Neil deGrasse Tyson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bzS39oghcnY
In 2012 the Library of Congress designated the book version of Sagan's show as
one of 88 books that shaped America (among the
others were “Moby-Dick” and “The Joy of Cooking”). In a foreword to a new
edition of that book, Dr. Neil Tyson writes that the show revealed “a hidden
hunger in us all to learn about our place in the universe and embrace why that
matters intellectually, culturally and emotionally.”
Now, an equally inspired astrophysicist
Neil deGrasse Tyson and executive producers Ann Druyan and
Brannon Braga have launched an ambitious remake of the seminal '80s science
series attempts to channel the spirit of Carl Sagan while introducing the
universe to a new generation of viewers.
The
resulting 13-episode resurrection of that iconic series ~ Cosmos:
A Spacetime Odyssey, premiering March 9th and 10th on Fox and
National Geographic channels ~ is both a continuation and updating of
Sagan's message.
Of
course, the new series has its spaceship of imagination ~ an immersive
transport spaceship that takes viewers through the universe) and a Cosmic Calendar
(which scales the life of the universe down to a year) ~ but enhances them with
advancements in digital effects. Computer-generated effects also recreate the
Library of Alexandria and its surrounding city.
In the first episode on Sunday,
March 9th, “Standing Up in the Universe,” we roam the streets of Rome as
Tyson recounts the story of Giordano Bruno, the philosopher who was
burned at the stake in 1600 for professing the existence of an infinite number
of worlds beyond our own. That's what still happens to truth tellers and that
was the early dawn of the scientific age, only a decade before Galileo looked through a telescope and saw
that Bruno was right.
Much of the first episode consists
of a tour of the solar system and then outward as Dr. Tyson fills out what he
calls our long address ~ for earth, as Sagan once pointed out, is but "a
small stage in a vast cosmic arena" filled with millions
of galaxies and billions of solar systems as
well as planets (and perhaps many of them life bearing).
Earth.
Solar system.Earth.
Milky Way galaxy.
Local Group.
Virgo supercluster.
Observable universe.
And then we get to hop aboard a
cosmic calendar in which the 13.8-billion-year history
of the universe has been compressed to 365 days and right now ~ it's
midnight on New Year’s Eve.
On this scale, Dr. Tyson correctly
reports, the sun was born on Aug. 31, and the dinosaurs died yesterday morning
in that asteroid blast. Everybody you ever heard of, all the kings and queens and
prophets, lived in the last 14 seconds of this cosmic year. “Jesus was born
five seconds ago,” he goes on.
“In the last second we
began to do science,” he concludes. “It
allowed us to discover where and when we are in the cosmos.”
Don't miss it ~ Here's the one
minute trailer http://motherboard.vice.com/read/far-from-planet-sagan-the-new-cosmos-retains-its-love-of-wonder
"Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a
profound source of spirituality," Carl
Sagan wrote. "When we recognize our place in an immensity of
light-years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty,
and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and
humility combined, is surely spiritual. For
small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love."
Allen
L Roland
Allen
L Roland is also a lecturer who also shares a daily
political and social commentary on his web log and
website allenroland.com He also
guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net
" We are the way for the Cosmos to know itself " Carl Sagan
ReplyDeleteAllen, I am trying to send you an email but it says your email box is filled up. I am loving your stuff. Have you thought about making your Radical Therapy book available in an ebook format such as kindle? I kind of wanted to read it right now.
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