Why didn’t Stone age man go to the moon?

To be just a tad pessimistic, I suspect that the modern human race may just destroy the planet in a hundred years, so I guess stone age man has less to answer for in the end!

Fredrik

Fredrik

I fear you are probably right on this. And if we don't actually destroy the planet, I feel we will get back to the Stone Age far far quicker than it has taken us to get away from it.

Tim

quote:

I suspect that the modern human race may just destroy the planet in a hundred years

Bad day at work Fredrik?

Dear Basil,

Not so bad! I was hauled into the office, with a witness! But that was because I asked to see my manager (for a quiet ten minutes today), as she was not perhaps in the kindest humour yesterday, but I was not being singled out as I discovered later. Then, in fact, I was asked for my thoughts on two production issues, which will be certainly be implemented as soon as I produce drawings for the engineers on Monday to make up my ideas. Really it was quite a positive day, and I am increasingly being taken seriously, which is nice! Does not seem to affect the money though.

But I am a real pessimist about the way the world is being driven by capital, without seeming regard for the future, at least not more than 10 or 20 years ahead!

I am in one heck of a good mood actually, even though my new rented flat fell through... That would normally have left me upset, but something else always comes along, and sometimes it is better...

Fredrik

Why didn't the native Americans build warships, travel to Europe and decimate the population with pestilence, disease, slaughter and slavery while stealing the treasures and wiping out all but the smallest scraps of European culture and civilization?
Good questions, all.
Stone age man didn't go to the moon because he had no rocket. No industrial revolution, vastly limited materials (all that stuff in the ground needs processing after all!), no JFK to provide the political support and no Star Trek to inspire him.
David

Does anyone think we will be limited to this small rock? I don't, the human race will be racing off the planet sometime soon.

We cannot actually afford not too achieve this gaol with our reducing resources.

Probably not our lifetimes, but during those of my great grand children.

Jono

Chaps

If the average stone age man displayed the lack of enthusiasm that some of you lot have shown, then we would still be living in caves.

The world still has its problems but overall things are a lot better today than what they have ever been.

Your childrens future depends on what you do, so for their sake, sharpen up.

Regards

Mick

quote:

Originally posted by TimCarter50:
The question is: where can man go from here?

Indeed, a question the ancients - on whose shoulders we stand - asked themselves...

And not so long ago, they walked with red flags in front of cars, and thought that over 30mph one's head would spontaneously implode.

But here we are.

I have to say, on this one I'm with Mick - and he's retired even!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Mick Parry:
The world still has its problems but overall things are a lot better today than what they have ever been.

Your childrens future depends on what you do, so for their sake, sharpen up.

James

quote:

Why didn’t Stone age man go to the moon?

Because Uranus is so much closer.

As I have often said ere on this forum - one of the theories as to why we have never been contaced by aliens from space is that once a so-called intelligent species has the technology to destroy itself - it does.

This is where we are headed IMO.

Ooops, pushed the wrong button, no going to the moon for me then either.

Anyway, the answer, thank you David, is purely vision.

However, what stopped them creating such a vision? The lenghth of time it took us to come from the end of the last ice age to walking on the moon was probably around 10,000 years. Stone age man was around much, much long than that, although he did take some of this time wiping our the Neanderthals, but that's for another day.

So why not (standing on the moon that is, not wiping out Neanderthals)?

Any thoughts? Also, given man has lived through a number of ice ages, is it possible that he did at some time have much more advanced technology than we thought and worldwide catastrophes, and ice ages, put them back into caves and obliterated all traces?


Tim

Nobody's been to the Moon and if you think we have you're gullible or slightly mad!

If we have, how did they get through the Van Halen Belt?

Beano.

Hi Tim,

Interesting question but now imagine we are the ancestors, how will we be judged by our fossil record in three million years time?

We are certainly presiding over the biggest reduction in the variety of mega fauna outside of an ice age and looking harder smaller animals and plants will have been dying off too. What we euphemistically call 'declining bio-diversity' will show up as a sudden drop-out in the record but without any associated major extinction event as the cause. All of the stuff we make is meta stable and will be absent from the record having reverted to simpler chemical forms.

We are an oxygen adapted species, it's a poison but we've learned to cope. Much of what we use for fuel were species adapted to a previous atmosphere, one rich in carbon some of which was trapped with them when they died. Maybe that trapping was Gaia in action, maybe it wasn't but digging it up out of the ground and untrapping by setting fire to it is really, really stupid.

I think the cavemen in your original question were too few and too disparate to form the size of team required to crack the problem of sitting a few of their number on enough explosive to reach the moon. Even NASA can't achieve that anymore.

Can humankind build a team to solve the carbon problem? On this one we seem to be about where your cavemen were!

C
These are not all my original thoughts, credit to Clyde Wild for the fossil stuff, Steve Jones for that what makes us stronger poisons us, Graham Nelson and Jerry Pournelle (who was there!) for the NASA and moon landing stuff, James Lovelock for Gaia and Douglas Adams for how to feel sorry for cavemen. Stupid planet. Stupid bloody humans.

quote:

Originally posted by Beano:
Nobody's been to the Moon and if you think we have you're gullible or slightly mad!

If we have, how did they get through the Van Halen Belt?

Beano.

Tell us more Beano

I was a complete sceptic about the theory that the US did not land on the moon (still am)but I did watch a tv documentary about it and some of the photos of the moon landing really do not make any sense at all. Not only were there a good few reasons to believe it had been set up in a studio but the NASA rebuttal was less than convincing too. I remain unconvinced by either side but hopefully keep an open mind.

quote:

Originally posted by erik scothron:
I was a complete sceptic about the theory that the US did not land on the moon (still am)but I did watch a tv documentary about it and some of the photos of the moon landing really do not make any sense at all. Not only were there a good few reasons to believe it had been set up in a studio but the NASA rebuttal was less than convincing too. I remain unconvinced by either side but hopefully keep an open mind.

A bit of a contradiction in there Erik if you don't mind me saying. Check this site for good information on how ludicrous the conspiracy theories are.

The Van Halen Belt is a radiation field and one would need to wear a protective lead suit four feet thick, then factor in the intense heat and it just doesn't add up. The Russians gave up because of this Belt. NASA has not divulged ever, how they managed to get through this Belt.

Beano

The truth is out there

quote:

Originally posted by TomK:

quote:

Originally posted by erik scothron:
I was a complete sceptic about the theory that the US did not land on the moon (still am)but I did watch a tv documentary about it and some of the photos of the moon landing really do not make any sense at all. Not only were there a good few reasons to believe it had been set up in a studio but the NASA rebuttal was less than convincing too. I remain unconvinced by either side but hopefully keep an open mind.

A bit of a contradiction in there Erik if you don't mind me saying. Check this site for good information on how ludicrous the conspiracy theories are.

Not according to my dictionary's definition of the word 'sceptic'. I started off denying and questioning and I finished up denying and questioning - until more information comes my way I will remain denying and questioning both positions. Thanks for the link by the way.

Personally I believe the Brits got there first and when the americans landed an official from HM Office for Foreign and Commonwealth affairs dressed in a pin striped trousers, black jacket and bowler hat actually asked to check their passports. Naturally the Americans had not bought their passports with with and so they were told to leave - which is not unreasonable IMO.

I've read that link M, and I'm still not convinced we have actually set foot on the Moon. I did believe once, but my opinion was changed after watching a documentary on the Discovery channel. Too many credible questions were not answered to my satisfaction. However if you've credible pictures taken via a powerful telescope of a scrap car on the surface of the Moon, I might be swayed.

It's one of those American conspiracy theories again.

Beano

As a matter of fact, its all dark.

Had to be said.

Neal Armstrong lives not too far from me. I've never met him but I know people who know him well. This topic is so absurd to him that he won't discuss it. Others who have (allegedly) been to the moon have the same attitude.
You can take that as tacit admission of guilt of conspiracy or... total disgust of ignorant, self-appointed "experts" convinced that one of man's crowning achievements of spirit and technology is no more than a cheap gag pulled on the public.
You figure it out.

I'm not naiming anyone on this forum, you are entitled to your opinion based on whatever foundations you desire. Please don't take it personally. I just can't imagine how one could be drawn to the conclusion that it didn't really happen.

Tim, are you referring to Atlantis or the like?
I think man has had many highly advanced cultures that have been wiped out without a trace. The Aztecs for example were nearly so, the huge stone structures and other small clues are all that’s left. But I think this the first time we've had such technology. I agree that going to the moon (or harnessing nuclear power or...) takes tremendous vision. It also takes tremendous technology as a foundation.
Wouldn’t it just be fantastic if, upon landing on the moon, the astronauts discovered a Mayan lunar re-fueling station with directions on how to get to Saturn???!!! The Mayans were hardly stone age, so they wouldn’t count in this discussion.

And Tarquin, do you mean the "Indians" are given back their land? Well, if there were any of them left then at least the treaties should be honored. They may not want their land back after the "Europeans" had their way with it!!! All our histories are overflowing with powerful people subjugating the less powerful. It will go on until we explode in a giant fireball.

And Dear Beano, I LOVED your typo for the Van Halen belt! I'm sure plenty female "astronauts" have gone through his belt.

There is compelling "evidence" (not unlike the "we didn't really go to the moon" stuff) that the earth truly is flat. Since Einstein's work predicted the bending of light by gravity, earth appears round from space.
There you have it.

David

David,

I shall remain sceptical; my POV is that on the 20th July 1969 (I was 9yrs old by the way and just like millions of others watched it on TV) Neil Armstrong’s white size 9½Bs along with his chum Buzz, did not dance around like exuberant kangaroos on the lunar surface of the moon.
A friend of mine whom recently died and held the same opinion as me, was a University Professor of mathematics and physics, during a discussion on this very subject years ago, he started prattling on about the Van Halen Belt and the Lagrange points at which point I’d wished I never brought the subject up (see the link) and promptly turned off due to boredom induced sleep as it got way beyond my knowledge, but the upshot was he convinced me that NASA at the time did not fully understand the Lagrange points.

And it was him along with the Discovery channel documentary that convinced me of my current viewpoint.

Beano the sceptical but willing to change upon credible evidence.☺

http://www.physics.montana.edu/faculty/cornish/lagrange.pdf

quote:

Originally posted by Beano:
The Van Halen Belt ...

Are you being serious? I assumed originally you were having quite an amusing play on words. Maybe not.

The moon landings never took place:

For: various deadbeats, eccentrics, charlatans, ignorami.

Against: NASA, every single reputable scientist and scientific organisation on the planet, anybody with O-level knowledge of physics and optics, instruments left still being used to return valuable scientific results, e.g. at any given time we know the distance between the earth and the moon to a few centimetres (I think) thanks entirely to a mirror left there by one of the Apollo missions, etc etc.

Check the link I left above, and a few others elsewhere.

LOL, It looks like I shall remain a deadbeat, eccentric, charlatan and ignoramus for a while longer then. There maybe mirrors on the Moon, but whether man actually placed them directly is another?

Regards,

Beano

PS. Tim sorry about the thread hijack.