What do people think of the most recent episodes of Cosmos? I think they cover good topics and I like the historical references which are in the spirit of the original series. What I don't like is that I think the history is too simplified bordering to inaccurate, and too much time is spent on speculation in the borderlands of metaphysics.
I've enjoyed the series, but I feel like there's been a distinct lack of space stuff - most of the episodes have covered universal phenomena principally on Earth.
I understand the reasoning - reaching out to the fundies and the uneducated necessitates reaching out from familiar surroundings.
It's just a little disappointing that when they take a foray into space, it's usually to illustrate some point about the Earth-bound science history they're explaining. Often times, they gloss over the awesome nitty gritty and focus on misleading or vapid visuals.
In particular, I felt the black hole and FTL Motorcycle sequences suffered from too much art and not enough science - as if the CG artists didn't understand/research the brief.
Edited by Destructor1701 - Friday, 06.06.2014, 03:02
I think it's been a fair balance space and earth. The series never intended to concentrate on space, but rather on broader science.
It's been enjoyable to watch. I like the historical aspect, though I think the series has been a bit too eager digging up early ideas of later discoveries more or less stumbled upon, before there was much scientific evidence. I also liked the approach of taking time to address irrational belief, though somewhat too extensively at times, but it missed a big opportunity in the AGW episode not promoting the possibilities of nuclear power and dealing with the irrational beliefs attached to it. The series then had itself become victim of being trapped in the contemporary mindset, which it frequently had used to explain why the obvious (in hindsight) previously through history was slow to catch on.
I think it could have spent more time on the human caused extinction and evolution now taking place, which likely will rank among the major ones in Earth's geological history. Discussing the effects of how humans have populated and transformed the planet. This stuff gets too overshadowed by concerns about relatively minute changes in the climate, in my opinion.
So I finally caught up with the last 2 episodes of Cosmos! That finale! I've enjoyed this new series so much and it's a great look back at the legacy that is Carl Sagan. When I heard Sagan's voice convey his Pale Blue Dot speech I had emotions rush through me :') Overall I have been extremely happy with it! A great, touching ending that puts across an awesome message!
"It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." -Carl Sagan
It is the best thing I have yet modelled in 3dsMAX. That's not saying much, though - and it's a pretty poor facsimile of the ship from the show, but it gets the job done.
Your Sagan ship lends the picture a lot of authenticity - that was a stroke of genius to release that!
An extraordinary and breathtaking video. If anyone here watches this without enjoying it, then frankly I'm not sure what enjoyment you could derive from SpaceEngine.
Fullscreen is mandatory.
All forum users, please read this! My SE mods and addons Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, GTX 970 3584 MB VRAM
Edited by HarbingerDawn - Saturday, 29.11.2014, 18:33
I'm very touched by his speech about how small we are. I'm sure someone's alreay mentioned it, but I'll post it anyway.
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader", every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
My gods... that was utterly spellbinding... spine-tingling, goose-pimpling. The hairs on my arms have not flattened down yet, and there are tears welled in my eyes.
Sagan's voice automatically moves me, but that imagery was an absolute triumph! It's what I would make given the budget/talent/skill. I'm in awe.
Fireinthehole, this is my favourite rendition of that passage (unfortunately marred by subtitles):
ENG
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