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Author Topic:   Cosmos with Neil DeGrass Tyson
onifre
Member (Idle past 2950 days)
Posts: 4854
From: Dark Side of the Moon
Joined: 02-20-2008


(1)
Message 106 of 206 (723495)
04-02-2014 10:21 PM
Reply to: Message 7 by Diomedes
03-11-2014 3:43 PM


Ironically, the network responsible for this series is none other than Fox itself.
The owners of Fox are more into making money than they are into pleasing the morons that watch Fox News.
Remember the producer of the new Cosmos is Seth MacFarlane, who created Family Guy and is also on Fox. Who makes a TON of money for Fox. So I'd say the creos can complain all they want, Fox sees dollar signs on this show and/or doesn't want to piss off their biggest cash cow.
- Oni
Edited by onifre, : No reason given.

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arachnophilia
Member (Idle past 1343 days)
Posts: 9069
From: god's waiting room
Joined: 05-21-2004


(2)
Message 107 of 206 (723592)
04-03-2014 7:47 PM
Reply to: Message 100 by NoNukes
04-02-2014 10:12 AM


Re: Episode 4
Taq writes:
It's interesting history and all, but would love to see more science.
NoNukes writes:
I understand why the show cannot be filled with mathematics. But perhaps just a little detail on one or two items. Anything more and people are just going to switch off.
i feel the same way. it's great at inspiring the necessary wonder and imagination... but it'd be great if it would touch at least a little on why we know some of these things.
That brief mention of YEC seemed like a pretty thorough pounding to me. Nothing new for any of the posters here, but still a pretty explicit labeling of the idea of a 6-7000 year old universe as ridiculous. What struck me was that the debunking could have easily be omitted. It seems like the producers and Tyson are picking a fight.
the first episode had creationists foaming at the mouth, for saying that science considers all ideas... and the not including theirs. creationism, of course, isn't included because it has failed as science, and it's worthwhile to show some reasons regarding why that is.

אָרַח

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NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 108 of 206 (723784)
04-08-2014 12:27 PM
Reply to: Message 107 by arachnophilia
04-03-2014 7:47 PM


Re: Episode 4
and it's worthwhile to show some reasons regarding why that is.
Well, Tyson is doing some of that, but the poking at creationist goes well beyond showing why the scientific method has been successful. For example, in addition to telling us about how long light has been traveling to us from different places in the universe, Dr. Tyson also stuck in some superfluous zingers about what our ancestors look like at the time. For example, while talking about a galaxy millions of light years away, he mentioned that our ancestors, at the time the light we see left that galaxy, weighed a few kilograms and sported a tail.
Surely the tail comment is particularly grating to some segment of potential viewers. No reason for that kind of off-the-cuff stuff other than chain yanking and/or nose thumbing. Not that there is anything wrong with that!
Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. Galileo Galilei
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

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RAZD
Member (Idle past 1405 days)
Posts: 20714
From: the other end of the sidewalk
Joined: 03-14-2004


Message 109 of 206 (723790)
04-08-2014 4:08 PM
Reply to: Message 103 by RAZD
04-02-2014 2:03 PM


Re: Episode 5
And I wish they had balanced Bruno with Ibn al Haytham - The First Scientist
and they did in episode 5, spent a good bit of time on him.
Also MoTze who I had not heard of before.
Mozi - Wikipedia
Interesting. Possibly the first rationalist socialist ... and then China had their "dark ages" complete with book burnings and whole sale murder of the intelligentsia in the name of "legalism" ... another kind of dogma that brooks no questions.
Edited by RAZD, : ...

we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand
Rebel American Zen Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ...
to share.


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Omnivorous
Member
Posts: 3978
From: Adirondackia
Joined: 07-21-2005
Member Rating: 7.3


Message 110 of 206 (723792)
04-08-2014 5:07 PM


"Your Inner Fish"--3-part series on evolution hosted by Tiktaalik co-discoverer
Just a reminder...
quote:
To Neil H. Shubin’s long rsum paleontologist, molecular biologist, dean and professor of anatomy at the University of Chicago School of Medicine, best-selling author can now be added television host. Dr. Shubin, 53, who helped discover the 375-million-year-old fish called Tiktaalik, hailed as a missing link between sea and land animals, will preside over Your Inner Fish, a three-part series on evolution (based on his book of the same title) that makes its debut Wednesday (4/9) on PBS.
...and how odd to be reminded (in the 4/7 NYT interview with Shubin) that Sagan was denied membership in the National Academy of Sciences.

"If you can keep your head while those around you are losing theirs, you can collect a lot of heads."

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RAZD
Member (Idle past 1405 days)
Posts: 20714
From: the other end of the sidewalk
Joined: 03-14-2004


Message 111 of 206 (723793)
04-08-2014 5:18 PM
Reply to: Message 110 by Omnivorous
04-08-2014 5:07 PM


Re: "Your Inner Fish"--3-part series on evolution hosted by Tiktaalik co-discoverer
Indeed. I am looking forward to this. ...
... and more creationist howling at the sky ...

we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand
Rebel American Zen Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ...
to share.


Join the effort to solve medical problems, AIDS/HIV, Cancer and more with Team EvC! (click)

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roxrkool
Member (Idle past 988 days)
Posts: 1497
From: Nevada
Joined: 03-23-2003


(3)
Message 112 of 206 (723797)
04-08-2014 6:19 PM
Reply to: Message 109 by RAZD
04-08-2014 4:08 PM


Re: Episode 5
I enjoyed this episode and is my son's favorite so far. The spectrum of light was fascinating to him, particular the last portion of the episode when they showed how the city and space look different depending on which wave lengths of light you are using.
I actually really enjoy the history. I think it's a good introduction to the evolution of science.

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Tempe 12ft Chicken
Member (Idle past 335 days)
Posts: 438
From: Tempe, Az.
Joined: 10-25-2012


(2)
Message 113 of 206 (723825)
04-09-2014 12:29 PM
Reply to: Message 110 by Omnivorous
04-08-2014 5:07 PM


Re: "Your Inner Fish"--3-part series on evolution hosted by Tiktaalik co-discoverer
Thank you for letting us know about this! I have to set my DVR up for it, but I had not heard anything about it leading up to it, which can be explained by the fact that I do not watch a lot of PBS. I will definitely ensure that I catch this program though.
As for Episode 5 of Cosmos, I think they are getting more into the swing of how they want this show to go each episode. While my favorite up until this point was the episode on Evolution, I think that this one has surpassed it and taken the number one overall spot up until this point. We will see how they continue forward if any episode beats it out. I was especially interested in the portions on Mo Tzu and Ibn Al-Haytham because these were individuals that my education growing up did not focus on. It is interesting to see how some of the rest of the world was moving forward while my ancestry was trapped in the darkness of repressive thought control. Very good episode!

The theory of evolution by cumulative natural selection is the only theory we know of that is in principle capable of explaining the existence of organized complexity. - Richard Dawkins
Creationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night. - Issac Asimov
If you removed all the arteries, veins, & capillaries from a person’s body, and tied them end-to-endthe person will die. - Neil Degrasse Tyson
What would Buddha do? Nothing! What does the Buddhist terrorist do? Goes into the middle of the street, takes the gas, *pfft*, Self-Barbecue. The Christian and the Muslim on either side are yelling, "What the Fuck are you doing?" The Buddhist says, "Making you deal with your shit. - Robin Williams

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arachnophilia
Member (Idle past 1343 days)
Posts: 9069
From: god's waiting room
Joined: 05-21-2004


Message 114 of 206 (723844)
04-09-2014 10:29 PM
Reply to: Message 111 by RAZD
04-08-2014 5:18 PM


Re: "Your Inner Fish"--3-part series on evolution hosted by Tiktaalik co-discoverer
i dunno, this doesn't make me hopeful:
with the description on facebook:
quote:
Part reptile, part mammal, Tritheledont was a creature right on the cusp of the transition from reptile to mammal. Learn more about its remarkable anatomy when YOUR INNER FISH premieres Wednesday, April 9 at 10/9c on PBS.
hopefully with a paleontologist like shubin on the show, they can get some of this stuff right.

אָרַח

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roxrkool
Member (Idle past 988 days)
Posts: 1497
From: Nevada
Joined: 03-23-2003


(2)
Message 115 of 206 (723846)
04-09-2014 11:42 PM


Through the Wormhole
We've also been watching Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman on the Science Channel. I've been pleasantly surprised with the show and it's another hit with my 12 year old. So are the NASA shows.
I'm just so happy my kid enjoys my shows and doesn't whine for Jersey Shore... maybe I should just shut up now...

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 116 of 206 (723854)
04-10-2014 3:50 AM
Reply to: Message 113 by Tempe 12ft Chicken
04-09-2014 12:29 PM


Re: "Your Inner Fish"--3-part series on evolution hosted by Tiktaalik co-discoverer
I think that this one has surpassed it and taken the number one overall spot up until this point.
I agree. The best episode so far. Plenty of history, but in the end, enough science too! (And the best science of all... physics.) . Definitely a keeper. First time I've ever wanted a big screen TV.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. Galileo Galilei
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

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AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 117 of 206 (723857)
04-10-2014 7:39 AM


Lines in the Sky
For me, the best of episode 5 was the depiction of the atoms (I know, slowed down a gazillion times etc, but sooo much better than the usual depiction of the Bohr models. I loved their rendition of the proton.), using this to explain the spectral lines and then using the code of the spectral lines to decipher the constituents of other worlds, stars and galaxies. Probably the best description and demonstration of the power of the spectral lines ever created for the layman.
Seeing the city through different light frequencies was cool and all, but the key teaching point of the episode has to be the way science found and uses the spectrum to see the universe.
I'm hoping this will open the eyes and minds of the great unwashed masses as to just how we humans can know so much about what's out there from just looking up. Maybe it will help them realize scientific knowledge is not some eggheads making things up while sitting around drinking tea.

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RAZD
Member (Idle past 1405 days)
Posts: 20714
From: the other end of the sidewalk
Joined: 03-14-2004


(1)
Message 118 of 206 (723878)
04-10-2014 1:21 PM
Reply to: Message 117 by AZPaul3
04-10-2014 7:39 AM


Re: Lines in the Sky
and when those patterns from SN1987A match modern spectral lines it demonstrates that the speed of light has not changed, because that would affect the wavelengths and shift the spectral lines.
But that's another argument for another day.

we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand
Rebel American Zen Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ...
to share.


Join the effort to solve medical problems, AIDS/HIV, Cancer and more with Team EvC! (click)

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RAZD
Member (Idle past 1405 days)
Posts: 20714
From: the other end of the sidewalk
Joined: 03-14-2004


Message 119 of 206 (723953)
04-11-2014 7:58 AM
Reply to: Message 114 by arachnophilia
04-09-2014 10:29 PM


Re: "Your Inner Fish"--3-part series on evolution hosted by Tiktaalik co-discoverer
Watched "Inner Fish" last night ...
(on line at Watch Videos if you missed it)
Thought it was excellent. Probably even more problematical for evolution denying creationists, dealing as it does with our evolution and common ancestry with fish.
Discusses the history of tree of life (nice graphic), and how homologies show kinship -- the pattern of one bone, two bones, many bones in arms and legs.
Wow, two good shows on science ... must be the end of times ,,,

we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand
Rebel American Zen Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ...
to share.


Join the effort to solve medical problems, AIDS/HIV, Cancer and more with Team EvC! (click)

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Omnivorous
Member
Posts: 3978
From: Adirondackia
Joined: 07-21-2005
Member Rating: 7.3


(1)
Message 120 of 206 (724039)
04-11-2014 6:31 PM
Reply to: Message 119 by RAZD
04-11-2014 7:58 AM


Re: "Your Inner Fish"--3-part series on evolution hosted by Tiktaalik co-discoverer
Thanks for the link--I just finished watching.
I thought it was excellent. The combo of intellectual adventure and field work in a challenging environment was great--using digital effects to turn the tilted strata back into a flood plain was esp. nice.
Wow, two good shows on science ... must be the end of times
Eh, end times, beginning times...same-same.

"If you can keep your head while those around you are losing theirs, you can collect a lot of heads."

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