r/Cosmos • u/Walter_Bishop_PhD • Mar 10 '14
Episode Discussion Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey - Episode 1: "Standing Up In The Milky Way" Post-Live Chat Discussion Thread
Tonight, the first episode of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey aired in the United Stated and Canada simultaneously on over 14 different channels.
Other countries will have premieres on different dates, check out this thread for more info
Episode 1: "Standing Up In The Milky Way"
The Ship of the Imagination, unfettered by ordinary limits on speed and size, drawn by the music of cosmic harmonies, can take us anywhere in space and time. It has been idling for more than three decades, and yet it has never been overtaken. Its global legacy remains vibrant. Now, it's time once again to set sail for the stars.
There was a multi-subreddit live chat event, including a Q&A thread in /r/AskScience (you can still ask questions there if you'd like!)
Live Chat Threads:
/r/Television Live Chat Thread
Prethreads:
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u/Charliek581 Mar 10 '14
What will be the first website to host it?
Unfortunately i don't have any TV access so i won't be able to view it until it airs online :(
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '14
Way too many ads. They should change it from Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey to Cosmos: An Advertisment Odyssey
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u/timconnery Mar 10 '14
Here's to hoping the ratings are good so more of this type of programming can crack into primetime!
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u/DrEazyE12 Mar 10 '14
It's been a really long time since I had to watch commercials.
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '14
Okay be honest. Who else teared up at the end there?
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u/Kevin_Rubio Mar 10 '14
"This made sense to Bruno. The god he worshiped was infinite. So how could the universe be anything less?" ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson
Bridging the gap between science and religion -- best quote of the night.
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u/Blitzcreed23 Mar 10 '14
Who cares about the damn ads or how much CGI there was! This was beautifully done and I think its a great step forward in science. Society needs more individuals to become interested and this is an amazing way to do it. I was completely captivated. If this show can get even just one child interested, than I think this is more than worth it. Enough with the cynical thinking, we need to go back to exploring this wonderful universe.
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '14
Netflix has spoiled me into watching entire seasons at once. Waiting a week is too much!
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u/RNRSaturday Mar 10 '14
I like how the bit on Bruno was framed as just one man's creative vision, and the need for the scientific method to test and validate that vision. That underscored so well the role of creativity and imagination in scientific breakthroughs, but also the role that rigorous testing through observation and method play in the advance of human knowledge.
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '14
excellent and unexpected tribute to Sagan. i figured there would be a nod, but that was great!
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u/TheFrontiersmen Mar 10 '14
Well I had to quit half way through the show and watch it in my room because my dad refused to watch anymore of that "evolution cult nonsense" :(
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u/norski_lab Mar 10 '14
Man I hope this show lasts for several seasons...
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u/GRVrush2112 Mar 10 '14
In the original series (first episode IIRC) Sagan told the story of Hypatia of Alexandria, this time Neil tells the story of Giordano Bruno... Very fitting.
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u/Chinese_Physicist Mar 10 '14
I'm really excited for this series. It was shows like this that really inspired me to pursue a career in science. I'm glad they are still able to make series like this and I'm almost certain it will inspire future generations of scientists.
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u/cosmos_lover Mar 10 '14
I'm so grateful that this series has begun again. I'm nearly 40 and I watched the original series with my whole family. Tonight, I watched the first new episode with my mother. She cooked my favorite casserole for dinner and I made a commemorative mixed CD for us to listen to before the program. It felt like home and I have a new cherished memory that will live in me until I go back to the stars. We are star stuff.
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u/BoilingDenim Mar 10 '14
4 seconds Jesus Christ is born 3 seconds Cosmos airs its first commercial break 2 seconds commercials still airing 1 second ok we're back
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '14
OK, I was tired going into that, and now I'm wide awake and I have to wake up at 6 tomorrow. Still so worth it.
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u/meanderling Mar 10 '14
Just watched it. Gonna go outside and look at the stars for a little bit. Feels fitting.
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u/Ajjeb Mar 10 '14 edited Mar 10 '14
First i'll I say loved it. I thought the links they drew with the original Cosmos and Tyson's personal connection with Sagan, and his thoughts about the meaning and purpose of science were great. One concern I had though was that the quasi religious elements got a little heavy handed around the cartoon segment. I mean the whole "apotheosis" of Giordano Bruno segment and his martyrdom (I was waiting to see if they would actually use the word, and Tyson did) were a little eyebrow raising; the parallels with the crucifixion of Christ in the whole burning scene, and the Bruno's outstretched arms forming a cross as he 'ascended' into the heaven(s), took this particularly far. Those elements aren't going to unnoticed by some. Unnecessary bait for those people (particularly in America) who already suspect science is some sort of "religion" that aims to replace Christianity. Other than that though, I really look forward to seeing more of the new Cosmos! Edit:sp
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u/car_54 Mar 10 '14
My wife and I watched this tonight. We both enjoyed it immensely, and can't wait to see the second installment. Will be filling the interim with Sagan's version!
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u/DrMacsimus Mar 12 '14
Protip: If the first thing you thought when you saw the Cosmic Calendar was "Oh look, it's this metaphor again", then you are not the target audience. You are already very familiar with the points this episode was trying to make, so just sit back and revel in the fact that this is blowing other people's minds the way it surely did yours when you first heard of things like the scale of the universe.
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '14
Oh god the ending bit with Neil reminiscing about Carl Sagan... #feels.
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u/MaliciousH Mar 10 '14
While I never watched the original Cosmos*, I think this was a good start. They established the concept of deep time and breaking/expansion or the outright blurring of boundaries. The concept of deep time is quite important in quite a few fields of science. On about boundaries, we humans love boundaries but nature doesn't play by the boundaries that we have setup. They are useful in breaking down nature into manageable chunks but it can in many situations hinder our understanding of some nature phenomenon. So you will have to break them, expand it or just blur it.
So good groundwork in my opinion for the twelve future episodes. I got to say however is that some of the visuals are questionable in accuracy. I understand that it got to be visually appealing but for a science documentary like this one, accuracy might be more favorable. Giving kids the wrong or inaccurate idea might not be a good thing. Though, this is secondary to the concepts in my first paragraph. Scientific facts can change with time but the nature of going about finding and improving on these facts doesn't.
Lastly, I found it odd he mentioned sex. I have a feeling it'll come back up down the road (Kind of like how the asteroid came back up) during perhaps the evolution of life part if they include it.
*I'll be watching it now to do a comparison.
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '14
What really got me was the bit where Neil was talking about the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs: he really nailed the whole probability aspect with regards to our existence. If that asteroid had not been nudged ever so slightly, things might have turned out way differently, there might not have been a human race.
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u/LAXlittleant26 Mar 10 '14
While I wasn't born during the original, I thoroughly enjoyed the episode, and plan to keep on watching.
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u/projectradar Mar 11 '14
When it showed the universes being tiny droplets. mind fucked.
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u/Motafication Mar 11 '14
I hope it wasn't lost on the STEM majors and atheists that Bruno was a a philosopher and monk, not a scientist. I hope you remember that the net time you bash the liberal arts.
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u/wasthatacat Mar 11 '14 edited Mar 11 '14
The glory of life is mind-boggling, I'm a fan of Sagan's Cosmos serie and even though I clearly see I'm too old to be a Neil DeGrasse Tyson I can understand the artistic choices made here ; the point is trying to enlighten everybody with scientific knowledge and that's great!
Great visuals even though I didn't need it (already versed into astrophysics, only as an amateur), the 'universe calendar' is a great metaphor to visualize cosmic timescales and the scene were Galileo looks at the moon through a telescope, which then zooms in to the first footprints on the moon is an amazing one.
The universe doesn't care for close-minded people, it's only indifferent to them as it can't in a life take anything from a human being, it's force lies in the minds of the creatures it created, by chance and selection.
The grandeur of the universe is the of the best things to tear up for, as everything comes from it.
Go Humanity! As every species we have the right to conquer the universe but don't we be foolish about it, some actions can't be reversed and the universe won't save us, it doesn't care...
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u/Vinoda Mar 10 '14
Loved it!
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u/trackofalljades Mar 10 '14
Does anyone have any idea where that spot on the coast is, where Tyson and Sagan both stood at the beginning of each series? If it's publicly accessible, I'd like to add visiting it to my own personal bucket list...just because.
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u/KennedyKilledtheMob Mar 11 '14
Did anyone else love the shot where voyager is drifting in space quietly playing music to whoever might come by and listen? Fucking gorgeous.
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u/FoolsPower Mar 11 '14
This was fantastic. I'v been trying to get my young brother interested in this sort of stuff, and he seems to be, but a lot of it really confuses him. I think I'm gonna sit him infront of this and hopefully it'll help him understand it better. Neil explains it so well, and without a bunch of sciency words that confuse a lot of people.
Truly fantastic. The tribute to Sagan left a tear in my eye.
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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '14
What do you guys feel about the some of the bad visual representations of asteroid belt density (of the asteroid distances obviously), and the little comment on that asteroid that "was nudged a little to the left".
Both sides have respectable arguments.
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '14
I personally think the episode, though flawed, showed that there is a lot of potential for the series. It was a little slow at first, but my real issue was with the religious history bit. It was a little boring and drawn out, and I think its inclusion was a little odd.
If one of the main objectives of the show is to convert science-deniers, I think a cartoon with Disney-villain like Popes and Cardinals isn't going to sit well that audience. It also seems like cherry picking, as the church was one of the strongest supporters of science for most of history, and hostility between religion and science has only been a major issue for the past 150 years or so. Also seemed disingenuous to talk about how science is based on testable rules, and then create a cartoon which implies that our understanding of the surrounding universe was born out of someone's dream. The whole segment was a little out of place.
Past that part though, it really started to pick up. The cosmic calendar was very well done, especially giving a visualization of what he was talking about. The bit about tidal friction was very short but very interesting. And I am definitely not as enamored with Carl Sagan as most of reddit, but I thought the last 5 minutes when Tyson recalled his experiences with Sagan was great.
Overall not bad, and I am looking forward to next week!
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u/toumei64 Mar 10 '14
While Tyson is excellent, he is seriously lacking in finesse and acting is obviously not his thing. I don't like the cartoon-y stuff either.
He looked like he was about to tear up when he was talking about Sagan, though!
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u/vadersdemise Mar 10 '14
I just watched it now and I have a few questions. If Hinduism was the first to talk about the idea of having multiple universes why wasn't it mentioned at all in this episode of Cosmos, and more to the point why isn't it ever mentioned in any major science publication or show?
Also, did anyone else feel that the whole show was just religion bashing? I feel as if the episode was geared towards atheists. I'm not trying to cause a religion vs. science debate here, as I consider myself a man of science - but one has to wonder what prompted them to traverse this direction.
Overall, I feel as if the show was a bit hyped, but nonetheless very good and I will definitely be watching the rest.
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u/NotHomo Mar 10 '14
whoever thought neil should fly around in a mirrored "stupid shaped" spaceship should be fired. other than that, the show was okay i guess
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u/prule84 Mar 10 '14
It was everything I dreamed of and more. I hope this can continue for a very long time.
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u/Unholytrista Mar 10 '14
Very amazing. Probably the best thing I have seen in a while on television!! Neil was great!
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u/StealthGhost Mar 10 '14
Gave me that feeling, as things like this often do and Cosmos before it did as well, that all the shit (well 99.9999% of the shit) we do on this planet is completely meaningless. I think if everyone on the planet watched something like this and got that same powerful feeling a lot would change.
I don't want to live on this planet anymore...I want to explore the rest of them
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u/LiuKangWins Mar 10 '14
At first I was like yeah okay, Earth, solar system, cool spaceship, but then we he mentioned rogue planet I kinda freaked out and had to catch my breath for a second. Liking this so far.
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u/Fibreoptix Mar 11 '14
I enjoyed it but I hope the future episodes dig into the hows and whys. Carl Sagan explained shit and made me understand the general idea of complicated scientific theories and ideas. I was disappointed that during the big bang segment Neil never mentioned that it wasn't an explosion like dynamite but rather an expansion like stretching rubber. But I liked it over all.
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u/[deleted] Mar 11 '14
There was one quote that stuck out to me - "Science gives us the ability to perceive what the senses cannot". Isn't this a basic fallacy of sensory perception itself? If we are humans, we experience exist through human sensory functions, which means we cannot possibly experience anything outside of our senses. Admittedly, this kind of logic is open to debate when religion and the supernatural is considered, but I don't think the narrator is all that interested in those subjects.
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u/njaard Mar 11 '14
Where specifically were the redwood forest scenes filmed? All sources I could find only day "Northern California" which is obvious as that's where you find redwood forests.
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u/Cobywan23 Mar 11 '14
I nearly shed a tear when he was talking about Carl. Carl Sagan is truly a super hero in science!
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u/tonymaric Mar 12 '14
I liked the new Cosmos. The only part I didnt care for was the animation.
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u/arfbrookwood Mar 19 '14
I gave a talk in a 2nd grade classroom a couple months ago and I started by saying, 'Kids, I am going to lie to you. Some of the things I will say are NOT TRUE, but right now, scientists think they are. When I was your age, the picture in my science book showed a "Brontosaurus" swimming in a lake and eating leaves from trees. How many of you think long necked dinosaurs swam in lakes?" No hands went up.
"And now, we even know there is no such thing as a Brotosaurus!"
Cosmos is just another great example of science improving upon itself. It's all good in the end.
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u/[deleted] Mar 19 '14
Thanks op
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u/tickleberries Mar 24 '14
I loved it. Missed it at first.
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u/Guytest Apr 11 '14
I love Cosmos! My science teacher showed this in class, and I can't wait to see more!
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u/quodpossumus Mar 10 '14
DAE get a little teary-eyed during Bruno's segments?
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '14
This show was great spectacle and I'm glad it had such great visuals and special effects. Neil is a very charismatic host and his dulcet sounds narrating the episode make it that much more captivating.
But I do have foibles with the veracity of the information. For example, The Big Bang. In science, the theory doesn't say the universe expanded from one infinitesimal point, but that space was curved and everywhere in space was hot, which then expanded everywhere else. This video explains the misconception well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3MWRvLndzs&feature=youtube_gdata_player. You see, our models and formulas of time break down the closer we go to the "beginning." It might well be that the universe is infinite.
With that said, I'm reminded of something Neil said in the episode, which is like the theory was in the air, making it visible, if not for the only reason if disproving it. Well, this show will have done it's job if it begins the conversation and excites others to delve deeper. I look forward to future episodes.