---------------------------------------------------------
That's here.
That's home.
That's us.
On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.
The aggregate, of our joy and suffering,
thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines,
every hunter and forager,
every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization,
every king and peasant,
every young couple in love, every mother and father,
hopeful child, inventor and explorer,
every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician,
every superstar, every supreme leader,
every saint and sinner in the history of our species,
lived there,
on a mote of dust,
suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth, is a very small stage in a vast, cosmic arena.
Think, of the rivers of blood,
spilled by all those generals and emperors,
so that in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters,
of a fraction of a dot.
Think of the endless cruelties visited,
of the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel,
on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner.
How frequent, their misunderstandings,
how eager they are, to kill one another,
how fervent, their hatreds.
Our posturings,
our imagined self-importance,
the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe,
are challenged by this point of pale light.
Our planet,
is a lonely speck,
in the great, enveloping cosmic dark.
In our obsecurity,
in all this vastness,
there is no hint, that help will come from elsewhere,
to save us, from ourselves.
The Earth, is the only world known so far to harbor life.
There is nowhere else, at least in the near future,
to which our species could migrate.
Visit? Yes.
Settle? Not yet.
Like it or not, for the moment,
the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience.
There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits,
than this distant image.
It underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another,
and to preserve, and cherish the Pale Blue Dot,
the only home we've ever known.
In all walks of life, always remember to consider the following 9 precepts:
I) Question authority, as no idea is true just because someone says so, including me.
II) Think for yourself.
III) Question yourself.
IV) Don't believe anything just because you want to. Believing something doesn't make it so.
V) Test ideas by the evidence gained from observation and experiment.
VI) If an idea fails a well-designed test, it's wrong. Get over it.
VII) Follow the evidence, wherever it leads.
VIII) If you have no evidence, reserve judgment.
IX) Remember, you could be wrong.
Even the best scientists have been wrong about some things.
Newton, Einstein, and every other great scientist in history - they all made mistakes.
Of course they did, they were human.
Science is a way to keep from fooling ourselves, and each other.
Have scientists known sin? Of course.
We have misused science, just as we have every other tool at our disposal.
This trend in our race's history is why we cannot afford to leave science - and the technologies derived from it - in the hands of a powerful few.
The more science belongs to all of us, the less likely it is to be misused.
These values undermine the appeals of fanaticism and ignorance.
==================================================================
Acknowledgements:
[1] Doctor Carl Sagan - May he rest in peace. And may his desire of true freedom and world peace materialize before our race succumbs to extinction due to a preventable, self-inflicted tragedy.
[2] Doctor Neil deGrasse Tyson - May he live a long, happy, and healthy life. And may he continue to inspire countless children to pursue the study of science, solely for the betterment of humanity.
[3] To You - Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope that it may have made a positive impact, however small, and in any way whatsoever.
That's here.
That's home.
That's us.
On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.
The aggregate, of our joy and suffering,
thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines,
every hunter and forager,
every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization,
every king and peasant,
every young couple in love, every mother and father,
hopeful child, inventor and explorer,
every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician,
every superstar, every supreme leader,
every saint and sinner in the history of our species,
lived there,
on a mote of dust,
suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth, is a very small stage in a vast, cosmic arena.
Think, of the rivers of blood,
spilled by all those generals and emperors,
so that in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters,
of a fraction of a dot.
Think of the endless cruelties visited,
of the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel,
on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner.
How frequent, their misunderstandings,
how eager they are, to kill one another,
how fervent, their hatreds.
Our posturings,
our imagined self-importance,
the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe,
are challenged by this point of pale light.
Our planet,
is a lonely speck,
in the great, enveloping cosmic dark.
In our obsecurity,
in all this vastness,
there is no hint, that help will come from elsewhere,
to save us, from ourselves.
The Earth, is the only world known so far to harbor life.
There is nowhere else, at least in the near future,
to which our species could migrate.
Visit? Yes.
Settle? Not yet.
Like it or not, for the moment,
the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience.
There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits,
than this distant image.
It underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another,
and to preserve, and cherish the Pale Blue Dot,
the only home we've ever known.
In all walks of life, always remember to consider the following 9 precepts:
I) Question authority, as no idea is true just because someone says so, including me.
II) Think for yourself.
III) Question yourself.
IV) Don't believe anything just because you want to. Believing something doesn't make it so.
V) Test ideas by the evidence gained from observation and experiment.
VI) If an idea fails a well-designed test, it's wrong. Get over it.
VII) Follow the evidence, wherever it leads.
VIII) If you have no evidence, reserve judgment.
IX) Remember, you could be wrong.
Even the best scientists have been wrong about some things.
Newton, Einstein, and every other great scientist in history - they all made mistakes.
Of course they did, they were human.
Science is a way to keep from fooling ourselves, and each other.
Have scientists known sin? Of course.
We have misused science, just as we have every other tool at our disposal.
This trend in our race's history is why we cannot afford to leave science - and the technologies derived from it - in the hands of a powerful few.
The more science belongs to all of us, the less likely it is to be misused.
These values undermine the appeals of fanaticism and ignorance.
==================================================================
Acknowledgements:
[1] Doctor Carl Sagan - May he rest in peace. And may his desire of true freedom and world peace materialize before our race succumbs to extinction due to a preventable, self-inflicted tragedy.
[2] Doctor Neil deGrasse Tyson - May he live a long, happy, and healthy life. And may he continue to inspire countless children to pursue the study of science, solely for the betterment of humanity.
[3] To You - Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope that it may have made a positive impact, however small, and in any way whatsoever.
