Cosmos: Carl Sagan

I highly recommend this TV series from 1980s. Carl Sagan, Cornell University Astronomy studies, is a master presenter of his Personal Voyage. COSMOS: a Personal Voyage is the title. Sagan touches on everything from Death from Cold War becoming “hot”, science through the ages, science history which could have gone the other way, the Big Bang, importance of libraries, books, reading, how we are called to Space…I’m calling it a Must See! He puts his soul into this Magnum Opus. I wish we had a 2025 “Carl Sagan”…

I graduated from high school in 1980 and used to watch this at night. It is a very nostalgic show if you were from that time. It has the great Carl Sagan who was a super educated American scientist. Some people you just can't replace. Carl Sagan is one of them.

I was worried that the timing would be close as we had invited friends over to watch this. to my surprise, it arrived 3 days early and I could test it on our DVD player.

Me and my fiance couldn't find this on any streaming service and decided to go the ol DVD route and it's so beautiful. All came in perfectly and DVDs play perfectly and are brand new. No chipping of the cases or anything. We are having so much fun watching through this series, rip Carl Sagan You are so missed

The words of my title were used by Dr. Sagan at the end of "The Edge of Forever," to describe an "unproven" theory that this universe is a closed electron similar to all the atomic elements within it, and that in turn these elements constitute a universe of their own. Mind-boggling? Maybe fantastic? Regardless it is a beautiful theory. In my formative years, I also had a similar idea when I drew an analogy of the planetary systems with the atomic particles everytime I saw a representation of a nucleus with its particles orbiting around. I say this without any pretense because my occupation is not in the field of sciences, but rather to note that the scientific community in the field of cosmology was entertaining the same idea which I thought was just a figment of my imagination. I also have to say that although I have seen some episodes of cosmos, I had not seen this one when I was a teenager. If I were forced to choose one episode as my favorite, it would be "The Edge of Forever".Throughout the whole Cosmos series, Dr. Sagan's narration flows like music to the listener; although it was written in prose, his delivery produces the effect of a cosmic poetry, and offers a first glimpse with the transcendent. The following is an example of that glimpse, taken from the brilliantly entitled chapter "The Edge of Forever":"Who knows for certain?Who shall here declare it?Whence was it born?Whence came creation?The gods are later than thisWorld's formation.Who then can knowThe origins of the world?None knows whence creation arose...Or whether He hasOr has not made it...He who surveys itfrom the lofty skies.Only He knows...... or perhaps He knows not."This is a 3500 year old Rig-Veda, a collection of early sanskrit hymns, reflecting a tradition of skeptical questioning about creation and the universe, as paraphrasing Dr. Sagan.... I would like to finally add that Cosmos somehow reminds me of the following words which keep stirring my mind:"The human heart refusesto believe in a universewithout a purpose"It is credited to Emmanuel Kant if I am correct, although the concept may not be original to him. Kant had brilliant ideas but never a simple and clear writing style, and I can attest to that since I abandoned the task of reading his books several times. But on this one he could not have been more clear and concise to express such a big concept in so few words.Just watch the entire Cosmos with your most dedicated attention and you will know what I am talking about. For example, ponder on the sheer expanse of space and time with your closed eyes, and that experience alone will bring you closer to the cosmic energy, and put all your daily mundane affairs and problems into perspective.

After all the years of Cosmos, there isn't much to add. The series is grand and one of my favorites.But I want to focus on the parts of the ancient Greeks. Every time I watch the series, I am amazed at some of the ancient Greeks who should be better-known today. "The Backbone of Night" discusses the amazing discoveries of Aristarchus of Samos, Thales of Miletus, Anaximander, Theodorus of Samos, Empedocles, and Democritus, rational analytic people all. They freely pursued actual scientific knowledge, while others (Plato, Aristotle, and the Pythagoreans) advocated slavery and mysticism regarding some geometric shapes and irrational numbers.My favorite person among them is Aristarchus. His contemporaries considered him "alpha" (1st) in no subject, but "beta" (2nd) in everything. I would trade everything in my life to be that.So I would watch the entire Cosmos series just for that one episode, to understand how some ancient Greeks understood that the Earth was a sphere, that there were indivisable "atoms", that the Earth was 24,000 miles in circumference (and why), that the Earth circled the Sun, and that the stars were suns very far away.I am profoundly moved that the ancient Greeks understood many things not re-discovered by Europeans for more than a 1,000 years.As Sagan suggested, just imagine that the ancient Greek scientists hadn't been overcome by the Greek mystics like Aristotle and Plato, setting us back 1,000-1,500 years. We would have colonized the solar system by now and be on our way to the stars.That's why I love Cosmos. My high school and college classes never mentioned all that. The science classes only focused on modern Europe and the history classes only taught about ancient Greeks in the Trojan and The Peloponnesian War. Cosmos goes beyond that.I love the Encyclopedia Galactica too, of course. I hit freeze frame on the DVD for each planet he examines, trying to figure out the biology and society of the alien planets. But I know JUST enough chemistry to know I don't know enough about it but that it seems rationally possible.Everyone should own a copy of Cosmos and watch it every few months.I won't forget the Encyclopedia Galactica, but that is future speculation.

Yes, the standard definition video is a bit of an eyesore Yes, I'd rather have a Blu-Ray version. But there is still something in the presentation that makes this set worth it. Not quite as magical and new as when I was a child but worth the watch.