Sagan's Cosmos "continues"

I don't smoke weed...

aww, damnit. i was looking forward to my cool comment having some bite. meh. I'm sorry dude.

I was drunk, though.

I figured that, it is braintree that we are talking about. ;-]

Speaking of, man i really need a six pack. Don't drink much these days but tonight oh my. I should probably eat something, then i won't give a shit.

  On 3/17/2014 at 1:50 PM, azatoth said:

The new Cosmos is not for us who watch every science show there is and have at least a rudimentary understanding on the various subjects that it will cover. From some quick reading about this new show around the internets it seems that kids today that have seen it think it's awesome and that's good enough for me.

 

can i ask you a question? are there any sports shows for people that don't watch sports at all? if they make science shows for people who don't watch science, what about other shows? like reality. is there a reality show for people who otherwise would never watch reality?

because i really don't see why anyone who has only a rudimentary understanding on the various subjects discussed will tune in. what is it about this show that will catch their eye? te fx? neil tyson?

don't get me wrong. i've heard the same thing from someone else and it's baffled me why, when we have more channels than ever, have we chosen to cater to people who would not otherwise watch a specific subject rather than the ones with the interest in that subject.

I thought science was interesting to everyone in some amount? Perhaps I was wrong. Especially if it has had a massive marketing campaign around it, the Family Guy dude and has neat EFX.

Also you could argue that promoting science and science literacy is an important thing for society and this new Cosmos is mainly a vehicle for that. Making people interested in sports and reality aren't really the same thing, don't you think?

I finally caught the second episode - it's actually gettting more interesting, and I thought they did a good job of explaining evolution (all the while giving a big middle finger to creationists) in the time they had.

It's not that the show is for people who aren't interested in science, it's for the people who like science but need something easily digestible. There's types who will dive right in journals, textbooks, or any source with depth. Then there's the types who enjoy newer horizon docs, popular science, or scoop up summarized news articles. If the show were too deep it would exclude the latter group who otherwise would enjoy it. I'm definitely a science guy and frequently read published research when i can, but don't know much about space so I can still appreciate a program like this. That said, they could get verbose and I'd still slop it up.

neil thegrass tyson

http://youtu.be/jSHNyppwS5w

lol

  On 3/18/2014 at 6:35 PM, azatoth said:

I thought science was interesting to everyone in some amount? Perhaps I was wrong. Especially if it has had a massive marketing campaign around it, the Family Guy dude and has neat EFX.

 

Also you could argue that promoting science and science literacy is an important thing for society and this new Cosmos is mainly a vehicle for that. Making people interested in sports and reality aren't really the same thing, don't you think?

i totally agree with you, but i don't think everyone wants to watch a science show, just us i think history is very important for everyone, but are there history shows trying to conform for people not interested in watching them?

i think for someone who isn't interested this will only function as entertainment and thus, even the point of it will be lost. i think my point is just i wish this show was geared more towards people interested in science- that way, people not would be like "maybe i should check this show out to see what all the fuss is about"

currently it's more like "it says seth macfarlane was gonna be on this nerd show but all i see is some dude talking about the eye and flying around on a safety pin. where's family guy at?"

  On 3/18/2014 at 4:49 PM, delet... said:

I figured that, it is braintree that we are talking about. ;-]

 

Speaking of, man i really need a six pack. Don't drink much these days but tonight oh my. I should probably eat something, then i won't give a shit.

I was broke all last summer and would just buy a 12 pack of Mexican beer and a burrito if I knew I didn't have much money for food.

I'm a fucking class act. Cheers!

  On 3/18/2014 at 5:13 PM, Nebraska said:

 

don't get me wrong. i've heard the same thing from someone else and it's baffled me why, when we have more channels than ever, have we chosen to cater to people who would not otherwise watch a specific subject rather than the ones with the interest in that subject.

 

Because it's fun to educate people? Because people have to start somewhere?

  On 3/20/2014 at 9:40 PM, Nebraska said:

 

  On 3/18/2014 at 6:35 PM, azatoth said:

I thought science was interesting to everyone in some amount? Perhaps I was wrong. Especially if it has had a massive marketing campaign around it, the Family Guy dude and has neat EFX.

 

Also you could argue that promoting science and science literacy is an important thing for society and this new Cosmos is mainly a vehicle for that. Making people interested in sports and reality aren't really the same thing, don't you think?

 

i totally agree with you, but i don't think everyone wants to watch a science show, just us i think history is very important for everyone, but are there history shows trying to conform for people not interested in watching them?

 

i think for someone who isn't interested this will only function as entertainment and thus, even the point of it will be lost. i think my point is just i wish this show was geared more towards people interested in science- that way, people not would be like "maybe i should check this show out to see what all the fuss is about"

 

currently it's more like "it says seth macfarlane was gonna be on this nerd show but all i see is some dude talking about the eye and flying around on a safety pin. where's family guy at?"

 

Yes there is an entire network dedicated to appealing to people not interested in history. It's called The History Channel.

Ancient Nazi Alien Cults of Papua New Guinea

  Quote

 

Creationists demand equal airtime on Neil deGrasse Tyson’s ‘Cosmos’ to provide ‘balance’

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/21/creationists-demand-equal-airtime-on-neil-degrasse-tysons-cosmos-to-provide-balance/

  On 3/21/2014 at 12:00 AM, b born droid said:

Because it's fun to educate people? Because people have to start somewhere?

 

 

what ever happened to "you can't help someone that doesn't want to help themselves"?

  On 3/22/2014 at 7:09 PM, Nebraska said:

 

  On 3/21/2014 at 12:00 AM, b born droid said:

Because it's fun to educate people? Because people have to start somewhere?

 

 

 

what ever happened to "you can't help someone that doesn't want to help themselves"?

Well except that it appears, at least according to anecdotal evidence in this thread, that people do want to help themselves.

And even if that isn't the case, I don't know about you but I fell in love with this subject area completely by accident. You don't know you're interested in a topic until you encounter it and that makes programmes like this worthwhile.

  On 3/22/2014 at 3:35 PM, fiznuthian said:

 

  Quote

 

Creationists demand equal airtime on Neil deGrasse Tyson’s ‘Cosmos’ to provide ‘balance’

 

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/21/creationists-demand-equal-airtime-on-neil-degrasse-tysons-cosmos-to-provide-balance/

 

 

lollin'

the episode where he talks about eyes and shit is pretty nice

the original cosmos was a great show, but i think more of it's greatness was in aspects besides information content, such as the production and music etc, the 'sense of wonder' that it did a decent job of conveying, and that it probably did get some people interested in science who otherwise wouldn't have been as interested in science (but i think like most meatheads may be genuinely interested in the stuff while the show is on but totally forget about it as soon as it goes off, and people who are actually going to become scientists will likely do it without these shows). seems pointless to remake it now when there are a million shows already in place EXACTLY like it. lite watered down facts with layman explanations and comparisons that really don't explain anything about how the underlying science actually works, narrator with a voice that's intended to draw you in, pictures of space, spacey music, etc.

i wish all the stupid bullshit alien/bigfoot/every other bullshit fake thing show on the history channel had the same type of production like that still, with the creepy music, narrator you don't actually see, etc, like they used to back in the 70s-80s, instead of the 'team of people who are going to get to the bottom of ghosts once and for all' reality show vomit they are now. the old ones were actually kind of cool pieces of entertainment.

You can get the original series on DVD on sale on Amazon right now...

  On 3/23/2014 at 10:16 PM, MisterE said:

i wish all the stupid bullshit alien/bigfoot/every other bullshit fake thing show on the history channel had the same type of production like that still, with the creepy music, narrator you don't actually see, etc, like they used to back in the 70s-80s, instead of the 'team of people who are going to get to the bottom of ghosts once and for all' reality show vomit they are now. the old ones were actually kind of cool pieces of entertainment.

totally, discovery channel in the 90s was something I'd watch for hours as kid - weather documentaries, wings (which covered the history a different airplane each episode), nature and prehistoric doc, etc. they had ghost and UFO docs too, but they were far more cut-and-dry and to me more fascinating

the cool thing is is so much of that content is now online for free, and imo PBS channels still air substantive docs - NOVA and Frontline are decent - maybe kids do that now instead of watching the nonsense on history channel now

pseudo-science is nothing new - I read the infamous Daniken books and this book on the Bermuda Triangle as a kid with absolute fascination and indirectly it lead me to be more skeptical but still curious. like you said it's the "reality show" angle that's really made even the pseudo-science/paranormal shows so bad

I enjoyed last night's episode. The series is really slick and all, but as others have hinted it's a bit lacking. Like, the explanations and actual educational content in some past episodes is really minimal and kind left me wanting to either have him go in more detail or go and google something (the Tardigrade specifically) to find out more. I suppose the latter issue isn't a bad thing.

Anyway, the last episode felt the most complete and focused.

That beautiful graphic at the end depicting two galaxies dancing was butter.