this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2024
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Cosmic Horror

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A community to discuss Cosmic Horror in it's many forms; books, films, comics, art, TV, music, RPGs, video games etc.

"cosmic horror... is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock... themes of cosmic dread, forbidden and dangerous knowledge, madness, non-human influences on humanity, religion and superstition, fate and inevitability, and the risks associated with scientific discoveries... the sense that ordinary life is a thin shell over a reality that is so alien and abstract in comparison that merely contemplating it would damage the sanity of the ordinary person, insignificance and powerlessness at the cosmic scale..."

For more Lovecraft & Mythos-inspired Cosmic Horror:-[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

Fun fact: If there was air between us and the sun to carry sound, we would constantly hear it roaring at around 100dB (as loud as a jackhammer).

[–] [email protected] 38 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

More fun facts: ~~When the stars are right~~ In approximately 5 billion years, the sun will ~~awake from his slumber~~ enter in his red giant phase and ~~devour~~ engulf Mercury, Venus, and possibly also the Earth.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

And some previous sun(s), after growing into even larger red giants, created most of the matter you see around you in an act of such violence it likely destroyed any planets they hadn't devoured.

And some of what it created still contains enough rage to make the most violent creations humanity had made--up to the point when we realized we could use that to power an even more violent creation: a brief and miniature version of our slumbering sun.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It will eat Earth and at some point the heat will likely make all the planets and their satellites unsuitable for humans. There might be a possibility for life on Pluto though.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Pluto’s gonna get the last word after the other planets kicked him out of the planet club

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Well not really, it's not like Pluto's mass(1/6 of our Moon) will grow much in that time. But there are evidences of water on Pluto and even suggestions of underground liquid water oceans(due to it's core's heat) so it may be suitable for life even now.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Who's to say it's doing something vocally at all? Perhaps it's simply breathing but our feeble biology cannot handle its immense power.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

how do we know it wouldn't sound like an opera singer holding the longest sustained note in the universe?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Another fun fact: If we could hear the sun and it would suddenly disappear we would still hear it for another 13 to 14 years.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago

Not eight minutes and twenty seconds?

Not even an edit: I typed this then realized I was thinking of the speed of light, not sound. Sorry for doubting you.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

If there was air between us and the sun we would long have been burned to a crisp, though.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

Why is this so comforting

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

How so? And at what frequency?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Cause it's basically an ongoing explosion.
And supposedly it would sound something like a huge waterfall.

[–] Jax 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

I can't help but wonder what effect that would have on life. Assuming that there's a circumstance where a form of life can somehow be exposed to the infinite roar of its benevolent tyrant - what would that do to hearing? Would life even develop hearing? I can't imagine things like echolocation would be very useful, but I'm just some dude thinking about our eldritch sun god. Idk.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

We'd probably be safe from the "Quiet Place" monsters, at least.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

i love the idea of hearing being a niche thing that only exists in caves sufficiently insulated from the surface, it would definitely make vision even more popular than it is as it stands

[–] Jax 2 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, I'd have to wonder if surface eyes would become stronger as a result. Think a Quiet Place monsters but instead of sensitive hearing they have eagle eyes and night vision. Scary stuff.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 weeks ago

No, it is not an ongoing explosion. It is in equilibrium, an explosion is not, that is it's defining thing. Why should it sound like water when the processes happen on far larger scales (lower frequencies)? They should almost exclusively be inaudible.

[–] brbposting 3 points 3 weeks ago

Do you know how loud it would be if you were right next to it, assuming it was all surrounded by air?