We've lost a lot in the last 200ish years, and the stars overhead is one of them. (We've gained a lot, too, for sure! But give a minute to the loss ) Throughout history, humanity was nightly...
We've lost a lot in the last 200ish years, and the stars overhead is one of them. (We've gained a lot, too, for sure! But give a minute to the loss )
Throughout history, humanity was nightly exposed to a number bigger than infinity. Everyone from the highest King to lowest hermit had access to the terrestrial version of The Overview Effect.
What is one tyrant's domain in comparison to the vastness of the universe? What is the lifespan of one king/czar/emperor/whatever, compared to the stars that have always been? A gnat and its summer corn.
To live in the city, or even in a rural county, to spend my entire day looking at a little box that constantly streams atrocities and injustice, it's giving me the wrong impression that evil is winning and could never be challenged.
When those satellite chains fall with age, and even after our civilization on earth has ended, those stars will still be there. They were there long before a single cell divided here. Even if our species spread across millions of galaxies, at each colony we shall still behold a night sky nearly completely void of man.
And here I am, boasting about my several - handful of years, my bag-of-rice quantity of objects that I own, my Dunbar's number of people I don't love nearly hard enough, and so consumed by constant steam of "what about me me me me me?"
The universe was beautiful before we got here. For a brief blink in time we managed to take a few snapshots of this beauty. And it'll still be here long after we're gone. That's the extent of the sum of evil of humanity and the totality of the problem of pain: a blip.
bonus Orthodox Christian thought
And being human, made in the Image of the everlasting Christ, hopefully, y'all will (Lord willing myself included, though I am the least worthy of us) still be here admiring even greater beauty long after the effects of evil have all faded away like a brief dream.
That's why this right here and now matters, that's why each person here matters, even if we're 1/∞, because this is the blip in eternity when what we do has everlasting consequences.
I'm glad you're here reading this with me; I hope you get to see a dark sky full of stars; and I hope that the wonder and awe you experience here when the clouds part and the pollution dims and the humidity is just right give you enough strength to love and be loved through the tougher times.
I like what you wrote, it's nice. I have a somewhat different perspective about this part: I don't know if the universe is beautiful without us to observe it. It just was and it just is. When you...
I like what you wrote, it's nice. I have a somewhat different perspective about this part:
The universe was beautiful before we got here. For a brief blink in time we managed to take a few snapshots of this beauty. And it'll still be here long after we're gone. That's the extent of the sum of evil of humanity and the totality of the problem of pain: a blip.
I don't know if the universe is beautiful without us to observe it. It just was and it just is. When you have a good day or a bad day, it's just a day. You are the one judging it. However small and insignificant we are in the grand scheme, we do add one thing: The ability to observe the universe and appreciate the beauty of the it.
By us, maybe not just humans, but other life on the Earth and any other possible life that exists out there. Whatever consciousness is, we experience things and watch some things change and some things persist and we have feelings about it. All the feelings are inside us, not in the cold and apparently indifferent cosmos.
Back to the article: There certainly seems to be a lot of value to be able to see the night sky, and to observe the stars and think about the universe, rather than being so consumed with our little problems and screens and politics.
This is definitely something I can resonate with a lot. I’ve recently spent some time in “rural coastal” Greece, so not in a big city and not a too touristy area either, and going there (from my...
This is definitely something I can resonate with a lot. I’ve recently spent some time in “rural coastal” Greece, so not in a big city and not a too touristy area either, and going there (from my usual just-outside-major-metropolitan town) already blew me away. Keep in mind, you could still very obviously and brightly see the light contrast of the next bigger city against a much darker backdrop, but it was a) still ≈25km away from where we were staying and b) smaller by a factor of maybe 15 (by inhabitants) than my home area’s city.
And back home again, like the article says, you’d never even now what you’re missing out on, it’s just “normal” to be that bright there.
That map is cool! I have used this one before but the site owner specifically didn't want to link it to Bortles. (https://darksitefinder.com) Judging from the map , maybe a boat off shore might be...
That map is cool! I have used this one before but the site owner specifically didn't want to link it to Bortles. (https://darksitefinder.com)
Judging from the map , maybe a boat off shore might be the best way to view dark skies....?
It looks like my house is at 4.0, and I'm within an hour's drive to a 3.2 stretch of road / forest. I should get out there more often.
Very cool link, thanks! Seems to have been about a 4.3… I’d have guessed it to be a bit lower, maybe somewhere from 3 to 4. That’s probably due to my already-screwed up perception: My home...
Very cool link, thanks!
Seems to have been about a 4.3… I’d have guessed it to be a bit lower, maybe somewhere from 3 to 4.
That’s probably due to my already-screwed up perception: My home location is at a 5.9, and around the center of the adjacent large city it’s even up to 7.8!
Compared to at home, there was a much more visible milky way visible in the skies, but still nothing compared to those awe-striking images from a region with a 1 or 2 value.
Man, this makes me think of one of the freakiest experiences of my life. My partner and I were driving out from California to Wyoming and stopped off at Craters of the Moon National Monument in...
Man, this makes me think of one of the freakiest experiences of my life. My partner and I were driving out from California to Wyoming and stopped off at Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho. Now I've seen the full Milkyway on display in all it's glory plenty of times. My partner searches out dark lands on purpose. I'm not sure what the difference was, but I've never seen the sky like that. It was so intense it felt like it was weighing down on me. I hadn't taken any drugs. I wasn't in an altered state. And I could barely bring myself to look at it. It genuinely freaked me out! It was one of the closest things I've had to a religious experience. It was the definition of awe-some. Like, it felt so heavy that it seemed like the whole sky might fall. It was such a weird, intense experience.
Again, I have no idea what made it so intense. We'd taken trips out into the Mohave on new moons. Out into the backcountry of Joshua Tree. In the high Sierras. While those were all gorgeous, nothing has ever come close to that trip.
Sure thing. If you aren't into avant-garde/black metal then this won't be for you but the album concept is hella radical so I'd at least recommend giving the lyrics a read....
Sure thing. If you aren't into avant-garde/black metal then this won't be for you but the album concept is hella radical so I'd at least recommend giving the lyrics a read.
Damn. Even with the blackout, the town didn't look much different. I know that certain places have shades or something on top of lampposts and the like to mitigate light pollution and knock-on...
Damn. Even with the blackout, the town didn't look much different. I know that certain places have shades or something on top of lampposts and the like to mitigate light pollution and knock-on effects on fauna, but I don't know that the genie can ever go back into the bottle.
We've lost a lot in the last 200ish years, and the stars overhead is one of them. (We've gained a lot, too, for sure! But give a minute to the loss )
Throughout history, humanity was nightly exposed to a number bigger than infinity. Everyone from the highest King to lowest hermit had access to the terrestrial version of The Overview Effect.
What is one tyrant's domain in comparison to the vastness of the universe? What is the lifespan of one king/czar/emperor/whatever, compared to the stars that have always been? A gnat and its summer corn.
To live in the city, or even in a rural county, to spend my entire day looking at a little box that constantly streams atrocities and injustice, it's giving me the wrong impression that evil is winning and could never be challenged.
When those satellite chains fall with age, and even after our civilization on earth has ended, those stars will still be there. They were there long before a single cell divided here. Even if our species spread across millions of galaxies, at each colony we shall still behold a night sky nearly completely void of man.
And here I am, boasting about my several - handful of years, my bag-of-rice quantity of objects that I own, my Dunbar's number of people I don't love nearly hard enough, and so consumed by constant steam of "what about me me me me me?"
The universe was beautiful before we got here. For a brief blink in time we managed to take a few snapshots of this beauty. And it'll still be here long after we're gone. That's the extent of the sum of evil of humanity and the totality of the problem of pain: a blip.
bonus Orthodox Christian thought
And being human, made in the Image of the everlasting Christ, hopefully, y'all will (Lord willing myself included, though I am the least worthy of us) still be here admiring even greater beauty long after the effects of evil have all faded away like a brief dream.That's why this right here and now matters, that's why each person here matters, even if we're 1/∞, because this is the blip in eternity when what we do has everlasting consequences.
I'm glad you're here reading this with me; I hope you get to see a dark sky full of stars; and I hope that the wonder and awe you experience here when the clouds part and the pollution dims and the humidity is just right give you enough strength to love and be loved through the tougher times.
I like what you wrote, it's nice. I have a somewhat different perspective about this part:
I don't know if the universe is beautiful without us to observe it. It just was and it just is. When you have a good day or a bad day, it's just a day. You are the one judging it. However small and insignificant we are in the grand scheme, we do add one thing: The ability to observe the universe and appreciate the beauty of the it.
By us, maybe not just humans, but other life on the Earth and any other possible life that exists out there. Whatever consciousness is, we experience things and watch some things change and some things persist and we have feelings about it. All the feelings are inside us, not in the cold and apparently indifferent cosmos.
Back to the article: There certainly seems to be a lot of value to be able to see the night sky, and to observe the stars and think about the universe, rather than being so consumed with our little problems and screens and politics.
This is definitely something I can resonate with a lot. I’ve recently spent some time in “rural coastal” Greece, so not in a big city and not a too touristy area either, and going there (from my usual just-outside-major-metropolitan town) already blew me away. Keep in mind, you could still very obviously and brightly see the light contrast of the next bigger city against a much darker backdrop, but it was a) still ≈25km away from where we were staying and b) smaller by a factor of maybe 15 (by inhabitants) than my home area’s city.
And back home again, like the article says, you’d never even now what you’re missing out on, it’s just “normal” to be that bright there.
Would you perhaps be able to provide a "bortle scale" value for that particular area in Greece from e.g. this map?
That map is cool! I have used this one before but the site owner specifically didn't want to link it to Bortles. (https://darksitefinder.com)
Judging from the map , maybe a boat off shore might be the best way to view dark skies....?
It looks like my house is at 4.0, and I'm within an hour's drive to a 3.2 stretch of road / forest. I should get out there more often.
This is awesome! Also, poor Europe!
Very cool link, thanks!
Seems to have been about a 4.3… I’d have guessed it to be a bit lower, maybe somewhere from 3 to 4.
That’s probably due to my already-screwed up perception: My home location is at a 5.9, and around the center of the adjacent large city it’s even up to 7.8!
Compared to at home, there was a much more visible milky way visible in the skies, but still nothing compared to those awe-striking images from a region with a 1 or 2 value.
Man, this makes me think of one of the freakiest experiences of my life. My partner and I were driving out from California to Wyoming and stopped off at Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho. Now I've seen the full Milkyway on display in all it's glory plenty of times. My partner searches out dark lands on purpose. I'm not sure what the difference was, but I've never seen the sky like that. It was so intense it felt like it was weighing down on me. I hadn't taken any drugs. I wasn't in an altered state. And I could barely bring myself to look at it. It genuinely freaked me out! It was one of the closest things I've had to a religious experience. It was the definition of awe-some. Like, it felt so heavy that it seemed like the whole sky might fall. It was such a weird, intense experience.
Again, I have no idea what made it so intense. We'd taken trips out into the Mohave on new moons. Out into the backcountry of Joshua Tree. In the high Sierras. While those were all gorgeous, nothing has ever come close to that trip.
This made me think of lyrics from the band ashenspire.
"When I couldn't see the stars
I stopped dreaming of space"
It hits hard everytime I hear them.
Mind plugging the song? Sounds cool.
Sure thing. If you aren't into avant-garde/black metal then this won't be for you but the album concept is hella radical so I'd at least recommend giving the lyrics a read.
https://ashenspire.bandcamp.com/track/b-ton-brut
Damn. Even with the blackout, the town didn't look much different. I know that certain places have shades or something on top of lampposts and the like to mitigate light pollution and knock-on effects on fauna, but I don't know that the genie can ever go back into the bottle.