Get some perspective...

[Cody]

APOD

[Smivs]

Now I feel really inadequate Thanks!

[Commander McLane]

Server problem. Seems the Thargoids took it down...

[CheeseRedux]

Quite informative.
The bit about me not being the centre of the universe is of course rubbish, but I'm guessing the link was not to the version specifically for me.

[Micha]

I see someone has started working on the Total Perspective Vortex..

[ClymAngus]

You see this is EXACTLY what pisses me off with doctor Who these days. Every other story line is a Universe shattering event. Do the writers have ANY idea how big an idea has to be to be truly "Universe shattering?"

As soon as anyone says "could destroy the universe" in anything these days I tend to think "writers ego" rather than "good story".

"Destroy the universe" in writing = Destroy one slightly anorexic monkey in Botswana. = Switch off mind, no logic or sense from here on in.

I seriously doubt you'd catch any oolite writers threatening to "destroy the universe". It screams of "I don't know what the hell I'm talking about so I'm just going to go for the largest superlative I can think of".

Speaking more positively however I do like this vid. It offers some comparison that the human mind might actually be able to comprehend.

[Commander McLane]

I think we all know the most commonly invoked trope in science fiction. This is what makes the idea of the Total Perspective Vortex so compelling. It has a sense of scale.

I seriously doubt you'd catch any oolite writers threatening to "destroy the universe". It screams of "I don't know what the hell I'm talking about so I'm just going to go for the largest superlative I can think of".

Years ago Ahruman (I think) posted a link to an article that explains how mind-bogglingly difficult it would be to destroy Earth. ('Earth' as in: this very tiny little planet; 'destroy' as in: really physically annihilate it.) So, talking about destroying the universe is indeed simply ridiculous.

"Destroy the universe" in writing = Destroy one slightly anorexic monkey in Botswana. = Switch off mind, no logic or sense from here on in.

But what do you have against anorexic monkeys in Botswana? Have they no right to live?

[Smivs]

The existentialist view:-
Because the Universe is a perception within one's own mind, the Universe will cease to exist when you cease to exist.
Therefore suicide will effectively destroy the Universe.
Easy

[Disembodied]

So, talking about destroying the universe is indeed simply ridiculous.

It might just be a matter of waiting long enough (22 billion years or so, apparently). Or, alternatively, the curtain is coming down on the whole shebang come 21 May. So potentially not much time to get the MNSR out, then. Assuming, of course, that any of the developers are likely to be twanged skywards.

[Disembodied]

The existentialist view:-
Because the Universe is a perception within one's own mind, the Universe will cease to exist when you cease to exist.
Therefore suicide will effectively destroy the Universe.
Easy

Or the solipsist's view: the universe is a perception within my mind, so the universe will cease to exist when I cease to exist. So just be nice to me, or else.

[Commander McLane]

The existentialist view:-
Because the Universe is a perception within one's own mind, the Universe will cease to exist when you cease to exist.
Therefore suicide will effectively destroy the Universe.
Easy

Or the solipsist's view: the universe is a perception within my mind, so the universe will cease to exist when I cease to exist. So just be nice to me, or else.

As we all are only perceptions in your mind, it is totally up to you to make us be nice to you. We can't do anything about it.

[Steve]

You see this is EXACTLY what pisses me off with doctor Who these days. Every other story line is a Universe shattering event. Do the writers have ANY idea how big an idea has to be to be truly "Universe shattering?"

Don't forget Doctor Who seems to be aimed at 5-year-olds these days

[Commander McLane]

Or, alternatively, the curtain is coming down on the whole shebang come 21 May.

Sounds like we'll have another religious group with a PR problem starting from May 22nd. (Although that has never prevented other religious groups in the past to happily outlive their end-of-the-world prediction dates. Some have done it repeatedly. New Apostolic Church, anyone?)

[CheeseRedux]

Or, alternatively, the curtain is coming down on the whole shebang come 21 May.

Sounds like we'll have another religious group with a PR problem starting from May 22nd. (Although that has never prevented other religious groups in the past to happily outlive their end-of-the-world prediction dates. Some have done it repeatedly. New Apostolic Church, anyone?)

Never mind all that. What I want to know is if they've got some prime real estate they're willing to part with. I'm sure I can find some glass beads somewhere.

[Commander McLane]

Or, alternatively, the curtain is coming down on the whole shebang come 21 May.

Sounds like we'll have another religious group with a PR problem starting from May 22nd. (Although that has never prevented other religious groups in the past to happily outlive their end-of-the-world prediction dates. Some have done it repeatedly. New Apostolic Church, anyone?)

Never mind all that. What I want to know is if they've got some prime real estate they're willing to part with. I'm sure I can find some glass beads somewhere.

I don't think they're that stupid.