on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam

Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar", every "supreme leader", every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

Kosmisk blues?

Planetene, inkludert jorden, sirkulerte rundt en guddommelig ild lokalisert i sentrum av universet. En mulig (men omstridt) tolkning er at dette er solen. Himmellegemene, inkludert jorden, gikk rundt solen/sentralkilden i sirkulære baner. I motsetning til greske tenkere flest, mente altså pythagoreerne at Jorden beveget seg. Dette var et synspunkt som ikke vant stort gehør i samtiden; de fleste som tenkte seriøst om saken kom til at jorden måtte befinne seg i ro.

Pythagoreerne mente at avstanden mellom planetene falt sammen med de harmoniske relasjonene i et strengeinstrument, og at sfærene laget musikk der de kretset rundt i sine baner. Grunnen til at vi ikke hører denne sfærenes musikk, hevdet de, er at vi har vokst opp med den fra barnsben av og derfor er vant til den.

To tusen år senere ble en astronom ved navn Johannes Kepler så grepet av den musikalske visjonen av universet, at han forsøkte å forene den med eksakte observasjoner og beretninger for solsytemet.

Dybvig og Dybvig,

i Det tenkende mennesket: Filosofi og vitenskapshistorie med vitenskapsteori (s.31-32)

Shit happens?

Taoism: Shit happens

Confucianism: Confucius say, "Shit happens."

Buddhism: If shit happens, it isn't really shit.

Zen Buddhism: Shit is, and is not.

Hinduism: This shit has happened before.

Islam: If shit happens, it is the will of Allah.

Catholicism: If shit happens, you deserve it.

Protestantism: Let shit happen to someone else.

Presbyterian: This shit was bound to happen.

Congregationalist: Shit that happens to one person is just as good as shit that happens to another.

Unitarian: Shit that happens to one person is just as bad as shit that happens to another.

Lutheran: If shit happens, don't talk about it.

Fundamentalism: If shit happens, you will go to hell, unless you are born again. (Amen!)

Judaism: Why does this shit always happen to us?

Calvinism: Shit happens because you don't work.

Seventh Day Adventism: No shit shall happen on Saturday.

Creationism: God made all shit.

Secular Humanism: Shit evolves.

Christian Science: When shit happens, don't call a doctor - pray!

Unitarianism: Come let us reason together about this shit.

Quakers: Let us not fight over this shit.

Utopianism: This shit does not stink.

Darwinism: This shit was once food.

Capitalism: That's MY shit.

Communism: It's everybody's shit.

Feminism: Men are shit.

Chauvinism: We may be shit, but you can't live without us...

Commercialism: Let's package this shit.

Impressionism: From a distance, shit looks like a garden.

Idolism: Let's bronze this shit.

Existentialism: Shit doesn't happen; shit IS.

Stoicism: This shit is good for me.

Hedonism: There is nothing like a good shit happening!

Wiccan: An it harm none, let shit happen.

Moonies: Only really happy shit happens.

Hare Krishna: Shit happens, rama rama.

Rastafarianism: Let's smoke this shit!

Practical: Deal with shit one day at a time.

Agnostic: Shit might have happened; then again, maybe not.

Satanism: SNEPPAH TIHS.

Atheism: I can't believe this shit!

Nihilism: No shit.