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Carl Sagan Appreciation Thread
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| RockoRocks | Date: Tuesday, 11.03.2014, 18:51 | Message # 121 |
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| Quote DoctorOfSpace (  ) Those uploads won't last long with Fox going after them though.
I see because yesterday your post had a video and now it's gone. I shouldve watched it yesterday.
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| DoctorOfSpace | Date: Tuesday, 11.03.2014, 18:58 | Message # 122 |
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| There were a few others uploaded however Fox got a copy up on youtube that they're charging $1.99 to watch and since then they have removed all the others.
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| RockoRocks | Date: Tuesday, 11.03.2014, 23:28 | Message # 123 |
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| Quote DoctorOfSpace ( ) There were a few others uploaded however Fox got a copy up on youtube that they're charging $1.99 to watch and since then they have removed all the others.
Actually a free version is temporarily available on the FOX website but it's only viewable in the USA, although there's a Chrome Extension to get around that if you're not from the USA (like me).
(here)
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| midtskogen | Date: Sunday, 16.03.2014, 23:05 | Message # 124 |
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| I just watched the first episode of the new Cosmos series. Pretty mediocre.
It has much potential. As others have mentioned, the lens flares are annoying. Some visualisations are highly misleading (as in the asteroid belt). I liked some, though, like the upper clouds of Jupiter. I'm not too sure about the cartoons. They're too much caricaturing. It's great that they mentioned Lucretius' De Rerum Natura, though, which is my favourite Latin book, genius writing. The sound effects were noisy. An episode is 45 minutes, while I think the original was closer to an hour. It's a good thing that they aired it without commercial breaks, though, although it was too obvious sometimes where they were supposed to be, disrupting the flow.
NIL DIFFICILE VOLENTI
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Sunday, 16.03.2014, 23:37 | Message # 125 |
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| Quote midtskogen ( ) It's a good thing that they aired it without commercial breaks, though
Lucky you, I had to sit through all the commercials 
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Monday, 17.03.2014, 03:31 | Message # 126 |
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| Episode 2 review:
This episode was absolutely magnificent. It surpassed all my hopes and expectations. It addressed the subject of life and evolution almost flawlessly, definitely better than was done in the original series. The examples used were perfect. The Hall of Extinction is also a great device, and it's nice to see that we'll be coming back to it later (no doubt to talk about the current mass extinction). The Permian extinction bit was very nice to see and was quite well done. Tyson definitely demonstrated his narrative prowess in this episode.
I do have a couple of minor quips. The Titan bit seemed somewhat out of place and underdeveloped, though it looked like they were using it to set up for a future episode, so that's ok. Also, the original Cosmos evolution animation at the end was not ideal, and that could have probably been much better illustrated today. I'm perfectly ok with references to the original show, but not if they come at the expense of the current show.
Overall however this was a spectacular episode and shows that the first episode was not necessarily representative of the quality of the show.
Episode rating: 9.5/10 (neither 9 nor 10 seemed appropriate, though I was leaning toward 10)
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| LiveLife42 | Date: Monday, 17.03.2014, 06:05 | Message # 127 |
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| Quite enjoyed episode 2; I really liked how they addressed the subject and life and evolution as Harbinger said. Again the one thing that bothers me are the intense lens flares but at least there wasn't much of that in this episode.
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Edited by LiveLife42 - Friday, 21.03.2014, 08:11 |
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| DoctorOfSpace | Date: Monday, 17.03.2014, 06:19 | Message # 128 |
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| I think it was a great episode. I hope the rest of the series can stay as good.
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| midtskogen | Date: Monday, 17.03.2014, 09:11 | Message # 129 |
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| I'm looking forward to the next, then. I think, btw, that deGrasse Tyson is doing an ok job. I don't know him from other TV appearances, apart from this one (the guy can act as well), one of the better SG Atlantis episodes:
ADDED: So episode two addressed the origins of life well, but well as in explaining the chemistry or history of discoveries, or well as in anticipating an audience of the "God created it on day 5 and 6" type? The former sounds interesting, the latter approach is a too American. But the original series also suffered from being coloured American (well, naturally).
NIL DIFFICILE VOLENTI
Edited by midtskogen - Monday, 17.03.2014, 09:30 |
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Monday, 17.03.2014, 09:50 | Message # 130 |
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| Quote midtskogen ( ) So episode two addressed the origins of life well, but well as in explaining the chemistry or history of discoveries, or well as in anticipating an audience of the "God created it on day 5 and 6" type?
A little of both, but mostly it was just that the concepts of evolution were well explained and made to be readily understandable to the layperson without compromising on accuracy. So if anything it's good in that it should help to promote a better understanding of evolution. Chemistry and history were touched on somewhat, and the subtle refutations of creationism and intelligent design were there too, but mostly it was about explaining evolution more than explaining life in general.
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| desertsoldier22 | Date: Tuesday, 18.03.2014, 07:47 | Message # 131 |
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| Quote LiveLife42 ( ) Quite enjoyed episode 2 I really liked how they addressed the subject and life and evolution as Harbinger said. Again the one thing that bothers me are the intense lens flares but at least there wasn't much of that in this episode.
Brannon Braga is trying to out lense flare JJ Abrams for taking his franchise.
Added (18.03.2014, 10:47)
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My aunt and uncle are very devout christians (They think the Earth was created 10,000 years ago...fossils and all), I kinda pissed them off when they told me that there was no proof of evolution. Then I pointed at a Pomeranian walking with its owner and said "explain that". They said it was selective breeding....I said "exactly". Then I made a joke about their fossil theory with a little bit of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy references...Got my Aunt to read Douglas Adams though.
I have studied both the works of Darwin and other pioneering biologists (Why a show named Cosmos with an Astronomer hosting needs to delve into it is beyond me) and I have studied Intelligent design. I think ID does pose some excellent questions, yet the answers are fuzzy. I personally think something weird happened to us in the last 10,000 years. As a species we have existed for at least 120,000 years, yet in the last 6,000 we have learned to engage in advanced agriculture, a written language, organized religion, organized governance, and land on the damn moon. I have a feeling that something greater interfered with our development. Its just a feeling, and I have no idea what did it. But what were we doing for 100 millennia?
If we disappeared tomorrow how long would it take for all traces of our advanced civilization to turn to dust. Maybe we have been nearly advanced in the deep past? Not nuclear capable (we would have detected that) but that is a lot of time to be throwing rocks at each other.
Edited by desertsoldier22 - Tuesday, 18.03.2014, 07:50 |
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| midtskogen | Date: Tuesday, 18.03.2014, 09:53 | Message # 132 |
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| Quote desertsoldier22 ( ) But what were we doing for 100 millennia?
Recall that during those millennia the world population was very low and child mortality was very high. So of the adult humans (capable of pushing civilisation) who have ever lived quite a lot are alive today. There are about 2.3 billion people today aged 40+, about 3.3 billion people aged 30+. Did that many ever reach those ages in those 100 millennia? I'm not sure.
If you take this into account, you'll find the progress much more linear greatly reducing the need for divine or alien interference to explain the rapid advance.
NIL DIFFICILE VOLENTI
Edited by midtskogen - Tuesday, 18.03.2014, 10:45 |
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Tuesday, 18.03.2014, 10:01 | Message # 133 |
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| Quote desertsoldier22 ( ) Why a show named Cosmos with an Astronomer hosting needs to delve into it is beyond me
It's a documentary about science, not space. Cosmos as used here refers to the ordered nature of the universe, not to space specifically.
Quote desertsoldier22 ( ) If we disappeared tomorrow how long would it take for all traces of our advanced civilization to turn to dust.
Evidence of it would persist for millions of years, though the majority of our impact would be erased within ten thousand years or so.
Quote desertsoldier22 ( ) As a species we have existed for at least 120,000 years, yet in the last 6,000 we have learned to engage in advanced agriculture, a written language, organized religion, organized governance, and land on the damn moon.
These things didn't happen nearly as suddenly as you seem to be indicating here. Do a bit more research into the origins of writing, agriculture, and cities.
Quote desertsoldier22 ( ) I have a feeling that something greater interfered with our development. Its just a feeling, and I have no idea what did it.
The development of modern technology has been far more rapid than anything in the past history of our species, yet we know quite well that the only thing that happened was the rise of modern science about 400 years ago. Quite important for sure, but hardly miraculous.
Quote desertsoldier22 ( ) But what were we doing for 100 millennia?
We know quite a lot about what humans were doing over the last hundred thousand years, again I recommend reading up on it a bit.
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| DoctorOfSpace | Date: Tuesday, 18.03.2014, 17:29 | Message # 134 |
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| Quote desertsoldier22 ( ) But what were we doing for 100 millennia?
Trying to not die.
Quote desertsoldier22 ( ) If we disappeared tomorrow how long would it take for all traces of our advanced civilization to turn to dust
Decent show about just such a question.
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| Watsisname | Date: Wednesday, 19.03.2014, 03:13 | Message # 135 |
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| I just watched the second episode of the new Cosmos and am glad I did -- my earlier criticisms have very much melted away.
The explanation of evolution's mechanisms was perhaps the best one I've ever seen on television. Really nice work, Neil & Co -- I hope that helps clear up a lot of common questions and misconceptions about it. Loved the Hall of Extinction, too, and the discussion on the End Permian mass extinction was right up my alley as I'm currently reading a book about it. (Recommended for those with interest and at least a little background in geology!) Fascinating stuff and refreshing to see a popular science series talk about extinctions without focusing on the one everyone already knows about. 
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