That the technology for interstellar space travel simply is not possible at all. Current technology of chemical propulsion and gravity assist puts the journey to our nearest star (Proxima Centauri) at about 6,000 years. About as long as humans have been recording their own history.

I often say to myself that a lot of the problems in the current age can be boiled down to either evolution or European colonialism

Gamma Ray Burst.

No way to detect it that i can recall, sterilizes the side of the planet it hits, and ends all life on the world.

And they happen regularly enough that we can see them happen elsewhere.

It's just wild trying to conceptualize the scope of all existence and all the layers there could be moving outwards infinitely. Even if I got an answer to the what I would still wonder about the why. It's just a trippy thing to think about I guess.

I think it's kinda cool whirring around a giant blue marble in all of it.

I don’t know I always really like this part. Always something new to uncover! :)

Astronomer here! “The false vacuum thing” is a scientific hypothesis that our universe is actually in a false phase state as part of a larger universe, like if it were in a temporary thing (think the real universe is a pot of boiling water, and we are just within a bubble forming at the bottom of the pot). Eventually however that false vacuum has to pop- yes, even after billions of years in this false state!- and we and everything we know in our visible universe will disappear in an instant with no warning whatsoever and there's nothing you can do about it.

Sweet dreams!

Connections. Experience. The thing I wish I learned earlier in my career: if you want to be the creative at an engineering company, or any non-core critical function at any org (sure you can argue you are critical but if you have to argue your job matters then, well) then you are likely needing to start somewhere else. Not a lot of entry level positions for creatives at nasa. Go start at an agency. Then go in-house somewhere else. Then, try nasa.

I have only a 20%ish idea of what I just read.

But hey, I guess the one thing you can know for sure is that nobody knows fucking anything for sure.

Tinfoil theory: Bezos reminded the decision makers that they have Alexa at their and their mistresses' homes.

For anyone who didn’t know what that is, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum_decay

Research, and usajobs.gov if you want to go into public sector work. Research, and .com if you want to go into private sector work.

That one theory to explain the Fermi paradox, I think it’s called the great filter.

The Fermi paradox basically says since that space is so big, there statistically should be an advanced civilization able to communicate/reach us but none have.

The great filter HYPOTHESIS states that since none have, one possible explanation could be that there is some barrier prevents civilizations from becoming a hyper advanced civilization. It could be anything from climate change to war, but some particular people say it could even be another civilization that stomps out life on other worlds once they hit a certain point in development to prevent them from becoming a threat/too advanced. This is most probably just sci-fi and some conspiracy theory sounding junk but it’s really cool/freaky to think about, because for all we know it could be true.

Drake's equation says* yes.

Fermi's paradox is only a question; If advanced life is so common in the universe, then why is there no evidence of it outside Earth?

*Drake's equation doesn't actually say yes. Different people have used it to different results with some indicating the number of civilizations per galaxy are well below 1 and others saying it's as high as 10,000 per galaxy. It assumes too much likelihood of complex events we don't know enough about to definitively say anything.

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With new fresh clean socks on

Fuuuuuuuuuuu

To ease your mind, even if humanity lives for a million more years, I doubt we will ever know what's outside the universe. It's just so vast, we'll probably never even leave our galaxy as a species, the space between our galactic neighbors is too vast. Let alone traveling between galactic clusters.

But sometimes, not knowing everything is alright too. Our lives are a mere speck when compared to the life of the universe.

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Depends what you want to go into at NASA, there's jobs for everything, though I'd be looking into the private sector not the public for space flight... probably pays more, like SpaceX or one of those other private space companies.

Regardless, you can find everything from engineering, to cooking, food science, fitness, design, electronics, plumbing, maintenance, etc. You name it. There's probably a job posting somewhere for it.

Here’s Tom with the weather

The fact that I had no choice in the matter of existing, yet I can be condemned to eternal damnation?

I didn’t ask to be here And if god knows all He knew I’d be going right to hell

Therefor

God fills hell

I am not afraid of anything related to the universe because I am part of it 😉

Humanity’s obsession with killing itself and everything else…

Practice mopping and emptying trash bins. You can do it.

The scariest are the ones we have not yet discovered. The universe is so freaking big, our tiny brains can't comprehend its size. We'll never truly know everything that's out there.

Could be an incredible number of alien civilizations, both hostile or peaceful, or it could be, there's nothing and we are the only ones. There are also gamma ray bursts, we wouldn't know, but one could be heading to us right now.

And so much more...