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Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences,
University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
Cosmos #7 the Backbone of Night
Parallels between social and personal growth
External exploration = self-discovery
Stars are Suns - "a very big thought"
How did anyone figure it out?
Stars should have planets/life - Why not?
Everyone begins life with open mind and driving curiosity
Why do people love it?
Early speculations on stars
!Kung - Milky Way = "Backbone of night"
Heavenly beings gods
Greek - milk of Hera (Greek milk Galaxy)
Ionian "Awakening" 6th Cent BC
Universe is knowable
"First known conflict between science & mysticism"
Outside frontiers of Empires
Can explain nature w/o gods
Did anyone ever explain nature this way?
Ionian Tradition loses to Mysticism
Pythagoras
Mathematical basis of nature
Ironies and Contradictions
Emphasis on pure logic
Crisis in doctrine - SQRT 2 = irrational
Discovery suppressed
Mathematics as Mystery cult
Pythagoras Plato
"Ideas more real than natural world"
Linkage to Kepler
"Rationale for corrupt social order"
Why was science relegated to slaves?
Why were "liberal arts" considered elite?
Plato Christianity
"Long mystical sleep"
Aristarchers - heliocentric astronomy
Huygens' method of estimating distance to stars
Sirus ~ « l.y. (8.8 l.y.)
How to detect distant planets?
Eclipse method
Oscillation or perturbation method
Why do people lose their sense of wonder?
Galaxy - Greek for milk
Conflict - natural laws vs supernatural
Practical - Theoretical cooperation/tension
Pythagorean cult
Pythagoras - Plato - Christianity
Mathematics - Pure thought
Quintessence - Dodecahedron
Secret Knowledge - SQRT 2
Plato - cave analogy
Slave economy
How far are the stars?
Do other stars have planets?
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Created 13 January 1998, Last Update 13 January 1998
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