Cosmos

"Is ours the lone voice for thousands of light years, or is there a kind of cosmic fugue, billions of voices singing the life music of the galaxy?"

Carl Sagan said those words 26 years ago, in the second episode of what was a 13 episode masterpiece known as "Cosmos". It was a PBS series in 1980 about the wonder that is the cosmos.

Carl Sagan is one of the greatest human beings of the 20th century and is a man to be admired for what he believed and what he accomplished. His endless pursuit of the truth and abhorrence for religion is a shining example for us all.

I recommend this television series to anyone with even a passing interest or curiosity in what lies beyond, and even to those that don't. From the shores of the cosmic ocean to heaven and hell to the edge of forever, Sagan's work is a masterpiece that stands the test of time.

All 13 episodes are available in their entirety to be streamed (high quality) off Google Video at no cost. Although of course, if you have the money, you should really buy the dvds yourself.

Here is a sample of just how (cheezily?) poetic Carl Sagan is throughout these pieces:

Who speaks for Earth?

"We who embody the local eyes and ears and thoughts and feelings of the cosmos, we've begun, at last, to wonder about our origins, starstuff contemplating the stars, organized assemblages of ten billion billion billion atoms contemplating the evolution of atoms, tracing that long path by which it arrived that consciousness here on the planet earth and perhaps througout the cosmos. Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. We speak for earth. Our obligation to survive and flourish is owed not just to ourselves, but also to that cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring."