“Just So Science” – Sagantastic
This week I was fortunate enough to stumble onto this gorgeous image taken by the Voyager 1 satellite in 1990. By the request of physicist Carl Sagan, the camera were turned around for one last shot of Earth before the rest of Voyager’s epic journey which, as of 2011, has bought it to the heliopause, the edge of reach of Sol‘s solar wind. Sagan’s description of the image is one of the most humbling pieces of prose I have ever read, and is one of my favourite passages of all time!
‘…everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every ‘superstar,’ every ‘supreme leader,’ every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there–on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.’ – Carl Sagan
Enjoy your weekend everyone!
6 Responses to ““Just So Science” – Sagantastic”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M
And I have the picture on my wall XD
http://bonkbonk.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/pbd.jpg
That’s funny! You’re not the only one who finds “Sagan’s description of the image is one of the most humbling pieces of prose I have ever read, and is one of my favourite passages of all time!” because I just read the exact same thing (word-for-word) in the Vulcan Advocate newspaper (Vulcan, Alberta, Canada).
Apparently, Neel Roberts, the author of a monthly column called “The Sky’s the Limit” thinks exactly the same way you do. Either that or he thinks plagiarism is acceptable when writing for the newspaper. I wonder what the editor thinks? I can’t wait until Google visits this page and sends Neel Roberts a Google Alert. Hopefully, the Vulcan Advocate has also set up a Google Alert for their name. If not, feel free to contact them.
http://www.vulcanadvocate.com/feedback1/contactdetailst.aspx
http://ptccanada.com/Media/Skys_the_Limit33.pdf
He also appears to suffer from poor grammar, (an affliction I share) and has managed to both give Einstein a sex change (Alberta?) and mangle the quote. All in a single paragraph.
Alberta Einstein – that’s hilarious!! I didn’t notice that the first time I read it. Isn’t that something the editor is supposed to spot and correct before it goes to print?
Emma,
I’ve one of the less viewed variations of that presentation on a post I wrote (independently of the one above) – there a quite a few different takes on it! –
https://sciblogs.co.nz/code-for-life/2011/11/11/our-pale-blue-dot/
You would think. Judging by the overall incomprehensibility of that paragraph I’d be surprised if an editor even glanced in it’s general direction.