macrocosm

Alex and Jason brought us a great episode of TARTLEcast recently. They had the chance to sit down with Dr. Avi Loeb. If that name is familiar to you, it’s because he was on The Joe Rogan Experience a few months back talking about his theories about Oumuamua, that strange interstellar object that made its way through the solar system a couple of years ago. He joined our illustrious hosts to talk about his new book, Extraterrestrial. The book goes into the investigations on that strange object and what it reveals about how the world of science actually operates and what it could reveal about the universe. 

Since the Harvard professor has not been shy about sharing his theories publicly (no, ‘you have to read the book to find out’ nonsense from him) the short version is that it might have been a piece of interstellar wreckage. A thin piece of metal or other material looks like the best way to explain its unusual behavior, especially its accelerating through the solar system thanks to the sunlight pushing on it. 

As one might imagine, Dr. Loeb’s theory met with more than a little resistance. On one hand, you certainly would have people resistant to the idea of intelligent alien life even existing, much less creating something that would find its way to our neck of the woods by accident. Then you have those who might be fine with alien life but simply don’t believe interstellar travel is possible. Finally, at the other end of the spectrum are those who would find it difficult to believe our first sign of extraterrestrial life would be space junk and not a flying saucer filled with scientists or soldiers. 

Now, if every argument brought against his theory were grounded in the actual data, with legitimate alternative explanations, Dr. Loeb might not have written the book. However, much of the opposition he faced was based not so much on science but on presuppositions. 

“But scientists are always objective and never succumb to prejudice! They never are more worried about their image, or their tenure, or their book sales, or grant money! They are always serious and just want the facts!” Would that be the case? Sadly, scientists are just like you and me and face the exact kinds of temptations of pride and ego that we do. The white lab coat doesn’t endow them with special virtues. Just look at the case of scientific racism, better known as eugenics. It was basically the idea that all of society’s ills could be traced to bad genes and certain races had more of these bad genes than others. You might recall a certain National Socialist movement in Germany that latched onto those ideas. Then of course there were the Tuskegee experiments in which African Americans were given syphilis so scientists could study their response. These men were so blinded by their prejudice that they saw their fellow Americans as acceptable lab rats. 

Dr. Loeb has challenged those in the scientific world who would rather rest in their assumptions rather than spend the time and money to actually test some of his ideas. He’s also encouraging others to do the same. He hopes with Extraterrestrial to inspire others to enter the sciences, people from all kinds of backgrounds and not just the approved elites. The astrophysicist has seen a trend developing of science being regarded as the realm of the elites, of the privileged class. Science should be open to all, Dr. Loeb says, to anyone willing to approach the world with curiosity and humility.

The curiosity is of course understandable. But why humility? Too often we act as if we know more than we do. We treat our guesses as facts. Scientists are prone to this, to vigorously defending positions that haven’t been thoroughly tested. Sometimes, they are exposed and knocked down a necessary peg or two. Other times, they succeed in shutting down challenges and so shutting down scientific inquiry. If science is instead approached with humility the scientist remembers that he doesn’t know everything and that he could very well be wrong. That allows for more questions being asked, more data being collected and more truth being discovered.

What’s your data worth? www.tartle.co

In this episode, Mandy asks us to reframe the attributes and characteristics of GOD by sharing a personal story.  Join us as we look at the MICRO COSMOS and all of the ways our lives and interwoven in love and light with the lives of those around us and with divine threads.  

Macrocosm.

Have you ever felt that Star Trek episodes are a bit too talky? A bit too “high and mighty”? Ever wish you could have a dash of Rambo with your Star Trek? Well, Brannon Braga thought so and thus sent Janeway—ripped biceps, tank top, and all—to save the crew from a giant bug infestation in the third-season episode “Macrocosm.”

In this episode of The Ready Room we’re joined by Phillip Gilfus, Charlynn Schmiedt, and Suzanne Abbott to discuss the germ-filled episode, how well it succeeds in achieving Braga’s goals, its role as CGI testbed for later Voyager, the space podcasting of Neelix, and the origins of the Tak Tak language. If you listen long enough, you may even find out about the Tak Tak version of William Shatner.

In our news segment, we find out what Ensign Williams needs in order to record her second set of Red Shirt Diaries, debate which Enterprise would be the best to captain, and take a moment to reflect on the recent tragedy involving Virgin Galactic.

Hosts

Christopher Jones and Phillip Gilfus

Guests

Charlynn Schmiedt and Suzanne Abbott

Editor and Producer

Christopher Jones

Associate Producer

Renee Roberts

News

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo crashes during test flight (3:39)

Help make The Red Shirt Diaries Season Two a reality (9:49)

Poll: Which Enterprise would you choose to captain? (17:41)

Feature: Macrocosm

Intro and Synopsis (26:38)

The Language of the Tak Tak (30:26)

Neelix: Space Podcaster (38:02)

Getting Gooed On (40:15)

Looking for Some Action (43:51)

Too Much Rambo? (52:48)

CGI Test Run (58:29)

Footloose and Fancy Free (1:04:29)

Ambassador Neelix (1:10:22)

Vibrating Chakotay (1:13:23)

The Doctor Needs Directions? (1:15:42)

Final Thoughts (1:20:24)

Closing (1:27:55)

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• Continuation from Episode 13…
• 200 years ago the nights sky was the greatest show in town, everybody went out to watch the night time show, to see Meteors and the Comets that they knew were coming, they talked about them and wrote about them for Thousands of Years
• Venus the goddess of Love and Warmth, only transits the sun twice every 100 years in a position that we can see her do it
• Don's working with some of the foundation members and they are developing a little Scope to use to look at Venus Crossing the Sun 
• Mercury transits the Sun 13 times every 100 years
• Why is it that these Ancient people believed that there was as much Infinite Space inside as their is outside 
• Their is more space inside of a single cell in relative size of particles of matter than their is in the distance of the Earth to the Sun
• The Ocean represents 70% of the Earth, therefore Fruit and Vegetables are 70% Phytologic Salt Water or Plant Sodium water based containers. Our Bodies are also 70% Salt Water
• The Ancient Egyptians found Particles of matter and there relative size, referred to as the 'ntr' meaning the seed of the seed, the 'ntr' is the unique identity of an individual