So he ordered the cameras to turn and focus on our planet, knowing fully well that we would appear as a mere point of light in the star-filled sky. Sagan believed this would be a powerful, yet humbling view...and he was so right.
To start with take a look at the Apollo 17 view of Earth....
So then he does it. He turns the camera on our little insignificant planet and one of the most moving pictures I have ever seen appears. This picture gives me chills. My mind races as I think about how self-absorbed we all are, out of necessity it seems. I guess we have to consider ourselves the center of the universe in order to survive, but damn this perspective challenges this concept. We're nothing but a faint point of light. There are billions and billions of such points of light. I cannot help but wonder how many other points of light have sentient lifeforms pondering the same great questions. How many have sent machines out to explore and photograph their neck of the woods? Are we so arrogant to think we're the only ones? Some of us are---this is for sure. I can't help but believe an education in astronomy would help to dispell this myth.
You are here.
Chris
"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them"-- Mark Twain
To start with take a look at the Apollo 17 view of Earth....
Quote:If Sagan had written this book today he might have added that from the vantage point of Apollo there is no sign or evidence of war. To me viewing our rock from such a distance puts life into perspective. The things that matter so much to me, to all of us, really seem trivial when viewed from afar. In fact, this is one of the techniques I learned to cope with lifes difficulties as a child. I envisioned rising above myself, slowly, to the point where I couldn't see my problems, or anyones problems anymore. I would imagine floating up over my body, my home, my city and state, my nation and continent, my planet and solar system and finally galaxy. It might sound corny, but stepping back and showing yourself that you are NOT the center of the universe can be a wakeup call. And as you drift further and further back your problems become dwarfed by other peoples problems. But soon, as you rise higher and higher, even their problems seen rather silly--in the big scheme of things.
"And yet there is no sign of humans in this picture, not our reworking of the Earth's surface, not out machines, not ourselves: We are too small and our statecraft is too feeble to be seen by a spacecraft between the Earth and the Moon. From this vantage point, our obsession with nationalism is nowhere in evidence. The Apollo pictures of the whole Earth conveyed to multitudes something well known to astronomers: On the scale of worlds--to say nothing of stars and galaxies--humans are inconsequential, a thin film of life on an obscure and solitary lump of rock and metal."
So then he does it. He turns the camera on our little insignificant planet and one of the most moving pictures I have ever seen appears. This picture gives me chills. My mind races as I think about how self-absorbed we all are, out of necessity it seems. I guess we have to consider ourselves the center of the universe in order to survive, but damn this perspective challenges this concept. We're nothing but a faint point of light. There are billions and billions of such points of light. I cannot help but wonder how many other points of light have sentient lifeforms pondering the same great questions. How many have sent machines out to explore and photograph their neck of the woods? Are we so arrogant to think we're the only ones? Some of us are---this is for sure. I can't help but believe an education in astronomy would help to dispell this myth.
You are here.
Chris
localized, not universe-wide.
