3. TIL that finding evidence of even microbial life on Mars could be very bad news ...

TIL that finding evidence of even microbial life on Mars could be very bad news for humanity. One of the most popular solutions to The Fermi Paradox is that there exists a "Great Filter" for life. Finding evidence of life elsewhere would mean the the filter is most likely still ahead of us.

I don't know where to start. Technology moves exponentially, always. I don't know what people you were reading in 1969 but suggesting you can say we have made no progress in space exploration is really ignorant. We have multiple rovers on other planets as we speak collecting data samples. We could have had a lunar colony already, but we decided it was better to have a space station. Personal robot slaves? I think Siri is pretty close - robot slaves for what else? We are about to deal with millions out of a job because they can be replaced cheaper with robots - thousands of jobs already have. Have you seen what a modern assembly line looks like? The tech for flying cars is here - it's logistics that stop us - autonomous cars will bridge that gap though. We work hundreds of hours less a year than in 1950, our infrastructure is being replaced at an astounding rate - that you see headlines just means you are not paying attention to actual progress. Trillions in debt? Yes - that's called inflation - our debt to GDP is not even close to the highest it's ever been. Billions in poverty? It's called two people having eight kids...not sure what you expected here. Rise in medieval ideology? No, they are just louder and get more ad revenue for TV.

Can you give cite a tech invented even just 10 years ago that has not seen exponential growth?

But to assume that we will enjoy uninterrupted exponential growth over the next few million years

Who the hell said this? I am talking about a fictional civilization that already is capable of harnessing the power of an entire galaxy. You are arguing that despite the power to manipulate the output of stars, they would colonize at a rate of one galaxy a year for eternity. I am arguing that they would not - they would colonize exponentially...and we would likely have seen evidence of them if they existed in this capacity only a few million years ago.

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TIL Thomas(ine) Hall was declared both a man and a woman in a Virginia court in 1629 and ordered to wear men's clothing with a woman's apron and bonnet. He/She would present as either gender carnally and when working as soldier, lacemaker, field laborer, or maid. Thomasine was physically intersex. TIL that the low cost wine brand "Two Buck Chuck" was created by Fred Franzia, who bought the Charles Shaw name from a bankrupt winery for $27k. Once when asked why his wine was cheaper than water, he replied "They're overcharging for the water. Don't you get it?" TIL that butterflies have 4 wings not 2 (found out on an episode of Benidorm during a pub quiz) TIL Don Quixote, considered one of the first modern novels, is also one of the first stories that uses meta-fiction, as the author plays pretend that his story comes from historical sources and had to search for lost documents and translations to complete it. TIL "Rudy", of Notre Dame football fame, was involved in a pump-and-dump scheme and had a settlement with the SEC for >$380,000. TIL Brazil found incarcerated populations read 9x as much as the general population. They made a new program for prisoners so each written book review took 4 days off a prison sentence. TIL most English speaking countries around the world pronounce “Z” as “zed” but the United States is the only one that does not. Unlike other English speak countries the US pronounces it “zee.” TIL Snoop Dogg was excommunicated by the Rastafari Council after his attempt to rebrand as Rastafarian "Snoop Lion" TIL Some of the reasons people drive aggressively include a sense of anonymity while driving, feeling more empowered driving than in the rest of their lives, and a feeling that other drivers have previously driven aggressively around them. TIL about Nasubi from Japan's (perhaps the entire world's) most controversial TV show ever recorded. Nasubi lived alone in a tiny room for 15 months completely naked and only able to survive based on items he won from sweepstakes. More info in comments. TIL by passing a law requiring pharmacies to be owned by a licensed pharmacist, North Dakota has essentially done away with corporate chain pharmacies. Corporations that own pharmacies must be majority owned by licensed pharmacists. TIL that the Fahrenheit scale was standardized 18 years before Celsius. The world switch due to the British Empire. The United States is actually using the earlier standard. TIL that the famous James Bond theme (first heard in 1962 in Dr. No) was source of a long running dispute between John Barry and Monty Norman. Norman had originally written a song for a musical adaptation of V. S. Naipaul's novel A House for Mr Biswas which was the inspiration. TIL that the parasite H. zschokkei is the only multicellular organism that does not rely on Oxygen for respiration. It relies on a currently undiscovered energy metabolism to sustain itself. TIL, cold or rainy weather cannot make you sick

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