SCORPONOK!

[Darth Wong]

Who gives a fuck? Everyone knows the whole concept of a small island filled with giant creatures that somehow are unaffected by their size is crap. You're supposed to suspend your disbelief and appreciate the awesomeness of a gorilla putting the hurt on a trio of Tyrannosaurs.

Really, if you expected scientific accuracy in every movie, the fantasy and sci-fi genres would be nearly empty. Hell, this whole board is based around a Sci-Fi movie with absolute bullshit science.

Hey fucktard, what part of "not an Academy Award wannabe" did you not understand in my post? I can accept that kind of thing in a popcorn movie. I do not tolerate it in a film which is so enormously, ponderously pompous as Peter Jackson's King Kong.

[Frank Hipper]

Typically for a liberal homosexual-agenda article that hates America, Jesus, and mom, they get the part about higher oxygen levels in the atmosphere correct, but deny the Biblical truth that those levels were caused by the antedeluvian vapor canopy's mass compressing atmospheric gasses.

This creature, like all creatures in the Garden before The Fall, was a vegetarian; God in his righteous, and holy, wisdom provided it with claws in preparation for a world of depravity.

400 million years ago...yeah, right. Less than 10 thousand is the scientifically valid time frame, but don't let the lie-beral Thought Police catch you saying that, even though most real scientists accept it as fact in private.

[Mayabird]

If O2 levels were much higher then, does that mean that in the future, O2 levels will be much lower than they are now? In the long run, is aerobic life on Earth going to be sustainable?

We've got about a billion years before photosynthesis fails completely, and about that time the water will all burn off, sorta. It has to do with some feedback cycles as the sun's gets slightly more luminous over geologic time. At a certain point, water will evaporate off and saturate the stratosphere, but then the oxygen and hydrogen will split and the hydrogen will float off, leaving this old rock dry and dead.

I think, anyway. Someone else who knows more about this should fill you in instead.

[wolveraptor]

Hey fucktard, what part of "not an Academy Award wannabe" did you not understand in my post? I can accept that kind of thing in a popcorn movie. I do not tolerate it in a film which is so enormously, ponderously pompous as Peter Jackson's King Kong.

Yeah, I totally skipped over the last sentence of your previous post. My bad.

[Pulp Hero]

Typically for a liberal homosexual-agenda article that hates America, Jesus, and mom, they get the part about higher oxygen levels in the atmosphere correct, but deny the Biblical truth that those levels were caused by the antedeluvian vapor canopy's mass compressing atmospheric gasses.

This creature, like all creatures in the Garden before The Fall, was a vegetarian; God in his righteous, and holy, wisdom provided it with claws in preparation for a world of depravity.

400 million years ago...yeah, right. Less than 10 thousand is the scientifically valid time frame, but don't let the lie-beral Thought Police catch you saying that, even though most real scientists accept it as fact in private.

And now I have to kill you. I take no pleasure in it, but you are infected.

[Sephirius]

"So here's this giant enemy crab.."

"Attack its weakpoint for MASSIVE DAMAGE"

[Johonebesus]

If O2 levels were much higher then, does that mean that in the future, O2 levels will be much lower than they are now? In the long run, is aerobic life on Earth going to be sustainable?

Is it just me or does the present geological era suck ?

If I'm right, it's going to get even suckier, with mice-sized creatures being the largest viable land animals.

It's not some continuous progression of O2 reduction. The content of the atmosphere has varied significantly over the aeons due to various circumstances. In the early Triassic, oxygen levels were about half of what they are today (which may be why dinosaurs won out over mammals, if they had an avian lung system, which is more efficient than the mammalian lung). It's quite conceivable that something might happen to double oxygen levels millions of years from now.

[defanatic]

* - Billion year version of a millenia.

And what, pray, is the million year version of millenia?

[wolveraptor]

It's not some continuous progression of O2 reduction. The content of the atmosphere has varied significantly over the aeons due to various circumstances. In the early Triassic, oxygen levels were about half of what they are today (which may be why dinosaurs won out over mammals, if they had an avian lung system, which is more efficient than the mammalian lung). It's quite conceivable that something might happen to double oxygen levels millions of years from now.

I hadn't heard that. I know that Oxygen levels increased later in the Mesozoic, to support increasingly larger dinosaurs, but I hadn't assumed that was an increase from the late Permian.

It's a somewhat comforting thought, though it doesn't affect me or anyone I know in the slightest.

[Phantasee]

If O2 levels were much higher then, does that mean that in the future, O2 levels will be much lower than they are now? In the long run, is aerobic life on Earth going to be sustainable?

We've got about a billion years before photosynthesis fails completely, and about that time the water will all burn off, sorta. It has to do with some feedback cycles as the sun's gets slightly more luminous over geologic time. At a certain point, water will evaporate off and saturate the stratosphere, but then the oxygen and hydrogen will split and the hydrogen will float off, leaving this old rock dry and dead.

I think, anyway. Someone else who knows more about this should fill you in instead.

So the 4 billion year figure for the Sun to burn out isn't really a pressing worry? We should worry about 1 billion for the water to burn off?

[speaker-to-trolls]

So the 4 billion year figure for the Sun to burn out isn't really a pressing worry? We should worry about 1 billion for the water to burn off?

I think that multicellular life is scheduled to become unviable in around 700 million years, so we ought to be worried about that.

[Zablorg]

So the 4 billion year figure for the Sun to burn out isn't really a pressing worry? We should worry about 1 billion for the water to burn off?

I think that multicellular life is scheduled to become unviable in around 700 million years, so we ought to be worried about that.

You, sir, have just ruined my day.

Anway, this shit is nothing compared to the Cambrian Explosion!

[Molyneux]

So the 4 billion year figure for the Sun to burn out isn't really a pressing worry? We should worry about 1 billion for the water to burn off?

I think that multicellular life is scheduled to become unviable in around 700 million years, so we ought to be worried about that.

You, sir, have just ruined my day.

Anway, this shit is nothing compared to the Cambrian Explosion!

I would think that 700 million years is more than enough time for us to move off of this rock...especially if that Singularity thing turns out to be at all based in reality.

[wolveraptor]

I think that multicellular life is scheduled to become unviable in around 700 million years, so we ought to be worried about that.

Er, why?

[Battlehymn Republic]

Eh, it wasn't a credible Academy Award nominee the moment Jack Black was involved, anyways.

[Mayabird]

I think that multicellular life is scheduled to become unviable in around 700 million years, so we ought to be worried about that.

Er, why?

That's when photosynthesis will fail. That feedback cycle I mentioned includes the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over geologic time. Although there are bumps up and down (including right now, as you know), as a whole it's been slowly declining over the eons. In about 700 million years the amount in the atmosphere will be too little to sustain even C4 photosynthesis, which is more efficient than the current most common C3. Once photosynthesis fails, the atmospheric oxygen will become depleted, and so will all aerobic life, which includes all multicellular life.

Bacteria will hang on for another 300 million years or so until the water is gone.

[Adrian Laguna]

That's when photosynthesis will fail. That feedback cycle I mentioned includes the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over geologic time. Although there are bumps up and down (including right now, as you know), as a whole it's been slowly declining over the eons.

If the problem is lack of carbon, if we're still around we could easily fix it. Unless we're still around as a pre-industrial civilization.

[Zablorg]

That's when photosynthesis will fail. That feedback cycle I mentioned includes the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over geologic time. Although there are bumps up and down (including right now, as you know), as a whole it's been slowly declining over the eons.

If the problem is lack of carbon, if we're still around we could easily fix it. Unless we're still around as a pre-industrial civilization.

LALALALALALA! I'M NOT LISTENING!

[wolveraptor]

Once photosynthesis fails, the atmospheric oxygen will become depleted, and so will all aerobic life, which includes all multicellular life.

Not strictly true. There's multicellular life around hydrothermal vents and, more importantly, the much more stable cold seeps. Both rely on bacterial chemiosynthesis. The former use sulfur, while the latter use methane. Either way, these ecosystems are completely independent of the sun.

[Mayabird]

Once photosynthesis fails, the atmospheric oxygen will become depleted, and so will all aerobic life, which includes all multicellular life.

Not strictly true. There's multicellular life around hydrothermal vents and, more importantly, the much more stable cold seeps. Both rely on bacterial chemiosynthesis. The former use sulfur, while the latter use methane. Either way, these ecosystems are completely independent of the sun.

D'oh. You're right. I completely forgot about that when I was writing. Personally, I blame 12 hour work shifts and crazy old ladies who tell me that vaccines are evil and Jesus is coming back soon.