Imaginary Earths: Countless Falling Stars

[Admin]

What if the world were constantly bombarded with space-rock smashups, big enough and frequent enough to shape the course of entire cultures?

Imaginary Earths: Countless Falling Stars : Read more

 

[rod]

I note near the end, "So there you have it. A world that marries a superstitious culture with interplanetary exploration. It's amazing fun to imagine how changing one aspect of life on Earth might have all kinds of ripple effects."

Seems like catastrophism used. In the 18th century, catastrophism in geology used to support Noah's Flood. Now catastrophism like this is rejected but perhaps, a *new catastrophism* can be found for our solar system vs. a sci fi planet

 

[Geomartian]

but also to harbor beliefs in vast conspiracies…

Do you believe in Neutrinos and the General Theory of Relativity? If both of these were proven to be maliciously contrived fictions would that indicate a vast conspiracy?

The Earth has been pounded by asteroids yet the supposedly 3.7 billion year old basalts on the near side of the moon are nearly pristine (in spite of a lack of a protective atmosphere). A simpler explanation is that NASA lied about the age of the moon rocks it retrieved.

What if superstition is actually a form of hardwired intuition? Fleeing a city which is about to be destroyed would allow you to have descendants.

Interstellar asteroids can come in at velocities of up to 500 kilometers per second. The best defense is to scatter nukes all over the solar system so they can intercept/deflect at the greatest distance from the Earth (when the nukes have the most effect). Using a beam of light to stop an interstellar asteroid would be tragically comical.

But I do like the idea of superstition keeping scientific certainty in its place. The history of science is nothing if not a story about the hubris of scientific certainty.