We were hunters and foragers
The frontier was everywhere
We were bounded only by the Earth, and the ocean, and the sky
The open road still softly calls
Our little terraqueous globe is the madhouse of those hundred, thousand, millions of worlds
We who cannot even put our own planetary home in order
Riven with rivalries and hatreds
Are we to venture out into space?
By the time we're ready to settle even the nearest other planetary systems
We will have changed
The simple passaged of so many generations will have changed us
Necessity will have changed us
We're an adaptable species
It will not be we who reach Alpha Centuri and the other nearby stars
It will be a species very like us
But with more of our strengths
And fewer of our weaknesses
More confident, far seeing, capable, and prudent
For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities
We humans are capable of greatness
What new wonders undreamt of in our time
Will we have wrought in another generation
And another
How far will our nomadic species have wandered by the end of the next century
And the next millennium
Our remote descendants, safely arrayed on many worlds through the solar system and beyond
will be unified
By their common heritage, by their regard for their home planet
And by the knowledge that whatever other life may be, the only humans in all the universe
come from Earth
They will gaze up and strain to find the blue dot in their skies
They will marvel at how vulnerable the repository of all our potential once was
How perilous our infancy
How humble our beginnings
How many rivers we had to cross before we found our way.
The frontier was everywhere
We were bounded only by the Earth, and the ocean, and the sky
The open road still softly calls
Our little terraqueous globe is the madhouse of those hundred, thousand, millions of worlds
We who cannot even put our own planetary home in order
Riven with rivalries and hatreds
Are we to venture out into space?
By the time we're ready to settle even the nearest other planetary systems
We will have changed
The simple passaged of so many generations will have changed us
Necessity will have changed us
We're an adaptable species
It will not be we who reach Alpha Centuri and the other nearby stars
It will be a species very like us
But with more of our strengths
And fewer of our weaknesses
More confident, far seeing, capable, and prudent
For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities
We humans are capable of greatness
What new wonders undreamt of in our time
Will we have wrought in another generation
And another
How far will our nomadic species have wandered by the end of the next century
And the next millennium
Our remote descendants, safely arrayed on many worlds through the solar system and beyond
will be unified
By their common heritage, by their regard for their home planet
And by the knowledge that whatever other life may be, the only humans in all the universe
come from Earth
They will gaze up and strain to find the blue dot in their skies
They will marvel at how vulnerable the repository of all our potential once was
How perilous our infancy
How humble our beginnings
How many rivers we had to cross before we found our way.
FULL CREDIT goes to Michael Marantz for his brilliant original:
http://vimeo.com/2822787
http://michaelmarantz.com/
http://vimeo.com/2822787
http://michaelmarantz.com/
I got frustrated with NASA and made this video. NASA is the most fascinating, adventurous, epic institution ever devised by human beings, and their media sucks. Seriously. None of their brilliant scientists appear to know how to connect with the social media crowd, which is now more important than ever. In fact, NASA is an institution whose funding directly depends on how the public views them.
In NASA's defense, they have embraced social media. I guess my point is that they don't fully understand how to best use it. In all of their brilliance, NASA seems to have forgotten to share their hopes and dreams in a way the public can relate to, leaving one of humanity's grandest projects with terrible PR and massive funding cuts.
Michael Marantz
Click below to purchase Michael Marantz's original piano composition.
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/MichaelM...
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/eart...
AND OF COURSE to Carl Sagan. I made an entire page of credits and forgot to cite The Pale Blue Dot. Total brain fart on my part. I miss the man dearly.
NASA - http://www.youtube.com/user/NASAtelev...
BBC The Great Rift - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1597624/
Home - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014762/
BBC Planet Earth - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0795176/
Baraka - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103767/
"G20 Protest the Battle of Toronto" http://youtu.be/nOjGdvju-po
BBC Life - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1533395/
"NYC - Mindrelic Timelapse" http://vimeo.com/18554749
"Eye Macro" http://vimeo.com/14199249
"Gulf Oil Spill Effects On Wildlife" http://youtu.be/8Uax5FRWnvs
"Biggest Full Moon HD Video" http://youtu.be/JBOA1uK9cNM
"Gemini Observatory" http://youtu.be/7H3EQGfY9KY
Edit: Another video I put together:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXkuo1...
Another edit: If you like media that celebrates the beauty and wonder of science, go check it out and listen to their podcast. Winner of best educational podcast of the year AND best science podcast of the year!
http://www.theskepticsguide.org/
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