So far away from Earth, Voyager is the extension of our eyes and it is the expression of our desire to know more about the Universe. For many it is just an insignificant machine lost somewhere in the sky. For others a waste of time and money. Sometimes, lost in a daydream I ride that wonder of engineering looking back at our wonderful planet so blue, so perfect yet so tormented and wounded.
Then I feel sad.
Then I feel sad.
4
I was more optimistic about the human future when Carl Sagan was still alive and inspiring the better angels of our nature. By now, given the current state of the world, I think we'll barely make it to Mars before killing our entire species in a toxic mess of pollution, war, and disease.
3
Larry, the gee-whiz effect of the Voyager spacecraft evaporated many years ago, along with flying cars and moon colonies. And robots sent to the stars with instructions on how to construct humans? Seriously? Who needs humans? Who among us really believes our species is something special?
3
One thing is clear, the cosmos does not need us or care what happens to us. Our only purpose it seems is to observe the cosmos, the anthropic principle. Not that the universe needs observers, us and other animals to keep going, though without observers does it exist and does that matter... no. We are nothing special, just survivors in the roulette of evolution the same force that dooms us to self destruction in the end. None of us will live to see how the saga ends. We are no more special than the atoms, the cosmic driftwood, that of which we are made.
1
And yet, yet, think of how little we have done with our knowledge, our technology. Where are the colonies in near space that Gerald O'Neil described in 1977? Why aren't we gearing up for a huge mining industry in the asteroid belt? Where are our research stations on the moon and on Mars? Why haven't we sent hundreds of ships like the Voyagers beyond the solar system?
Instead we have the ability to blow the earth up many times over.
Instead we have the ability to blow the earth up many times over.
4
Hard to accept but science is just the new religion we are living in. Somewhere along the way, the religion of science has out stripped our humanity. It will lead to our ultimate destruction.
Check out the nuclear bomb, for example. Our belief in science created this, as well as pollution and poisons that are killing our atmosphere and the present day technologies that created a media that gave a man like Trump the most powerful position in the free world.
In the religion of science, there is no real understanding of the ultimate cyclical mysterious laws of nature. Therein lies the grand delusion.
Check out the nuclear bomb, for example. Our belief in science created this, as well as pollution and poisons that are killing our atmosphere and the present day technologies that created a media that gave a man like Trump the most powerful position in the free world.
In the religion of science, there is no real understanding of the ultimate cyclical mysterious laws of nature. Therein lies the grand delusion.
2
I always said that if they offered me a seat on Voyager, i would have taken it just to see what's out there. Thanks for giving me a glimpse. The Hindus say that our fear of death is really a "profound reluctance to give up the future". After this article, i am truly sad i wont be around to see when somebody discovers Voyager floating in deep space. Live long and prosper Voyager!
2
No, we didn't have he full-blown Internet, with Iphones, Google, "social media" and the rest of the thoroughly computerized world we now live in, including this "blog" (or whatever they call it) I'm using right now. But ARPANEt, a network connecting researchers at four different universities, was already in operation by 1967, seven years before the Voyagers were launched. It's often considered the the father/mother of the Internet which soon followed with the invention and mass production of PC's.
But what good with all this fantastic technology do us if our archaic system of nation states, "each sequestered in its hate" * blows us all to cinders. Will we ever learn that war is not the answer? And will we learn it in time?
BTW, I'm sure NASA would have been glad to give the Times a good photo of Voyager which it could have used instead of that silly cartoon above.
* W. H. Auden
But what good with all this fantastic technology do us if our archaic system of nation states, "each sequestered in its hate" * blows us all to cinders. Will we ever learn that war is not the answer? And will we learn it in time?
BTW, I'm sure NASA would have been glad to give the Times a good photo of Voyager which it could have used instead of that silly cartoon above.
* W. H. Auden
2
Yup, solar energy another non-renewable resource. Glad i didn't get solar panels on my house, in a couple billion years they'll be useless.
Beam me up, Scotty.
Let us hope that in real life "Veger" ignores the stupid humans.
Tsk, tsk, tsk... As every treckie or trecker knows the fate of all vessels named Voyager is a harsh one. You may end up mating with an alien AI and return home to threaten Earth with destruction. You may end up being used as target practice by some Klingon gunner. Or you may end up being thrown clear across the galaxy, having to face the Borg and Species 8472. See, in 1977 we _also_ didn't know these things, or the naming might have been different :-)
Let's start to count down on esthablising humanity meaning otherwise will it only artefact like what lying on venus now
It does put things in perspective, doesn't it?
1
"One way or another, humanity’s future is in the cosmos"?
Really? Where do you think we are right now? Paducah?
Sir, "The Cosmos" is literally at your fingertips. We are part-&-parcel of it. But you don't really see our indelible connection with it, and why might provide clues about our basic problem and probable fate.
It's perception and self-perception. It's all-of-a-piece. But many see us existing apart from The Cosmos, although Newtonian and Einsteinian physics work just as well here as billions of light-years away. And there's the Familiarity Problem. "Familiarity breeds contempt", goes the proverb. We, as a species, developed overwhelming contempt for our tiny refuge from instantaneous destruction that we call "Earth" long ago. We misuse and abuse it, sully and poison it while pretending that we aren't; or that it's our God given right to be so destructive.
Many assume Earth's resources are infinite and self-renewing. Nothing could be further from the truth and such willful blindness all but insures eventual destruction of our civilization and most life-forms that still survive despite us; including ourselves.
SETI ("Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence") researchers have yet to find any advanced technological civilizations in "The Cosmos". Some suspect they know why. The missing alien civilizations failed. They couldn't control their technology soon after developing it, and it destroyed them; implying we are on the same path. They might well be right.
Really? Where do you think we are right now? Paducah?
Sir, "The Cosmos" is literally at your fingertips. We are part-&-parcel of it. But you don't really see our indelible connection with it, and why might provide clues about our basic problem and probable fate.
It's perception and self-perception. It's all-of-a-piece. But many see us existing apart from The Cosmos, although Newtonian and Einsteinian physics work just as well here as billions of light-years away. And there's the Familiarity Problem. "Familiarity breeds contempt", goes the proverb. We, as a species, developed overwhelming contempt for our tiny refuge from instantaneous destruction that we call "Earth" long ago. We misuse and abuse it, sully and poison it while pretending that we aren't; or that it's our God given right to be so destructive.
Many assume Earth's resources are infinite and self-renewing. Nothing could be further from the truth and such willful blindness all but insures eventual destruction of our civilization and most life-forms that still survive despite us; including ourselves.
SETI ("Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence") researchers have yet to find any advanced technological civilizations in "The Cosmos". Some suspect they know why. The missing alien civilizations failed. They couldn't control their technology soon after developing it, and it destroyed them; implying we are on the same path. They might well be right.
2
ah yes... interstate highways, excellent universities, a vibrant space program, a ready defense and expanding civil rights. All that was before Reagan cut taxes on the rich in half.
2
That we made something beautiful and hopeful
and that it escaped and will continue on,
and that it can't now be revoked or made ugly,
that is all I need to know
for today to be a good day.
and that it escaped and will continue on,
and that it can't now be revoked or made ugly,
that is all I need to know
for today to be a good day.
4
"Will we continue our own voyage of discovery?"
I doubt it.
More Americans believe in ghosts than in the laws of gravity, and they vote. They can't bring themselves to vote for politicians who will repair their bridges or build levees against rising seas -- and they certainly won't countenance politicians who will waste money on scientific exploration.
Besides, the earth is flat, the seas aren't rising, and Americans have better things to do, like drink beer, shoot up neighbors' propane tanks, drive over flowerbeds just for fun, tune in to Fox News, and watch ball games.
The only antidote to what's become of America is to watch National Geographic documentaries -- where you can see what's left of American intelligence, curiosity, and know-how.
I doubt it.
More Americans believe in ghosts than in the laws of gravity, and they vote. They can't bring themselves to vote for politicians who will repair their bridges or build levees against rising seas -- and they certainly won't countenance politicians who will waste money on scientific exploration.
Besides, the earth is flat, the seas aren't rising, and Americans have better things to do, like drink beer, shoot up neighbors' propane tanks, drive over flowerbeds just for fun, tune in to Fox News, and watch ball games.
The only antidote to what's become of America is to watch National Geographic documentaries -- where you can see what's left of American intelligence, curiosity, and know-how.
2
Just think how wonderful it would be if we worshiped our expanding knowledge of the universe and the beauty and randomness of the cosmos instead of the petty, violent religions that are tearing this planet apart.
To embrace the great uncertainties with knowledge and confidence to take that journey together, would make us all better, but instead we're content to kill each other, and shame each other with petty differences.
Good luck voyager. I wish I were on board.
To embrace the great uncertainties with knowledge and confidence to take that journey together, would make us all better, but instead we're content to kill each other, and shame each other with petty differences.
Good luck voyager. I wish I were on board.
2
Applied to Earth, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do" comes to mind. Just as unsupervised children can wreak havoc in a supportive nursery, our peril grows. After burning fossil fuels blithely for millennia, we have lately taken to overpopulating, globally hating, stockpiling megatons, and infusing the air and water far out of balance. Some life-forms will ride out the years left, but "Getting and spending, we waste our powers--- Little we see in nature that is ours" (Wordsworth).
Ironically, since the Voyagers left town, exponential science growth has rung carnival bells for many of our old quests: the age and structure of the Universe, our exoplanet neighbors, unifying the forces, splicing genes and interconnecting our brains. We've even heard the breathing whispers of gravity waves and learned how Theia gave us the Moon. What next? Will ET call or perhaps Kalusa-Klein space serve-up all the fundamental particles?
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", but how is it different now? Now the two arcs separate fast: Damage (crowded and not knowing how to co-exist with each other or within nature) and Understanding (basking in the golden of science). Still fractionally few can see the broad problems and act.
Hopefully some strong nations may do better on this and lead.
Beyond the few billion years, if we persist, we will be denizens of the galaxy: totally unrecognizable but, I think, with a vague preserved memory.
Ironically, since the Voyagers left town, exponential science growth has rung carnival bells for many of our old quests: the age and structure of the Universe, our exoplanet neighbors, unifying the forces, splicing genes and interconnecting our brains. We've even heard the breathing whispers of gravity waves and learned how Theia gave us the Moon. What next? Will ET call or perhaps Kalusa-Klein space serve-up all the fundamental particles?
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", but how is it different now? Now the two arcs separate fast: Damage (crowded and not knowing how to co-exist with each other or within nature) and Understanding (basking in the golden of science). Still fractionally few can see the broad problems and act.
Hopefully some strong nations may do better on this and lead.
Beyond the few billion years, if we persist, we will be denizens of the galaxy: totally unrecognizable but, I think, with a vague preserved memory.
1
The final two sentences of this article paraphrase those of Jacques Monod (Nobel Prize winner, discoverer of allostery) in "Chance and Necessity".
Don't misunderstand. I believe in all that science and the advancement of knowledge have to offer. But we will never understand where that minuscule particle of something came from and how it exploded into what we call our universe. "Let there be light"--"Y'hee or"--"Fiat lux"--they're as good an explanation we'll ever have of that event. In my opinion, those who absolutely deny the existence of a higher power as unscientific are as arrogant as those who categorically claim to know what the power is and to know its nature.
1
These twinned birthdays are particularly nostalgic for me. I had recently started a NASA-funded post-doc in the same department at ASU where Professor Krauss is now a faculty member when the first Voyager images began coming back from Jupiter. As a young volcano scientist and structural geologist, I knew little about our extra-terrestrial neighborhood beyond the fact that Mars had the Solar System's largest volcano. It is difficult to convey how mind-stretching it was to have new worlds revealed on a monthly or even weekly basis, places that completely rewrote the rules about what was geologically possible. Stinking sulfur volcanoes? Cue-ball smooth icy orbs? Brine-filled mile-high geysers? Fingernail-scratched tectonic grooves? Impossibly deep impact craters? Dream up a Dr. Seuss-like planetary fantasy, and chances were that the images dribbling out of the Jet Propulsion Lab would confirm it.
It's bittersweet to be reminded of that optimistic heyday of NASA robotic exploration, when a parade of new worlds showed us the hopeful value of discovery and imagination. The contrast with today's questioning of the reality of science (or even the reality of reality!) makes it seem like perhaps we were all living on a different planet back then.
It's bittersweet to be reminded of that optimistic heyday of NASA robotic exploration, when a parade of new worlds showed us the hopeful value of discovery and imagination. The contrast with today's questioning of the reality of science (or even the reality of reality!) makes it seem like perhaps we were all living on a different planet back then.
6
I was 18 years old in 1977 and finishing my first year in college. America still had some big dreams and was acting on them. I miss that sort of optimism, the kind that built an unmanned spacecraft, filled it with information saying that we were here, and sent it out as a message.
4
Yeah, I was also 18 in 1977. I was a physics major. I am now a Physicist. I am totally dumbfounded by all the discoveries and advancement since then. I can only think that at least the same advancement in knowledge and engineering will happen in the next 40 years. If that is the case, I can't even imagine what the world will be like then. My only regret is that I am finite. I hope that I live long enough to see what happens. Other regrets are political. I hope that that realm does not quash the scientific/engineering realm.
5
The last time there was genuine respect for and appreciation of education and teachers in our country was when Sputnik hit the American psyche like a freight train. With an expansive, generally optimistic post-W.W. II mood in our country, the response to the Soviet surprise was positive, outward-looking, visionary, leading to our landing a man on the moon twelve years later.
That magnificent achievement of mind, body, and spirit is now almost a half century old. While N.A.S.A. has accomplished significant achievements in the intervening years, our country has turned inward, youth and the not-so-young looking into little screens, no longer willing -- or possibly able -- to understand that "virtual reality" is essentially an oxymoron, believing that entertainment is education, is vision, surprised when a man who has no genuine credentials other than as an entertainer becomes President and "governs" by entertaining.
I had fervently hoped that before it collapsed the Soviet Union would land somebody on Mars, perhaps once again inspiring Americans to look outward, to dream big dreams, to believe in itself.
Even the recent solar eclipse seemed less an awe-inspiring occurrence than a marketing event. I am, however, greatly heartened by one thing: whatever happens to America, whatever disasters may befall humanity, people will always know that we can think big, we can reach for the stars, because once-upon-a-time we did, indeed, land people on the moon and bring them home.
That magnificent achievement of mind, body, and spirit is now almost a half century old. While N.A.S.A. has accomplished significant achievements in the intervening years, our country has turned inward, youth and the not-so-young looking into little screens, no longer willing -- or possibly able -- to understand that "virtual reality" is essentially an oxymoron, believing that entertainment is education, is vision, surprised when a man who has no genuine credentials other than as an entertainer becomes President and "governs" by entertaining.
I had fervently hoped that before it collapsed the Soviet Union would land somebody on Mars, perhaps once again inspiring Americans to look outward, to dream big dreams, to believe in itself.
Even the recent solar eclipse seemed less an awe-inspiring occurrence than a marketing event. I am, however, greatly heartened by one thing: whatever happens to America, whatever disasters may befall humanity, people will always know that we can think big, we can reach for the stars, because once-upon-a-time we did, indeed, land people on the moon and bring them home.
11
I beg of you, each and every one of you, use your curiosity. Don't close the door on knowledge just because you don't think you're going to like it. Ask yourself, why and what are these and other scientists trying to discover, trying to learn, what can you learn, why do you know what you think you know?
I used to teach beginners how to draw, and I learned a lot about the fear of the unknown, the fear of looking stupid, that keeps us from reaching for the best in ourselves. The journey begins with being willing to make mistakes while trying to see and tell the truth to the best of your ability. It requires mistakes, and avoiding mistakes is dangerous. In our glossy infotainment world, we have come to worship appearances more than reality.
Please believe in yourself enough to stumble forward rather than blocking things you can't or don't know. Be curious!
I used to teach beginners how to draw, and I learned a lot about the fear of the unknown, the fear of looking stupid, that keeps us from reaching for the best in ourselves. The journey begins with being willing to make mistakes while trying to see and tell the truth to the best of your ability. It requires mistakes, and avoiding mistakes is dangerous. In our glossy infotainment world, we have come to worship appearances more than reality.
Please believe in yourself enough to stumble forward rather than blocking things you can't or don't know. Be curious!
10
The second sentence was unnecessarily dark, and failed to include another thing we can gift ourselves in being curious.
Please don't think you're not smart enough to grow and see. Knowledge's challenges are often most interesting and rewarding when we withhold judgment not only about the learning but about ourselves.
Sorry to be so pretentious! Good luck all, no matter where you stand.
Please don't think you're not smart enough to grow and see. Knowledge's challenges are often most interesting and rewarding when we withhold judgment not only about the learning but about ourselves.
Sorry to be so pretentious! Good luck all, no matter where you stand.
5
@Susan
Your plea has not fallen on deaf ears luv. Keep saying it as much as you can, and others and I will join you. The great unknown does not have to be a scary proposition. In fact it could be the most exciting question that is left to be answered.
Look up ( especially from your smart phone )
Your plea has not fallen on deaf ears luv. Keep saying it as much as you can, and others and I will join you. The great unknown does not have to be a scary proposition. In fact it could be the most exciting question that is left to be answered.
Look up ( especially from your smart phone )
2
My father worked for one of the companies that made systems and parts for both Voyager spacecrafts, and it's a source of great pride for my family. He passed a few decades ago, but it's fun to think that his hard work is still moving through space in those most distant of human-made crafts.
9
Almost a half century ago, a visionary America composed of a generation willing to think big, to look outward, landed a man on the moon. Today we are composed of a generation looking inward at little screens telling them what to see.
As I phrased it regarding another article on Silicon Valley "buying" teachers:
Why be surprised that parents who resort to electronic babysitters now accept electronic teachers?
And why be surprised that teachers, members of a profession with so little current respect, decide to market themselves much as do Apple and Starbucks?
And why be surprised that a country which, with great outward vision, landed a man on the moon almost half a century ago, now is content to look inward at little screens that reduce life to entertainment?
And why be surprised that a man who has no genuine credentials other than as an entertainer becomes President and "governs" by entertaining?
And why complain about President Trump's "alternative facts" and "fake news" rants, when most of the people who oppose him actually believe "virtual reality" is not an oxymoron?
As I phrased it regarding another article on Silicon Valley "buying" teachers:
Why be surprised that parents who resort to electronic babysitters now accept electronic teachers?
And why be surprised that teachers, members of a profession with so little current respect, decide to market themselves much as do Apple and Starbucks?
And why be surprised that a country which, with great outward vision, landed a man on the moon almost half a century ago, now is content to look inward at little screens that reduce life to entertainment?
And why be surprised that a man who has no genuine credentials other than as an entertainer becomes President and "governs" by entertaining?
And why complain about President Trump's "alternative facts" and "fake news" rants, when most of the people who oppose him actually believe "virtual reality" is not an oxymoron?
10
I too, in old age, confined to a wheel chair, peer into little screens and zoom away to learn more about our Universe, learn about the best recipes for roasting a chicken, about a contrary English artist and his latest work, and read parts of a poem by a just deceased poet.
I do this not for entertainment though that may be part of the equation, but to learn more about our life on this planet and how big and mysterious the Universe actually is. Not that i understand much of any of this, it does give me a buzz and no drugs are needed. Maybe some of this will or has rubbed off on my now grown grand kids.
Don't forget we have that little jeep running around on Mars. And in the not to distant future, many little jeeps, filled with speck like humans--compared to our galaxy--driving them with smiles of glee.
Trump will die and there will come a time when we aren't bone tired of his antics and we can cut back on our need for entertainment.
We're like cats. It's in our genes to be curious. Our genetic make up will save us, i hope, and yes, good riddance to Starbucks class rooms and hookers for Google and Apple.
I do this not for entertainment though that may be part of the equation, but to learn more about our life on this planet and how big and mysterious the Universe actually is. Not that i understand much of any of this, it does give me a buzz and no drugs are needed. Maybe some of this will or has rubbed off on my now grown grand kids.
Don't forget we have that little jeep running around on Mars. And in the not to distant future, many little jeeps, filled with speck like humans--compared to our galaxy--driving them with smiles of glee.
Trump will die and there will come a time when we aren't bone tired of his antics and we can cut back on our need for entertainment.
We're like cats. It's in our genes to be curious. Our genetic make up will save us, i hope, and yes, good riddance to Starbucks class rooms and hookers for Google and Apple.
1
The greatest goal for Humanity, I have to think, would be to figure out why we are here, and how it happened, before "the world ends", however it will for the human race.
The origins of life seem well within our grasp to discover to it's finest detail. The origins of consciousness a bit further down the road, but all of both may be accomplished here on earth.
The origin(s) of the universe we inhabit will require research in space. In the framework of Cosmology vs Ontology, there is unlikely to ever be a "solution" to why there is something and not nothing, but if we look at it as Cosmological Ontology: a hypothesis of being, discoverable only with in the framework of the science of physics, at cosmological and quantum scale, then we have a chance.
There are elements in the "theory of everything" in quantum gravity and quantum electrodynamics that are key to explaining existence that we can only test "at scale" - by having sensors widely separated in space. Men don't have to be there, but sensors do.
The origins of life seem well within our grasp to discover to it's finest detail. The origins of consciousness a bit further down the road, but all of both may be accomplished here on earth.
The origin(s) of the universe we inhabit will require research in space. In the framework of Cosmology vs Ontology, there is unlikely to ever be a "solution" to why there is something and not nothing, but if we look at it as Cosmological Ontology: a hypothesis of being, discoverable only with in the framework of the science of physics, at cosmological and quantum scale, then we have a chance.
There are elements in the "theory of everything" in quantum gravity and quantum electrodynamics that are key to explaining existence that we can only test "at scale" - by having sensors widely separated in space. Men don't have to be there, but sensors do.
1
Sorry to add more pessimism (sometimes referred to as "reality"), but we won't need to wait millions of years until the sun enlarges and turns Earth into a runaway greenhouse gas version of Venus. Man and his technology have already started that process.
10
Thank you for an *Excellent* essay about the Voyager missions - and for providing a bigger picture - and perspective - of things gone by - and - of the possible things to come - if interested - an even bigger perspective of things gone by - may be viewed on the "Nature Timeline" on Wikipedia at the following => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Nature_timeline - hope this helps in some way - in any case - Thanks again - and - Enjoy! :)
Dr. Dennis Bogdan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Drbogdan
Dr. Dennis Bogdan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Drbogdan
2
Also useful on perspective is this: A Timeline of Earth's Average Temperature since the Last Ice Age Glaciation"
"When people say "the climate has changed before," these are the kinds of changes they're talking about"
https://xkcd.com/1732/
You also put me in mind of the graphics on the opening pages of former Astronomer Royal Martin Rees's compilation "The Universe" which has a double double spread timeline since the "big bang" (hypothetical, of course).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe_%28book%29
(available disgustingly cheap these days in the usual places)
"When people say "the climate has changed before," these are the kinds of changes they're talking about"
https://xkcd.com/1732/
You also put me in mind of the graphics on the opening pages of former Astronomer Royal Martin Rees's compilation "The Universe" which has a double double spread timeline since the "big bang" (hypothetical, of course).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe_%28book%29
(available disgustingly cheap these days in the usual places)
1
@Susan Anderson - Thank you *very much* for your reply - it's *greatly* appreciated - seems another related timeline from Wikipedia - that narrows the perspective from an overall view of the Universe - to an overall view of human development - and - perhaps a bit closer to the history presented in the NYT essay - is at the following => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Human_timeline - in any regards - Thanks again - and - Enjoy! :)
Dr. Dennis Bogdan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Drbogdan
Dr. Dennis Bogdan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Drbogdan
I wonder what the aliens who find either Voyager space craft will make of the markings that say "Made in China"? Or was it "Made in Japan"? Actually, I think in 1977 "Made in the USA" was most prevalent. Whew, that was close.
If only Aliens knew how we treat aliens on our own planet.
Fare well Voyagers.
If only Aliens knew how we treat aliens on our own planet.
Fare well Voyagers.
4
It is depressing to read the "reader's picks." So much pessimism. Human beings have only existed on this planet for perhaps 200,000 years, but we think we are so smart we can see a couple of billion years into the future; and how does the future look? Bad.
My antidote for all the pessimism will not be heard, of course, so intent are we in believing the worst, but I prefer to believe human beings have unlimited potential. Instead of us burning to cinders and contributing our atoms to the universe, why can't we take human consciousness to undreamed of new levels and travel over the universe unaided, perhaps in forms as yet unknown? Some imagination is needed, folks, because our species can literally do anything, but we have to imagine it first.
My antidote for all the pessimism will not be heard, of course, so intent are we in believing the worst, but I prefer to believe human beings have unlimited potential. Instead of us burning to cinders and contributing our atoms to the universe, why can't we take human consciousness to undreamed of new levels and travel over the universe unaided, perhaps in forms as yet unknown? Some imagination is needed, folks, because our species can literally do anything, but we have to imagine it first.
11
My pessimism is related to America here and now, not for all humanity for all time.
I'm pessimistic about America, I'm optimistic that a golden age will pop up somewhere else in the near future.
America reached its pinnacle, its golden age, roughly 40 years ago. It's coming to an end now.
There was the Library of Alexandria, the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, there was a Renaissance in Italy, there was Gottingen until the 1930's, this list is long. These places appear, have a golden age, then snuffed out or morphed into a drag on humanity by religious fanatics, only to pop up elsewhere at a later time.
I'm pessimistic about America, I'm optimistic that a golden age will pop up somewhere else in the near future.
America reached its pinnacle, its golden age, roughly 40 years ago. It's coming to an end now.
There was the Library of Alexandria, the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, there was a Renaissance in Italy, there was Gottingen until the 1930's, this list is long. These places appear, have a golden age, then snuffed out or morphed into a drag on humanity by religious fanatics, only to pop up elsewhere at a later time.
6
What has happened to our sense of wonder and adventure? Of exploration and discovery? Instead of valuing those characteristics, we have become a venal, inward-looking society, prizing greed, control, power over others.
Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" speech is the reason I remain committed to science, and a global society (and utterly reject the angry ethno-nationalism of current political trends). This world is so SMALL. Our time on it, so short. All the accomplishments of man -- every prophet, every genius, and yes, every gilded tower bearing someone's name, all of them through all of history, are nothing more than a speck of dust floating in a single sunbeam.
If we are to exist in some way as part of something bigger, as something that might outlast our petty feuds, and even our fragile ecosystem, we MUST look outward. We must realize our differences must not divide us, and our lusts and fears are equally small. Whatever meaning we have here, and inside of us, is inextricably tied to what we discover out *there*.
The fact that we have gone from a pre-literate state to sending spacecraft into the void in a matter of millennia is both testament to our potential, and an explanation for why we are our own greatest enemy.
Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" speech is the reason I remain committed to science, and a global society (and utterly reject the angry ethno-nationalism of current political trends). This world is so SMALL. Our time on it, so short. All the accomplishments of man -- every prophet, every genius, and yes, every gilded tower bearing someone's name, all of them through all of history, are nothing more than a speck of dust floating in a single sunbeam.
If we are to exist in some way as part of something bigger, as something that might outlast our petty feuds, and even our fragile ecosystem, we MUST look outward. We must realize our differences must not divide us, and our lusts and fears are equally small. Whatever meaning we have here, and inside of us, is inextricably tied to what we discover out *there*.
The fact that we have gone from a pre-literate state to sending spacecraft into the void in a matter of millennia is both testament to our potential, and an explanation for why we are our own greatest enemy.
14
We're recycled goods. Sagan called us star stuff. But we're really just data, coded in proteins. And the code can be stored, read, replicated. It needs editing; evolution.
If you believe panspermia, perhaps we should just be blasting compost into space.
If you believe panspermia, perhaps we should just be blasting compost into space.
Hoping Don Trump will step in and stop this infernal expansion.
“The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology. And it is terrifically dangerous, and it is now approaching a point of crisis overall.........until we answer those huge questions of philosophy that the philosophers abandoned a couple of generations ago—Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?—rationally.....” Edward O. Wilson, biologist
....and compassionately, I might add.
....and compassionately, I might add.
9
And that future doesn't look that bright right now. All those achievements had two things in common - science and government spending. Three words that have become dirty these days.
5
In the time since he wrote the article, the countdown for solar expansion to melt us has shrunk to 2 billion years minus 12 hours. We'd better act now! It's an expansive power armed with nuclear fusion, begging for war.
1
There are two kinds of people. Those who are thrilled by science and those who are not. I am deliberately not using words like "believe in science" or "accept science". I mean thrill as in the feeling you experience when watching a thriller: an almost physical intoxication of curiosity, excitement and pleasure. I belong to the first kind as does my husband and all of our close friends. I believe that science is the ultimate achievement of humanity and nothing else we can do with our resources is of comparable importance. If I have to choose between sheltering the homeless or building a spaceship, I vote for the spaceship. I am sure people of the second kind - those not thrilled by science - will find my position immoral or incomprehensible. But then, I don't talk to them very often.
9
The classic false dichotomy. We are, as a nation, wealthy enough to do both: shelter the homeless, and explore the cosmos.
1
You raise a good point, Mor. While I believe that "sheltering the homeless" does not preclude major scientific programs, nor vice versa, many people believe that. If you want to save real money (for homeless, science, whatever)... OPPOSE WAR!
I agree with you about the excitement of science, and (underappreciated) math as well. When you learn that, for example, the derivative of e ^ x is e ^ x, you say "wow.... I just had an A-HAH moment!". OTOH, most people (here in California anyway lol) are busy polishing their lifestyles, spending their time studying which wine goes with which cheese, what nonsense is offered as entertainment, and other vacuous ephemeral concerns.
I agree with you about the excitement of science, and (underappreciated) math as well. When you learn that, for example, the derivative of e ^ x is e ^ x, you say "wow.... I just had an A-HAH moment!". OTOH, most people (here in California anyway lol) are busy polishing their lifestyles, spending their time studying which wine goes with which cheese, what nonsense is offered as entertainment, and other vacuous ephemeral concerns.
Roughly in the timeframe that the Voyagers were launched Gerard K O'Neill published the High Frontier, a book that proposed building giant spacecraft that could house millions of people. The knowledge and technical capabilities that have advanced over 40 years now make this vision achievable.
The material resources of the Solar System are boundless relative to human needs for centuries to come - more than enough for all countries. The implications of this are that manufacturing costs of products from materials from the Moon and asteroids can be expected to decline for decades to come. Whether the scaling factor is like Moore's Law with doubling of performance every 2 years cannot yet be determined but within a few decades it may cost no more to build a city in space than on Earth. In fact, as climate change advances the value of desirable land is likely to increase on Earth and cities in space will become more appealing.
Building cities in space will need ecological engineers to design and maintain ecosystems that can sustain people, animals, fish, birds and plants. Unlike colonies on the Moon or Mars Earth normal gravity could be maintained in space cities as well as microgravity environments for space tourism and rehabilitation.
To build cities in space mining and manufacturing capabilities need to be developed on the Moon with infrastructure in Earth orbit. The International Lunar Decade is a framework for international cooperation to enable achievement of this goal.
The material resources of the Solar System are boundless relative to human needs for centuries to come - more than enough for all countries. The implications of this are that manufacturing costs of products from materials from the Moon and asteroids can be expected to decline for decades to come. Whether the scaling factor is like Moore's Law with doubling of performance every 2 years cannot yet be determined but within a few decades it may cost no more to build a city in space than on Earth. In fact, as climate change advances the value of desirable land is likely to increase on Earth and cities in space will become more appealing.
Building cities in space will need ecological engineers to design and maintain ecosystems that can sustain people, animals, fish, birds and plants. Unlike colonies on the Moon or Mars Earth normal gravity could be maintained in space cities as well as microgravity environments for space tourism and rehabilitation.
To build cities in space mining and manufacturing capabilities need to be developed on the Moon with infrastructure in Earth orbit. The International Lunar Decade is a framework for international cooperation to enable achievement of this goal.
1
Please let us all know when the energy cost and logistics of mining the solar system become economically and technologically feasible. Because right now, they aren't.
Please let us all know when humankind has the maturity to do better in space than we have done here on earth. Because right now, we're nowhere near mature enough.
Please let us all know when humankind has the maturity to do better in space than we have done here on earth. Because right now, we're nowhere near mature enough.
8
I agree with you in principle but in fact space colonies, independent of constant supplies from Earth, are extremely difficult. Small ecologies are inherently unstable. Disease is likely to be a huge factor, one almost never discussed in planning space colonies.
I've read "The High Frontier" and similar books, and I sense the (generally American) authors are harking for a simpler time, a pastoral time, with hardworking straight white folks tilling the land and riding horses. I'm not kidding. The idea is to leave all those problematical folks that don't fit into the 1940s vision (or maybe 1840s lol!) behind. It's ludicrous.
I've read "The High Frontier" and similar books, and I sense the (generally American) authors are harking for a simpler time, a pastoral time, with hardworking straight white folks tilling the land and riding horses. I'm not kidding. The idea is to leave all those problematical folks that don't fit into the 1940s vision (or maybe 1840s lol!) behind. It's ludicrous.
I think Carl Sagan said it best when he spoke of the image of the earth, also known as the Pale Blue Dot, taken from the Voyager spacecraft in 1970.
"There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
"There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
15
"In two billion years, the sun's brightness will increase by 15%, making our home similar to Venus today."
Great!! What about my reservation at Rao's?
Great!! What about my reservation at Rao's?
3
The universe is big - and our leadership is small. Instead of dreaming for the stars, they want to take away the hopes of the Dreamers.
Petty, small minded, and with no imagination for the magnificent, it is impossible to see this administration using money that could fill corrupt bank accounts used instead to search far away - for life, for us, for the sheer ecstasy of discovery and science.
Petty, small minded, and with no imagination for the magnificent, it is impossible to see this administration using money that could fill corrupt bank accounts used instead to search far away - for life, for us, for the sheer ecstasy of discovery and science.
4
It was a global and remarkably diverse (operative word = "diverse") community of scientists, and developers of our technologies, that provided humanity with the discoveries and the gifts mentioned in this article.
Sadly, anti-diversity bullies and sociopaths have commanded the world's headlines for the last 40 years, and never more so than at this moment, as testosterone-fueled discussions take place over what to do about North Korea's threats to launch an ICBM in the direction of Guam.
The author is right to say "....it may seem like humanity is stuck in the past, dominated by religious wars and racial violence." It is also true to say that certain tiny groups of humans have a perverse penchant for turning scientific discoveries into weapons-development applications, and a minuscule group of political people -- perhaps a dozen today? certainly fewer than 25.... -- has the capability of initiating a nuclear war.
So, it's worth repeating here a quote from Albert Einstein, from an interview with Alfred Werner, that was published in 1949: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
We need sanity, and effective partnering with an extremely DIVERSE community of nations -- including knowledgeable nuclear scientists, who are oddly silent now -- to deal rationally with the North Korea situation. The alternative is unimaginably dire for our species.
James Murrow is the author of "In Jake's Company."
Sadly, anti-diversity bullies and sociopaths have commanded the world's headlines for the last 40 years, and never more so than at this moment, as testosterone-fueled discussions take place over what to do about North Korea's threats to launch an ICBM in the direction of Guam.
The author is right to say "....it may seem like humanity is stuck in the past, dominated by religious wars and racial violence." It is also true to say that certain tiny groups of humans have a perverse penchant for turning scientific discoveries into weapons-development applications, and a minuscule group of political people -- perhaps a dozen today? certainly fewer than 25.... -- has the capability of initiating a nuclear war.
So, it's worth repeating here a quote from Albert Einstein, from an interview with Alfred Werner, that was published in 1949: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
We need sanity, and effective partnering with an extremely DIVERSE community of nations -- including knowledgeable nuclear scientists, who are oddly silent now -- to deal rationally with the North Korea situation. The alternative is unimaginably dire for our species.
James Murrow is the author of "In Jake's Company."
9
Wouldn’t it be ironic if our technology advanced to the point where we could easily catch up to the Voyager’s? Would we reel them back to molder in a museum? Or would we have to designate their future paths as some sort of protected area? Like a national park?
2
Interesting issue! Problem of course is that if they ARE left to wander as is planned, they will gradually vanish as they are bombarded by radiation, particles, and larger bits of matter like dust. I have no idea how long that will take, but I suspect way shorter than the time to reach even the nearest solar system (beyond ours). Space is ALMOST empty, but not quite, and there is a LOT of space - so what's there adds up :)
1
maybe some day we'll explore the inner universe and discover ourselves / maybe some day we'll realize that we live on an amazing planet full of life - an oasis in the cold dark inhospitable endless space / maybe then all our glorious projects and our brief time on earth will be imbued with meaning and beauty so alluring that we finally close ranks and embrace the human family / maybe then we can look out at the stars and say 'they might be gods'
7
“One way or another, humanity’s future is in the cosmos. Perhaps spacecraft will one day manage to carry humans to the stars, or at least robots with instructions on how to create humans.”
IVF in space!
“...our bodies may be dispersed into the interstellar medium, perhaps to seed some future planet around some star that has yet to be born.”
And there’s panspermia!
The future for the Voyager spacecraft may already be written. Our own future is also written ... in the hands of Lawrence M. Krauss.
IVF in space!
“...our bodies may be dispersed into the interstellar medium, perhaps to seed some future planet around some star that has yet to be born.”
And there’s panspermia!
The future for the Voyager spacecraft may already be written. Our own future is also written ... in the hands of Lawrence M. Krauss.
I miss Carl, every day.
4
I do too. Today i told my daughter about the picture of the pale blue dot, our planet, and the picture due to Carl's suggestion that the Voyager 1 be turned around before entering interstellar space. I went to sleep last night with that picture seemingly burned in my brain.
We used to dream big.
http://darwinsgongshow.com/2017/09/04/did-we-stop-dreaming-big-in-the-19...
We need Voyager-inspired thinking to solve many of our problems here on earth, and to feed our souls.
http://darwinsgongshow.com/2017/09/04/did-we-stop-dreaming-big-in-the-19...
We need Voyager-inspired thinking to solve many of our problems here on earth, and to feed our souls.
11
With 800 million humans starving and malnourished we need to feed our bellies. With a billion humans lacking access to clean drinking fresh water we need to slake our thirst. Science and technology associated with making space travel safe and possible for humans can be beneficial to both challenging discovery endeavors.
1
I ponder sending Trump, Pence and Freedumb Caucus on a fantastic journey, and interstellar voyage that will last decades. When, or if, they return to earth, and the United States, they won't recognize the place, thank God.
DD
Manhattan
DD
Manhattan
18
I must point out that almost every space story in the last 8 years had some right-winger saying the exact same thing about Obama (but generally with far worse grammar haha)
Obvs, we need a Voyager 3. Maybe a Voyager 4, and more. But not Voyager 11. That could end badly :)
OMG! 2 billion years! There goes the neighborhood!
1
How about a more substantive piece on your views regarding the Singularity? Do you really think that humans will inhabit the Earth in another hundred years at the rate we are going?
The Voyager spacecraft are basically mildly sophisticated Tinkertoys, like the Mars rovers. It’s certainly amazing we could send them successfully on their ways, but we need to confront the reality that we are a brief hiccup on a very, very long stairway in time. We are simply not designed to be around much longer – only for the tiniest imaginable fraction of the two thousand million years you allude to here.
We were close enough to Neanderthals to interbreed with them – brutish creatures long extinct, and we had quite a hand in their demise. Was their essence offloaded to another world by aliens? If so, for what purpose – for them to live out more harsh lives in some parallel reality without us? Doubtful; they are just gone, and we will soon join them.
Soon we will discover life on exoplanets orbiting other stars – proof of a Second Genesis, and so much more, relegating us to cosmic obscurity – our ultimate destiny.
It is easy to wax poetic about our meager accomplishments, but for those who will supersede us in the very near future, these hard-won feats will all amount to nothing. What did the Neanderthals leave us – some burial digs, fire pits, cave drawings – a little DNA? And they were far closer to us than whatever will come after us.
We are dust – inevitably – and in eternity.
The Voyager spacecraft are basically mildly sophisticated Tinkertoys, like the Mars rovers. It’s certainly amazing we could send them successfully on their ways, but we need to confront the reality that we are a brief hiccup on a very, very long stairway in time. We are simply not designed to be around much longer – only for the tiniest imaginable fraction of the two thousand million years you allude to here.
We were close enough to Neanderthals to interbreed with them – brutish creatures long extinct, and we had quite a hand in their demise. Was their essence offloaded to another world by aliens? If so, for what purpose – for them to live out more harsh lives in some parallel reality without us? Doubtful; they are just gone, and we will soon join them.
Soon we will discover life on exoplanets orbiting other stars – proof of a Second Genesis, and so much more, relegating us to cosmic obscurity – our ultimate destiny.
It is easy to wax poetic about our meager accomplishments, but for those who will supersede us in the very near future, these hard-won feats will all amount to nothing. What did the Neanderthals leave us – some burial digs, fire pits, cave drawings – a little DNA? And they were far closer to us than whatever will come after us.
We are dust – inevitably – and in eternity.
5
Send more Chuck Berry.
10
Chuck Berry has been traveling at the speed of light from Earth since the first radio TV signal broadcast.
2
"We have discovered massive black holes at the center of many galaxies and have observed the convulsions of space as black holes collide and merge." We have out own black hole, and his name is Trump. He sucks everything in to himself. I love your optimism, but I'm not sure that life as we know it will outlast this black hole. I'm not even sure that life itself will.
1
We need a modern day Zefram Cochrane to invent warp drive so we may travel the galaxy within a reasonable amount of time.
2
Kruass writes, "All the while, our two Voyager spacecraft are likely to continue their lonely journeys among the stars. Humanity may perish, but somewhere in our galaxy will be evidence that we once existed." Space is a pretty hostile environment, and a lot can happen in two billion years. The satellite could get sucked into a black hole, swallowed by a comet, swamped by a dust cloud or simply disintegrate from material fatigue over that long period of time. But I hope it lasts. Even if it lasted "only" a few million years that would be quite an accomplishment.
4
Actually, space is a pretty *empty* environment. It's mostly empty space, and the odds of something as small as Voyager running into something big enough to destroy it is surprisingly small!
The spacecraft is in orbit around the Milky Way galaxy. In 2 billion years, it will execute about 8 orbits.
It is most unlikely to get swallowed by a black hole. It will not encounter the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. It might encounter a black hole of several solar masses elsewhere in the galaxy. However, it is most unlikely to be swallowed by any black hole: conservation of angular momentum will cause it to execute part of an unbound orbit and fly on.
It could only be swallowed in the nearly impossible case that it heads straight towards the exact center of the black hole, or the extremely unlikely case of a three-body interaction which transfers angular momentum to the third body.
It might hit a star or planet, although this is most unlikely.
Material fatigue is also unlikely: thermal stresses are unlikely and not taxing to the material, and there are insignificant gravitational stresses.
It is most unlikely to get swallowed by a black hole. It will not encounter the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. It might encounter a black hole of several solar masses elsewhere in the galaxy. However, it is most unlikely to be swallowed by any black hole: conservation of angular momentum will cause it to execute part of an unbound orbit and fly on.
It could only be swallowed in the nearly impossible case that it heads straight towards the exact center of the black hole, or the extremely unlikely case of a three-body interaction which transfers angular momentum to the third body.
It might hit a star or planet, although this is most unlikely.
Material fatigue is also unlikely: thermal stresses are unlikely and not taxing to the material, and there are insignificant gravitational stresses.
I agree that it's unlikely Voyager will "run into" a planet or other large object. Particles, radiation, and dust, however, will eat away at it. Space as you say is "pretty" empty, but not actually empty. After all, sound (density) waves in space trigger star formation.
Years ago, I stayed at home, caring for my two children. We had a book lying around the house--must have come out around 1990. All about the planets. The solar system.
And it was filled with photographs taken by Voyager.
I am not a science buff. Never was. But oh those photos! I stared at them, entranced. I pored over them. I showed them to my children. Incredible! Incredible! that a small man-made machine could go sailing on (in an infinite, eternal silence) snapping photos, relaying photos of unimaginable worlds. Neptune! Saturn! There they were--filling the page. In color.
And then--our own planet. Earth. As taken--not from Voyager but the moon. An exquisite confusion of blue and white--blue seas, white clouds. I would disagree with Mr. Sagan here. An insignificant mote? No no, Mr. Sagan! Say rather--an incomparably precious gem floating in the darkness.
All the miracles of life--plants and animals locked (as it were) in that one precious gem. And us. Human beings! Every single one of us altogether unique. Brimming with thoughts and emotions. Gifts. Ideas. Perceptions.
And love. Each one of us capable of loving things. Art and music. Science. Technology. Mathematics. Philosophy.
Each other.
And it was filled with photographs taken by Voyager.
I am not a science buff. Never was. But oh those photos! I stared at them, entranced. I pored over them. I showed them to my children. Incredible! Incredible! that a small man-made machine could go sailing on (in an infinite, eternal silence) snapping photos, relaying photos of unimaginable worlds. Neptune! Saturn! There they were--filling the page. In color.
And then--our own planet. Earth. As taken--not from Voyager but the moon. An exquisite confusion of blue and white--blue seas, white clouds. I would disagree with Mr. Sagan here. An insignificant mote? No no, Mr. Sagan! Say rather--an incomparably precious gem floating in the darkness.
All the miracles of life--plants and animals locked (as it were) in that one precious gem. And us. Human beings! Every single one of us altogether unique. Brimming with thoughts and emotions. Gifts. Ideas. Perceptions.
And love. Each one of us capable of loving things. Art and music. Science. Technology. Mathematics. Philosophy.
Each other.
15
NASA has a Fiscal Year 2017 budget of $19.5 billion or 0.489% of the $ 4 trillion annual US budget. Since the beginning of the Cold War driven space race to now NASA's budget has been in steady decline. One Ford Class Aircraft Carrier costs $ 13 billion. There are not many interstellar journeys of any kind in our voyaging future at that rate.
Modern humans evolved in Africa about 300,000 years ago and our Homo genus line goes back about 5 million years. Earth is 4.7 billion years old and life began shortly thereafter. Thus two billion years in the future when the sun gets brighter and hotter there is no telling what form we will have evolved into if we or our DNA genetic heirs still exist at all. Let alone five billion years later when our sun becomes a red giant star. There is no looming sense of urgency to expand and explore outer space and the universe from either threat.
The reasons for exploring the universe rests in the urgent human need quest for new discovery and knowledge for the betterment of human kind and our planet. About a billion human beings do not have access to clean fresh drinking water. Another billion do not have sanitary waste and storm disposal. About 800 million humans are starving or malnourished. The human population is 7.3 billion and growing. Our natural resources are limited and our time is short.
Modern humans evolved in Africa about 300,000 years ago and our Homo genus line goes back about 5 million years. Earth is 4.7 billion years old and life began shortly thereafter. Thus two billion years in the future when the sun gets brighter and hotter there is no telling what form we will have evolved into if we or our DNA genetic heirs still exist at all. Let alone five billion years later when our sun becomes a red giant star. There is no looming sense of urgency to expand and explore outer space and the universe from either threat.
The reasons for exploring the universe rests in the urgent human need quest for new discovery and knowledge for the betterment of human kind and our planet. About a billion human beings do not have access to clean fresh drinking water. Another billion do not have sanitary waste and storm disposal. About 800 million humans are starving or malnourished. The human population is 7.3 billion and growing. Our natural resources are limited and our time is short.
12
NASA's budget peaked at 4% of the US federal budget in 1964-1966 in the run-up to the Apollo moon landing program.
1
Wonderful piece of human imagination made real, albeit in a most primitive stage, given the immensity of the Universe, or Multiverse yet unknown (unknowable?). And given our tendency towards violence, aliens (and, jokingly, yours truly an alien, as depicted in my 'green card') may be wise to avoid making contact with us and risk annihilation. The natural extinction of the solar system ought not to worry humanity whatsoever, as we seem capable, and quite willing, to destroy each other for the flimsiest excuse, and our neighbor's greener pasture always a source of appetite... if not gluttony. And I am a cautious optimist, conscious of the need for my own mortality as the price for the survival of our species. Still, one wonders its long-term wisdom, human stupidity a permanent outstanding feature in our psyche.
3
One recurring theme in Science Fiction Literature has been Mankind's evolution and the point where they reach a crossroads. Will we continue to evolve or will we kill ourselves off due to greed, wars, irresponsibility, stupidity and power plays.
It would appear that we've reached that crossroads.
It would appear that we've reached that crossroads.
5
We ain't going too far until they figure out how to avoid getting cancer from just the amount of radiation exposure realized by way of travel even as close to Mars.
2
@gemli
Spot on !!!
There is no "we".
There is only the one in a million Newton, Faraday, Maxwell, Galois, Noether, etc ...
For every Galileo, there is a catholic church.
For every Darwin, there are millions of evangelicals.
For every Sagan, there is a republican party.
The last astronaut to set foot on the moon has died of old age.
Spot on !!!
There is no "we".
There is only the one in a million Newton, Faraday, Maxwell, Galois, Noether, etc ...
For every Galileo, there is a catholic church.
For every Darwin, there are millions of evangelicals.
For every Sagan, there is a republican party.
The last astronaut to set foot on the moon has died of old age.
32
Though Buzz Aldrin is still with us (about 87 years now, I think), I understand what you're saying. Our problem is that we're not improving as much as we should over the ages, and there are many things in the universe capable of doing us in.
It hurts to think of the relative unlikelihood of the Star Trek dream. What wonders might we find (if only another place to live for some of humanity) if only we would decide to cooperate for the good of more than a few million people? The money we throw at war is used up and gone, and nothing even approaching permanent resolutions of the things over which we were fighting is in our view.
I was 14 when Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon. Will I still be living when we choose cooperation over abject stupidity? [Cross fingers and ... ]
It hurts to think of the relative unlikelihood of the Star Trek dream. What wonders might we find (if only another place to live for some of humanity) if only we would decide to cooperate for the good of more than a few million people? The money we throw at war is used up and gone, and nothing even approaching permanent resolutions of the things over which we were fighting is in our view.
I was 14 when Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon. Will I still be living when we choose cooperation over abject stupidity? [Cross fingers and ... ]
12
No, there are several lunar astronauts still alive.
"[W]e get our information and communicate using the internet, something that not even science fiction anticipated in 1977."
That's not exactly correct. Pete Townshend envisioned something similar to the internet which he called "The Grid" as part of his 1971 science fiction rock opera "Lifehouse". A summary of the work can be found on Wikipedia.
That's not exactly correct. Pete Townshend envisioned something similar to the internet which he called "The Grid" as part of his 1971 science fiction rock opera "Lifehouse". A summary of the work can be found on Wikipedia.
1
Now that we know that planets are the rule, not the exception, and their numbers are vast, those two time capsules are likely not alone. Common as dirt. Time capsules are seldom informative when opened, so no heroic hopes for the only constructed remnants of us.
Unless LPs are the galactic future.
Unless LPs are the galactic future.
2
RE: "All the while, our two Voyager spacecraft are likely to continue their lonely journeys among the stars."
And if it survives it may be discovered on day by space faring descendants, human or not, as the Voyagers are likely to orbit the galaxy as we do and return to our neighborhood where it could create it's own "Planet of the Apes" moment as they discover it is from their own past.
And if it survives it may be discovered on day by space faring descendants, human or not, as the Voyagers are likely to orbit the galaxy as we do and return to our neighborhood where it could create it's own "Planet of the Apes" moment as they discover it is from their own past.
2
Time, perhaps, to send out another Voyager, this time with a super-computer that holds all of human knowledge and achievement: every book every written, every film ever made, every piece of music ever written, every work of art. There was a Star Trek TNG episode, where Captain Picard finds (and interacts with) the remnants of a civilization long deceased. Let a future Picard in some far away galaxy some day come upon all that was human, the good and the bad, so that two billion years hence, our mark on the universe might still be preserved.
2
Over population, exhaustion of resources, pollution, climate change, wars and conflict seems to be our destiny especially when we ignore the evidence of science.
4
The author loves to invoke all of "humanity" in this romantic piece. The sad fact of the matter is that the VAST majority of people on this planet gain absolutely nothing from these hugely expensive projects. Even the knowledge gained can be understood and used by only a very small percentage of people. It's very conflicting, because I myself love reading about space discoveries, and certainly earth-orbiting satellites benefit us directly a great deal. But thoughts of colonizing Mars are real pie-in-the-sky.
To paraphrase the biblical: What will it profit humanity to know of the entire universe if we destroy our own planet?
To paraphrase the biblical: What will it profit humanity to know of the entire universe if we destroy our own planet?
2
This is a common complaint, but it leaves a lot out. One is that these projects are not that expensive overall. Consider that in the 1970s, I believe, General Motors changed its logo, costing it about $500 million. How much good did that do anybody who wasn't a GM stockholder? The vast majority of the human race will never benefit from anything you do, your kids do, your town neighbors do, etc. In fact, about the ONLY thing one can do that is likely to resonate to the entire race is to discover new knowledge.... at least, the only positive thing.
By the way, the Web that you're using to post this was developed originally to publish particle physics data.... data which only a handful of people can understand, yet now, billions use the resulting technology.
By the way, the Web that you're using to post this was developed originally to publish particle physics data.... data which only a handful of people can understand, yet now, billions use the resulting technology.
Best case scenario. Acceptance of the facts about our future on Earth gives us humility, putting our irreconcilable conflicts into a different perspective. Diminish these problems' importance and most if not all can be solved, the Mideast being a prime example. This is not going to happen when our "leader" believes that facts are what he says, making humility impossible.
Unfortunately, it appears to be the nature of political power that those who are drawn to it are convinced of their own omniscience.
We marvel at the accomplishments pf the Voyager spacecraft, but many will snicker at how primitive technically they are, say compared to our smartphones, We should all wonder in awe at the men and women who conceived of their mission, had the vision and creativity to execute the design, construction and launch, and who for years nursed their creations by reprogramming what they would do as those daring missions unfolded, offering surprises, challenges and opportunities.
The sheer scope of the Voyager program may be difficult for today's young people to grasp in a world of billion dollar startups, outsourced workforce in supply chains that bridge the continents and involve global armies of workers. They may fail to appreciate orbital calculations that were done using slide rules and computers far less capable than trinket calculators. They might wonder at the paucity of materials available to the designers and engineers who built the spacecraft, telemetry, and launch systems.
But today's young people should realize the role and importance of science, math and engineering that made Voyager possible, that makes gene spicing and smartphone apps and Pandora and Instagram possible. What are our next journeys of discovery? If there is a lesson from the centuries past, it is that unexpected discoveries by the men and women of science build doors to places not yet imagined, and their cohorts rush to those doors to open and widen them and delight us.
Here's to science!
The sheer scope of the Voyager program may be difficult for today's young people to grasp in a world of billion dollar startups, outsourced workforce in supply chains that bridge the continents and involve global armies of workers. They may fail to appreciate orbital calculations that were done using slide rules and computers far less capable than trinket calculators. They might wonder at the paucity of materials available to the designers and engineers who built the spacecraft, telemetry, and launch systems.
But today's young people should realize the role and importance of science, math and engineering that made Voyager possible, that makes gene spicing and smartphone apps and Pandora and Instagram possible. What are our next journeys of discovery? If there is a lesson from the centuries past, it is that unexpected discoveries by the men and women of science build doors to places not yet imagined, and their cohorts rush to those doors to open and widen them and delight us.
Here's to science!
1
Grow or die. Life does not exist as stasis. Humanity considered as life, collectively, must do the same.
I'd always thought, from Baby Boomer science fiction and the dreams of Kennedy to go to the Moon, that we'd expand. I expected 2017 would see us much further along.
We've done wars instead. And wealth has been siphoned off to a few. We stopped growing. This is more than disappointing, it is potentially fatal.
I'd always thought, from Baby Boomer science fiction and the dreams of Kennedy to go to the Moon, that we'd expand. I expected 2017 would see us much further along.
We've done wars instead. And wealth has been siphoned off to a few. We stopped growing. This is more than disappointing, it is potentially fatal.
8
When one observes the vastness and complexity of our universe and everything that inhabits it, how can the spiritual side of humanity be so easily dismissed or ignored. My body and its atoms will definitely go back to where they came from but my soul or spirit will live on and will be able to discover all that is out there. As the Bible states and the poet quotes " Dust thou art, to dust returnest,..Was not spoken of the soul."
2
Wow. As a science teacher in a program we named Voyager, this video blows my mind. Will show it to all my middle- and high-school students today. Perspective is such a powerful teaching tool, and astronomical distance is the most humbling reality of our existence.
6
The greatest contribution the watch-making industry could make to the humankind's appreciation of the interplanetary space would be time pieces that can show planetary time: the number of the year CE and the number of the day of the year on other planets of the Solar System. For example, on Earth this is year 2017 CE, but on Saturn it is 68 CE.
Perhaps it would be too difficult to make such time pieces with mechanical movements, but even an electronic movement would do for a lack of better choice.
Perhaps it would be too difficult to make such time pieces with mechanical movements, but even an electronic movement would do for a lack of better choice.
2
You can probably find a cell phone app that would do just that. In fact, that's your assignment: find or write one :)
As the article states, futurists and science fiction writers in 1977 never contemplated the internet as we know it today. Just as likely, there is at least one technology that is perhaps in its very infancy at this moment whose future impact in another 30 years that we cannot contemplate today. One very small idea that exists now as fantasy could have transformational impact on human behavior and existence in 30 years; for instance, what if our everyday behavior can be converted into energy-creating behavior instead of its current energy-consuming behavior? I just saw an article saying in part that the technology may be near where we install a form of receptors in sidewalks, and human traffic (walking on sidewalks) is converted into a form of reusable energy. A simple act, walking or at least movement, that we must do, becoming an energy creator. Fanciful now, but perhaps fundamental in the near future; and a small step, perhaps...kind of like that "small step" a man took in 1969. We don't know where we will be in 30 years, any more than we knew 30 years ago where we would be now. And, yes, we do have the highly intelligent and capable people to continue our amazing growth in knowledge, if we will just continue to provide education and opportunity, or better, to increase it...not doing so especially in the US is perhaps the darkest cloud on our immediate horizon.
Not to nit-pick, but humans cannot become "energy creators." Maybe we can recover some wasted energy and recycle that back in to *reduce* energy consumption (like hybrids), but otherwise you're talking about perpetual motion and running up against Newton's third law....
4
"futurists and science fiction writers in 1977 never contemplated the internet as we know it today"
Well, I'm quite sure that "Internet" (actually ARPAnet) users as early as 1973 did. I certainly did, by 1974. I can buy a Coke in a vending machine by my office today, paid for by Internet. In 1974, as a joke of sorts, there was an actual protocol for exactly that! Everybody knew that would be the eventual future of the technology.
Well, I'm quite sure that "Internet" (actually ARPAnet) users as early as 1973 did. I certainly did, by 1974. I can buy a Coke in a vending machine by my office today, paid for by Internet. In 1974, as a joke of sorts, there was an actual protocol for exactly that! Everybody knew that would be the eventual future of the technology.
Absolutely not at all talking about perpetual motion or anything like that. What I read was about having a sort of advanced sensor unit and friction/motion units embedded in walkways - a sort of "super sidewalk" that is not just concrete - that would generate reactions based on the foot movements when people press down and forward on these sensors. This is all a sort of speculation, future vision type thing; I am not stuck in current or old-fashioned, blindered ideas, but interested in the what-ifs...things we haven't experienced or thought of, not just re-creations of existing methods. Of course human beings can become "energy creators" - how else did we get electricity, fossil fuel energy, atomic energy, etc.? And we are just beginning to tap into ways to "create the spark" of generating energy by our actions, which is exactly what I was talking about. We create energy all the time, through food digestion and release of heat, and through motion. Why not envision ways to capture that energy? This has nothing to do with perpetual motion daydreams that some people cannot seem to let go of, or of some imagined "violation" of Newton's laws...that to me is fiction.
Humanity's time is ultimately limited, and at some point we will reach and pass through the peak of our civilization, probably without realizing its passing. Considering the future shocks due to climate change, perhaps we are there now.
6
TRUMP IS DOING Everything within his malign, destructive character to see to it that there will be an increase in destructive natural forces caused by human activity, including global warming, ocean acidification. From what is written here, I see the moons of other planets with warm oceans as being the most logical place to start looking for places that humans can inhabit. Though it would be essential for the models of the planets and their moons be extrapolated to formulate the changes that may occur during the next 2 billion years. If a generation is 20 years, then 2 billion years = 1 x 10 8th power or 1 billion generations. The human species began 2 million years ago and modern humans have existed for a mere 200,000 years, and modern civilization originated about 6,000 years ago, meaning that modern civilization could be replicated many millions of times during the 2 billion years that the Earth will remain habitable.
3
"We" aren't going anywhere. Even if we discover a habitable planet (big if) and even if we build a spaceship to go there, only a handful of people will go. And the kicker is that it will take them 10 thousand years to get there, and we won't hear about it for twenty thousand years. Our biggest challenge here on Earth is figuring out how to sustain fair and equitable political and economic systems that don't degenerate into fascism every time there is a major crisis.
4
You made a slight math error. Your 10^8 generations is correct but that is "only" 100 million, not 1 billion generations.
But, yes, civilization could rise and fall many times during those 2 billion years. If ours fell, the next (let us assume the 2nd technological) civilization might, however, have problems - we've stolen all the easily available fossil fuels.
But, yes, civilization could rise and fall many times during those 2 billion years. If ours fell, the next (let us assume the 2nd technological) civilization might, however, have problems - we've stolen all the easily available fossil fuels.
The hope a person can derive from the example of Voyager going into interstellar space?
Being pessimistic about the human race's future is easy today. Probably relatively few humans are truly disgusted about all the racial, ethnic, religious, cultural, national conflicts in the world, which is to say relatively few individuals have the psychology and talents to identify themselves strongly with a particular profession or even better, a vocation removed from all the dangerous to humanity forms of group identity.
But even the average human with little science and just basic learning should be able to imagine, say, that the human race will one day, as the sun over millions of years threatens to turn the earth into something of venus with its runaway greenhouse effect atmosphere, that humans will create a shield similar to the moon eclipsing the sun which will dilate and contract at will, like an iris, turning the sun truly into an Eye of Horus in the sky.
And beyond that, that humans will learn to move the earth farther from the sun, choosing orbit at will, and that gradually humans might even enclose the planet in a structure which by a field pins it at the poles and has it revolve, and this entire structure with planet inside will be a world moving and preserving machine, formed for taking our planet to a new star, a new system beyond our own. We humans should really remove the poison in our blood and imagine a new home. We don't have to be as we are now.
Being pessimistic about the human race's future is easy today. Probably relatively few humans are truly disgusted about all the racial, ethnic, religious, cultural, national conflicts in the world, which is to say relatively few individuals have the psychology and talents to identify themselves strongly with a particular profession or even better, a vocation removed from all the dangerous to humanity forms of group identity.
But even the average human with little science and just basic learning should be able to imagine, say, that the human race will one day, as the sun over millions of years threatens to turn the earth into something of venus with its runaway greenhouse effect atmosphere, that humans will create a shield similar to the moon eclipsing the sun which will dilate and contract at will, like an iris, turning the sun truly into an Eye of Horus in the sky.
And beyond that, that humans will learn to move the earth farther from the sun, choosing orbit at will, and that gradually humans might even enclose the planet in a structure which by a field pins it at the poles and has it revolve, and this entire structure with planet inside will be a world moving and preserving machine, formed for taking our planet to a new star, a new system beyond our own. We humans should really remove the poison in our blood and imagine a new home. We don't have to be as we are now.
3
Perhaps it's time to rev up the ORION PROJECT again. The plan was to build a rocket of such immense proportions, it would be possible to launch the most intelligent beings into space for a period of time while those on earth destroy each other. It was a classified project in the 60s, while it seems more timely now.
3
If there ever was a real life Noah's Ark, our spacecraft and the new evidence they uncover are it....but don't try to tell that to society's medieval minds that prefer the soothing effects of medieval mental religious flooding.
“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”
― Carl Sagan
“Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.”
― Carl Sagan
“We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.”
― Carl Sagan
Maybe it's time to start seriously educating humanity about the Big Blue Marble floating through time and space on a fossil-fueled bender of religious ignorance and psychopathic greed instead of doubling down on more tax cuts for the Fortune 1000.
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
― Robert Orben
“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”
― Carl Sagan
“Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.”
― Carl Sagan
“We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.”
― Carl Sagan
Maybe it's time to start seriously educating humanity about the Big Blue Marble floating through time and space on a fossil-fueled bender of religious ignorance and psychopathic greed instead of doubling down on more tax cuts for the Fortune 1000.
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
― Robert Orben
114
Sagan is correct as usual.
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
America has been running an "ignorance" experiment for decades now. The evidence is now in: ignorance is extremely expensive.
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
America has been running an "ignorance" experiment for decades now. The evidence is now in: ignorance is extremely expensive.
2
The third Sagan quote is the kicker!!
3
What if the primary intelligent biologically DNA genetic evolutionary fit life forms on Earth are the social insects particularly the ants?
1
Your piece ends with this comment: “The future for the Voyager spacecraft may already be written. Our own future remains in our hands.”
The future of life on earth too is already written as we are in the midst of an ongoing evolution that shaped all “our” actions, searches and progress. We tend to believe that we are separate and different from nature. Nature and we are one and the same unit, our future too therefore is already written.
The future of life on earth too is already written as we are in the midst of an ongoing evolution that shaped all “our” actions, searches and progress. We tend to believe that we are separate and different from nature. Nature and we are one and the same unit, our future too therefore is already written.
16
Not true. One thing about the theory of evolution is that it has little specific predictive power (thus some like Karl Popper claim it's not a scientific theory, though obviously true). Unless you believe in pre-determination in general (which quantum physics at least would seem to falsify), there is no way to predict how Nature (by that I assume you mean Earth's overall ecology) will evolve in future. If you have a specific prediction, I'd like to hear it.
1
There is not enough space here under “comments” to cover the subject with historical proof. When the planets, their moons, the stars, all travel in a predetermined path, what makes us believe that ours is left to chance. Even our individual (free) thoughts are determined by nature. It may sound like religion, but it actually is physics.
Can you imagine this President throwing down a gauntlet\challenge to put a manned spacecraft onto Mars within a decade ? Nope, me neither.
However we can do it. We have the technology to boldly go where no man(woman) has gone before. ( cue Star Trek music ) It is just a matter of priorities and cost, just like it is the same choices to be made here on earth, whether we want to eliminate poverty, disease or merely save ourselves ~ from ourselves.
The next few years, we seem to be destined to privatize lower orbit and the moon for tourism. Governments ( NASA ) no longer have budgets or function as explorers anymore, and that is a shame,
Perhaps, V'Ger will come back in search of the creator after all.
However we can do it. We have the technology to boldly go where no man(woman) has gone before. ( cue Star Trek music ) It is just a matter of priorities and cost, just like it is the same choices to be made here on earth, whether we want to eliminate poverty, disease or merely save ourselves ~ from ourselves.
The next few years, we seem to be destined to privatize lower orbit and the moon for tourism. Governments ( NASA ) no longer have budgets or function as explorers anymore, and that is a shame,
Perhaps, V'Ger will come back in search of the creator after all.
8
"Can you imagine this President throwing down a gauntlet\challenge to put a manned spacecraft onto Mars within a decade ?"
Can you imagine the response if he did? Our problems are bigger than the admitted limits of one small man.
Can you imagine the response if he did? Our problems are bigger than the admitted limits of one small man.
2
NASA's web site is more specific on percentages:
It turns out that roughly 68% of the universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27%. The rest - everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter - adds up to less than 5% of the universe.
https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy
This stuff is fascinating to me.
It turns out that roughly 68% of the universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27%. The rest - everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter - adds up to less than 5% of the universe.
https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy
This stuff is fascinating to me.
3
@Mark
It is fascinating to me too. It is probably fascinating and exciting to many a child that is looking up right now, and wondering what is up there. We need to nurture that curiosity wherever possible.
We must prioritize budgets to do so as well.
It is fascinating to me too. It is probably fascinating and exciting to many a child that is looking up right now, and wondering what is up there. We need to nurture that curiosity wherever possible.
We must prioritize budgets to do so as well.
2
Another difference is that in 1977 probably all the parts of the Voyagers were made in America. That 's not possible today.
2
How is that relevant?
1
I'm for spending money on anything that undermines the concepts of religion that are dominant in this country. Science has taken remarkable steps in explaining our universe abut none of this has sunk through the concrete that seems to have replaced the brains of America's religious majorities.
50
You would do better to accept that most people need their faith, whether you like it or not. There are core teachings of compassion and stewardship in all religions, and people are better led to follow the best than to be condemned for their culture and beliefs. I agree that on the whole atheists are deeply ethical, but these current hypocrites who call themselves Christians are using their so-called "faith" to support things Jesus would not have stood for.
1
This is a fascinating summary of how extensively the human knowledge base has evolved in just the last 40 years.
It is very troubling that, in the same time period, America's electorate has voluntarily dumbed-down their own knowledge base. Why the divergence? Will that divergence continue for the next 40 years? Can it?
It is very troubling that, in the same time period, America's electorate has voluntarily dumbed-down their own knowledge base. Why the divergence? Will that divergence continue for the next 40 years? Can it?
33
The Voyagers may never be discovered. They may drift forever without giving other beings (if they exist) any idea that human beings ever existed. No big deal, humans may exist somewhere, but so what. We should have shot garbage cans full of trash into space to really give those extraterrestrials something truly enigmatic and mysterious to decipher. The vastness of space cannot be fathomed by the human mind. Exploration of other planets will not happen because the human race is always racing after money to feed an over-populated planet. If extraterrestrials would only invade and eliminated about half the earth's population with a deadly plague, then perhaps a new renaissance would happen (as it did after the black plague) and then perhaps, a quest for a bright and shinny new home world might get off the ground. Did it ever occur to anyone that if another planet was inhabited by sentient beings they might would not want to be associated with Earthlings, with their exploration fanaticism, with the consequential greed that would ensue that would be forced upon them by capitalism and market forces that would probably enslave them. Then again, extraterrestrials may be able invade, point a magic weapon at the human race, zap all of us, thereby kindling up the other 90% of our brains to be used to come together to realize we are over-populated and consuming ourselves and our earth. Space exploration is a waste of taxes. Better to invest in neurosciences for a smarter tomorrow.
3
I viewed a wonderful and extensive exhibit on the totality of space exploration to date, produced by NASA and mounted at the Museum of Idaho. I was there for the eclipse recently.
Space exploration is absolutely NOT a waste of taxes. Thousands of resultant technological advances have translated into practical items for everyday use by all of us. Fifi is greatly misinformed.
Space exploration is absolutely NOT a waste of taxes. Thousands of resultant technological advances have translated into practical items for everyday use by all of us. Fifi is greatly misinformed.
1
When I think of the advancements in space exploration, one measuring stick comes to mind. 72 flights between Alan Shepard's suborbital flight and landing on the moon. My parents were alive between the Wright brothers' Kitty Hawk flight and the International Space Station. Me, I hope it's not Hiroshima and the end of civilization.
8
DJ...true but--and i hope you're sitting down--there was a country named the soviet union that launched the first satellite, the first living creature--a dog--into space, had the first human both into space and to circle the planet, the first ship to land on the moon, the first ship to land on another planet, the first person to walk in space, the first woman to go into space, the first multi cosmonaut flight, the longest time spent in space....
my maternal grandmother was 5 1/2 when kitty hawk happened. when she died in 2006 at 108y3m, she'd lived in three centuries and voyagers 1&2 were well on their way out of our solar system.
my maternal grandmother was 5 1/2 when kitty hawk happened. when she died in 2006 at 108y3m, she'd lived in three centuries and voyagers 1&2 were well on their way out of our solar system.
1
A perhaps dumb question: If interstellar space is filled with "rarefied gas" and not really a vacuum, couldn't the mass of all this gas account for dark matter?
Reasonable question. Yes, but that has been counted. We are still missing about 90%.
1
Professor Krauss’ thoughts always stretch my imagination and send me on a roller coaster ride. First, I’m enthralled by how rare and beautiful it is that we even exist. Then I’m reminded how long the universe has existed, and how very short and insignificant our time here may be. Finally, Krauss brings it back with the dream that maybe in the distant future Voyager 1 may tell others we were here.
26
The nearest interstellar system Alpha Centauri is 4.3 light years from Earth. With our present technology aka chemical power it would take Voyager 1 about 86,000 years to get there.
1
I'd hesitate to get too carried away. I suspect the most significant thing in all this is that we don't know what we don't know. We like to BELIEVE that what we know today is significant rather than accept the fact that our consciousness is inherently limited. And all our adventures are similar - created by the same limited thinking. Until we learn to further develop human consciousness it appears pretty much a dead end - we can't even run the basic activities on the planet.
3
The accelerating expanding universe concept is a fairly new twist. But the conclusion seems to violate the old, Newtonian, model in a baseline fashion. And while the Newtonian system is a bit declasse today, as the old joke goes it's close enough for all practical purposes.
If one looks at a mass, with a given velocity (even speed of light) exiting a gravity well, there is an inverse square graph to deal with. The just past current cosmological model was based on a LINEAR assumed "red shift" over distance. There's the rub. The inverse square will deviate from that line, and more so the closer the observer to the measured galaxy.
Ergo, expansion! Because we all know phota, though they exhibit real momenta, have only "virtual" mass.
Of course in the time of Galileo all knew (or better have) that cosmology was a system, highly reliable in its predictions, based on the angels spinning crystal spheres on the points of pins.
Light having mass would certainly brighten the dark matter picture considerably. & One must always beware artifacts of runaway imaginations.
If one looks at a mass, with a given velocity (even speed of light) exiting a gravity well, there is an inverse square graph to deal with. The just past current cosmological model was based on a LINEAR assumed "red shift" over distance. There's the rub. The inverse square will deviate from that line, and more so the closer the observer to the measured galaxy.
Ergo, expansion! Because we all know phota, though they exhibit real momenta, have only "virtual" mass.
Of course in the time of Galileo all knew (or better have) that cosmology was a system, highly reliable in its predictions, based on the angels spinning crystal spheres on the points of pins.
Light having mass would certainly brighten the dark matter picture considerably. & One must always beware artifacts of runaway imaginations.
1
M.J. - bravo! Indeed, what DO we know?! Trying to fathom this cosmic display . . . or unseen, or ...... Thing is, it seems to me, we are trying to deal with a problem that requires special tools yet we are stuck with this stuff evolved over the eons solely for adapting to the terrestrial domain in which we find ourselves. PERIOD. We need far more sophisticated tools - consciousness - to even approach the problem. Yet, humanity has only a limited sense of who and what they are or their real potential. Gotta start at the beginning. Fooling ourselves.
The depth of our imagination is the only limit to our reach. Politics and cultural expectations aside, there always have been and ever will be curiousity that sparks our will to understand more. Sometimes it is eras of repression, others during times of growth. But the will to imagine is fundamental.
Keep dreaming people. There are amazing things ahead.
Keep dreaming people. There are amazing things ahead.
1
I think what we often forget is how much of our current world had it's origins in the space program and the military. as we scale back and cut, cut. cut we also may be signalling the end of that golden age of exploration and the consequent development of new materials for clothing, new computing, and indeed most things that have a low probability of success that cost huge sums.
as the Voyagers are coasting along we seem to be coasting along. but the Voyagers provided new understanding and insights. our coasting seems largely to be stagnation.
as the Voyagers are coasting along we seem to be coasting along. but the Voyagers provided new understanding and insights. our coasting seems largely to be stagnation.
15
"we often forget is how much of our current world had it's origins in the space program and the military"
WW1 did the same for flight. WW2 did the same for much more, flight but also atomic physics, radio and radar, and a lot more.
It is national mobilization to a purpose that challenges our technology. Running around in the desert or mountains chasing low tech light infantry spends resources but does not challenge us in the same way.
WW1 did the same for flight. WW2 did the same for much more, flight but also atomic physics, radio and radar, and a lot more.
It is national mobilization to a purpose that challenges our technology. Running around in the desert or mountains chasing low tech light infantry spends resources but does not challenge us in the same way.
Re: "Humanity may perish, but somewhere in our galaxy will be evidence that we once existed."
I offer a slight correction: "Humanity will perish..." It is inevitable.
Also, let us emphasize that nothing earthly will be remembered. The sweep of all life will vanish, unknown. The tiniest of living things to the massive dinosaurs, the smallest flying insects to the swiftest falcons, the smallest deep-ocean animals to the greatest sharks of prehistory and huge whales of today -- all will disappear into a cloud of gas. And the works of humanity will leave no trace. The deepest preservations will prove futile. The mightiest structures will evaporate. There will remain nothing.
Except for the Voyagers. These emissaries could very well last beyond our galaxy's blending with Andromeda. And maybe to the end of the universe.
I offer a slight correction: "Humanity will perish..." It is inevitable.
Also, let us emphasize that nothing earthly will be remembered. The sweep of all life will vanish, unknown. The tiniest of living things to the massive dinosaurs, the smallest flying insects to the swiftest falcons, the smallest deep-ocean animals to the greatest sharks of prehistory and huge whales of today -- all will disappear into a cloud of gas. And the works of humanity will leave no trace. The deepest preservations will prove futile. The mightiest structures will evaporate. There will remain nothing.
Except for the Voyagers. These emissaries could very well last beyond our galaxy's blending with Andromeda. And maybe to the end of the universe.
28
"all will disappear into a cloud of gas. And the works of humanity will leave no trace. " seems to presume Voyagers will be the last and only interstellar representations of the Earth and its inhabitants.
3
I am awed by what we can do as a species. a few thousand years ago, we were looking up at the stars and marveling at them. now we are visiting them. That is why it is so horrendous to contemplate obliterating ourselves.
3
"The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep."
How's that for cosmology circa 1610?
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep."
How's that for cosmology circa 1610?
All of this astounding knowledge gained through scientific discovery and yet so many humans still screaming and fighting over myths which have no empirical evidence to support them.
77
Hard to accept but science is just the new religion we are living in. Somewhere along the way, the religion of science has out stripped our humanity. It will lead to our ultimate destruction.
Check out the nuclear bomb, for example. Our belief in science created this, as well as pollution and poisons that are killing our atmosphere and the present day technologies that created a media that gave a man like Trump the most powerful position in the free world.
In the religion of science, there is no real understanding of the ultimate cyclical mysterious laws of nature. Therein lies the grand delusion.
Check out the nuclear bomb, for example. Our belief in science created this, as well as pollution and poisons that are killing our atmosphere and the present day technologies that created a media that gave a man like Trump the most powerful position in the free world.
In the religion of science, there is no real understanding of the ultimate cyclical mysterious laws of nature. Therein lies the grand delusion.
1
We can shoot space probes into the cosmos, and put up the Hubble, which found images of the shadow of the big bang. We can detect the gravitation waves of a supernova. We can launch balloons into our atmosphere, and instruments into our oceans and learn about our own climate. We can map our genome, and trace our evolution, and find traces of our lost continents in rock and particles scattered around the planet.
But we don't have to accept the knowledge we gather or act on it. We can deny it all, the big bang to evolution, to climate change, to the next big controversy we can bury under the sand.
But our struggles won't remain in physics, in ocean acidification or in the spread of flood and drought. Our struggles will remain largely human - how to control the impact of greed on the helpless; how to contain monsters with weapons; how to grow out of violence and subjugation and increase in cooperation and altruism. Religion has taken us only so far, and seems to be a force of backward momentum for many people,
People are far more likely to burn themselves out before the Sun does.
But we don't have to accept the knowledge we gather or act on it. We can deny it all, the big bang to evolution, to climate change, to the next big controversy we can bury under the sand.
But our struggles won't remain in physics, in ocean acidification or in the spread of flood and drought. Our struggles will remain largely human - how to control the impact of greed on the helpless; how to contain monsters with weapons; how to grow out of violence and subjugation and increase in cooperation and altruism. Religion has taken us only so far, and seems to be a force of backward momentum for many people,
People are far more likely to burn themselves out before the Sun does.
48
Thank you for that:
"how to control the impact of greed on the helpless; how to contain monsters with weapons; how to grow out of violence and subjugation and increase in cooperation and altruism."
Surely we can remember that we know how to work together to solve problems and help each other. United we stand, divided we fall.
Finding victims to blame doesn't cut it. Neither does infotainment. There is nothing more rewarding that accepting membership in striving for the best in ourselves, not the worst. The person each of us can change most easily is oneself.
"how to control the impact of greed on the helpless; how to contain monsters with weapons; how to grow out of violence and subjugation and increase in cooperation and altruism."
Surely we can remember that we know how to work together to solve problems and help each other. United we stand, divided we fall.
Finding victims to blame doesn't cut it. Neither does infotainment. There is nothing more rewarding that accepting membership in striving for the best in ourselves, not the worst. The person each of us can change most easily is oneself.
I am 74 years old and I am going to put this illuminating essay in my own private time capsule to be read by my grandchildren 20 (not 40) years from now, when the world they will be inheriting will, no doubt, be as different from ours today as ours is from what it was in 1977 (when I was 34-year.)
11
A wonderful and timely article. Progress has not slowed, it is humans' ability to assimilate the new knowledge that has slowed. Once we moved past Newtonian physics, the 'truth' is unrelated to personal experience, and our primate minds will not accept it as valid. We are what we are, no more, no less. Amazing primates but bound by psychological needs that are largely unrelated to physical truths.
A larger, uncomfortable question is whether humanity deserves to preserve itself beyond Earth. Aren't we acting on this planet more like a scourge than we are benevolent overlords? Should this DNA really be exported?
A larger, uncomfortable question is whether humanity deserves to preserve itself beyond Earth. Aren't we acting on this planet more like a scourge than we are benevolent overlords? Should this DNA really be exported?
19
If I have a religion these days, it is science, so preach on.
I look at the accomplishments since I was in high school in 1964, and I am thrilled. Organic Chemistry taught me that whatever talents I have, they don't exist, really, in the realm of higher science, so I am most grateful for you, and others who bring modern questions and quests to the popular level.
It is truly mysterious how we humans can do so much to learn of our natural world, and at the same time find new and most horrible ways to kill each other. When I was discharged from the Marines in 1969, I wandered into a bar and watched as a man bounced about the moon.
Maybe one day it will be all about learning and war will be a distant memory.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
I look at the accomplishments since I was in high school in 1964, and I am thrilled. Organic Chemistry taught me that whatever talents I have, they don't exist, really, in the realm of higher science, so I am most grateful for you, and others who bring modern questions and quests to the popular level.
It is truly mysterious how we humans can do so much to learn of our natural world, and at the same time find new and most horrible ways to kill each other. When I was discharged from the Marines in 1969, I wandered into a bar and watched as a man bounced about the moon.
Maybe one day it will be all about learning and war will be a distant memory.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
28
Now that we know where there are some stars with possibly inhabitable planets it is time for Voyagers 3 and 4. The future of civilization is uncertain with the threats to our democracy and the relentless abuse we heap on our planet every day. We can fill these new Voyagers with all the things we did wrong but also with all great understanding of the physical and natural world we have acquired. These craft could contain not only digital information about us and Earth, but actual examples of our technology, our soil and some preserved microbes and small multi-cellular organisms. We just might be some help to a growing civilization some million years from now.
8
Contemplations of Voyager on its interstellar journey?
What this means to me personally, combined with my observations of what's most valued in advanced modern society, is that I am next to obsolete as a human being. Linguists such as Chomsky have spoken of something of a language generator in the brain, something humans are born with and which produces language by which they communicate with one another. My language generator seems fine, I can speak and write and think in language fairly well.
But I do not understand not to mention can generate the new language which is increasingly all around us and which most people still do not recognize as a language. Examine a gas pump. Examine your car. Your phone. Your stove. Your refrigerator. People invented such, speak that language, assembled such as if words, sentences, paragraphs, and increasingly the world belongs to those people who recognize such as a language, can "read" it, "write" it, "speak" it, and above all generate it...
Some people seem born with "language of machine" processor in brain and they can grasp nature more fundamentally, create technology all around us, and can probably grasp human biology more fundamentally and alter humanity to speak and understand a language that is largely unheard by the majority of us today. Probably our brains will alter to get right at the information at heart of universe and we will resemble more Voyager, brain wise, than current humans if we can leave our solar system at all.
What this means to me personally, combined with my observations of what's most valued in advanced modern society, is that I am next to obsolete as a human being. Linguists such as Chomsky have spoken of something of a language generator in the brain, something humans are born with and which produces language by which they communicate with one another. My language generator seems fine, I can speak and write and think in language fairly well.
But I do not understand not to mention can generate the new language which is increasingly all around us and which most people still do not recognize as a language. Examine a gas pump. Examine your car. Your phone. Your stove. Your refrigerator. People invented such, speak that language, assembled such as if words, sentences, paragraphs, and increasingly the world belongs to those people who recognize such as a language, can "read" it, "write" it, "speak" it, and above all generate it...
Some people seem born with "language of machine" processor in brain and they can grasp nature more fundamentally, create technology all around us, and can probably grasp human biology more fundamentally and alter humanity to speak and understand a language that is largely unheard by the majority of us today. Probably our brains will alter to get right at the information at heart of universe and we will resemble more Voyager, brain wise, than current humans if we can leave our solar system at all.
4
While the Voyager spacecraft have a special place our history, our mythology, and our hearts, they should not diminish the achievements of the many important instruments that followed. Few get the media attention, or capture the public imagination, as much as the Voyagers. The Mars Rovers may be an exception. But let's not forget the Pioneer series of spacecraft that set the stage for the Voyagers. Let's not forget the Hubble Space Telescope, COBE, Cassini–Huygens, Planck, Kepler, and so many other space endeavors that contributed to our knowledge of our solar system, our galaxy, and our universe. Let's not forget Keck, or the VLT, or CERN, or LIGO, or the many less glamorous terrestrial instruments that enabled discovery of super massive black holes, dark matter, dark energy, gravity waves, and so on. Contrary to public perception, the march of knowledge is moving ever onward. The Voyagers were only the beginning.
25
We need another word for “we” when we’re talking about the advancement of the human race. “We” didn’t map the cosmos or peer into the atom or learn to remove defective genes. A fraction of one percent of our fellow humans did that.
A much larger fraction has no interest in these things. Some of them have recently set us on a course that is bleaker than what lies before Voyager 1. At least there may be new and exciting light at the end of that tunnel. For us, if there’s any light at all it’s the proverbial oncoming train.
If there’s one thing that “we” do, it’s pick leaders who deny science. Our vice president once spoke passionately in support of Creationism, while Republican Paul Broun, who sat on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, once told supporters that "All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell." Our Secretary of Education wants American schools to build “God’s Kingdom.”
Global warming continues to be denied, ignored or positively encouraged by the current administration, and especially by the president that “we” elected. They see good things ahead. Maybe they’re right. At least the rising sea levels will help put out the forest fires.
If we don’t wise up, the world will already be a burned-out cinder long before the Sun gets around to blowing its corona.
A much larger fraction has no interest in these things. Some of them have recently set us on a course that is bleaker than what lies before Voyager 1. At least there may be new and exciting light at the end of that tunnel. For us, if there’s any light at all it’s the proverbial oncoming train.
If there’s one thing that “we” do, it’s pick leaders who deny science. Our vice president once spoke passionately in support of Creationism, while Republican Paul Broun, who sat on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, once told supporters that "All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell." Our Secretary of Education wants American schools to build “God’s Kingdom.”
Global warming continues to be denied, ignored or positively encouraged by the current administration, and especially by the president that “we” elected. They see good things ahead. Maybe they’re right. At least the rising sea levels will help put out the forest fires.
If we don’t wise up, the world will already be a burned-out cinder long before the Sun gets around to blowing its corona.
148
We're still waiting to see if the is truly intelligent life in the universe.
2
Exactly!
2
Regarding the existence of any "intelligent" alien life elsewhere in the universe there is the " Enrico Fermi Paradox" aka "Where are they? and the " Frank Drake Equation" aka who and what are they?
Life as we know it on Earth as carbon based has been evolving and expanding.
Can there be any science without any evidence of the existence of a subject aka extraterrestrial alien life?
If we are the only current intelligent life form or one among many is equally profound.
Life as we know it on Earth as carbon based has been evolving and expanding.
Can there be any science without any evidence of the existence of a subject aka extraterrestrial alien life?
If we are the only current intelligent life form or one among many is equally profound.
1
Thank you for this most interesting article Lawrence. It provided a much needed reminder of the fact that there are still forward thinking and visionary intellectuals in the United States and that the country has been responsible for some Earth shattering achievements in the past. The achievements that you allude to in this short essay remind us of what makes America great.
17
I've often pondered and criticized the loss of our wanderlust, as does Dr. Krauss. But his causative attributions of religious wars and racial violence miss the biggest component of the real picture, which goes a long way by itself to explaining why we've so de-emphasized the search for answers to the nature of the universe we're a part of.
We no longer CAN. To the extent that industrialized societies, notably ours, sent out our Voyagers and once made other great strides in space it was because we placed a high enough priority on the answers we could glean to justify the enormous expense. Today, over fifty percent of what the U.S. federal government spends is dedicated to social safety-net programs, and that leaves very little indeed for anything else but defense, which seeks to keep all those religious wars and other global disorder from irretrievably infecting our own society. When John Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960s, neither Medicare nor Medicaid existed. Today and together, they consume vast resources that once might have been used for other things.
ALL agitation for greater expenditures today focus on better supporting the lifestyles of those now living. There once was a time when we regarded space exploration as an investment in humankind's future. Yet it's apparent that we can't afford both.
It's good to read a pitch in the New York Times for space exploration. But I'm not sure how effective it can be.
We no longer CAN. To the extent that industrialized societies, notably ours, sent out our Voyagers and once made other great strides in space it was because we placed a high enough priority on the answers we could glean to justify the enormous expense. Today, over fifty percent of what the U.S. federal government spends is dedicated to social safety-net programs, and that leaves very little indeed for anything else but defense, which seeks to keep all those religious wars and other global disorder from irretrievably infecting our own society. When John Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960s, neither Medicare nor Medicaid existed. Today and together, they consume vast resources that once might have been used for other things.
ALL agitation for greater expenditures today focus on better supporting the lifestyles of those now living. There once was a time when we regarded space exploration as an investment in humankind's future. Yet it's apparent that we can't afford both.
It's good to read a pitch in the New York Times for space exploration. But I'm not sure how effective it can be.
2
Richard claims that human society "no longer CAN ... search for answers to the nature of the universe we're a part of."
Apparently Richard is ignorant of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the James Webb Space Telescope to be launched next year, the Giant Magellan Telescope under construction, the Planck orbiting microwave observatory, the multiple ground-based neutrino and gravity-wave observatories, the Cassini mission which is orbiting Saturn even today, not to mention genome maps for many species other than humans, the "Stimulating eXtreme Spacetime" effort, and geological explorations of ancient impacts. Despite attempts to denigrate global climate change, research on the subject is advancing.
Science can always use more funding, the there's a lot going on.
Apparently Richard is ignorant of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the James Webb Space Telescope to be launched next year, the Giant Magellan Telescope under construction, the Planck orbiting microwave observatory, the multiple ground-based neutrino and gravity-wave observatories, the Cassini mission which is orbiting Saturn even today, not to mention genome maps for many species other than humans, the "Stimulating eXtreme Spacetime" effort, and geological explorations of ancient impacts. Despite attempts to denigrate global climate change, research on the subject is advancing.
Science can always use more funding, the there's a lot going on.
62
"Today, over fifty percent of what the U.S. federal government spends is dedicated to social safety-net programs... and that leaves very little indeed for anything else but defense..." Medicare, Medicaid consume vast resources that once might have been used for other things.
I question your priorities. It is the military/industrial complex that thrreatens our existence and fosters war and instability. Medicare and Medicaid are a poor subsitute for universal health care - which is a better investment than the massive, counterproductive war machine.
I question your priorities. It is the military/industrial complex that thrreatens our existence and fosters war and instability. Medicare and Medicaid are a poor subsitute for universal health care - which is a better investment than the massive, counterproductive war machine.
50
Wrong, social benefits have not taken one penny away from the advancement of science. NASA' s budget is less than one percent of the national budget' and government sees it as an easy target. No but scientists and educators are moaning over the loss of science dollars. Industry is having a difficult time searching for qualified employees to operate and maintain highly advanced manufacturing equipment. How fewer folks there are to tackle the sciences.
Related or unrelated, I was playing golf the other day with a friend. When I looked around the course it was almost empty. A municipal course at that, nothing that brings a country club to mind. "Why so. Less and less younger folks are playing golf." My friend responded, "Because it is a difficult game. Requiring more than ones thumbs."
Related or unrelated, I was playing golf the other day with a friend. When I looked around the course it was almost empty. A municipal course at that, nothing that brings a country club to mind. "Why so. Less and less younger folks are playing golf." My friend responded, "Because it is a difficult game. Requiring more than ones thumbs."
18
Once upon a time we thought big. In our current climate we might not have seen the value in sending out the Voyagers to explore the solar system. Our technology might be better now than it was in 1977 but the nation isn't gripped by the same intellectual curiosity that we once held dear.
Thank you for the reminder that we were once capable of great things. Perhaps we can rediscover the curiosity and drive that gave birth to the space race.
Thank you for the reminder that we were once capable of great things. Perhaps we can rediscover the curiosity and drive that gave birth to the space race.
71
If there ever was a modern Noah's Ark, our spacecraft and the new evidence they uncover are it....but don't try to tell that to society's medieval minds that prefer the soothing effects of mental religious flooding.
“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”
― Carl Sagan
“Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.”
― Carl Sagan
“We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.”
― Carl Sagan
Maybe it's time to start seriously educating humanity about the Big Blue Marble floating through time and space on a fossil-fueled bender of religious ignorance and psychopathic greed instead of doubling down on more tax cuts for the Fortune 1000.
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
― Robert Orben