Comments on: For small creatures such as we… http://timelady.com/blog/2006/12/20/for-small-creatures-such-as-we/ more nonsensical ramblings are needed online Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:41:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: it’s about time» Blog Archive » The brain is like… http://timelady.com/blog/2006/12/20/for-small-creatures-such-as-we/#comment-66061 it’s about time» Blog Archive » The brain is like… Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:40:57 +0000 http://timelady.com/blog/2006/12/20/for-small-creatures-such-as-we/#comment-66061 [...] second Carl Sagan Memorial Blogathon is on.I participated last year (a year, already?). As with last year, and probably even more so, the blogosphere will be full of [...] [...] second Carl Sagan Memorial Blogathon is on.I participated last year (a year, already?). As with last year, and probably even more so, the blogosphere will be full of [...]

]]> By: Andy Fleming http://timelady.com/blog/2006/12/20/for-small-creatures-such-as-we/#comment-1803 Andy Fleming Tue, 26 Dec 2006 00:55:36 +0000 http://timelady.com/blog/2006/12/20/for-small-creatures-such-as-we/#comment-1803 timelady... My sentiments exactly. No other person who I have met, or in Carl's case, not met, has affected me so profoundly. Since watching and reading Cosmos over the past 6 months (I only discovered it in July, although I remember Carl from my childhood with NASA etc) my life has changed completely. My relationships at work and with my family have improved dramatically. I now realise exactly how important we all are, how me must care for each other on this "pale blue dot" (on import order from the US), and how the pursuit of knowledge and the truth is a joy just in itself. It starts at home with my wife and young son (we all shared in the magic of seeing M31, the Great Spiral Galaxy in Andomeda for the first time on the evening of the 20th - how proud Carl would have been) and it radiates outwards across society, and across national boundaries. I have had science training but not at degree level - I have a degree in science-sceptical/anti-empirical evidence/anti-positivist Sociology (a first class honours). I mention this not to boast - I am simply not that sort of person. I mention it because out of all the hundreds of books I read (from Plato to Marx), and the countless excellent lecturers I have had - none have had the affect on me of 1300 minutes of Cosmos from a man I have never met. What a massive tribute to Carl that such a science-sceptic, has become such an admirer of both him and the "scientific enterprise". However, this personal development of myself, my son, and my wife has been a bit of a roller-coaster. From the joy of watching Cosmos, to the devastating news that a hero of mine from my childhood, and now (to borrow a quasi-religious term), a soul mate in the present, had died an agonising death 10 years ago has been heartbreaking. Such a wonderful person, with such unique talents, intelligence and brain. Certainly myself and son have often been on the verge of tears when watching one of our many repeats of Cosmos. The world needs him more than ever. Such mourning has been relieved, as Carl would have wanted by us acting as his ambassadors, and those of science in the north east of England. Friends, family, even my 84 year old wheelchair bound mother have all been astonished by the precious borrowed disks we have lent them. Our role, timelady, is no less than to spread Carl's words far and wide, and to not waste time on those with closed minds. This way, we will indeed as a species permanently tip the balance in favour of rigorously verified scientific eveidence in the search for "the truth" and avoid Carl's bad dreams about a moment of madness, and the loss of six billion years of evolution. All the very best Andy, Gill and David Fleming Durham UK timelady…
My sentiments exactly. No other person who I have met, or in Carl’s case, not met, has affected me so profoundly.

Since watching and reading Cosmos over the past 6 months (I only discovered it in July, although I remember Carl from my childhood with NASA etc) my life has changed completely. My relationships at work and with my family have improved dramatically. I now realise exactly how important we all are, how me must care for each other on this “pale blue dot” (on import order from the US), and how the pursuit of knowledge and the truth is a joy just in itself. It starts at home with my wife and young son (we all shared in the magic of seeing M31, the Great Spiral Galaxy in Andomeda for the first time on the evening of the 20th - how proud Carl would have been) and it radiates outwards across society, and across national boundaries.

I have had science training but not at degree level - I have a degree in science-sceptical/anti-empirical evidence/anti-positivist Sociology (a first class honours). I mention this not to boast - I am simply not that sort of person. I mention it because out of all the hundreds of books I read (from Plato to Marx), and the countless excellent lecturers I have had - none have had the affect on me of 1300 minutes of Cosmos from a man I have never met. What a massive tribute to Carl that such a science-sceptic, has become such an admirer of both him and the “scientific enterprise”.

However, this personal development of myself, my son, and my wife has been a bit of a roller-coaster. From the joy of watching Cosmos, to the devastating news that a hero of mine from my childhood, and now (to borrow a quasi-religious term), a soul mate in the present, had died an agonising death 10 years ago has been heartbreaking. Such a wonderful person, with such unique talents, intelligence and brain. Certainly myself and son have often been on the verge of tears when watching one of our many repeats of Cosmos. The world needs him more than ever.

Such mourning has been relieved, as Carl would have wanted by us acting as his ambassadors, and those of science in the north east of England. Friends, family, even my 84 year old wheelchair bound mother have all been astonished by the precious borrowed disks we have lent them.

Our role, timelady, is no less than to spread Carl’s words far and wide, and to not waste time on those with closed minds. This way, we will indeed as a species permanently tip the balance in favour of rigorously verified scientific eveidence in the search for “the truth” and avoid Carl’s bad dreams about a moment of madness, and the loss of six billion years of evolution.

All the very best
Andy, Gill and David Fleming
Durham
UK

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