The Onion AV Club has an excellent interview with Richard Dawkins up. Most famous for his book of The God Delusion, Dr. Dawkins has been at the fore front of the "New Atheist" movement.
You can read the interview here.
Showing posts with label Philosophy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philosophy. Show all posts
19 November 2009
05 November 2009
The Cosmic Perspective
"We are made of star stuff. For the most part, atoms heavier than hydrogen were created in the interiors of stars and then expelled into space to be incorporated into later stars. The Sun is probably a third generation star." - Carl Sagan
The idea of the Cosmic Perspective is the idea of where you fit among the cosmos, the entirety of the universe on a whole. To even begin to think about the size and mass of everything leaves one almost in a state of shock, the vast majority of reality is nothing but cold, dark nothing. The richness of light and life and warmth in our tiny corner of existence is the exception. How is this comforting? Why should we rejoice in the fact our life times are a flash, a blink of the eye in the cosmic time line.
To first get an idea of this prespective, you need to go back, far back, to the beginning. Through our understanding of Einstien's General Realivity and Edwin Hubble's discovery that neighboring Galaxies distance is directly proportional to their Redshift. Basically, what this means, is through observations the human race has concluded that our universe began some finite time ago, believed to be around 13.7 Billion years. Everything you know, everyone you've meet, every event in history, all of it came from this primeval atom that exploded at a speed faster than light. The idea that our reality can be extrapolated back to a singularity, where our understanding of physics breaks down, stretches our imaginations to the fullest.
So, we now we've begun to imagine where this all came from, how the cosmic clock was set in motion. Let's go back to the quote at the beginning, the idea that we are from star stuff. All matter and energy in the universe formed within the first few seconds of the big bang (don't worry, I can say it, but it still is hard to comprehend). So, since then this matter has been expanding out into the void, and as it is doing this, it begins to clump together. Fine particles of hydrogen started pack themselves together, denser and denser, until we got nuclear fusion. Nuclear Fusion is a fancy way of saying sunlight, it is the process of hydrogen being burned into helium. So, for billions of years (our sun is about middle aged at 5 billion years) hydrogen is burned into helium, eventually, this hydrogen is burned up. Once this happens, a star similar to our sun will start to expand becoming a red giant, in this process it will burn helium into heavier elements. So in essences all matter outside of Hydrogen are the direct result of the birth and deaths of stars. This means that the Earth, Mars, the Orion Nebula, the Great Galaxy in Andromeda, everything is made from the same thing. We are interconnected on a level so basic and vast it leaves me in awe.
Alright, so we sort of understand how the Universe came into existence, and in that same vain how our sun and planets were formed. So to get an idea of ourselves in all of this, the Earth forms and cools over the course of about a billion years. We start to get some strange chemical reactions, this results in organic molecules springing into microble life. Over the course of the next 3 billion years these mirobes mutate and evolve. These mutations result in us, and our ability to imagine and reason. We began to understand how to create tools, leading to greater and greater wealth of knowledge and ability to survive. Like Carl Sagan has said the understanding of the concept of the number one is such an intellictual feat.
So now we've developed tools to observe and record the natural occuring universe. We have begun to understand the complex language of mathimatics, the inner workings of the clock work of the universe.
So where does that put us, we are a phonemena that allows the cosmos to turn back on itself and understand itself. The pursuit of this knowledge should be at the for front of civilazation and should not be taken lightly. We are gifted mutations in all the cosmos, there are only one specices of humans and we should consider this a blessing.
So let me ask you, what is your Cosmic Perspective?
The idea of the Cosmic Perspective is the idea of where you fit among the cosmos, the entirety of the universe on a whole. To even begin to think about the size and mass of everything leaves one almost in a state of shock, the vast majority of reality is nothing but cold, dark nothing. The richness of light and life and warmth in our tiny corner of existence is the exception. How is this comforting? Why should we rejoice in the fact our life times are a flash, a blink of the eye in the cosmic time line.
To first get an idea of this prespective, you need to go back, far back, to the beginning. Through our understanding of Einstien's General Realivity and Edwin Hubble's discovery that neighboring Galaxies distance is directly proportional to their Redshift. Basically, what this means, is through observations the human race has concluded that our universe began some finite time ago, believed to be around 13.7 Billion years. Everything you know, everyone you've meet, every event in history, all of it came from this primeval atom that exploded at a speed faster than light. The idea that our reality can be extrapolated back to a singularity, where our understanding of physics breaks down, stretches our imaginations to the fullest.
So, we now we've begun to imagine where this all came from, how the cosmic clock was set in motion. Let's go back to the quote at the beginning, the idea that we are from star stuff. All matter and energy in the universe formed within the first few seconds of the big bang (don't worry, I can say it, but it still is hard to comprehend). So, since then this matter has been expanding out into the void, and as it is doing this, it begins to clump together. Fine particles of hydrogen started pack themselves together, denser and denser, until we got nuclear fusion. Nuclear Fusion is a fancy way of saying sunlight, it is the process of hydrogen being burned into helium. So, for billions of years (our sun is about middle aged at 5 billion years) hydrogen is burned into helium, eventually, this hydrogen is burned up. Once this happens, a star similar to our sun will start to expand becoming a red giant, in this process it will burn helium into heavier elements. So in essences all matter outside of Hydrogen are the direct result of the birth and deaths of stars. This means that the Earth, Mars, the Orion Nebula, the Great Galaxy in Andromeda, everything is made from the same thing. We are interconnected on a level so basic and vast it leaves me in awe.
Alright, so we sort of understand how the Universe came into existence, and in that same vain how our sun and planets were formed. So to get an idea of ourselves in all of this, the Earth forms and cools over the course of about a billion years. We start to get some strange chemical reactions, this results in organic molecules springing into microble life. Over the course of the next 3 billion years these mirobes mutate and evolve. These mutations result in us, and our ability to imagine and reason. We began to understand how to create tools, leading to greater and greater wealth of knowledge and ability to survive. Like Carl Sagan has said the understanding of the concept of the number one is such an intellictual feat.
So now we've developed tools to observe and record the natural occuring universe. We have begun to understand the complex language of mathimatics, the inner workings of the clock work of the universe.
So where does that put us, we are a phonemena that allows the cosmos to turn back on itself and understand itself. The pursuit of this knowledge should be at the for front of civilazation and should not be taken lightly. We are gifted mutations in all the cosmos, there are only one specices of humans and we should consider this a blessing.
So let me ask you, what is your Cosmic Perspective?
03 November 2009
Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius was the last of the "Five Good Emperors of Rome." A term coined by Niccolò Machiavelli to describe what is considered the height of the Roman Empire. More to the point, Aurelius was not only a great ruler and leader but also a Stoic Philosopher. During his campaigns in what is modern day Serbia he wrote his Meditations, a collection of works of self reflection to be used as a guide for self improvement. Although I am not a Cesar, or really a ruler of men in general, I found some great ideas within his writings.
"Let nothing be done rashly, and at random, but all things according to the most exact and perfect rules of art."
"Hast thou reason? I have. Why then makest thou not use of it? For if thy reason do her part, what more canst thou require?"
"To suffer change can be no hurt; as no benefit it is, by change to attain to being. The age and time of the world is as it were a flood and swift current, consisting of the things that are brought to pass in the world. For as soon as anything hath appeared, and is passed away, another succeeds, and that also will presently out of sight. "
Wisdom comes from reflection of actions and desires, and that the power to understand them only lies in understanding yourself. That reason and logic should dominate your inner thoughts and that you should not let your emotions control your actions. That you are the only person who can make your life better, and it is a vain fancy to think that another can help you in that regard. To consider the virtues of those around you, and how you can learn from them. And that as long as others speak logically and rationally of your errors that it is wise to consider them as truth. I have read this several times and every time I go through it again I like to believe that I have begun down a path of enlightenment similar to Marcus Aurelius. You can read the whole of his Meditations.
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