Your favourite unsolved mystery?

Bongalongherb

enfant terrible wrote: »

Did you watch the Ted talk?

No. Do you have a link ?

enfant terrible

Bongalongherb wrote: »

No. Do you have a link ?

Was in the post you quoted.

Cianmcliam

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

I haven't made this claim. I have said that we can neither say it is likely nor unlikely - we cannot determine the probability at all with the information we have available. It is a complete unknown.

We have no idea what way evolution may be driven on worlds that differ from the specific conditions of Earth in terms of things like regular global extinction events, ice age cycles, distribution of elements on the surface and in the atmosphere, etc. As it stands we don't even know how or why life arose here, nor why it took so long to progress from single to multicellular - or indeed why it ever did that at all, for example.

You are welcome to conclude that evolution from single-celled to intelligent life is a vanishingly unlikely scenario, and that may indeed turn out to be correct, but at this point it is a belief and not based in evidence.

You said a page or two ago the sample size is one. The sample size is not one though, even if we allow for very big differences between habitable worlds we still have to consider the enormous overlap with the hugely variable conditions here.

So say a small subset of several million niches on Earth out of the billions possible here are shared across most habitable planets. How many times did these subset of millions of niches, that would be replicated in a vast number of worlds, result in intelligent life?

That tells us that developing intelligence is much, much less likely than developing lungs or skin or leaves or venom or gills or life cycles within other creatures etc. that crop up in such a wide variety of conditions that most habitable planets will have to share.

Bongalongherb

enfant terrible wrote: »

Was in the post you quoted.

Dead matter he says, that every single thing in deep space and all the galaxies is dead ? they might all have their energy but they are dead ?

A person living within a civilisation of a droplet of water telling everyone within that drop of water that the vast ocean is dead. I remember the old times regarding NASA and most scientists saying that water does not exist on Mars end of, but hey! guess what ? we just found out that Mars has water, and that is just in our small back yard.

Same with dark matter/open space, sure it's just nothing lol, until a time comes when new scientists and physicists discover it is not simply nothing, but they most likely discover that it is something of great importance.

Too many acid trips that guy was on in his own private back-yard imo.

enfant terrible

Bongalongherb wrote: »

Dead matter he says, that every single thing in deep space and all the galaxies is dead ? they might all have their energy but they are dead ?

A person living within a civilisation of a droplet of water telling everyone within that drop of water that the vast ocean is dead. I remember the old times regarding NASA and most scientists saying that water does not exist on Mars end of, but hey! guess what ? we just found out that Mars has water, and that is just in our small back yard.

Same with dark matter/open space, sure it's just nothing lol, until a time comes when new scientists and physicists discover it is not simply nothing, but they most likely discover that it is something of great importance.

Too many acid trips that guy was on in his own private back-yard imo.

Ya I'd trust that guy more than a poster who thinks scientists were dumb for thinking there was no water on Mars until they discovered it.

MadDog76

I fear this fantastic thread (one of my personal favourites on Boards) is being dragged off topic in the last couple of pages ......... anyway here's an Unsolved Mystery for you to ponder.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptos

MadDog76

Béla Kiss

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_Kiss

MadDog76

....... and suicidal dogs!!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtoun_Bridge

hefferboi

Sorry, my fault for dragging it off topic with the Fermi Paradox. I found the last few pages fascinating, even if I couldn't add anything myself :P

Bongalongherb

enfant terrible wrote: »

Ya I'd trust that guy more than a poster who thinks scientists were dumb for thinking there was no water on Mars until they discovered it.

?

Where did I say that scientists are dumb ? Why would I even say such a thing when I have the utmost respect for science ?. Please understand that I have a personal opinion on things just like yourself but we just differ a bit.

It's disingenuous to say or assume that I think scientists are dumb, they are the folk that brought us to this stage of this evolutionary technological state.

Jezz I just realised that this is way off topic. Fin/

But in saying that, I suppose the universe is the biggest unsolved mystery of all.

maudgonner

Lord Lucan has officially been declared dead:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/feb/03/lord-lucan-death-certificate-granted-more-than-40-years-after-disappearance

More of a legal formality than anything else, but I doubt it will stop the theories that he's alive and living in Leitrim/Timbuktoo/Antarctica

kfallon

maudgonner wrote: »

Lord Lucan has officially been declared dead:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/feb/03/lord-lucan-death-certificate-granted-more-than-40-years-after-disappearance

More of a legal formality than anything else, but I doubt it will stop the theories that he's alive and living in Leitrim/Timbuktoo/Antarctica

So what did he do with Shergar?

Pac1Man

Wondering why all of those people closed their accounts at the start of this thread.

Where are they? Are they safe?

maudgonner

kfallon wrote: »

So what did he do with Shergar?

Shergar has been found alive and named the new Lord Lucan. People of Lucan, Castlebar etc will now pay their land rents directly to their equine master.

kfallon

maudgonner wrote: »

Shergar has been found alive and named the new Lord Lucan. People of Lucan, Castlebar etc will now pay their land rents directly to their equine master.

Will he make Cheltenham tho? Have a couple of juicy ante post bets on him!!!

maudgonner

kfallon wrote: »

Will he make Cheltenham tho? Have a couple of juicy ante post bets on him!!!

He will. But now that he's landed gentry the jockey will have to carry him around the track. Hope you got long odds.

(Also, was Shergar not more of a flat specialist?)

kfallon

maudgonner wrote: »

He will. But now that he's landed gentry the jockey will have to carry him around the track. Hope you got long odds.

(Also, was Shergar not more of a flat specialist?)

He was but he'll jump a hurdle, no doubt in my mind! Powers should just pay out now and get it over and done with!

jca

I've just seen this thread and hopped on the end of it so maybe it's been mentioned before. I'd love to know what really happened Aer Lingus flight 712 our ill fated viscount.

Smiles35

Pac1Man wrote: »

Wondering why all of those people closed their accounts at the start of this thread.

Where are they? Are they safe?

Why does the concept of doors have to be so useless on boards?

DanielODonnell

There was a segment on the television show Unsolved Mysteries about how a young fellow in the 1970s threw a glass bottle with a note in it into the sea. The note had his address on it and 18 years later he got a letter from somoeone who found the bottle, the bottle had travelled from east coast USA to west coast USA over the 18 years.

AndyBoBandy

jca wrote: »

I'd love to know what really happened Aer Lingus flight 712 our ill fated viscount.

Here's what I had
to say on the matter, as heard from an apparent first hand witness!!

fiachr_a

Ann Lovett's baby, who was the daddy?

smash

DanielODonnell wrote: »

There was a segment on the television show Unsolved Mysteries about how a young fellow in the 1970s threw a glass bottle with a note in it into the sea. The note had his address on it and 18 years later he got a letter from somoeone who found the bottle, the bottle had travelled from east coast USA to west coast USA over the 18 years.

Sure look at this http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/11815044/Worlds-oldest-message-in-a-bottle-washes-up-in-Germany-after-108-years-at-sea.html

jca

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Here's what I had
to say on the matter, as heard from an apparent first hand witness!!

Was it a mid air collision I wonder? I waited patiently for 1998 to come but the brits wouldn't release anything ignoring the 30 year rule. Terrible on those families especially when they originally tried to blame the pilots for joy riding on a Sunday morning in a commercial aircraft, pathetic stuff.

The White Feather

Not sure if this one was said already but it has always interested me.

The Hinterkaifeck Murders.

Between finding foorsteps in the snow leading to the farm and none away,a maid thinking it was haunted and then they all get lured to the barn and killed one by one with a pickaxe! :eek:

Then its thought that the person stayed there afterwards keeping the farm going as smoke was seen coming from it and cattle fed.

Creepy!

The wiki page is here

This one has more details and pics

Custardpi

I added that one a good while back. Fascinating case. They'll probably never know exactly what happened.

fleet_admiral

This is strange

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/11/video-shows-cars-being-overturned-by-alleged-mysterious-force/

Kenny Logins

fleet_admiral wrote: »

This is strange

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/11/video-shows-cars-being-overturned-by-alleged-mysterious-force/

I've seen that clip with the cable highlighted. Makes perfect sense when you see it.

AndyBoBandy

The Black Knight


20 facts about the Black Knight

Kauto0709

The White Feather wrote: »

Not sure if this one was said already but it has always interested me.

The Hinterkaifeck Murders.

Between finding foorsteps in the snow leading to the farm and none away,a maid thinking it was haunted and then they all get lured to the barn and killed one by one with a pickaxe! :eek:o

Then its thought that the person stayed there afterwards keeping the farm going as smoke was seen coming from it and cattle fed.

Creepy!

The wiki page is here

This one has more details and pics

That's so creepy! I really wish I hadn't read that right before I wanted to sleep!