Re: Are we special?
Your question made me look up the net and kind of surprised that it's not 28 billion light years, but 28 billion parsecs which is about 93 billion light years. Hola. And yes that is observable universe only. Unobservable part if any, is unaccounted for.
Never heard of parsecs. What is origin of this unit.
Re: Are we special?
Re post 20, humans haven't made the environment better. On the contrary.
;)
Re: Are we special?
Hmm... Okay so let's say that you have two inanimate objects that have a specific function such as a car, for example. One is made from resources found on Earth. The other is made from resources that can only be obtained from another planet. So, outwardly the latter is more "special" or "unique" but if the former proves to be more functional and efficient and overall has greater potential..... Would it be superior to the latter? Maybe I am too simple-minded, but I feel Tyson is not looking at things thoroughly. I agree with Aristotle.
Re: Are we special?
Where did that standard come from?
Oh its such an oddball unit. Parsec - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tyson is definitely simplifying it. I just bought his book and reading it, hoping that I come across a chapter where he talked about it in detail
Re: Are we special?
^Hmm. Okay so it would be interesting to see if he totally omits human intelligence and potential from his opinion.
Re: Are we special?
Interesting.
Also learned what an arc minute and arc sec is. Nearest star from us our sun is 1.3 or 1.4 parsec.
Re: Are we special?
Re: bringing religion into Science, I have changed my position on that. The more eyeballs the better. We have more participation when there is a religious bent to the thread.
So it's all good.
;)
Re: Are we special?
^So the lack of information about the coutside universe makes us special
Yes, since knowledge of outside universe cannot be considered as standard of being special.
....
Where did that standard come from?
....
Not having the knowledge of,... or having the knowledge of outside universe, both cannot be considered as standard.
Re: Are we special?
Re post 20, humans haven't made the environment better. On the contrary.
;)
I said they CAN. ;)
Yes, Tyson's argument is very simplistic.
No other life form has shown superiority over human being, (again) yet!
Re: Are we special?
somewhere out there… an Euplectella Aspergillum would be saying this to another Euplectella Aspergillum 
The fact that human perception is so limited, there can easily be life forms much smarter than humans. I can easily imagine we all might be living inside one of them.
Re: Are we special?
i dont know what isn't special. a ball of pure hydrogen collapsing under its own mass until it heats up and the heat balances the gravitational pull as long as it lasts. so simpal. so speshal.
do you have cousins in America queer? :)
Re: Are we special?
The Federal Reserve ended the QE. End of that chapter.
Beginning of chapter 2
Re: Are we special?
I said they CAN. ;)
Yes, Tyson's argument is very simplistic.
No other life form has shown superiority over human being, (again) yet!
really pal? lets see you breath underwater. or fly in the air at will. or live without oxygen.
human beings' superiority is only in their evolutionary niche. and so is every other living organism - we all be superiorzz. its very simple and true. ;)
Re: Are we special?
It IS opposable thumbs guys; otherwise we wouldn't even be able to have this conversation on internet. Trust me!
Re: Are we special?
oxygen set aside we view planetarium as an instrument of water or more exactly as semen
of mine! 
We view planetarium as your semen? Errmm, I certainly don’t. Queer, do you?
All the primates have opposable thumbs.
Re: Are we special?
We view planetarium as your semen? Errmm, I certainly don't. Queer, do you?
i guess if you go to the planetarium, dont sit on a sticky seat. :\
Re: Are we special?
we are special, everything is special.
Re: Are we special?
Why we r talking about seamen?