COSMOS series

Here's a stoner to talk about lizards . . .

(I had never heard of Neil Tyson before i saw this thread. I've been watching some vids today. I like him , but he has to work on his delivery. He's no Carl Sagan . . . not yet.)

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@Brandon9000,

Their relative degree of support for space exploration is irrelevant., and the whole point of Cosmos is to "dumb" down science so the average Joe appreciates it's wonders and the wonders of the universe.

This isn't to say Tyson isn't an effective populizar, but, in my opinion, he came across as Sagan Lite. You can't host a Cosmos remake and not be compared to Sagan.

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@rosborne979,

rosborne979 wrote:

Fil Albuquerque wrote:
I think Neil was a tad nervous, I have seen Neil in debates n he comes off far better. He just needs to let be himself n this version of Cosmos will be epic.

You might be right. His presentation might get better as the series goes on and he gets more comfortable. I thought it was pretty cool that he met Carl Sagan when he was 17 years old. He must be feeling very honored to be hosting this series. I wonder what the book was that Carl signed for him (I couldn't catch the title when he showed it).

Cosmic Connection. I recognized the cover. You'd think Carl could have given him a signed hardcover edition though.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

Their relative degree of support for space exploration is irrelevant., and the whole point of Cosmos is to "dumb" down science so the average Joe appreciates it's wonders and the wonders of the universe.

This isn't to say Tyson isn't an effective populizar, but, in my opinion, he came across as Sagan Lite. You can't host a Cosmos remake and not be compared to Sagan.

Irrelevant to you. It's not irrelevant to me. I'd rather have someone active with real science, who's really trying to further the exploration of space hosting this thing, than someone who isn't really involved and goes around giving comic book versions of science.

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@Brandon9000,

I suspect it was also irrelevant to the producers, but if this one aspect of Tyson's bio makes you a repeat viewer, I doubt they will admit it... to you.

I guess you don't consider theoretical physicists real scientists.

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@Ayush sharma,

It is a scientific theory. Depends upon which point you are referring to. It depends upon fossilized history and accepted conclusions. It's not based upon handed down human stories. But, pick whatever you are comfortable with.

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This is cute...

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@IRFRANK,

Most people, especially among the religiously devoted, don't understand what theory means in science. They usually take it as the equivalent of a guess.

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@panzade,

That was great . . .

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I've been following COSMOS on viddy and Google. Watching whats happening on the news side.

Wingnuts open their mouths and so much idiocy ensues. COSMOS has been no different, but some is more reasonable.

This is from the Catholic Science Historians.
http://www.dfwcatholic.org/historians-of-science-critique-new-cosmos-series-33144/.html

Quote:

Scholars of the history of science have discussed the merits and shortcomings of the new television series “Cosmos,” saying that the first episode's discussion of Church history strayed from historical facts.

"I thought it was wonderfully done for the most part," said Robert Goulding, associate professor at Notre Dame University in South Bend, who studies the history of science, humanism, and magic in a March 14 interview with CNA.

“However, I'm surprised by the standards of the historical segment.”

Quote:

The show focuses on the universe and the galaxies, stars and planets within. However, it came under criticism from some commentators for its cartoon presentation of the story of Giordano Bruno, an Italian philosopher and former Dominican friar in the show's first episode.

Rightly the Catholic Scientific Historians point out that the heliocentric infinite universe has been traced to the fifth century BC, they don't mention the much ancient knowledge was lost under the pious guidance of the "Church." But Bruno wasn't alone in his persecution. Galileo is a well known traveler. So to a lesser extent were Torricelli and Francisco Redi (Redi demonstrated that life wasn't spontaneous). So the Church isn't as innocent as they complain.

That's the only major COSMOS Catholic Bitch.

They did say this about the first episode Intro phrase

Quote:

the “cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be,” seeming to promote a "materialist philosophy" that does not take into account spiritual roles or life.

The Catholics had nothing to say negative about the second episode.

Personally this Catholic attitude explains Ken Miller's reasonable religious practice.

Rap

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Most people, especially among the religiously devoted, don't understand what theory means in science. They usually take it as the equivalent of a guess.

Painfully true. That's an example of how the same word can have widely varying denotations depending on the context. The religious people are stuck on the vernacular because they're ignorant of science. If they understood, they would be able to understand the phrase "the god hypothesis." But they don't. Because they don't want to. And there's not much anybody can teach someone who doesn't want to learn, in my experience.

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Radical forms of Protestantism have long had an attitude that education is not only unnecessary, but that it is pernicious. These people believe that everything they need to know can be found in the bible.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Radical forms of Protestantism have long had an attitude that education is not only unnecessary, but that it is pernicious. These people believe that everything they need to know can be found in the bible.

Let's also give Catholic Europe credit for not requiring literacy in the masses. At that same time Protestant Europe required adherents to be literate, inorder to read the bible. I know more than one "first generation" American Catholic who had some need to mention his father was illiterate upon arriving in America, and remained illiterate his entire life. To be intellectually honest, the British did have a price on the heads of those that read in Ireland not that far in the past.

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

oralloy wrote:
I will give them credit for not lumping dimetrodons in with the dinosaurs. You should have seen me ranting in guild chat, back in the day, whenever I quested in Un'Goro Crater.

Whats guild chat and is it still round?

Massively-Multiplayer-Online video games (such as World of Warcraft) have in-game societies called guilds, where people cooperate with each other to achieve various in-game goals.

These games have in-game chat channels that can be open to the general public, specific to your guild, or specific to whatever ad-hoc temporary group you have formed in order to complete a mission.

In a way, being in a guild is a lot like being part of an on-line community like a2k, only with greater camaraderie due to everyone having helped each other achieve difficult goals.

Yes, it is still around. World of Warcraft is still going strong and will always have guilds. Likely most other MMOs will also always have guilds.

(Sorry for going off topic, but the thread could use a bump.)

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There was an interesting piece on the radio the other day about people who go on-line to watch (not to participate in, but just to watch) MMO-RPGs. In game chat is, apparently, one of the attractions.

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+50,000 bonus points for tonight's episode showing dimetrodons in the direct line of human ancestors (when they did the "outline drawings" showing the transitions from bacteria to humanity).

Very Happy

But I did disagree a bit with their description of black holes a number of episodes back. The notion that there is a frozen image of stuff that falls into a black hole, is nonsense.

Light does not slow down as it travels away from a nearby event horizon. Light travels at the speed of light. It may be redshifted to an extreme degree as it speeds away from a black hole, but it isn't slowed down even a bit.

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@oralloy,

Its not my week to watch for QA problems. Send em a note to think "fuzzy bush" not tree.
I aint no son of a dimetrodont family . I had my teeth fixed and my back fin shved off.

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@farmerman,

I watched the previous week and had several problems with the simplistic coverage of Clair Patterson , WHO, AFTER ESSENTIALLY DOING A CORRECT MEASUREMENT OF THE EARTH'S AGE, began his 30 year fight with the Ethyl Corporation and several govt agencies who were "in the pockets" of the gasoline guys.

However, sometime, detail just messes up a good story.

I guess Im still kinda not fully on board with the cheesy cartoons (I changed my mind after the first week when they didn't chnge from the "refrigerator" art of the first episode.

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

Send em a note to think "fuzzy bush" not tree.

True. As the top large predator of the era, it is almost certain that the dimetrodon was the first to go when "pelycosaur extinction day" arrived. So they are more of a "great uncle" to us than a "great grandfather". But we definitely have pelycosaur ancestors of some sort.

I'm just happy to see pelycosaurs represented as distant ancestors of mammals instead of being called a type of dinosaur though, so I thought the depiction of the dimetrodon as an ancestor was cool.

Now if they could throw in some large gorgonopsids when they do their storytelling.... and maybe those wolf-like descendants of the cynodonts that dominated the wastelands in the wake of the Permian extinction.

farmerman wrote:

I aint no son of a dimetrodont family. I had my teeth fixed and my back fin shved off.

I'm in touch with my inner gorgonopsid. Mr. Green

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