How many people who paid for this photograph have seen it?
That was a question posed by a Nobel laureate in chemistry at a conference held at the Salk Institute on religion and science called, Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival. The photo was taken by the space probe Cassini, when it traveled behind Saturn such that the Sun was totally eclipsed, while illuminating the debris rings around the planet. Carolyn Porco is the lead scientist on the Saturn study. The entire 3-day conference has been fascinating, and can be seen in its entirety at edge.org I specifically highly recommend watching Carolyn Porco's presentation (Day 1, Session 3, beginning at two-thirds of the way through the clip).
The whole conference should really be televised as a public service for a number of reasons, of which I will name but a few. First, human life is a wonderful, gift, especially the consciousness part, that thick moment of simultaneous awareness of self and non-self that is expressly mine. Life itself is a mind-blower, but the added gift of consciousness is awesome beyond words. In a world shaped by human consciousness, the finite gifts of life and consciousness depend heavily on science. If we suddenly pulled the plug on technology, the suffering and death from food shortages, war, and disease would be massive. A near extinction-like event might be great for the rest of the kingdom of life, but the surviving humans would likely form small daughter populations, and re-invent technology all over again, which would make any long-term benefits to nature rather futile. It makes for more sense to deal with our impact on the planet now, rather than leaving our existence to the probabilities of collapse. As a corollary, it is increasingly stupid for society to depend so heavily on science while growing increasingly ignorant of it. See my previous discussion of human evolution here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
A second reason to highlight this discussion has to do with the nature of current human conflicts, specifically those having to do with strict, and often arbitrary ideologies or belief systems, e.g., Arabs versus Jews, Christians versus Muslims, Capitalists versus Marxists, and so on. Culture and war are human universals. One might argue that some form of a belief system appears to be universal. However, idiosyncratic ideologies and belief systems themselves, by definition, are not human universals. When ideologies place their bearers above other humans, they elevate idiosyncrasies above universals, and conflict ensues. We need a system of human universals we can agree upon respectfully in the absence of coercion . Science can be very helpful in this respect. It asks the big questions e.g., Why am I here?, and provides universally accepted methods to answer those questions.
A third reason to highlight this conference and dialogue more generally is because I think it is a human universal to feel that nature is awesome. Regardless of one's belief system it is impossible not to feel gratitude, humility, and awe by the range, intricacy, and mind-blowing majesty of natural phenomena. I'll never forget camping one ink-dark night in the Sonoran woods, feeling as if the billion stars swarmed around us for us to walk amongst. Natural epiphanies. Yum.
Finally, I half agree with Richard Dawkins:
Science is interesting, and if you don't agree, you can fuck off.
Actually, Dawkins didn't directly say this himself, but was quoting someone else in order to demonstrate his own relative doveish modesty. (Almost not cute, Richard.) I'll agree with this much: Science is interesting. Nature is mysterious, and we humans seem to be equipped to study it in detail, use it to our advantages, and thus extend and maximize our phenomenal conscious enjoyment of it.
Now, if you are going to watch the Carolyn Porco segment of the conference, stop reading now, and go watch it yourself. It is its own little gift.
For those who just want an impoverished Cliff's Notes version, it goes something like this. Know one knows whether life exists elsewhere, or even how many universes exist. But we do now know that the outermost ring on Saturn is caused by one of Saturns moons that is spewing watery debris from its strangely warm South Polar region that contains organic material. These are some of the primary and essential conditions for life: water, warmth, and organic materials. Nobody knows if elemental life exists on the moon of Saturn, but the increased possibility of life in our own solar system just increased the probability of life elsewhere in other solar systems throughout the universe(s) by one large tick. Thus, "genesis" may have occurred countless times in the cosmos.
Like her, I'll leave you with the Cat's Eye nebula, a former solar system that may literally reflect the after-life of some brilliant life-form like our own.