Sometimes we need something to cut through the noise and nonsense we are constantly bombarded with, something which puts things in a new perspective. This short video with commentary by the astronomer-philosopher, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, is something I think does just that and which I hope we can all appreciate on some level.
Ultimately, our world will come to an end.
The sun will cool, expand to twenty times its current size and become a red giant. Early in this process, the Earth will become uninhabitable. This is billions of years into the future.
The real question is: Will humankind itself put an end to its supreme reign over the planet long before this?
It doesn’t look good.
In what is the thinnest imaginable slice of history representing human ascendancy and tyranny over Earth and every other species on it, we see an unflattering and unpromising story of careless plunder, destruction, waste, and extermination. We see a history which shows no regard for other living creatures, except as they have practical value to the only life form which apparently deserves the plentiful resources of the Earth. We see within our own species utter disregard for those humans which become inconvenient or are deemed expendable. Humankind has even distinguished itself as the only species to create the means of completely destroying itself and probably every other living thing __ which by tragic hapless accident is forced to cohabit Earth __ with just the mere press of a button. Recently we see him overheating the planet but inexplicably refusing to remove the kettle from the stove. His numbers unchecked by the typical processes of natural selection and competition, continue to increase exponentially. Probably the food and water will run out and the air will become unbreatheable.
No, it sure doesn’t look good.
Humans are a deeply, perhaps fatally flawed species. But there are splendid stories of hope within the grander themes of annihilation. In these we euphorically hurl ourselves to fly among imagined gods and soar with Pollyannaish abandon in the sunny heavens above the yawning abyss which will in the end claim us.
It may be its limitless capacity for frivolous optimism coupled with its unmatched devotion to self-aggrandizement which ultimately drives humankind to its unceremonious self-destruction.
The road to annihilation is paved with the best intentions and a smiley face.
So it has been … and so it always will be.
Unless something changes.
Unless we change.
[ This in part is excerpted from my novel “12-12-12” which was published March 18, 2012 both in print and as an ebook. ]
