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| The Pale Blue Dot | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 23 2009, 04:05 AM (257 Views) | |
| ngc1514 | May 23 2009, 04:05 AM Post #1 |
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Something to think about this Memorial Day weekend as the United States finds itself in a never ending religious war. While hunting down a song title on another forum, I was directed to a Youtube video of Carl Sagan and the pale blue dot. The musical background was Pink Floyd's "On the turning away." The photo of the earth from 3.7 billion miles. ![]() That tiny dot is all we have and, possibly, all we ever will have. Sagan's words:
Edited by ngc1514, May 23 2009, 04:07 AM.
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| Deleted User | May 23 2009, 08:53 PM Post #2 |
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Science needs more like him who can communicate science and what's known of the universe, life, to all of us. Not many scientists are capable of it. Neil deGrasse Tyson perhaps. Richard Feynman to a degree. His Cosmos series can be found here. |
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| ngc1514 | May 23 2009, 09:18 PM Post #3 |
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Let's not forget Stephen Jay Gould for biology and evolution! He was one of my favorites. One of the best books about the state of cosmology today comes from science writer, Timothy Ferris in The Whole Shebang: A State of the Universe(s) Report. If geology is your interest, John McPhee's Annals of a Former World is a winner. The book is a trip across the United States approximately at the 40th parallel that describes the geology seen along I-40 and how it came to be. He makes the trip in the company of geologists who have lived, worked and loved the terrain being covered. While not as accessible to the average reader as some others, someone who doesn't mind googling some of the concepts in the book will get a wonderful understanding of how the world we see today came to be. His description of both Wyoming (where more of earth's history can be seen from one location than anywhere else in the country) and David Love, the geologist who mapped most of it out is fascinating. Love's family history in Wyoming is as interesting as the geology itself. Well worth the time. |
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| Deleted User | May 23 2009, 10:05 PM Post #4 |
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We definitely need more like them. We have the media distorting science, as we saw with the discovery of Darwinius masillae, and we have Creationists and their simplified distortions, but too little real science so the average Joe on the street can grasp it. |
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| ngc1514 | May 23 2009, 10:47 PM Post #5 |
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It would be useful... if people evinced much of an interest in science. Unfortunately, and as shown on a lot of web pages, American Idol has a lot higher priority in the minds of average Joe than a fascination with the implications of quantum cosmology or evolutionary biology. Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time was probably the least understood best seller (other than Ulysses by Joyce) ever to make the top of the NY Times list! |
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