Inspiration for a Natural World-View
Scale of the Universe
Feb 24th
Now this is just awesome enough to bring me out of my temporary retirement (takes a few moments to load but worth it):
http://www.documaga.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/scaleofuniverse.swf
Best,
Myles
The Rings of Earth
Dec 11th
Have you ever wondered what the rings of Saturn would look like if you were standing on it’s surface? Well that’s just silly, you can’t stand on Saturn because it’s made of gas. But you can stand on the earth and imagine what it rings would look like.
In this video, we see what rings would look like from the surface of earth. This was created by a guy named Roy Prol, and he didn’t just slap rings in the background of images from around the world. He actually calculated how the rings would look if you were standing in a particular spot on our globe. He also uses a 3D rendering of the earth to help put it in perspective.
This is a cool concept, and it’s creator even takes into account what the rings would look like at night, considering they would still reflect light. Blogger Emily Lakdawalla, over at the planetary society, points out that it would be cool to see how the rings appeared in the winter hemisphere; the rings would eclipse the sun, showing large black swoops through a starry sky.
Enable HQ mode for best quality video:
Roger Ebert gets all up in your business
Dec 3rd
This article by Roger Ebert has been all over the blogosphere. In it, he takes aim at creationists and new-agers, particularly those in politics. Just encase you missed it… Click here to read the article.
Interview: John Boswell – Symphony of Science
Dec 2nd
I rarely bring up the topic of science in casual conversation. I’m paralyzed by my inability to deliver the awe-inspiring realizations that seem to come so fluently from scientists like Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson. It seems the simplest explanations can be the most elegant. I’m not a scientist, but when I read a book like Pale Blue Dot, there are some things I do share with the author, his enthusiasm and excitement as he takes me on a expedition beyond our galaxy. But how do we convey this invigoration to others who are not rushing out to pick up a copy Cosmos?
John Boswell
John Boswell, Composer of the growing music and video series Symphony of Science, may have figured it out. Each composition ignites the emotion many of us felt when we were first awakened to the vastness of our universe. Boswell uses words spoken from the mouths of our most influential scientists, and transforms them into melodic lyrics set to addicting musical arrangements. In this interview I asked Boswell about his inspiration and the future of the project.
Myles: Who inspired you to take an interest in science?
JB: Carl Sagan, without a doubt, is largely responsible for my continued fascination with science. I discovered him at a time when I was deeply interested in philosophical questions about the universe, reality, and all that good stuff. In high school I wasn’t initially interested in science, mainly because the teachers were too regimented and dry; the exception was my junior year biology teacher introducing me to David Attenborough. After taking a number of science and philosophy electives in college I was entranced… particularly by my astronomy class, and that led me to finding Carl Sagan’s Cosmos my sophomore year, which I immediately fell in love with.
Myles: What is it about Sagan that makes him captivating?
JB: He doesn’t just give you the facts as revealed by the scientific method, he talks about them in a personal and meaningful way that seems to reach people on a deeper level than most other scientists.
Myles: Astronomy is the driving force behind your first three songs. Why do you find this particular science fascinating?
JB: I find all fields of science fascinating, they give us a new perspective on ourselves. But astronomy is particularly awe-inspiring to me because it does so on the grandest scale, and provides an endless amount of food for thought. I was into space as a kid, but I heavily rekindled that interest once I was old enough to appreciate the size, age and scope of the cosmos on a new level.
Myles: What is your creative process and what kind of technology goes into it?
JB: The instrumentals for the songs are composed in Reason 4.0, which is the first step. I then start tuning speech clips using a program called Melodyne, and inserting them into the song to see if it’s a fit. I sift through a lot of videos for elegant precise quotes that are spoken with passion and clear emphasis. I throw away a lot of clips I initially tend to use, because they don’t end up sounding right. It’s mostly a guess-and-check process. Once I collect enough similarly-themed speech clips that work with the song, it’s on to the video editing, which is done entirely in Sony Vegas.
Myles: Do you collaborate with anyone on this project?
JB: I get feedback from close friends who are also musicians, but the compositions and video edits are all done myself. I have considered doing some collaboration recently, so there may be featured artists on future tracks, but nothing for certain at this point.
Myles: Have you considered making other sciences the focus in your music, such as Biology / Evolution?
JB: You are right on the money. I have focused mostly on astronomy for my first three videos, but I am looking to expand into new fields, and my next pick will be biology. There are of course many suitable scientists to use for this field but I am looking to incorporate one of my favorites, not a scientist per se but an amazing individual, David Attenborough. Of course Carl Sagan will be making an appearance as well, as he has a fair amount to say about the subject.
Myles: Your first song – A Glorious Dawn – has been released on a special 7” vinyl by Jack White’s record company Third Man Records. What do you see for Symphony of Science going into the future?
JB: I hope to put out a series of at least 10 videos, but rights issues are the only [obstacles] on the horizon in terms of a CD or DVD release. I have been through the hoops for A Glorious Dawn’s single, but the later entries have used more varied footage and thus it would be much harder to clear the copyright hurdles. I am optimistic though, and hoping that nobody comes knocking at this point in the project with complaints.
At the time of this writing. John’s Videos have generated around 3.5 million views on YouTube. View the growing Symphony of Science project at www.SymphonyOfScience.com
Seeing is seeing.
Dec 1st
See if you can figure out how this is done (see below the video for answer). It’s not a camera trick and it’s not lighting.
If the diamonds were all the same color, then you shouldn’t see shapes at all – it would just be one solid color on the piece of paper. Yet we see diamond shapes. So how is it that they are proven to be the same color when compared to each other? The reason is, the diamonds are the same, but they are not solid colors. They are all the same gradated shade of grey; the top of each diamond is slightly lighter than it’s bottom. You can see this if you put a pencil across the center of a row of diamonds. We see the diamond shape because the top (lighter) shade of each diamond is meeting the bottom (darker) shade of one above it.
Debate Video
Nov 30th
The following video is a great debate staring Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett VS three popular(?) religionists. The video stands on it’s own, and I don’t need to add much to the dialog. Except…. Are these the best arguments religionists have? Audio is low, so crank it up.
Holiday Gifts for Freethinkers
Nov 29th
Some of us freethinkers still enjoy celebrating the holidays and giving gifts. After-all, Christmas is just a mishmosh of ancient traditions. In fact, the only contributions of Christianity are it’s name (Christ Mass) and Santa Clause; Saint Nicholas being the patron saint of children, giving them gifts every December 6th.
Evergreen and holly trees were important in German festivals because they remained green in the winter. The Yule Log comes from the Norse God Yolnir. Hanging decorations on a tree was in honor of Yolnir’s story, who hung himself on a tree and killed himself with a spear. It was Queen Victoria, who came from a German Family, that popularized the tradition of an evergreen tree among English Families. Although winter festivities have been part of many cultures, the specific date of December 25th was declared Natalis Solis Invicti - the Birth of the Invincible Sun - by a Pagan emperor in 274 CE. Prior to that, the day was associated with a secular celebration of the Winter Solstice. It wasn’t a stretch for religions to turn the celebration of the Sun, into that of the Son of their God (Christianity wasn’t the first to do this; see Jermey’s article The Familiar History of Jesus).
Many of us falling under the definition of a Bright can celebrate December 25th with confidence. It’s a tradition spanning many cultures, and it is a great time to be with family and bring light to short winter days.
Here are a few ideas of how to shop for the freethinkers on your list:
Support a freethinking group. Give the gift of a membership to a group such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Atheist Alliance International, or donate to a Secular Student Alliance at your local college. Or purchase t-shirts, books and other swag from the website of a particular group to support their cause.
A Magazine Subscription. Many groups have magazines that you can subscribe to, such as the Council for Secular Humanism’s Free Inquiry and Skeptical Inquirer. The Skeptics Society has Skeptic Magazine. Publications that focus on science news, making stories understandable and entertaining, are great gifts; Discover Magazine and Scientific American are stellar publications.
Freethinking Swag. Here are a few of my favorite vendors:
- MadeWithMolecules.com: Jewelry, shaped like specific molecules, representing chocolate, red wine, and caffeine.
- WearScience.com: I particularly like their Teach the Controversy line of t-shirts.
- Evolvefish.com: A variety of mugs, shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, and nick-knacks. It’s not the best produced website, but they have lots of low cost items that would make great stocking stuffers.
- ThinkGeek.com: This is more of a science centered site. They have a ton of original products that will surely entertain and amuse. From laser pointers that reach clouds and Japanese toys using nano technology to evolution play sets and Einstein action figures.
Liftoff! STS-129
Nov 27th
Here are two great NASA liftoff films of STS-129. Watch them in full screen mode. Unfortunately the HD version of the first one was removed from YouTube, but it’s a great video none the less.
The Morality Project
Nov 25th
The Bright’s Net Reality about Morality Project (I prefer to simply call it “The Morality Project”) is a plan to establish a public understanding about morality and it’s natural origins – as opposed to the supernatural origins believed by people who don’t have the time or resources to otherwise grasp the concept. The complete project outline can be viewed here.
To break down this project roughly into two phases:
- Declaring and verifying through scientific evidence, statements on morality from a natural perspective.
- Disseminating that information understandably to the public.
Obviously, many of us have already been able to grasp the idea of morality not as a supernatural effect, but as an effect from nature. After all, we owe nothing to a force greater than ourselves, and we are still not depressive criminals. The critical thinker in us may look at the potential positive outcome of The Morality Project with doubt. Lets face it, the public –at least those we aim to reach– has not proven to be the most receptive to evidence.
However, the importance of an ambitious project should never be overshadowed by the doubts of it’s proposers. Consider the stereotyping that is associated with words like atheist, agnostic, non-believer, etc… These are by definition negative words, and the associated stereotype with all of them is immorality. Morality has long been associated with words like faith, worship, and belief… but this is also a stereotype. That is not to say that the religiously faithful are mostly immoral, but I am saying morality is not the effect of ANY belief system. There are good people who do good things, and bad people who do bad things. Morality needs to be associated with only one word, truth. Using science, the only tool devised by man to understand the nature of the universe, that is precisely what The Morality Project is doing.
Become involved with Reality About Morality. You can do this by following their progress online and taking part by educating others. If this is beyond you right now, take the first steps into a natural world-view. Light that invigorating spark by reading an author like Carl Sagan or Daniel Dennet.
What do you think? How can Brights express naturalist ideas, such as morality, to a public that is obsessed with TV shows like Ghost Hunters?
The Familiar History of Jesus
Nov 24th
I once conceded that there probably was a real-life Jesus Christ, or rather Jesus of Nazareth (“Christ” is Greek for “The Anointed”). However, as I gleaned information from more sources, a different picture began to emerge.
At the time that Jesus apparently lived, there were all sorts of guys running around claiming to be messiahs. According to the Jewish faith at the time, the Messiah was going to come back and then all would be nice and chipper for the Jews. So of course plenty of people claimed to be that Messiah and they all had followers who claimed miracles. So perhaps Jesus was just one of these guys and his story just got embellished over the years. Stories tend to get exaggerated in their re-telling. The Resurrection was told four different times in the bible alone – Matthew, Marc, Luke, and John – and each time it became more and more miraculous. Beginning with Mark in 70 CE, the two Marys find Jesus’ tomb empty. Fast forward to John in 100-125 CE and all of a sudden there are angels, voices and all sorts of supernatural shenanigans slopped on top. The four stories of the Resurrection are factually incompatible. So much for the infallibility of the Bible.
Even if you could find historical explanations within the miraculous events regarding the details of Jesus’ life, it all falls apart when you are introduced to Mithra. Who is Mithra exactly? Only one of the most popular gods of the ancient world! The Romans loved him right up until Constantine converted to Christianity, causing worship of Mithra to decline. Or did it?
Mithra was born on December 25th. It was a virgin birth. During his lifetime he had twelve followers, and performed many miracles. He was said to be the savior of all mankind. His father was the ruler of the Zoroastrian gods. He was betrayed, and executed after the last supper with his 12 disciples… but don’t worry, he was resurrected. Sound familiar?
The stories and legends of Mithra’s life/death/resurrection were firmly in place by 800 BCE. Mithra’s worshipers believed strongly in a heaven and hell. They believed that Mithra would one day return during a time of judgment to give them eternal salvation. But even to Mirtha, this chain of events wasn’t anything new. Virgin birth, performing miracles, death by crucifixion and resurrected, have always been a part of hero myth since the Greeks (and probably before them).
Mithra’s story was transposed onto one of the Messiahs running around Jerusalem, and that Messiah became Jesus. Outside of the Bible there are no actual historical descriptions of anyone like Jesus. You’d think that a reformer like him, with growing followers shaking things up for the ruling Romans, would’ve gotten at least one line in history. The Romans were great record keepers. But even in their records of crucifixions, historians are unable to find a hint of Jesus. Not even the apostles show up in any history outside of the Bible; except for maybe Peter, but even that’s a stretch.
The first historical mention of Jesus happened much later. The first book of the New Testament was written 70 years after his death, during a time when the average life expectancy was 30-40 years. But before that, the first recorded Christian teachings began with St. Paul around 40 CE – only he never heard of / mentions the name of Jesus. You’d think, if he existed, that the founder Christianity would be worth a mention now and again. St. Paul never mentions a savior. It wasn’t until after Paul’s death, when early Christians were trying to find new converts, did the name Jesus begin to appear. December 25th, the ancient day of celebration for the winter solstice, became Mithra’s birthday, became Christmas. The spring fertility festival -symbolized by eggs and rabbits (for their high reproductive rates)- became Easter. Hijacking other holidays is important to forming new myths. Compatibility helps pull people over to your side. It didn’t hurt that when Constantine converted he pulled the whole Roman infrastructure over. Bishop and Cardinal were Roman administration titles. Mithra’s worship declined while Jesus’ worship rose (as Mirtha did to the Gods before him).
It took another 200 years for the New testament to solidify. At the time various local leaders had different versions of events – and even entirely other gospels that they were using, such as the Book of Q. Did God come down and tell the Pope what his infallible words really were? – Do I really have to answer that question? (the answer is no) – A group of Christian leaders got together at the Council of Nicea and voted on it. It was later refined at the First Council of Constantinople, and modified several times after that… by men. Factor in another 1200 years of handwritten biblical translations and you get to the King James Bible, so I’d say it’s rather reasonable that the book has probably been modified quite a bit.
- Jeremy
