The Universe Exists Without Our Permission

I caught part of an interview with the man who replaced Carl Sagan as our in house expert of all things Universe related. Neil deGrasse Tyson is not Carl Sagan. Though he has had a huge astromony star's footsteps to follow, Neil has created his own niche and character in the public eye. He did not attempt to emulate Carl's often wry humor. He created his own brand and it works. I loved Carl. I love Neil now also. Both men tell us the truths of science in ways we can often apply to our real world concerns. 

They point out relevance in a Universe we have no real understanding of. We just know there is more to existence than what we experience as we wiggle our way from the cradle to the grave. First Carl, and now Neil offer up reasonable and logical explanations for why the Universe does what it does. They offer a tangible alternative to the mythical existence Humanity has relied on for the previous thousands and thousands of years.

Neil wants to lead us from the darkness and into the light. He has no other agenda or axe to grind. He is more than willing to include faith based beliefs into his equations. There is room for everyone in his Universe. Organized religion on the other hand, considers Neil deGrasse Tyson and Carl Sagan before him, as enemies who threaten their irrational grip on Humanity. Organized religion, at its core, is intolerant of any percieved disrespect or challenge to their embedded in stone core beliefs. 

Back to the interview On "Clock It",with Simone and Eugene on MS Now. 

I only caught the snippet of the interview relating to facts about our planet. Neil started by explaining that most folks consider the planet a round planet; a perfect sphere. For the most part, it is indeed round. I am guessing from Planet X-Tar, 2 million light years away, it does show up as a round planet.

Earth is not truly round, it is pear shped. I knew this, having learned it from World Book back when I was in grade school and would sit down with an encyclopedia and read it for hours. Neil then filled in a couple of facts I did not know. Our planet does not acually orbit the Sun. Earth and the Moon form a gravity centric orbit called a "barycenter". This mutual gravitational association of Earth and the Moon is what orbits the Sun. 

Our planet bobs up and down as it passes through the Mily Way. And because I only caught a brief part of his interview, he informed me that because our planet is not a perfect sphere and is blessed with a tipped axis, it wobbles its way through space. 

Neil finished with this paraphased notion:

The Universe does not concern itself with what we think of it.

It exists without our permission.

I pondered his last thought. Again I was reminded just how insignificant Humanity is in the really Big Picture. We are not even a speck of dust on the head of a pin in relation to the Universe. We need to get over ourselves and face this fact. Falsely attributing our ego centric existence to some powerful being who has placed us on some eccleiastical pedastal and who is always concerned about what we do is just allowing the worst of our thinkers control us. Philosophy is fine for academic discussions among the longhaired intelligentsia, but it never should be used to rule us in the real world.

That's my Sunday Sermon this Sunday ........................

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First, before I post some music. Here is a snippet of Niel deGrasse Tyson opining with a brutal, in our face statement of America's current state of national stupidity.

"Wake the Fuck Up"

Now to the music.

I picked "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper for two reasons. I have always liked the song. More importantly, it represents to me the general attitude of America. We are so self absorbed in our own lives and fulfilling them , we miss the obvious results. Thinking only of ourselves without a thought of the consequences to anyone else can have tragic blowback. Just look at the state of America at this moment.

I don't consider the song as condemning women and their flights of fancy. I look at the tune in an asexual way. The Boys, well the boys might just be the worst of the two in their willfull ignorance of anyone outside their orbit. Regardless, as Neil deGrasse Tyson said, America needs to "Wake the Fuck Up."