Ukranian Railway Accident - The Universe Inside

A Russian newspaper is reporting that a train carrying liquid phosphorous crashed and started a fire that took approximately six hours to put out because of the poisonous nature of the chemical. Even with the precautions taken by the rescue workers 14 local villages had to be evacuated.

Most of the universe seems to be, from the standpoint of chemistry, resource availability and many other very important factors, fairly unlivable for human beings. The manner that our systems evolved requires a large amount of external inputs to operate. We need a constant supply of oxygen. We need various minerals and basic fuels to sustain the infrastructure, growth, management of wear and tear and the oh so important processes of thinking. It is a very subtle mix we are. As a result of this interaction, it is very easy to understand why so many people view themselves a piece of the Earth. We are. We replace our entire body on a continual basis through our lifetime.

From a molecular standpoint, we are no different from the flooring, dressers and computers that inhabit out lives. These items simply hold themselves tighter to that particular set of molecules. However, we are those items as they are continually dropping atoms and intermixing with the environment around them. A car that rusts is simply mixing various metals with oxygen in the atmosphere. Our bodies work by sucking this same oxygen in so we can live.

The delicate balance that our planet has built over 4.5 Billion years is unique in our region of space. Certain chemicals, in general, were sucked from the atmosphere (things like phosphorous, methane and carbon dioxide) whereas others propagated (nitrogen and oxygen). This mix became us. This is how we live.

Now, we humans, have the ability through our technical expertise to completely change our planets atmosphere. And we are doing it.

I am not here to tell us to cease our activities on this planet. That would be foolish as everything we have achieved would have to be significantly scaled back and whether or not we would be able to reach those same levels of development within a reasonable time would become part of the argument. As well, I am one who believes in risk. And I believe that our time as human beings is nothing special to this universe. Which means we have to take the risk. We have to attempt to develop the infrastructure and science and knowledge to let us get beyond these types of needs. I recently read an article that says the optimal human population to allow for this planet to smoothly reproduce all of its resources would be about 500,000,000 people. Its easy for a statistician to say drop the words population by 90%.

I do not believe that we could support the scientific infrastructure with our current set of knowledge and a population of that size. I think we have no choice, at this point, to turn back. We have to push forward as a species. We must confront the universal issue of energy acquisition and environmental upkeep. I would guess that many other races have faced a similar quandary in their development in this universe.

Drive forward. Be cognizant. Know that there is risk. Long live Human!