the poetry of reality

yay! another wonderful video from melody sheep and the symphony of science!




lyrics:

[michael shermer]
science is the best tool ever devised
for understanding how the world works

[jacob bronowski]
science is a very human form of knowledge
we are always at the brink of the known

[carl sagan]
science is a collaborative enterprise
spanning the generations
we remember those who prepared the way
seeing for them also

[neil degrasse tyson]
if you're scientifically literate,
the world looks very different to you
and that understanding empowers you

refrain:
[richard dawkins]
there's real poetry in the real world
science is the poetry of reality

[sagan]
we can do science
and with it, we can improve our lives

[jill tarter]
the story of humans is the story of ideas
that shine light into dark corners

[lawrence krauss]
scientists love mysteries
they love not knowing

[richard feynman]
i don't feel frightened by not knowing things
i think it's much more interesting

[brian greene]
there's a larger universal reality
of which we are all apart

[stephen hawking]
the further we probe into the universe
the more remarkable are the discoveries we make

[carolyn porco]
the quest for the truth, in and of itself,
is a story that's filled with insights

(refrain)

[greene]
from our lonely point in the cosmos
we have through the power of thought
been able to peer back to a brief moment
after the beginning of the universe

[pz meyers]
i think that science changes the way your mind works
to think a little more deeply about things

[dawkins]
science replaces private predjudice
with publicly verifiable evidence

(refrain)

not-so-famous-quotes x

'there are two parts to the human dilemma.

one is the belief that the end justifies the means... that pushbutton philosophy, that deliberate deafness to suffering that has become the monster in the war machine.

the other is the betrayal of the human spirit. the assertion of dogma that closes the mind and turns a nation, a civilization, into a regiment of ghosts. obedient ghosts or tortured ghosts.'

it's said that science will dehumanize people and turn them into numbers. that's false -- tragically false.

look for yourself. this is the concentration camp and crematorium in auschwitz where people were turned into numbers. into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people and that was not done by gas. it was done by arrogance. it was done by dogma. it was done by ignorance.

when people believe that they have absolute knowledge with no test in reality, this is how they behave.

this is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods.

science is a very human form of knowledge. we are always at the brink of the known. we always feel forward for what is to be hoped. every judgement in science stands on the edge of error and is personal.

science is a tribe to what we can know although we are fallible.

in the end, the words were said by oliver cromwell: 'i beseech you in the bowels of christ... think it possible you may be mistaken.' '

- jacob bronowski, 'the ascent of man'

not-so-famous-quotes ix

'the march of man is the refinement of the hand in action.'
- jacob bronowski, 'the ascent of man'

not-so-famous-quotes viii

'war -- organized war -- is not a human instinct. it is a highly planned and cooperative form of theft... and that form of theft began 10,000 years ago when the harvesters of wheat accumulated a surplus and the nomads rose out of the desert to rob them of what they themselves could not provide.'
- jacob bronowski, 'the ascent of man'

not-so-famous-quotes vii

'man survived the fierce test of the ice ages because he had the flexibility of mind to recognize inventions and turn them into community property.'
- jacob bronowski, 'the ascent of man'

jacob bronowski's 'the ascent of man'

i have never seen this legendary series... luckily, spiralout11235 has uploaded them to youtube. the series is in 65 parts:



playlist description:

'the inspiration for carl sagans 1980 series, cosmos, jacob bronowskis 1973 series, the ascent of man, alludes to and seeks to somewhat challenge the notion of some of charles darwins conclusions in the decent of man. over the course of thirteen episodes, bronowski travelled around the world in order to trace the development of human society through its understanding of science.

"jacob bronowski was one of a small group of men and women in any age who find all of human knowledge-the arts and sciences, philosophy and psychology-interesting and accessible. he was not confined to a single discipline, but ranged over the entire panorama of human learning. his book and television series, the ascent of man, are a superb teaching tool and a remarkable memorial; they are, in a way, an account of how human beings and human brains grew up together." carl sagan, the dragons of eden'

i'm watching the first episode now!
via RD:

'the inspiration for carl sagans 1980 series, cosmos, jacob bronowskis 1973 series, the ascent of man, alludes to and seeks to somewhat challenge the notion of some of charles darwins conclusions in the decent of man. over the course of thirteen episodes, bronowski travelled around the world in order to trace the development of human society through its understanding of science.

jacob bronowski was one of a small group of men and women in any age who find all of human knowledge-the arts and sciences, philosophy and psychology-interesting and accessible. he was not confined to a single discipline, but ranged over the entire panorama of human learning. his book and television series, the ascent of man, are a superb teaching tool and a remarkable memorial; they are, in a way, an account of how human beings and human brains grew up together. carl sagan, the dragons of eden.'