宇宙时空之旅

“在那里，那是家园，那是我们。在那里，你爱的每个人，你认识的每个人，你听说过的每个人，在这世上存在过的每个人，度过了自己的一生。
聚集在这里的，是我们的欢乐和痛苦，是成千上万的宗教信仰、意识形态，和经济学说每个猎手与觅食者，每个英雄与懦夫，每个文明的创立者和毁灭者，每个国王与农夫，每对年轻的爱侣，每一个母亲与父亲、充满希望的孩子们，发明家与探险家，每一位高尚的教师、每一位贪腐的政客，每一位超级明星、每一位最高领袖，人类史上的每一位圣人和罪人，都生活在这里，
如一粒微尘，悬浮在一束阳光之中。地球是一个很小的舞台，在浩瀚的宇宙背景下，想想过去的血流成河，那为帝王将相而流的血，只为让他们在光荣和胜利中，成为瞬间的伟人，占有那一个小点中…那一小部分。想想那无尽的残酷，图像里那一个像素点的某个角落的民众，每天把这残酷施加到与他们没什么区别的另一个角落的民众身上。他们为何常常误解，他们为何渴望杀死对方，他们的憎恨为何如此狂热。
我们在装模做样，我们自以为很重要，妄想着我们人类地位特殊，在宇宙中与众不同，这一切，都因这泛着苍白蓝光的小点而动摇。我们的星球，不过是一粒孤独的微尘，笼罩在伟大的宇宙黑暗之中。
我们默默无闻，沉浸在无尽的浩瀚里，没有一丝线索显示，除了我们自己，
还有谁能拯救我们。地球是目前已知唯一有生命的世界，生命再无其他去处，至少在不久的将来，亦是如此。没有外星球，供人类迁移，只可参观，不能定居。不管你喜欢与否，现在，只有地球供我们立足。据说研习天文，可以让人谦卑，塑造人心，磨炼个性，也许再没有更好的方法能比这遥远的画面更好地显示出人类的自负与愚蠢。
对我而言，它强调了我们的责任，要对人更友善，懂得珍惜与爱护，这泛着苍白蓝光的小点是我们知道的唯一的家园。
“That’s here, that’s home, that’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

依个人喜好摘录，绝大部分采集自网上下载的本片英文字幕，经过排版格式编辑整理，仅粗略核对过，不保证完全正确。


E2

Evolution really happened. Accepting our kinship with all life on Earth is not only solid science. In my view, it's also a soaring spiritual experience.

Science works on the frontier between knowledge and ignorance. We're not afraid to admit what we don't know. There's no shame in that. The only shame is to pretend that we have all the answers.


E3

The human talent for pattern recognition is a two-edged sword. We're especially good at finding patterns, even when they aren't really there -- something known as "false pattern recognition." We hunger for significance, for signs that our personal existence is of special meaning to the universe. To that end, we're all too eager to deceive ourselves and others, to discern a sacred image in a grilled cheese sandwich or find a divine warning in a comet.

……

It's called the Oort Cloud, after Jan Oort, the Dutch astronomer who foretold its existence back in 1950. ...... Oort was also the first to correctly estimate the distance between the Sun and the center of our galaxy. That's a big deal -- finding out where we are in the Milky Way. Our star is about 30,000 light-years from the center. Oort was also the first guy to use a radio telescope to map the galaxy's spiral structure. And he discovered that the center of our galaxy was a place of titanic explosions, the first indication that there might have been a supermassive black hole lurking there.
Does the fact that most of us know the names of mass murderers, but never heard of Jan Oort, say anything about us?

At the time, the World Society of London was the world's clearinghouse of scientific discovery. Its motto, "Nullius in verba," sums up the heart of the scientific method. It's Latin for "see for yourself." In other words, "question authority."


E6

Democritus of Abdera was a true scientist, a man with a passionate desire to know the cosmos and to have fun. This is the man who once said, "a life without parties would be like an endless road without an end."
- "You mean, that's it? That's all there is? Just a bunch of atoms in a void?"
- "Yep. Well, think about it. The world has to be made of countless indivisible particles in a void. Otherwise, nothing could move or grow, be divided or changed without atoms and empty space for them to move in. So don't be sad, my friends. Just think of the infinite possibilities that arise from different arrangements of those atoms. Hails to the atoms, in this cup and in this wine... And to the laughter they make possible."


E9

Each of us is a tiny being riding on the outermost skin of one of the smaller planets for a few dozen trips around the local star.


E11

Human intelligence is imperfect, surely, and newly arisen. The ease with which it can be sweet-talked, overwhelmed, or subverted by other hard-wired tendencies, sometimes themselves disguised as the light of reason, is worrisome. But if our intelligence is the only edge, we must learn to use it better. To sharpen it. To understand its limitations and deficiencies. To use it as cats use stealth before pouncing. As walking sticks use camouflage. To make it the tool of our survival.
If we do this, we can solve almost any problem we are likely to confront in the next 100,000 years.

Our remote descendants, safely arrayed on many worlds throughout the solar system and beyond, will be unified by their common heritage, by their regard for their home planet, and by their knowledge that, whatever other life may be, the only humans in all the universe came from Earth.
They will gaze up and strain to find the blue dot in their skies. They will marvel at how vulnerable the repository of all our potential once was, how perilous our infancy, how humble our beginnings, how many rivers we had to cross... before we found our way.


E13

We call it "dark energy," but that name, like "dark matter," is merely a code word for our ignorance. It's okay not to know all the answers. It's better to admit our ignorance than to believe answers that might be wrong. Pretending to know everything closes the door to finding out what's really there.

---------- (↓ Carl Sagan, "Pale Blue Dot") ----------

That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known, so far, to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

---------- (↑ Carl Sagan, "Pale Blue Dot") ----------

How did we, tiny creatures living on that speck of dust, ever manage to figure out how to send spacecraft out among the stars of the Milky Way?
Only a few centuries ago, a mere second of cosmic time, we knew nothing of where or when we were. Oblivious to the rest of the cosmos, we inhabited a kind of prison -- a tiny universe bounded by a nutshell. How did we escape from the prison? It was the work of generations of searchers who took five simple rules to heart:

Question authority - No idea is true just because someone says so, including me. Think for yourself.
Question yourself - Don't believe anything just because you want to. Believing something doesn't make it so.
Test ideas by the evidence gained from observation and experiment - If a favorite idea fails a well-designed test, it's wrong! Get over it.
Follow the evidence, wherever it leads - If you have no evidence, reserve judgment. And perhaps the most important rule of all...
Remember, you could be wrong - Even the best scientists have been wrong about some things. Newton, Einstein, and every other great scientist in history, they all made mistakes. Of course they did -- they were human. Science is a way to keep from fooling ourselves... and each other.

Have scientists known sin? Of course. We have misused science, just as we have every other tool at our disposal, and that's why we can't afford to leave it in the hands of a powerful few. The more science belongs to all of us, the less likely it is to be misused.


附：本片的一个英文的 Episode Guide 加各集内容概要（概要其实相当详细，但并不是解说词的拷贝）：
http://evolution.about.com/od/Cosmos/

非常精彩的科普片！了解宇宙，了解地球，更重要的是了解人类，了解自己。
第一集：从宇宙起源说到地球的起源，如果把地球的历史在时间轴上浓缩到一年的12个月的话，那么人类的历史就是那最后几秒钟的时间。
在浩瀚的宇宙中，地球就像是大洋中的一滴小水滴。地球的产生是偶然的，人类的产生也是偶然的。
第二集：物种的进化。为什么北极熊是白色的，其实白色的熊是由于基因突变而造成的，大多数情况下，基因突变本身没有优劣，但环境选择了基因，也就是说环境的因素导致某些基因因素更加容易生存。白色的北极熊更加容易在冰雪覆盖的环境中隐藏起来，这一基因元素改变了生活在北极的熊的繁衍。而狗的产生，不是由环境，而是人类的驯化产生的。狗来自于狼，由于狼体内的激素差别，某些狼可以亲近人类，并且能够慢慢和人类相处共同抗争。于是，人类驯服了这些“狼”，并且把这些“狼”驯服成人类需要的功能，比如长的可爱的“狼”，成为了人类的宠物，另一些“狼”，被驯服成了牧羊犬。物种的进化，既有随机性，又有人为性。随着人类在这个地球上的强大，人类也越来越多地控制和改变着地球物种的进化。
第三集：带领人类探索美丽宇宙的两位伟大的科学家，牛顿和哈雷。哈雷彗星，每76年出现一次，这不是巧合。建立在牛顿的理论基础上，哈雷发现了彗星的奥秘。彗星是离太阳很远很远的冰石，受到万有引力和惯性的作用，它会以椭圆形的轨迹绕太阳运动。而我们看到的长长的扫把，就是彗星遇热而挥发的气体。
第四集：当我们仰望星空，感叹繁星的时候，也许那个星星已经不存在了。它们可能离我们几万光年，以至于当光传到地球的时候，这颗恒星已经毁灭。爱因斯坦告诉我们，光速是这个宇宙中的极限速度，当另一个速度无限接近于光速的时候，时空就会发生扭曲。另一个我们并不熟悉的伟大科学家John Michell发现了暗星，也就是我们所说的黑洞。黑洞，是质量十分巨大的恒星萎缩而成的，所以它具有非常大的质量，密度和引力，以至于光也难以逃脱它。那么既然黑洞我们无法看见，那么John Michell又是如何发现它的呢？John Michell发现有一些行星围绕着某个轨迹在运动，而现代科学通过X光射线，再次证明了黑洞的存在。黑洞里面是什么？这个仍然是人类需要探究的领域。黑洞的引力足够大，以至于它可以将周围的行星都吸进去。它可能是电影中的时空隧道，带领我们到达过去，或者到达另一个星系。黑洞里面也可能是另一个宇宙，而黑洞里面可能也存在黑洞，而地球可能也是存在于某个黑洞中。宇宙太神秘，神秘到即使人类的脑洞打开，还是无法知道它的秘密。
第五集：光的奥秘。从最早发现小孔成像的墨子，到1000年后伟大的阿拉伯文明，再到牛顿发现了光谱，William Herschel发现了光谱和温度的关系，发现了不可见光-红外线。夫琅禾费制造了分光仪，揭示了宇宙中不同物质，光谱不同，通过对宇宙中物质的光谱的分析进一步探索宇宙的奥秘。人类依靠这一个个天才，一步步登上科学探索的阶梯。
第六集：微观世界。人类的历史只有几千年，而植物的历史有几亿年。叶绿体从事太阳能采集工作，是微观世界的太阳能电池。光合作用是终极能源，不会污染大气。碳原子是世界上一切生物分子的支柱，碳基分子我们称为蛋白质，组成生命的分子。氢原子的原子核中只有一个质子，所以元素表中排第一位。两个质子的原子核，就需要有中子把它们聚集在一起。质子越多，需要的中子就越多。
第七集：地球年龄。通过探测岩石来推算地球的年龄，最下面的一层是最古老的，通过把每一层的沉积时间加起来来推算地球的年龄，但是不同时期，每一层的沉积时间不同，所以科学家推算出的地球年龄差异很大。另一方面，最下面的一层岩石，也不能确定它是最古老的岩石。太阳系形成时残留的遗迹，它存在于木星和火星轨道间，这些是产生地球的原料。100万年左右之前，一个大的小行星恰巧撞击了一颗较小的，这颗铁质小行星的碎片撞击到地球上形成一个大坑，就在现在亚利桑那大峡谷所在的位置。如果我们知道这块铁的形成时间，那么就能知道地球的年龄。每种元素都有其固定的衰变时间，从铀慢慢衰变成稳定的铅，所需的时间是恒定的。要了解地球真是的年龄，最好的办法就是测量陨石的铅。
测量铅含量没有那么简单，需要在一个高度洁净的环境下，利用质谱仪，测量样本中铅和铀的含量。质谱仪利用磁场将样本中的元素分离，从而使各种元素可以被量化，最后通过测得的铅和铀的含量，知道地球的年龄是45亿年。
罗马人刚开始大量使用铅作为下水道，餐具。部分历史学家认为，罗马的灭亡和铅有关。那么为什么还要使用铅呢，因为它便宜，延展性好，制造简单。
为什么铅对我们的危害那么大？因为当铅进入我们体内时，它会假装成锌或者铁这些细胞成长的确需要的元素。细胞中的酶被铅的伪装迷惑，开始结合，这个是致命的结合，因为铅无法满足对细胞至关重要的需要。铅也会妨碍神经系统，干扰对记忆能力至关重要的神经末梢，对孩童更为有害。
直到克莱尔彼得森开始研究地球的年龄，它发现在深海中铅的含量很少，而浅海中铅的含量要高出几百倍，这是由于当时美国含铅汽油导致的。当克莱尔彼得森在自然杂志上发表了关于铅的研究后，触动了石油化工业的经济利益。坚持20年之后，克莱尔彼得森获得了最后的胜利。

能结识到这部令人感动的记录片，缘起于知乎上一个热门话题：

“有人在不经意间或是在世界上绝大部分人都毫不知情的情况下拯救了世界吗？”

在热门回答中，water five讲述的两个故事：其一为一战时放过希特勒的英军士兵；其二就是本部记录片中因为测算地球年龄而发现石油工业照成产铅过量污染大气，危害人体健康并与之斗争，终得成功的克莱尔-帕得森先生。（http://www.zhihu.com/question/27549647）

water five是一位写字高手，被勾起兴趣的我，就在网易公开课上找来了这部已经翻译好的记录片（http://v.163.com/special/opencourse/aspacetimeodyssey.html）

一看，而且一发不可收拾的一口气看完了----震惊，感动，感恩。

震惊---为了其画面之精美，讲述之详实，叙事之绝妙技巧。

记得原来背新概念四时里面有一篇文章：

Beauty---And, though the gleams blind and dazzle, yet do they convey a hint of beauty and serenity greater than we have known or imagined. Greater too than we can describe; for language, which was invented to convey the meanings of this world, cannot readily be fitted to the uses of another. 有些美是不可言的，有些道是不可道德，譬如宇宙星空之美，又如科学探索之道。君记否《道德经》曾言：“大方无隅，大器晚成。大音希声，大象无形。”所以从古至今，我们仰望星空时，多怀有敬畏之心，不禁会发“江畔何人初见月？江月何年初照人？”之感慨！ 　对于科学探索，更是有多少人能阐明其道呢？一个物理定律，一个数学公式，一个化学方程式，难倒了多少科学家；愁煞了多少少年郎。

但这部记录片就能用那绝妙想象之舟带领你我，突破时间，空间的极限，古到洪荒，远到天地时空尽头；大可俯瞰星空之美，星系之繁，小可观细胞，分子，原子，电子，量子--。让我们能体验星空之美，造化之奇，科学之神力。学习源于兴趣，就连大神当年明月也说：历史应该可以写的好看。有了一部《明朝那些事儿》，多了多少明粉，又多了多少探究华夏悠久历史的翻书人；这部记录片用令人震惊之美，可以勾起多少人的兴趣，就能增几分世人对星空，对科学研究的欲望，让世人往蒙昧之荒前行了几步。

感动----- 全集分为十三部。一部一主题，部部皆有感人之处。捡来几处暂分享之，若欲详观，且自找来看。

其一——有哥白尼、布鲁诺为天文学献身，鲁迅先生曾有“灵台无计逃神矢，风雨如磐暗故园。寄意寒星荃不察，我以我血荐轩辕。”慷慨之言；哥白尼，目盲身死《天体运行论》，乔尔丹诺·布鲁诺鲜花广场以身献火维护发展日心说。

其三----哈雷与牛顿，一位万有引力，一位哈雷彗星，且纪录片中所述他俩人相处之事，让人有鲍叔牙-管仲，萧何-韩信，伯牙-钟子期之感；牛顿和胡克之间的争，牛顿晚年沉迷于神学，又让人看到了人性之缺陷。科学无国界，科学家有国界。发现无高低，人品有高低。

其七----地球化学家克莱尔·帕特森，以个人之力与石油行业
“铅污染”的一场环境保卫战。想起了当年明月给于谦的评价：人们不会忘记，正是这个人在危难之际挺身而出，力挽狂澜，保卫京城和大明的半壁江山，拯救了无数平民百姓的生命。 在这个污浊的世界上，能够干干净净度过自己一生的人，是值得钦佩的。 而如果他还能做出一些成就，那么我们就可以说，这是一个伟大的人。他的伟大不需要任何人去肯定，也不需要任何证明，因为他的一生就如同他的那首诗一样，坦坦荡荡，堪与日月同辉。

感恩———这部记录片，就像盗火的普罗米修斯：
是谁？让漫漫黑夜跳跃希望的火苗？
是谁？让蛮荒时代沐浴文明的曙光？
是谁？甘愿触犯天条也要救人类于水火？
是谁？深受酷刑却无怨无悔？
啊！巨人，是你给人类带来火种。
送来光和热，
送来人类新的纪元！

感谢奈尔·德葛拉司·泰森，这位黑人胖叔叔——他一位以从事科学传播闻名的美国天文学家，现任罗斯地球与太空中心海顿天象馆弗雷德里克·罗斯馆长；同时也是美国自然史博物馆天文物理部的助理研究员。
我始终认为，这样的科学家比国内一些用自己都看不懂，不相信的数据理论去SCI里滥竽充数，骗取职称福利的科学家更值得尊重。（当然这跟国内的科学体制也有关，不能简单归结于某个个人，谁不想堂堂正正做人，不造这些垃圾，以后有机会再详谈。）
中国也有这样的科普天文馆长：http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XODMzOTQyMTE2.html?firsttime=309


感谢福斯广播公司（FOX）和国家地理频道（NGC），当然国家地理频道不仅应当受这一部记录片之感谢，数以千记的佳品皆出自它手。

感谢网易公开课，以及其他为它引进中国而辛勤工作的所有人。知识的传播，离不开优秀的媒体。

PS:写在最后，
有人要拍《三体》，我是支持的。
起码有人关注了，无论好坏。
好了，可以借鉴；坏了，也可以在此基础上改进。
我们没有风险，
有风险的是做这件事儿的人。
作为观众，读者的我们也要宽容，这样我们才有更多好的内容来享受。

http://card.weibo.com/article/h5/s#cid=1001603804696631494433&vid=5489937891&extparam=

     《宇宙时空之旅》（Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey ）是美国国家地理频道和FOX电台联合制作的13集记录片，耗资超过3亿美元（？），由1980年播出并广受好评，著名天文学家卡尔·萨根主持的《Cosmos: A Personal Voyage》的原班人马打造。这是一部绚丽的史诗巨著，关于我们如何发现自然定律和探索我们在宇宙时空中坐标，从最微小到无穷大，从时间的开始到遥远的未来，在时空的海洋中畅游。叙事结构有点类似《万物简史》，以科学史为脉络，介绍人类探索宇宙的历程和获得的发现，并借以认识我们自身和我们在宇宙中的位置。该片获得了第66届艾美奖12项提名并最终获得了包括非剧情类节目最佳编剧在内的四项大奖。另外以我专业的眼光来看，除了飞行器的造型略想吐槽，该片的视觉效果其实堪称完美，如果有IMAX我绝对要去电影院再刷一遍。

      本片由著名天体物理学家Neil deGrasse Tyson主持，这位仁兄主持过不少关于宇宙天文的科普节目，上镜频率堪比Brian Green和Brian Cox.他曾在《生活大爆炸》第四季第7集客串，饰演自己。Neil的磁性声线让人十分难忘，难怪会被《时代杂志》（2000年）评为“最性感天文物理学家”（为什么不是Brian Cox？（＋﹏＋））。片中一再提到泰森和萨根的交集。在聊到与萨根的缘分时，泰森认为萨根影响了他一生。17岁时泰森想报考康奈尔大学，康奈尔大学招生办把他的申请转发给萨根，令泰森没想到的是，萨根写了一封私人信件给他，邀请他去康奈尔大学，“他邀请我去，帮我决定我是不是应该选择这所大学。当时他还送了我一本签名的书，我当时认为自己何德何能，所以我那时就在想，如果我日后成为物理学家，我也会这样对待我的学生,”泰森说。不过最终泰森还是选择了哈佛大学（！）。
       电视系列片《Cosmos: A Personal Voyage》在当年大受欢迎，有多达60个国家7.5亿人收看，是美国PBS电视台历史上最受欢迎的节目之一，配套发行的同名书籍成为纽约时报畅销书籍第1名长达70周，更赢得皮博迪奖和3座艾美奖。
       值得一提的是获得非剧情类最佳编剧的本片编剧和制片人Ann Druyan。她同时也是《Cosmos: A Personal Voyage》的编剧，而且之后更成为了卡尔·萨根的第三任夫人。
       还有让人简直不敢相信的是另一位制片人Seth MacFarlane。。。没错就是节操没下限，对屎尿屁情有独钟的那位Seth MacFarlane。当片头飘过这个名字的时候，我一度以为眼花了

    从原始人类第一次把好奇的目光投向星空，到今天旅行者1号已航行至太阳系的郊外，对于宇宙138亿年的历史而言不过是一瞬间。当旅行者1号飞过海王星时最后一次回头凝望，地球不过是浩瀚宇宙中的一个不起眼的暗淡的小光点。我们越是对宇宙了解的多，就越是明白人类的渺小和无知。难怪有人说学习天文学会让人学会谦虚。。在几千年探索未知的道路上，一代又一代的科学家付出了毕生的努力，就算被忽视，被指责，被排挤，被迫害，追求真理的脚步却从未停止，即使在漫长的中世纪那些黑暗年代，依然闪烁着人类理性的光芒。然而其中能被人记住的总是少数，太多人被少数大牌的光芒掩盖。。在读《万物简史》的时候，我不时感叹，这根本就是科学史的无名英雄赞歌啊，《Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey 》也给我同样的感觉,有不少科学家我第一次听说（我敢说好多人也是），这个节目让我记住了他们的名字。因为他们的不懈努力，刷新了人类对世界的认识，他们终将被历史铭记。

参考：
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot



(由旅行者1号于1990年2月14日在距离地球60亿英里处拍摄，拍摄完照片后，旅行者1号驶离太阳系，踏上寻找其它文明的漫漫征途。在照片中的地球，只有一个像素点大小。)

第13集临近结尾Neil deGrasse Tyson引用卡尔萨根关于地球——the “Pale Blue Dot”——解说词。

Carl Sagan titled his 1994 book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space after the photograph. In it, he expresses his thoughts on a deeper meaning of the image:

From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known, so far, to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.


—Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, 1997 reprint, pp. xv–xvi