My god, even our knowledge must die

nightbat wrote

Jeff wrote:

Hi folks. It's 6:00 AM, and I can't sleep. I am a musician, 43 years
old, white male with two kids that I have custody of. I have always
loved space and astronomy, but I never had teachers that made it
interesting in school. I didn't start to get into this stuff until I
was in my mid twenties.

The more I learned of the stars, the distant past, the incredible
distances of the universe, the more captivated I am. I was lying in
bed trying to sleep and thinking how awesome it is that we can crack a
rock open and see a fossil of an individual life form that existed on
this planet a billion years ago. I think of how incredible it would
have been for that individual life form to have known that in a
billion years creatures much more advanced than itself would have
knowledge of it's personal existence. Those same creatures would have
knowledge of quasars, black holes, and galaxies.

nightbat

Correction Jeff certain advanced individuals and enlightened
humans would know there is no evidence for black holes a real world non
possibility.


I began thinking how moved I was when I saw pictures of Saturn from
the cassini craft, and how I felt privileged to even exist in the same
system with an awesome Giant such as Saturn. I thought of Saturn,
existing out there for billions of years. It watched as life on it's
little brother earth began. yes, it was there when our little life
form squirmed around in an ancient ocean a billion years ago. How
awesome it is to even exist and to be aware of this Giant. Our little
life form wasn't aware of Saturn being out there, but it was. What a
privilege to even have our bodies even after our deaths to exist as
material in this system. What a lucky opportunity to even have the
chance to know of the existence of even the other worlds in our own
solar system, let alone know of other suns, in this galaxy, and to
know of other galaxies. I heard Carl Sagan say that we are the
universe opening it's eyes and looking around at itself. But then, he
said that the universe may have opened it's eyes before and looked at
itself a billion years ago in another galaxy, on another planet, and
then maybe that civilization went extinct, and the universe went back
to sleep, the knowledge of itself gone, and with a possible chance of
never reaching the point again where it could know itself.

I began to think of the Voyager craft, out there with some knowledge
of our existence, traveling for what could be billions of years. Even
after our sun dies, that space craft could be out there for billions
of more years, carrying the knowledge that the universe once opened
it's eyes for a while and looked at itself. Pictures of our little,
blue world may exist on that craft for ten billion years or longer,
and at least a second hand knowledge of that little individual life
form that existed in the ocean a billions years ago.

Then I realized that even the stars will die, and our space craft may
never bump into another civilization, so that it may know of us and
that we existed and had knowledge that they might exist somewhere,
some billions of years in the future. It's possible that after we are
gone, the universe may never again open it's eyes for a short time and
take a look at itself. What an awesome gift that the universe has
given us a chance to be it's eyes and ears for this short time. I
thought that maybe 6 billion years from now, the universe may again
awake on a small planet in the Andromeda galaxy, look around for a few
hundred thousand years, and then go back to sleep. Will they too send
a craft out into the stars, hoping to tell others in the distant
future of their music, their lives, their children, their culture?
And what of the works of art that never made it on to the Voyager
craft? They will be gone forever once the universe turns us off and
goes back to sleep. The Voyager is attempting to span the billions
of years and find another time when the universe has awakened and is
taking a look around at itself, and we are hoping to tell that moment
of universal awareness that in another time, billions of years ago,
the universe had awoken and took a look around at itself for a while
there too.

But, eventually, the stars will die, and no more will the universe
awaken to look at itself, because there will be no more energy to
power new life forms, or, the universe will fall into itself and
renew, but the Voyager will be destroyed in that, which means all
knowledge will dies in that new big bang. It seems that all
knowledge, all the music will eventually be lost. The beautiful
sounds of classical music, or of Jimmy Hendrix playing Little Wing on
his guitar will be forever gone. I also realize that our radio
broadcasts will also be traveling out there, and Jimmy playing little
wing will live on that wave of light for maybe billions of years, and
Ralf will be slapping Norton and saying, "COME ON" as Norton fiddles
with his hands. But, will those images and sounds ever run into
another time and place where the universe has opened it's eyes for a
while? Will they be able to decode our signals and to listen to the
music, or to laugh at Ralf and Norton?

God, I love being alive, being aware, at least for now. To our little
life form friend in the ancient seas a billion years ago, we know you
existed. You left us a picture of yourself in the rocks, and all we
can promise is that we will carry the knowledge of your existence into
the future as long as we can. In your time, you could not conceive of
Saturn being out there in space, or Jupiter, but they were there.
maybe someday, when the sun dies and burns the earth up, maybe a part
of you will be blown out to Saturn and fall to it's dark clouds, and
there you will exist for billions of years more.

I know one thing, I fear death no more, for my body will always be a
part of this universe in one form or another. Whenever I fear death I
think of how lucky I am even to have been born and to have what
knowledge I do have at this time. I am lucky to be a part of the
universal awareness, even if it's for a short time. We ARE the
universe, we can never really die.

As I end, and get ready to try and go back to sleep, the first rays of
light are coming through my window, our awesome sun is offering me the
privilege of being touched by its light and warmth as it also offered
these gifts to our little friend a billion years ago in that ancient
sea. How lucky I am to even see it, to even feel it's warmth.

Sorry for rambling. I love each and every one of you.

I am going back to bed.

Jeff Stewart



nightbat

What about the kids????????????, oh the humanity! Sounds like
you could use a break.

Captains note: Humans stay up all night pondering about the Universe
when they can rely on the profound Earth Science Team Officers.

carry on,
the nightbat

Hi folks. It's 6:00 AM, and I can't sleep. I am a musician, 43 years
old, white male with two kids that I have custody of. I have always
loved space and astronomy, but I never had teachers that made it
interesting in school. I didn't start to get into this stuff until I
was in my mid twenties.

The more I learned of the stars, the distant past, the incredible
distances of the universe, the more captivated I am. I was lying in
bed trying to sleep and thinking how awesome it is that we can crack a
rock open and see a fossil of an individual life form that existed on
this planet a billion years ago. I think of how incredible it would
have been for that individual life form to have known that in a
billion years creatures much more advanced than itself would have
knowledge of it's personal existence. Those same creatures would have
knowledge of quasars, black holes, and galaxies.

I began thinking how moved I was when I saw pictures of Saturn from
the cassini craft, and how I felt privileged to even exist in the same
system with an awesome Giant such as Saturn. I thought of Saturn,
existing out there for billions of years. It watched as life on it's
little brother earth began. yes, it was there when our little life
form squirmed around in an ancient ocean a billion years ago. How
awesome it is to even exist and to be aware of this Giant. Our little
life form wasn't aware of Saturn being out there, but it was. What a
privilege to even have our bodies even after our deaths to exist as
material in this system. What a lucky opportunity to even have the
chance to know of the existence of even the other worlds in our own
solar system, let alone know of other suns, in this galaxy, and to
know of other galaxies. I heard Carl Sagan say that we are the
universe opening it's eyes and looking around at itself. But then, he
said that the universe may have opened it's eyes before and looked at
itself a billion years ago in another galaxy, on another planet, and
then maybe that civilization went extinct, and the universe went back
to sleep, the knowledge of itself gone, and with a possible chance of
never reaching the point again where it could know itself.

I began to think of the Voyager craft, out there with some knowledge
of our existence, traveling for what could be billions of years. Even
after our sun dies, that space craft could be out there for billions
of more years, carrying the knowledge that the universe once opened
it's eyes for a while and looked at itself. Pictures of our little,
blue world may exist on that craft for ten billion years or longer,
and at least a second hand knowledge of that little individual life
form that existed in the ocean a billions years ago.

Then I realized that even the stars will die, and our space craft may
never bump into another civilization, so that it may know of us and
that we existed and had knowledge that they might exist somewhere,
some billions of years in the future. It's possible that after we are
gone, the universe may never again open it's eyes for a short time and
take a look at itself. What an awesome gift that the universe has
given us a chance to be it's eyes and ears for this short time. I
thought that maybe 6 billion years from now, the universe may again
awake on a small planet in the Andromeda galaxy, look around for a few
hundred thousand years, and then go back to sleep. Will they too send
a craft out into the stars, hoping to tell others in the distant
future of their music, their lives, their children, their culture?
And what of the works of art that never made it on to the Voyager
craft? They will be gone forever once the universe turns us off and
goes back to sleep. The Voyager is attempting to span the billions
of years and find another time when the universe has awakened and is
taking a look around at itself, and we are hoping to tell that moment
of universal awareness that in another time, billions of years ago,
the universe had awoken and took a look around at itself for a while
there too.

But, eventually, the stars will die, and no more will the universe
awaken to look at itself, because there will be no more energy to
power new life forms, or, the universe will fall into itself and
renew, but the Voyager will be destroyed in that, which means all
knowledge will dies in that new big bang. It seems that all
knowledge, all the music will eventually be lost. The beautiful
sounds of classical music, or of Jimmy Hendrix playing Little Wing on
his guitar will be forever gone. I also realize that our radio
broadcasts will also be traveling out there, and Jimmy playing little
wing will live on that wave of light for maybe billions of years, and
Ralf will be slapping Norton and saying, "COME ON" as Norton fiddles
with his hands. But, will those images and sounds ever run into
another time and place where the universe has opened it's eyes for a
while? Will they be able to decode our signals and to listen to the
music, or to laugh at Ralf and Norton?

God, I love being alive, being aware, at least for now. To our little
life form friend in the ancient seas a billion years ago, we know you
existed. You left us a picture of yourself in the rocks, and all we
can promise is that we will carry the knowledge of your existence into
the future as long as we can. In your time, you could not conceive of
Saturn being out there in space, or Jupiter, but they were there.
maybe someday, when the sun dies and burns the earth up, maybe a part
of you will be blown out to Saturn and fall to it's dark clouds, and
there you will exist for billions of years more.

I know one thing, I fear death no more, for my body will always be a
part of this universe in one form or another. Whenever I fear death I
think of how lucky I am even to have been born and to have what
knowledge I do have at this time. I am lucky to be a part of the
universal awareness, even if it's for a short time. We ARE the
universe, we can never really die.

As I end, and get ready to try and go back to sleep, the first rays of
light are coming through my window, our awesome sun is offering me the
privilege of being touched by its light and warmth as it also offered
these gifts to our little friend a billion years ago in that ancient
sea. How lucky I am to even see it, to even feel it's warmth.

Sorry for rambling. I love each and every one of you.

I am going back to bed.

Jeff Stewart