Science Saved My Soul

[foolish girl]

Can anyone recommend a good book to help a novice learn more about how we "Are all star stuff"?

[Overcame Faith]

My best recommendation is to take an astronomy course as one of your electives. I took two astronomy courses while I was in college and it was a wonderful experience. It's an amazing universe. Also, consider getting this or a similar computer program.

 

http://store.starrynight.com/software.html

 

With these programs, you can learn a lot and you can do something as simple, yet amazingly fun and educational, as see what will be in the sky and at the exact location in the sky in your hometown. But not just that, you can see the same thing from any location, and any time from 6000 years ago to 6000 years into the future, from anywhere on planet earth (or any other location in the universe for that matter). Want to know how the sky looked where your children were born on the exact minute they were born, you can do it. So if the program tells you that Jupiter will be up tonight at a specific time, you will know exactly what time to take your children outside, at what precise place to point your telescope, binoculars, or naked eyes, to see it. You can also do fun things like see what the earth looks like at any given time from the moon, or mars, or the sun, etc. Travel all the way to Uranus and then see how small the sun looks and what a dot the earth is from that great distance. Land on one of Saturn's moon or travel to any given star and see what the universe looks like from that vantage point.

 

Want to know what your TRUE zodiac sign is, and not just what the incorrect astrological star charts tell you? Use this program to see in which sign of the zodiac the sun was on the day your were born. You will be surprised at what you learn. Hint, what you thought all your life is wrong. I first learned this in one of my astronomy classes and then confirmed it with my computer program. By the way, if Jesus was born when some scholars believe he was (September 4 BCE) the sun was in Virgo. Get it, the virgin. Answer any questions about Jesus being born of a virgin?

[BrotherJosh]

It's not a book but I recommend this video by Lawrence Krauss:

 

 

Also, look up anything by Neil DeGrasse Tyson

 

 

 

[Midnight-mindwanderings]

For books I'd recommend anything by Carl Sagan if you like the star stuff "spiritual" awe as well as Neil DeGrasse Tyson. I also love this video which invoked similar feelings in me as the one you posted.

[par4dcourse]

"When I compare what scientific knowledge has done for me, and what religion tried to do to me, I literally shudder." Great Video!

 

I second the recom for anything by Carl Sagan.

[foolish girl]

Thanks all.

I really enjoyed the video, Midnight. It gave me a great perspective.

 

It is obvious, but I was overlooking it. The whole cosmic sequence of events led to me...and you. We are made of Star stuff. All of the elements required for life started out there. We aren't just related to apes, mammals, and single celled organisms...we are cousins to the STARS!

 

wow.

[Vixentrox]

Thanks all.

I really enjoyed the video, Midnight. It gave me a great perspective.

 

It is obvious, but I was overlooking it. The whole cosmic sequence of events led to me...and you. We are made of Star stuff. All of the elements required for life started out there. We aren't just related to apes, mammals, and single celled organisms...we are cousins to the STARS!

 

wow.

For some reason it doesn't really inspire any wow factor in me. We are composed of different bascis elements and that came from some where. It's a natural conclusion.

[foolish girl]

I understand that Vix, but I spent my whole life believing God made people, and I descended from those people.

Evolution was a major "Wow" for me. It took a few months to change my thinking. To accept my place in "creation". To feel related to the cat who always sits by me when I type .

Now I see it and it is something amazing, not something derogatory.

So this is just one step further for me- seeing the "BIG" picture. It is amazing. I guess the next step would be to actually *grasp* quantum physics.

[Overcame Faith]

I understand that Vix, but I spent my whole life believing God made people, and I descended from those people.

Evolution was a major "Wow" for me. It took a few months to change my thinking. To accept my place in "creation". To feel related to the cat who always sits by me when I type .

Now I see it and it is something amazing, not something derogatory.

So this is just one step further for me- seeing the "BIG" picture. It is amazing. I guess the next step would be to actually *grasp* quantum physics.

 

I share your amazement. Once it really hit me, I saw my pet dogs differently. They became my friends instead of just my pets and I began to see all that we have in common in a new and exciting way. It was a real eye opener. And once you grasp quantum physics, please do share.

[Vixentrox]

I understand that Vix, but I spent my whole life believing God made people, and I descended from those people.

Evolution was a major "Wow" for me. It took a few months to change my thinking. To accept my place in "creation". To feel related to the cat who always sits by me when I type .

Now I see it and it is something amazing, not something derogatory.

So this is just one step further for me- seeing the "BIG" picture. It is amazing. I guess the next step would be to actually *grasp* quantum physics.

 

I share your amazement. Once it really hit me, I saw my pet dogs differently. They became my friends instead of just my pets and I began to see all that we have in common in a new and exciting way. It was a real eye opener. And once you grasp quantum physics, please do share.

Your friends that will still eat your decaying corpse if they get the chance.

[MagickMonkey]

I understand that Vix, but I spent my whole life believing God made people, and I descended from those people.

Evolution was a major "Wow" for me. It took a few months to change my thinking. To accept my place in "creation". To feel related to the cat who always sits by me when I type .

Now I see it and it is something amazing, not something derogatory.

So this is just one step further for me- seeing the "BIG" picture. It is amazing. I guess the next step would be to actually *grasp* quantum physics.

 

I share your amazement. Once it really hit me, I saw my pet dogs differently. They became my friends instead of just my pets and I began to see all that we have in common in a new and exciting way. It was a real eye opener. And once you grasp quantum physics, please do share.

Your friends that will still eat your decaying corpse if they get the chance.

 

Yep, or worms, bacteria, etc. It's a real reincarnation.

[Vixentrox]

I understand that Vix, but I spent my whole life believing God made people, and I descended from those people.

Evolution was a major "Wow" for me. It took a few months to change my thinking. To accept my place in "creation". To feel related to the cat who always sits by me when I type .

Now I see it and it is something amazing, not something derogatory.

So this is just one step further for me- seeing the "BIG" picture. It is amazing. I guess the next step would be to actually *grasp* quantum physics.

 

I share your amazement. Once it really hit me, I saw my pet dogs differently. They became my friends instead of just my pets and I began to see all that we have in common in a new and exciting way. It was a real eye opener. And once you grasp quantum physics, please do share.

Your friends that will still eat your decaying corpse if they get the chance.

 

Yep, or worms, bacteria, etc. It's a real reincarnation.

Hehe, you can become dog poo in your next life!

[MagickMonkey]

I understand that Vix, but I spent my whole life believing God made people, and I descended from those people.

Evolution was a major "Wow" for me. It took a few months to change my thinking. To accept my place in "creation". To feel related to the cat who always sits by me when I type .

Now I see it and it is something amazing, not something derogatory.

So this is just one step further for me- seeing the "BIG" picture. It is amazing. I guess the next step would be to actually *grasp* quantum physics.

 

I share your amazement. Once it really hit me, I saw my pet dogs differently. They became my friends instead of just my pets and I began to see all that we have in common in a new and exciting way. It was a real eye opener. And once you grasp quantum physics, please do share.

Your friends that will still eat your decaying corpse if they get the chance.

 

Yep, or worms, bacteria, etc. It's a real reincarnation.

Hehe, you can become dog poo in your next life!

 

Reminds me of a Cowboy poem

 

Reincarnation

"What does Reincarnation mean?"

A cowpoke asked his friend.

His pal replied, "It happens when

Yer life has reached its end.

They comb yer hair, and warsh yer neck,

And clean yer fingernails,

And lay you in a padded box

Away from life's travails."

 

"The box and you goes in a hole,

That's been dug into the ground.

Reincarnation starts in when

Yore planted 'neath a mound.

Them clods melt down, just like yer box,

And you who is inside.

And then yore just beginnin' on

Yer transformation ride."

 

"In a while, the grass'll grow

Upon yer rendered mound.

Till some day on yer moldered grave

A lonely flower is found.

And say a hoss should wander by

And graze upon this flower

That once wuz you, but now's become

Yer vegetative bower."

 

"The posy that the hoss done ate

Up, with his other feed,

Makes bone, and fat, and muscle

Essential to the steed,

But some is left that he can't use

And so it passes through,

And finally lays upon the ground

This thing, that once wuz you."

 

"Then say, by chance, I wanders by

And sees this upon the ground,

And I ponders, and I wonders at,

This object that I found.

I thinks of reincarnation,

Of life and death, and such,

And come away concludin': 'Slim,

You ain't changed, all that much.'"

 

 

http://www.cowboypoetry.com/mcrae.htm

[Galien]

Science doesn't do much for me I'm afraid, doesn't answer any of the big questions as far as I can see. Still don't get why humans need a "something" that explains everything.

[Jeremy Allen]

...we are cousins to the STARS!

 

wow.

 

Wow, indeed! Fantastic video and story of our origins.

[foolish girl]

Science doesn't do much for me I'm afraid, doesn't answer any of the big questions as far as I can see. Still don't get why humans need a "something" that explains everything.

 

Cosmology is the history of everything, and the future! You don't find that interesting?

 

I remember when I was a little kid and I grasped the concept that looking at the stars was like time travel- it was incredible. I remember (and still) Marveling over how the universe can stretch on forever- limitless...now we have the multiverse and fourth dimensions to ponder.

 

Now, I don't expect it to "answer questions" like a religion- oh no. But it does answer questions I never even had! I would have never thought of fourth dimensionality, or quarks, or the intricacies of evolution. So Science is not the answer to "Why", but "How". I can dig that.

[Ouroboros]

Science doesn't do much for me I'm afraid, doesn't answer any of the big questions as far as I can see.

Perhaps not. I do think it answers several of the big questions, but perhaps it will never explain them all.

 

Still don't get why humans need a "something" that explains everything.

Part of how our minds evolved, is that it evolved to have this curiosity, this mode of finding the answers to "what, why, how?"

 

Just that you ask "why humans need..." points to the same need that "'something' that explains everything" fulfills.

 

You bring up this questions. The question is still going on in your brain. And you would love to have that question answered. Right?

 

So, imagine a person who wants to know "why everything?" And they keep on asking that question but have no answer.

 

The real answer would be a scientific answer that would have resulted from a lot of scientific research. On the cosmic scale of things, we have not even touched the surface of understanding the Universe, so science does not have that answer all figured out yet. We got a lot, but not enough. Even so, the scientific answers we do have are complex, complicated, intricate, and take years to understand.

 

From that, doesn't it make sense that a lot of people want an answer where science doesn't have one, essentially filling the gap? Doesn't it make sense that a lot of people want a short-cut answer, a quick and simple answer they can understand instead of the complicated answer from science that would require a math degree?

 

So what kind of answer would that be? Belief. It's easier to believe something that answers the questions, instead of learning the hard, cold, and difficult answers of science, and in the end realize that science still have some holes. Religion cover this. It settles the mind with a myth. And the person can feel at peace.

[sciencemike]

Science doesn't do much for me I'm afraid, doesn't answer any of the big questions as far as I can see. Still don't get why humans need a "something" that explains everything.

 

Adding in to what foolish girl and Ouroboros said, the "big questions" we have may not necessarily have answers themselves. It's akin to analytically root-solving a transcendental function with algebra, or analytically integrating difficult integrals. The questions we have may be unique to humanity itself, and our systems of mathematics, philosophy, and science may appear completely different to an outside observer who is not knowledgeable of humanity's constructs.

 

For instance, if I were from the planet Unix somewhere way off in the Linux cluster of stars and my biology was radically different than Earth based life forms, my concepts and world-view would be dramatically different because of not only the differences in physiology (my language would include concepts like sudo) but also in the millions of years of evolution behind it, so the questions I may ask might be completely different than those of Earthlings. Does the universe necessarily have an answer for a Unixer's request to "How do we Panda?" If the question itself is not well formed the universe will not have an answer. The same goes with human questions. Ask a human question, get a human answer, this answer might not be what is actually going to happen though (which explains the role of many religion's human answers).

 

The role of science isn't necessarily to answer all of the questions possible, but it can test whether answers can be found to specific questions under observable and repeatable criteria given a set of assumptions. This, in my opinion, is far more powerful than the equivalent problem-solving methodology in fields like Theology (various ways of God "doing it"). Through science we can ask meaningful questions about our history (through cosmology, geology, paleontology, archaeology), our physical nature (physics, chemistry, biology), and what our future may hold (engineering, more cosmology, space travel); even though "fundamental human" questions like "Why are we here?" is sort of equivalent to asking "Why is pi a constant value?" or "Why is the speed of light constant?" other than just saying we are here and we might as well make use of ourselves.

[Ouroboros]

Well put Mike. I really like the thoughts about "meaningful questions." That's a very good point.

 

 

Here's an interesting question: Why ask meaningless questions?

 

The question is, is that question meaningless in itself?

[MagickMonkey]

Science doesn't do much for me I'm afraid, doesn't answer any of the big questions as far as I can see. Still don't get why humans need a "something" that explains everything.

 

Adding in to what foolish girl and Ouroboros said, the "big questions" we have may not necessarily have answers themselves. It's akin to analytically root-solving a transcendental function with algebra, or analytically integrating difficult integrals. The questions we have may be unique to humanity itself, and our systems of mathematics, philosophy, and science may appear completely different to an outside observer who is not knowledgeable of humanity's constructs.

 

For instance, if I were from the planet Unix somewhere way off in the Linux cluster of stars and my biology was radically different than Earth based life forms, my concepts and world-view would be dramatically different because of not only the differences in physiology (my language would include concepts like sudo) but also in the millions of years of evolution behind it, so the questions I may ask might be completely different than those of Earthlings. Does the universe necessarily have an answer for a Unixer's request to "How do we Panda?" If the question itself is not well formed the universe will not have an answer. The same goes with human questions. Ask a human question, get a human answer, this answer might not be what is actually going to happen though (which explains the role of many religion's human answers).

 

The role of science isn't necessarily to answer all of the questions possible, but it can test whether answers can be found to specific questions under observable and repeatable criteria given a set of assumptions. This, in my opinion, is far more powerful than the equivalent problem-solving methodology in fields like Theology (various ways of God "doing it"). Through science we can ask meaningful questions about our history (through cosmology, geology, paleontology, archaeology), our physical nature (physics, chemistry, biology), and what our future may hold (engineering, more cosmology, space travel); even though "fundamental human" questions like "Why are we here?" is sort of equivalent to asking "Why is pi a constant value?" or "Why is the speed of light constant?" other than just saying we are here and we might as well make use of ourselves.

 

Wouldn't there be a planet Linux in a Unix cluster somewhere rather than vice versa?

[sciencemike]

Well put Mike. I really like the thoughts about "meaningful questions." That's a very good point.

 

 

Here's an interesting question: Why ask meaningless questions?

 

The question is, is that question meaningless in itself?

 

Well thats kind of like rhetorically asking "Why grow a beard?" with a response of "Why not grow a beard?" In itself it is a rather meaningless question to those who have no idea what a beard is (like our Penguin friends from the Linux star system), but to us it makes sense because humans are capable of growing beards and may decide to grow one for the heck of it.

 

We ask meaningless questions because we don't know they are meaningless (with respect to something). To us they are meaningful and only because we have the context in which to give them meaning. Does this mean we can get a meaningful answer? It depends on the question and whether or not a framework exists in the physical world that can give such an answer.

 

Wouldn't there be a planet Linux in a Unix cluster somewhere rather than vice versa?

 

lol MagickMonkey you caught me there. Yup, the Unix should be the cluster, Linux would be a star system, the individual planets would be the distros and /dev/null would be a black hole

[MagickMonkey]

...and /dev/null would be a black hole

 

Hehehhehe, yep!!!

[Ouroboros]

lol MagickMonkey you caught me there. Yup, the Unix should be the cluster, Linux would be a star system, the individual planets would be the distros and /dev/null would be a black hole

And /usr would humans (or /home, or /user, whichever config).

 

Cloud could be a nebula.

 

 

[MagickMonkey]

lol MagickMonkey you caught me there. Yup, the Unix should be the cluster, Linux would be a star system, the individual planets would be the distros and /dev/null would be a black hole

And /usr would humans (or /home, or /user, whichever config).

 

Cloud could be a nebula.

 

 

 

And god's name would be root.

[Ouroboros]

And god's name would be root.

Or LILO, the First Cause.