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theme song: please don't go
2011-Jun-22, Wednesday 08:12 amToday's theme song selection is about the audio mood and the visuals much more than the lyrics. As I've said before, creation never stopped. Evolution is a beautiful concept that ties everything in the universe together. The interconnected web is a beautiful thing, wondrous to behold.
I finished reading this week a book of historical fiction about Galileo, "Galileo's Dream" by Kim Stanley Robinson. It involves time travel, and Galileo's fate is changed from burning at the stake for heresy to (our actual, current history) simply having to lie and state that the Church's view of the universe is correct while his telescopic observations of Jupiter and the planets is wrong. He denied the beautiful truth in order to satisfy the demands of the religious reich of his time.
The end of the book provides an interesting message from a near-immortal human of our future (and past), one of the people attempting to change human history for the better.
One of my favorite quotes in this matter of obscuring simple truth comes from another fictional realm. It comes in a scene from the movie "Hogfather", a movie about Santa Claus and Christmas in a very different kind of world.
Why anyone would want to "settle the matter" and fix an unchanging story of the universe is beyond my understanding. There's so very much to explore and learn and do. I wouldn't want to lose the opportunity of such a thrilling adventure.
I finished reading this week a book of historical fiction about Galileo, "Galileo's Dream" by Kim Stanley Robinson. It involves time travel, and Galileo's fate is changed from burning at the stake for heresy to (our actual, current history) simply having to lie and state that the Church's view of the universe is correct while his telescopic observations of Jupiter and the planets is wrong. He denied the beautiful truth in order to satisfy the demands of the religious reich of his time.
The end of the book provides an interesting message from a near-immortal human of our future (and past), one of the people attempting to change human history for the better.
"I joined his attempt to make a retrojection that would shove the nightmare a different way. If people would only understand earlier, we thought, that science is a religion, the most ethical religion, the most devoted and worshipful religion... Clearly I was wrong even to try. It isn't really possible. The paradoxes and entangled potentialities are the least of the problems. Worse by far is the enormous inertia of human weakness, greed, fear - all the sheer bloody mass of us. It's been a nightmare."
- Cartophilus in "Galileo's Dream"
- Cartophilus in "Galileo's Dream"
One of my favorite quotes in this matter of obscuring simple truth comes from another fictional realm. It comes in a scene from the movie "Hogfather", a movie about Santa Claus and Christmas in a very different kind of world.
"Human beings make life so interesting. Do you know that in a world so full of wonders, they have managed to invent boredom? Quite astonishing."
- Death, regarding humans and their unique creativity
- Death, regarding humans and their unique creativity
Why anyone would want to "settle the matter" and fix an unchanging story of the universe is beyond my understanding. There's so very much to explore and learn and do. I wouldn't want to lose the opportunity of such a thrilling adventure.