this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2023
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Today I Learned (TIL)

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[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 35 points 1 year ago

Most things were using sulfur for photosynthesis and not CO2 and O2. Then tectonic events happened that caused O2 production to rise. Suddenly we had an oxidizing atmosphere that killed 80 percent of the diversity of life on earth while also changing the climate.

[–] vettnerk@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 year ago

But then the cambrian explosion happened, and trilobites were excited about the planet, so much so that they spread all across the globe.

[–] rikonium@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 1 year ago

That sounds pretty nice now

[–] flossdaily@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is good news for all those concerned about The Great Filter.

[–] Sandbag@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can you elaborate on why it's great?

[–] flossdaily@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Great Filter - Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter

... that's what the great filter is about. The reason this is good news is that it suggests that the great filter was whatever leap happened after that billion year stagnation, and not, say, immediately ahead of us.

[–] Darkaga@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago

It's also possible that there are multiple filters. So this might be A filter and not THE filter.

[–] DudeBro@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago

god i wish that were me