likethebeer: (Andromeda Galaxy)
likethebeer ([personal profile] likethebeer) wrote2016-07-15 11:18 pm
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The Most Astounding Fact (NDGT)

This is the interview in which Neil DeGrasse Tyson answers the question from the interviewer of what the "most astounding fact" was that he could share him about the universe, w/music behind it. It's beautiful & I thought I had it elsewhere on here, but it's probably buried in years of entries. So here it is, on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/57731445

His transcription of what he says is below (this if for me if I don't have the time to see the whole video)
The most astounding fact is the knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on Earth, the atoms that make up the human body, are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures.

These stars, the high mass ones among them, went unstable in their later years. They collapsed and then exploded, scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy. Guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself.

These ingredients become part of gas clouds that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems, stars with orbiting planets. And those planets now have the ingredients for life itself.

So that when I look up at the night sky and I know that yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up—many people feel small because they’re small and the universe is big—but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There’s a level of connectivity.

That’s really what you want in life, you want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant, you want to feel like you’re a participant in the goings-on of activities and events around you. That’s precisely what we are, just by being alive.

[identity profile] sirreal13.livejournal.com 2016-07-17 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
Reminds me of Carl Sagan's cosmic monologues.

Cosmos

[identity profile] likethebeer.livejournal.com 2016-07-17 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
I saw the series w/mda. Unfortunately, I had to leave it (just like had to leave the Star Trek Next Generation series). Someday I'll have to get those again.

Luckily, you can hear the Pale Blue Dot monologue:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot

Re: Cosmos

[identity profile] sirreal13.livejournal.com 2016-07-20 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the link ;^)