Not Enough September 21, 2009
Posted by Emir in Thoughts.Tags: inspiration, life, reflection, thought
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I’ve been questioning my life.
Let’s see. I got my degree. Finally. My day job is looking up and I’ve started lecturing on the side. My car’s in good shape, I can afford little luxuries and I’ve got a decent home. I haven’t got the girl but that’s okay – I’m not sure if I want any great commitment yet anyway.
One might say life is going pretty good for me…but I’m not happy. I don’t mean to come off as ungrateful for everything that I have, but I’m not happy.
I want something more. I want to be something more. I’ve never wanted to just be another blip on the radar. Let’s face it: What would happen if I disappeared off the face of the Earth tomorrow? There would be some disruptions to the lives of those around me: Some might grieve, others feel some sort of inconvenience, and who knows; some might even do a little jig in celebration. The fact of the matter is that eventually the void would be filled, people would move on and I would have left little of any real consequence in the world.
In some ways that may be the nature of human life. But: How many times have you looked at a historical figure and awed at the long term impact they have had on our civilization? How many times have you gotten lost in a really good book or film and found yourself inspired by it?
I suppose I want to be the one making those milestones. I want to be the one creating that inspiration. Now don’t get me wrong – I don’t want the glory. Nobody has to know that it was me. I just want to know to myself that I was more than just another fish in the sea.
Voyager: Surviving our time July 19, 2009
Posted by Emir in Science and Technology, Space, Thoughts.Tags: carter, golden record, nasa, space, termination shock, voyager
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In 1977 NASA launched the Voyager spacecraft. On concluding their respective missions to the outer planets, the probes were cast off into interstellar space where it will be on the scale of tens and hundreds of thousands of years before either pass even close to another star system.
The probes flew with the Golden Records; discs containing sounds of the Earth, greetings from mankind, the origins of the probes and instructions on how to play the records. In addition, they carried a statement by U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The statement read:
“We cast this message into the cosmos… Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some — perhaps many — may have inhabited planets and space faring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message: We are trying to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope some day, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of Galactic Civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination and our goodwill in a vast and awesome universe.”
When you think about it, this is a truly profound message. The likelihood that these probes would ever be recovered by another civilization is next to nothing. Perhaps by sheer statistics, it could happen one day but how far into the future would that be? What is truly amazing is that these machines will certainly outlive the society that created them.
Today both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are on the periphery of the solar system, passing through the Termination Shock where the influence of the Sun meets the galactic winds of the Milky Way. Long after their power runs out these vessels will still carry that message; a statement to the cosmos that once upon a time, mankind existed on the third planet from Sol.
