Carl Sagan: Underappreciated Genius

[RidonKs]

i don't think it has been said yet - the music in cosmos is top notch. beautiful stuff to go with the jawdropping images.

[RidonKs]

another one for you rba

its no glorious dawn, but still pretty falking epic.

[RidonKs]

"the cosmos is also within us - we're made of star stuff. we are a way the cosmos can know itself"

one of the most beautiful quotes i've ever heard. incredible.

[RedBlackAttack]

i don't think it has been said yet - the music in cosmos is top notch. beautiful stuff to go with the jawdropping images.

Yeah... I was actually thinking about this the other night when I was watching Disc 1. That main piano piece that they use throughout really suits it well.

Here is a link to all of the music from Cosmos. The piece I'm talking about starts around 6:30.

another one for you rba

its no glorious dawn, but still pretty falking epic.

Good sh#t. Nice to see deGrasse making his melodysheep debut. No one's voice works with the autotune like Sagan, though. I think his propensity to really enunciate every syllable helps. It also doesn't hurt that he has some of the most beautiful, riveting quotations in human history. They seem literally made for being a hook in a song.

MelodySheep deserves serious recognition for these two efforts.

"the cosmos is also within us - we're made of star stuff. we are a way the cosmos can know itself"

one of the most beautiful quotes i've ever heard. incredible.

We wish to pursue the truth no matter where it leads. But to find the truth, we need imagination and skepticism both. We will not be afraid to speculate, but we will be careful to distinguish speculation from fact. The cosmos is full beyond measure of elegant truths; of exquisite interrelationships; of the awesome machinery of nature.

...I love that imagery of the 'awesome machinery of nature.' Such a perfect phrase...

[RidonKs]

Yeah... I was actually thinking about this the other night when I was watching Disc 1. That main piano piece that they use throughout really suits it well.

that main theme is definitely gorgeous. i was actually checking out some other vangelis sh[COLOR="Black"]it[/COLOR] the other night - i liked most of what i heard. some of it was a little avant garde for my taste, but i might phone a few record stores around town and see if they have anything by him. he had to be one of the very first true electronica artists producing music back then.

there are two segments in the second episode of cosmos that i've probably watched a good half dozen times each - they use the same riveting score, probably the most epic piece i've heard so far in the series. i know you have the dvds, in the first segment carl describes the origins of life beginning with the forming of DNA and the nucleotides, and in the second segment he describes his hypothesis of the sinkers/floaters life on jupiter.

actually hang on, i'll see if i can find it on youtube.

here we go - first part on origins of life
second part starting around 1:45 on jupiter's potential for life

that build-up. i could watch those dozens of times in a row.

[RedBlackAttack]

that main theme is definitely gorgeous. i was actually checking out some other vangelis sh[COLOR="Black"]it[/COLOR] the other night - i liked most of what i heard. some of it was a little avant garde for my taste, but i might phone a few record stores around town and see if they have anything by him. he had to be one of the very first true electronica artists producing music back then.

there are two segments in the second episode of cosmos that i've probably watched a good half dozen times each - they use the same riveting score, probably the most epic piece i've heard so far in the series. i know you have the dvds, in the first segment carl describes the origins of life beginning with the forming of DNA and the nucleotides, and in the second segment he describes his hypothesis of the sinkers/floaters life on jupiter.

actually hang on, i'll see if i can find it on youtube.

here we go - first part on origins of life
second part starting around 1:45 on jupiter's potential for life

that build-up. i could watch those dozens of times in a row.

Definitely great stuff. I love the theory of floaters, sinkers and hunters. It might be somewhat wild speculation, but it sort of makes sense when you think about it. There are all of these life-building molecules floating around in all directions of space. Chemical reactions that could spawn such beings seem inevitable... Maybe even common.

That animation at the end of the Episode 2, Part 3 is also killer. One thing that amazes me about this series is that, even though it was created 30 years ago, the computer graphics and special effects used still look good. That is a credit to the creators of the show, who had the foresight not to overdo it with tons of graphics that would certainly look way out-of-date today. They used the minimum and the result is something that stands the test of time.

I'm going to check out some Vangelis stuff. He did the Chariots of Fire soundtrack, right?

Did you give the Benn Jordan's tribue album to Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, a listen yet? I linked it in the OP of this thread. It is really excellent and I think you would dig it. I've put it on while reading Carl and it helps bring the words to life. Good sh#t.

Pale Blue Dot Teaser

Leaving Earth

Ascent

Floating Vacuum

Safe Landing

[RidonKs]

i have a feeling it'll be right up my alley. i just peeped 'leaving earth' and 'ascent' as testers, and got the immediate feeling that the entire album would flow together, with a total downplay for song transitions. i'ma check it out soon. it'd be great if a talented poet took time to record some sagan-esque lyrics over top of the sounds, assuming the entire album is purely instrumental.

he did 'chariots of fire' and 'blade runner' - neither of which i've seen - along with a few other soundtracks here and there. apparently all of 'earth' (the third movement from that album is where the cosmos theme is taken from) is supposed to be pretty incredible.

ha, i watched that animated 40 second clip for the first time stoned off my ass, and was in awe. truly incredible. i didn't realize that the conclusive understanding of what really killed the dinosaurs had been discovered so recently, until sagan admitted that the scientific community was unaware how the mass extinction had actually occurred. then he comes on at the end of the dvd and explains (10 years after the filming i believe) what really happened. although i suppose its still not 100% conclusive that it was a meteor - theres basically a consensus on the matter.

i still ****ing love that cosmic calendar. what a perspective. all of written human history can be date stamped to the last few seconds of december 31st.

[Fatal9]

Haven't been into Sagan much, though I do have a copy of "Cosmos" that I bought a couple of years ago. This thread reminds me to read it soon, probably next month when I have some free time. Is that right book to start reading Sagan? I'll review it if this thread is still around.

[RedBlackAttack]

i have a feeling it'll be right up my alley. i just peeped 'leaving earth' and 'ascent' as testers, and got the immediate feeling that the entire album would flow together, with a total downplay for song transitions. i'ma check it out soon. it'd be great if a talented poet took time to record some sagan-esque lyrics over top of the sounds, assuming the entire album is purely instrumental.

Yes... The whole album is instrumental. All of Jordan's stuff (he also goes by 'Flashbulb') is instrumental. He is a virtuoso guitarist that creates all of these things single-handidly.

On the album, it actually goes from Ascent into Leaving Earth. If you play them back-to-back on Youtube, you can hear how it flows together. Absolutely brilliant atmospheric music.

he did 'chariots of fire' and 'blade runner' - neither of which i've seen - along with a few other soundtracks here and there. apparently all of 'earth' (the third movement from that album is where the cosmos theme is taken from) is supposed to be pretty incredible.

Yeah... That Chariots of Fire soundtrack is one of the most famous in film history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYJzcUvS_NU

It might be a bit overused, but when it first came out, that was one of the most epic songs in the history of Hollywood. I'd say the producers of Cosmos made a good decision with Vangelis.

ha, i watched that animated 40 second clip for the first time stoned off my ass, and was in awe. truly incredible. i didn't realize that the conclusive understanding of what really killed the dinosaurs had been discovered so recently, until sagan admitted that the scientific community was unaware how the mass extinction had actually occurred. then he comes on at the end of the dvd and explains (10 years after the filming i believe) what really happened. although i suppose its still not 100% conclusive that it was a meteor - theres basically a consensus on the matter.

As Carl said...

In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.

But, yeah... A meteor seems the most logical answer and there is a fair amount of evidence to back it up. I'm not sure if we will ever know for absolute certain what happened, but we are pretty close, atm.

I thought the same thing about the updated information on the dinosaurs in Cosmos. It boggled my mind that the meteor hypothesis hadn't been the scientific consensus in the early-80s. I guess since we are young enough that dinosaurs have always been known to us as having been taken out by the meteor, it comes as second nature.

i still ****ing love that cosmic calendar. what a perspective. all of written human history can be date stamped to the last few seconds of december 31st.

The ideas that the cosmic calendar presents are a total mind-f#ck. It makes the human advancement in so many areas that much more staggering. Our presence has encompassed such a tiny fraction of the history of this planet, yet look around... And then imagine how far we will have advanced when we are a few days in on the cosmic calendar.

That is, if we can avoid destroying ourselves and the planet in the process...

Haven't been into Sagan much, though I do have a copy of "Cosmos" that I bought a couple of years ago. This thread reminds me to read it soon, probably next month when I have some free time. Is that right book to start reading Sagan? I'll review it if this thread is still around.

Reading your thoughts on Newton, Galileo, Aristotle, etc. on the other thread, I'm surprised to hear that you have not been introduced to Sagan yet. I guess that goes back to my initial point of him being undervalued in the grand scheme. He may not have had the discoveries of the other 'big names' in the history of the field, but he was just as valuable, imo.

Where to start?

Well... There is really no wrong place to start with Sagan. Cosmos is the place that most people like to begin, I guess. It is a tremendous read, though a few of the ideas presented aren't entirely up-to-date (the dinosaurs' extinction is a good example). But, Sagan had a way with words that makes it well worth your time.

I would also highly recommend Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. It is filled with great stuff.... There is a lot of philosophical points made in there, too. That is one of the greatest areas for Sagan, to me. He was absolutely a true, modern day philosopher.

If you have any interest in science fiction, Contact is an absolute must read. It is the single greatest sci-fi novel that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. In fact, I'm thinking of re-opening it when I have some time and plowing through it on a slow weekend.

You probably have seen the movie... While it did a good job by Hollywood standards of presenting the cliff notes of the book, they totally botched the ending. Even if you aren't into sci-fi, you should give the book a try. It's foundation is in true scientific theory of what may happen in the future... Not simply wild stories that will likely never happen.

Other excellent reads...

Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium

The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

I need to give Demon-Haunted World another look. It was a little over my head when I initially read it as a youngster. You can really start with any of these. It all depends on what you feel like reading about. They all offer something different.

[Take Your Lumps]

Chariots of Fire and Cosmos were epic but let's not forget Blade Runner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izoNWi3TJd8

[RidonKs]

want to see something truly mind-blowing?

i can barely believe this

can't. fit. in. the. known. universe.

the numbers are on wiki, to back up the statement too. and even upon seeing the numbers (which, to me and my fairly unrefined mathematical background, mean little) - i remain in disbelief. such a number hurts my brain.

here's another one: if you began at the estimated big bang event - some 14 billion years ago - and tried to write googolplex at approximately 2 zeroes per second... you wouldn't have finished yet up until right now.

that's a fact. there are twice as many zeroes in the number googolplex than there have been seconds since the beginning of space and time.

[RidonKs]

bumpage for the third 'symphony of science' music video

[RidonKs]

[Take Your Lumps]

want to see something truly mind-blowing?

i can barely believe this

can't. fit. in. the. known. universe.

the numbers are on wiki, to back up the statement too. and even upon seeing the numbers (which, to me and my fairly unrefined mathematical background, mean little) - i remain in disbelief. such a number hurts my brain.

here's another one: if you began at the estimated big bang event - some 14 billion years ago - and tried to write googolplex at approximately 2 zeroes per second... you wouldn't have finished yet up until right now.

that's a fact. there are twice as many zeroes in the number googolplex than there have been seconds since the beginning of space and time.

That is ****ing crazy.

From wiki:

[QUOTE]Thinking of this another way, consider printing the digits of a googolplex in unreadable, one-point font. TeX one-point font is 0.35145989 mm per digit,[3] so it would take about 3.5

[Take Your Lumps]

bump

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIMifWU5ucU
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