

[EDIT] Wolfram seems to be doing the same job as Wikipedia but with dynamic
data rather than linkable data. But I'm sure wikipedia is a source for WA too.

[EDIT: I removed the word "Coz"] I just read that WolframAlpha is able to
answer a question like "Why did the chicken cross the road?" by saying "to get
to the other side".

P.S: I'm not sure if it's just an easter egg or the brilliance of the AI
system of the Alpha. I read it here: <http://mashable.com/2009/05/17/wolfram-
easter-eggs/>

~~~
ErrantX
As the database is hand curated it is highly unlikely an AI response. just
simply the programmed response.

