What foundation did Carl Sagan create in 1980 with “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage”, and how did Neil deGrasse Tyson and others improve upon that foundation with “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” in 2014?
One might have thought at Sagan’s time that we had reached an incredible frontier in our understanding of the universe, but in fact in the decades that followed, tremendous advances in particle physics, astrophysics, astronomy, and revolutionary theories in cosmology opened new doors and raised even deeper questions about our place in the universe.
We will explore these developments and discuss “what’s new in astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology” by considering Cosmos 1980 versus Cosmos 2014.
Paul Salazar is a lifelong amateur astronomer, blogger and public speaker on the topic of astronomy. Paul has given talks at the California Academy of Sciences, the Exploratorium, and CuriOdyssey, and is an occasional guest on KGO, KFOG and KALW. He is a member of the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers and gives ‘star talks’ at events throughout the Bay Area. Paul is a graduate of the Stanford University School of Engineering and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and when he is not out under the stars he can be found working as an executive at Hazelcast, a Palo Alto-based startup. Paul lives in San Francisco.
How practical is asteroid mining and how soon will it happen?
It’s actually beginning to happen this year.
Humanist Community member Marc Perkel will show a 30 minute video about Planetary Resources that explains asteroid mining in detail.
He will also discuss the advantages of colonizing space itself rather that colonizing other planets, and create a new vision for the future of humanity.
Thousands of years ago people wanted to understand the universe, how humanity was created, and the meaning of our lives. But back then they didn’t have a lot to work with so people created stories and eventually those stories became religion.
Many people criticize religion for believing in “crazy stuff” but the way I see it religion was science back before there was science. Their ability to understand the universe back then is like us trying to understand what, if anything, exists outside of our universe. Nonetheless the attempt was necessary in the course of human evolution to unite people into societies. As a society we could survive better and it led to the creation of the foundations of the scientific methods we use today.
Now that we have advanced to where we are today we find ourselves still wanting to understand the universe, how humanity was created, and the meaning of our lives. We are now doing that through science which is the way we determine what reality really is. Science is now the new Bible. Or more accurately, the Bible is an older version of science.
Science however is still under development as we explore the “meaning of life” questions. Why are we here? What is our purpose in the universe? Or do we simply just exist for no reason at all? Where does right and wrong come from and what should I be doing when I wake up in the morning to further the greater purpose of human existence?
As it turns out humanity does have a greater purpose in the universe. We are not merely an evolved version of pond scum. We are part of the process for which reality itself becomes self-aware.
We are the universe. The universe evolves and evolution is randomness that selects on survival. This process creates complexity and eventually leads to intelligence. And here we are 13.8 billion years later looking back at how we were created. Since we are a creation of the universe, we are the universe understanding itself.
Our role in understanding the universe isn’t optional. We have to do it to survive, to continue to exist. If we don’t then the next big asteroid will take us out. Eventually we are going to have to get off this planet because it is far too fragile to rely on for our continued existence. It is like living on the surface of a soap bubble that could pop at any second. We are going to have to move out into space and in order to do that we are going to have to understand a lot more about the universe than we do today.
Humanity has two paths. We either evolve forward or we become extinct. If we become extinct then we are out of the game. We cease to exist other than being part of the mass of the universe. Therefore our purpose is to continue on the path that evolution has set out for us to be the universe contemplating itself, and for that understanding to continue to increase over time. The purpose of humanity is to continue to be the process for which reality becomes self-aware.
You might ask yourself, what about life on other planets? My answer is – same thing. If intelligent life exists on other planets then they too have the same purpose as us. Evolve or die.
So what does this tell us about right and wrong? How is morality derived? What is my personal role in existence?
If our purpose is to evolve forward where our understanding of reality increases over time then, those things that lead to positive evolution are good and those things that lead to extinction are bad. That is the basis of our moral compass that creates a basis for right and wrong, morality, laws, and the basic tenants of society. And it becomes the basis for a new religious paradigm, reality based religion that becomes an upgrade to previous version of religious philosophy.
Everyone seeks the “Truth”. But what is capital T Truth? Truth by definition is the understanding of the way things really are. All religions seek the Truth, but how do you get to the Truth? You get there through science. Thus science is the new Bible. But don’t think of the Bible as being wrong. Think of science as an upgrade. Think of science as the 2.0 version. It’s the same purpose, we’re just better at it now.
