Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilisation

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The world in 1930 would be unrecognizable to people transported from the year 1900; the world in 1960 would be unrecognizable to people transported from the year 1930; and so on. And it's impossible to know what the world will be like in 2050. Hardly any of us have ever grown tired of waterfalls or the full Moon ascending over a mountainous or urban horizon. We persistently fall speechless at the singular spectacle that is a total solar eclipse. Who can turn away from the crescent Moon and Venus, together, suspended in the twilight skies? Islam couldn’t. That juxtaposition of a “star” with the crescent Moon remains a sacred symbol of the faith. Vincent van Gogh couldn’t turn away either. On June 21, 1889,3 he captured it from the pre-dawn skies in Saint-Rémy, France, creating what is perhaps his best-known painting, The Starry Night. And we never seem to get enough landscape panoramas from planetary rovers or cosmic imagery delivered courtesy of the Hubble Space Telescope and other portals to the cosmos. The truths of nature are rampant with beauty and wonder, out to the largest of measures of space and time. The book is a collection of essays that explore various topics related to civilization, such as war, politics, religion, truth, beauty, gender, and race, from a cosmic perspective. The author uses his knowledge and experience as an astrophysicist and science communicator to illuminate the connections and contradictions between our human affairs and the natural laws of the universe. We started with a big word – cosmos, the root of the cosmic perspective we’ve been exploring in this summary. Let’s end, then, with a big number. As I was reading this, I didn't expect to learn anything new, but that wasn't really the point. Even the title hints at its true purpose: to inspire awe.

Scientific knowledge and human responses progressed over the centuries, and - in modern times - has advanced at lightning speed. Tyson provides some examples: Example: climate change stance where he touts the “settled science” narrative, which for a scientist, he knows better.The article highlights how the author uses his knowledge and experience as an astrophysicist and science communicator to illuminate the connections and contradictions between our human affairs and the natural laws of the universe, and how he draws inspiration from the history and philosophy of science, especially from Galileo Galilei.

There are doses of humor and pop culture, added only where they could also advance the ideas of a chapter. And I'm proud to say that the book is relatively short, making a fast read. There’s that cosmic perspective again. Seen through these lenses, something as seemingly intuitive as water’s boiling point becomes confoundingly ambiguous. Scientists accept such ambiguity; they are trained, after all, to question commonsensical conceptual boundaries. It’s a different matter when it comes to politics and culture. Think of hotly contested questions around sex and gender. Can you be both male and female, or neither? Can you move fluidly between being a man and a woman? Is sexual preference fluid, too? It’s not surprising that some people struggle with these questions – we’re all embedded in cultures which for centuries saw only rigid categories where many today see points on a continuum.The book gives us a cosmic perspective on our problems and on the topics that we hear about daily like politics and gender identity por example. Neil doesn't do this by being condescending or trying to explain his "views" on any topic. He talks about science, progress and the Cosmos in SIMPLE and optimistic terms and gently asks us to think about our place in the history of the universe when discussing our differences and problems. And is there anything more beautiful than a 300-mile- wide hurricane, viewed from on high or from space, slowly rotating like the gaseous pinwheel of storm clouds it is? How about a vigorous thunderstorm, with frequent, loud, and scary cloud-to-cloud and ground-to-cloud11 lightning strikes? After all that, you’d think only one definition for truth should exist in this world, but no. At least two other kinds prevail that drive some of the most beautiful and the most violent expressions of human conduct. Personal truths have the power to command your mind, body, and soul, but are not evidence-based. Personal truths are what you’re sure is true, even if you can’t—especially if you can’t—prove it. Some of these ideas derive from what you want to be true. Others take shape from charismatic leaders or sacred doctrines, either ancient or contemporary. For some, especially in monotheistic traditions, God and Truth are synonymous. The Christian Bible says so:2 The article is a summary and review of the book Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization by Neil deGrasse Tyson, which explores various topics related to civilization from a cosmic perspective. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Tyson gives numerous examples of the ways science can reduce misunderstandings and increase cooperation among people. However, the author also strays far from this topic, expounding on other subjects that pop into his mind, such as: personal vanity (cosmetics and such); 'liberal' TV shows and movies sponsored by Fox broadcasting (which is much more extensive than just Fox News); vegetarians and vegans; slavery; racism; confederate statues; tweets he shouldn't have sent; LGBTQ issues; what aliens visiting Earth would think of us; law and justice; and more. The article also evaluates how the book is a stimulating and enlightening read that offers a fresh and original perspective on some of the most pressing issues of our time, and how it encourages us to embrace the power and beauty of science, reason, and curiosity, as well as the humility and responsibility that come with them. More bacteria live and work in every centimeter of our lower colon than the sum of all humans who have ever lived." Personal truths are what you may hold dear but have no real way of convincing others who disagree, except by heated argument, coercion, or force. These are the foundations of most people’s opinions and are normally harmless when kept to yourself or argued over a beer. Is Jesus your savior? Did Muhammad serve as God’s last prophet on Earth? Should the government support poor people? Are current immigration laws too tight or too loose? Is Beyoncé your Queen? In the Star Trek universe, which captain are you? Kirk or Picard—or Janeway? How often have we seen posters, or even fine art, depicting cherubs, angels, saints, or a bearded God himself floating on a cumulonimbus cloud—the greatest of them all. Cloud taxonomy fascinated the Scottish meteorologist Ralph Abercromby, and in 1896 he documented as many as he could around the world, creating a numerical sequence for them. You guessed it. Cumulonimbus clouds landed at number 9, unwittingly seeding the everlasting concept of being on “cloud nine” when in a blissful state.6 Combine cloud nine with beams of sunlight reaching every corner of an image, and you can’t help but think of divine beauty.Oxygen promotes combustion. Hydrogen is an explosive gas. Combine the two and get water (H2O), a liquid that douses fires. Chlorine is a poisonous, caustic gas. Sodium is a metal, soft enough to cut with a butter knife and light enough to float on water. But don’t try that at home because it reacts explosively in water. Combine the two and get sodium chloride (NaCl), more commonly known as table salt. No, this certainly is not his typical “science” book about astrophysics but rather his reflections on humanity. The pace of scientific developments with all the biases of each era clouding judgments on what was to come. The polarization of society and the need for rational thinking about issues rather than blindly following the politics of your chosen political affiliation and stereotypes for those your party seems as enemy. The need for reason and rationality and statistics. The danger of “personal truths”, although attractive and appealing, replacing objective truths — even if our mammalian brains seem to prefer the easiness of polarization into “us” and “them”. When Galileo Galilei published Sidereus Nunciusin 1610, he brought to Earth cosmic truths that had been waiting since antiquity to descend upon human thought. Galileo’s freshly perfected telescope revealed a universe unlike anything people presumed to be true. Unlike anything people wanted to be true. Unlike anything people dared say was true. Sidereus Nunciuscontained his observations of the Sun, Moon, and stars, as well as the planets and the Milky Way. Two fast takeaways from his book: (1) human eyes alone are insufficient to reveal fundamental truths about the operations of nature, (2) Earth is not the center of all motion. It orbits the Sun as just one among the other known planets. Bringing his cosmic perspective to civilization on Earth, Neil deGrasse Tyson shines new light on the crucial fault lines of our time—war, politics, religion, truth, beauty, gender, and race—in a way that stimulates a deeper sense of unity for us all.