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Incidents like this remind me just how vast the planet is. Zooming out on Google Maps, you might think that compared to our body size, the size of our houses, c
by behnamoh 3y ago
Incidents like this remind me just how vast the planet is. Zooming out on Google Maps, you might think that compared to our body size, the size of our houses, cities, counties, etc. isn't that large after all; sure you look like ants in comparison but the surface area seems traversable. And even if it's not, we have radars that can scan vast swaths of the surrounding areas, no?
Wrong. The Earth is unmeasurably huge compared to any human-made technology (and that includes radars, cities, etc.), and that's just the surface of the planet. Add the third dimension (and much more difficult to scan, no less) of the oceans and air, and you'd wonder how the heck we can still find our way on flights. It's a fragile tech, and when it crashes (literally), it's almost impossible for us to find where it happened.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- zormino 3y agoEverything we do and everywhere we go is inside the skin of an apple
- rad_gruchalski 3y ago> The Earth is unmeasurably huge compared to any human-made technology Our species has made some rather accurate calculations of Earth. Far from „unmeasurable”.
- jvm___ 3y agoWe're just the green stuff that grows around shower drains. Humanity lives immediately next to water sources and almost nowhere else. We're just really advanced pond scum.
- yreg 3y agoIf that was true, deforestation wouldn't be much of an issue. We've changed the face of the planet massively.
- lazide 3y agoDeforestation actually really isn’t much of an issue except in some specific localized areas - and that has required massive work from huge numbers of people over a lot of time.
- bakchodi 3y agoAmerica is more forested than it was 500 years ago
- jvm___ 3y agoYa, but we don't live there. Almost every major city is on a coast or next to water.
- m463 3y agoThat's why after a plane trip across the country, the amazingly high prices for land/real estate seems like it must be a scam.
- AtlasBarfed 3y agoOn the contrary, when I flyover our midwest and watch hundreds of miles of farms, it shocks me how much we've industrialized our vast land. Even the west is pastureland, and then you get to mountains, and, well, yeah.
- retrac 3y agoIn northern Ontario an acre truly in the middle of nowhere costs just a few hundred dollars. An acre next to a road with year-round access to the highway system is more like $10,000. Most of the value of land is derived from how close it is to the rest of civilization.
- pxmpxm 3y agoOnly anywhere near other people.
- jjav 3y ago> That's why after a plane trip across the country, the amazingly high prices for land/real estate seems like it must be a scam. Why would it? Lots of empty land in faraway places. You can buy an acre of land in the desert in Nevada for like $500. Of course nobody wants to be there, that's why it's cheap.
- pxmpxm 3y agoHad the same exact sentiment with the MH370 mishap - technology has made the planet seem so small that these type of events up being a good reality check: A multi million dollar piece of equipment that continuously talks to space can go still go poof, with 200+ people onboard.