The problem is that you're setting up an hypothesis that cannot be disproved. While it *might* have happened, I think its all just a fantasy until someone finds an alien RNA (and it would have likely had to be an RNA, since it seems like that predates proteins in Earthlife) in a meteor or a comet. And, by all means,…

I think that 200 to 300 million years is a long time, it still is small in comparison with the time it took for the development of eukaryote cells. I think its not unreasonable to think that huge amounts of time were needed for the bacteria to get to their present set of sophistication. And, you can look at life and…

Chemistry, lightening, comets. There's a ton of ways to get to the building blocks. But I find it even less likely that a batch of self replicating molecules would be able to take an interstellar ride than a properly formed cell.

I still find panspermia an unnecessarily complicated hypothesis. If you do believe Earth was seeded with life 3.8 billion years ago, you have to presume not just that it was able to get here alive, but that it was able to prosper in what was a very different Earth environment. I think it more likely that life…

What disturbs me most is how much this resembles the 1988 version of The Blob..... it wedges open your home and a huge wave of gooey, acid spitting tissue rolls in and envelopes you.

I take some real exception to #4. Sure, we can't disprove a very deistic, hidden, watchmaker style God or a Ground of all Being (whatever that means), and its possible that their are powerful entities running around. But its hardly fair to compare a hands off God to the God of Moses, the God of Jesus, or the God of…

Next, give them legos.

Plus, diamonds really are just tops in terms of their hardness and durability. There are a lot of other beautiful minerals out there, but a lot of them can't handle daily wear and tear. Chemically, it really does the job super well, and is super sparkly too. Its just a shame that they've been given such an…

But that's more just a problem with Sci-Fi as a whole, isn't it? Star Trek kept having to discuss lessons of racism with aliens, BSG had its suicide bombers and 9/11, and Revived Futurama talks about viral videos. You can't expect Futurama to keep making Clinton/Gore jokes all the time. Though I do love headless Al…

I'll disagree with you there. Fry dating Lucy Liu was about Napster and copyright piracy far more than it was about dating a machine... Bender/Amy was more about an analogy for gay marriage. Plus, I'd suggest The Late Philip Jay Fry holds up just as well to any of the classics.

I think its worth remembering that the pre-cancellation episodes had *plenty* of references to modern culture, particularly through all of those celebrity heads. Bender joins Beck's band, Fry dates Lucy Liu (has anyone's career grown and then vanished as quickly as hers has?), meets Pam Anderson, etc. I even watched…

Glad to hear that people enjoy the synthetics. As a collector of minerals, I find the idea of synthetic gems really defeats the point, since I'm as interested in the fact that it was something that grew millions of years ago in a volcano, but I also don't really buy cut stones anymore.

Why not just build an orbital radio dish? You could even stick it on the ISS with its super computer.

If its real (and its only fair to wait until its verified, despite what these people say, there are plenty of reasons to forge stuff, both for religious reasons, and for the fact that such a paper would be worth tons of cash), I don't think it would really mean anything.

Aren't impact diamonds usually very small? It would really surprise me if this were more than just a huge site of industrial diamonds with an occasional gem quality one thrown in. But from what I hear, synthetic gem quality diamonds are really just around the corner, so the whole market could just take pretty…

Yeah, I've never heard anyone argue that, because God doesn't exist, we don't have to worry about global warming. Or that, because God doesn't exist, we should prevent gays from marrying, or simply being alive (like in Iran or Uganda).

I think the primary reason for 'zealotry' is because a lot of atheists grew up religious, and recognize that a lot of religious people simply haven't been told about a lot of things. Eagerness to share can turn into arrogance, frustration, and obnoxiousness.

I would suggest that your standard Evangelical Christian would consider you an atheist, mostly because you don't go to church.

I remember not too long ago there was some controversy of there being a similar chain of descent leading to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish mascot. Even though ND is Catholic and Catholics are supposed to support (theistic) evolution.

I'd say the chances of a local nuclear war are only going to get higher though, with India and Pakistan and Iran and Israel constantly rumbling, things could get out of hand very rapidly. And I worry that if they start throwing around nukes, it could set off everyone else's alarm bells.