{"id":643,"date":"2013-08-20T00:05:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-20T00:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/monochromist.com\/2013\/08\/20\/an-extraterrestrial-visitor-examining-the\/"},"modified":"2013-08-20T00:05:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-20T00:05:00","slug":"an-extraterrestrial-visitor-examining-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2013\/08\/20\/an-extraterrestrial-visitor-examining-the\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

An extraterrestrial visitor examining the differences among human societies would find those differences trivial compared to the similarities.<\/p>\n

Our lives, our past and our future are tied to the sun, the moon and the stars. We humans have seen the atoms which constitute all of nature and the forces that sculpted this work; and we, who embody the local eyes and ears and thoughts and feelings of the cosmos, have begun to wonder about our origins \u2014 star stuff contemplating the stars, organized collections of 10 billion billion billion atoms, contemplating the evolution of nature, tracing that long path by which it arrived at consciousness here on the planet Earth. Our loyalties are to the species and to the planet. Our obligation to survive and flourish is owed not just to ourselves but also to that cosmos ancient and vast from which we spring.<\/p>\n

We are one species.
\nWe are star stuff harvesting star light.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

– Carl Sagan, 1934-1996<\/strong><\/p>\n

via an-american-psyko<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

(via sagansense<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An extraterrestrial visitor examining the differences among human societies would find those differences trivial compared to the similarities. Our lives, our past and our future are tied to the sun, the moon and the stars. We humans have seen the atoms which constitute all of nature and the forces that sculpted this work; and we, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","hentry","category-video_graphics","post_format-post-format-quote"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5sGHy-an","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3778,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2011\/03\/10\/the-choice-is-with-us-still-but-the-civilization\/","url_meta":{"origin":643,"position":0},"title":"The choice is with us\u2026","author":"monochromist","date":"March 10, 2011","format":"quote","excerpt":"The choice is with us still, but the civilization now in jeopardy is all humanity. As the ancient myth makers knew, we are children equally of the earth and the sky. In our tenure on this planet we\u2019ve accumulated dangerous evolutionary baggage \u2014 propensities for aggression and ritual, submission to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "motion"","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4330,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2011\/02\/17\/two-billion-people-use-the-internet-half-of-the\/","url_meta":{"origin":643,"position":1},"title":"Two billion people use the\u2026","author":"monochromist","date":"February 17, 2011","format":"quote","excerpt":"Two billion people use the Internet, half of the planet - mobile phones link\u00a0via\u00a0aSa\u00a0woodyskate","rel":"","context":"In "motion"","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3832,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2011\/03\/10\/dont-think-intelligence-think-replicators\/","url_meta":{"origin":643,"position":2},"title":"Don’t think intelligence – think replicators!","author":"monochromist","date":"March 10, 2011","format":"link","excerpt":"Don't think intelligence - think replicators!I\u2019ve just got back from TED 2008, where I presented some ideas on \u201cMemes in the Cosmos\u201d. Getting a new replicator is always dangerous for any planet because it means a new evolutionary process is let loose. We humans are earth\u2019s \u201cPandoran species\u201d who let\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "motion"","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.susanblackmore.co.uk\/images\/TED_Equation.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3968,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2011\/02\/28\/culturaanonima-atoms-wellen-und-felder-s\/","url_meta":{"origin":643,"position":3},"title":"culturaanonima: Atom\u2019s Wellen Und Felder\u2026","author":"monochromist","date":"February 28, 2011","format":"video","excerpt":"culturaanonima: Atom\u2019s Wellen Und Felder \u2018s computer generated video. Title from the Album \u201cLiedgut\u201d. Released on \u201cRaster-Noton\u201d (www.raster-noton.net), catalogue number RN99 So chilling (Source: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/)","rel":"","context":"In "motion"","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4818,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2009\/11\/29\/spirituality-and-science-the-holographic-universe\/","url_meta":{"origin":643,"position":4},"title":"Spirituality and Science: The Holographic Universe","author":"monochromist","date":"November 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"By Michael Talbot We are really \u201creceivers\u201d floating through a kaleidoscopic sea of frequency, and what we extract from this sea and transmogrify into physical reality is but one channel from many extracted out of the superhologram. In 1982 a remarkable event took place. At the University of Paris, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "motion"","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1173,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2013\/07\/26\/sagansense-truly-surprised-that-the-video-post\/","url_meta":{"origin":643,"position":5},"title":"sagansense: Truly surprised that the\u2026","author":"monochromist","date":"July 26, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"sagansense: Truly surprised that the video post, \u201cWhy The Future Is Better Than You Think\" hasn\u2019t been boosted for #science yet or even accumulated notes. I have never once posted something like this, promoting one my own posts, but I suggest everyone go through the Peter Diamandis posts and absorb\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "motion"","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/tumblr_mqisyoc19B1r01w8mo1_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}