Cosmos & Beethoven's Symphony #7

Beethoven composed nine symphonies, the great four (3,5,6,9), the classical four (1,2,4,8) & a mutated 7. Back in 1957, I used to hang around 中華路 in Taipei. I found Beethoven’s symphonies on LP one by one starting great four, then the classical four. But I had to wait for another year to get #7. This one was rarely played on radio. The first time I listened to it, I felt that it was not really like Beethoven. It sounded some music from the outer space. It gave me a 突兀之感. After a few years, I gradually got used to it and started to appreciate its uniqueness---mutation.

During the decade of 1970 & 1980, we were busy in building our family and career. That was the age of toil, struggle and accomplishment. Of course, we also found time to watch TV for news & entertainment. Most programs were routines. Occasionally, we encountered some good, special programs. Among these high quality programs, COSMOS is especially a piece of classic. This series has 13 episodes with Carl Sagan as a narrator. At that time, we were so busy that we rarely had time to watch it complete. But I was impressed at that time and could never forget it. The Cosmos is a Greek word for 'The Order of the Universe, opposite of Chaos. So the correct translation of Cosmos is '和諧的宇宙' in Mandarin.

It takes time to watch 13 episodes. If you want to save time, just watch episode 1, 2 and 13.
Episode 1: The Shore of the Cosmic Ocean
Episode 2: One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue
Episode 13: Who Speaks for Earth

Episode 1: The Shore of the Cosmic Ocean
This episode talks about the big bang, life and evolution (where we come from) etc. It condenses the life of Cosmos into a one-earth-year calendar in time scale. Here is the event of the last few hours of the last day of the year:

10:30 pm:    First human being appears
11:46 pm:    Fire is tamed
11:59:20 pm: Domestication of plants and animals, tool making
11:59:35 pm: Agricultural communities, first city
11:59:50 pm: Human history starts

So all historical events occurred in the last 10 seconds of the comic calendar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfCc7ZJjHiM&t=153s

Skip the very beginning and start from 2:04.
2:08-2:45--- Here the mysterious cosmic theme precedes each episode.
5:20-7:00---To study cosmos, it needs scientific methods and imagination. Here Sagen released a dandelion seed that will carry us to the world of dream and the world of facts.
12:10-28:50---The earth in the cosmos, our home.
28:51-30:32---The earth with Beethoven's Symphony #7 played in the background.
30:35-36:45---The way Eratosthenes found out the circumference of the earth.
38:10-50:07---The up and down of the great learning center, Alexandria, a lost civilization.
51:00-51:56---Dutch scientists in 17th century made advance to the knowledge of cosmos.
53:02-57:00--- Cosmic Calendar is presented from big bang to now.
57:01-58:00---With 15 billion years of cosmic evolution, we have a choice, enhancing our life or squandering our heritage.

Episode 2: One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue
This episode talks about the relation between 日本平家 and 鬼面蟹. This artificial selection is actually a natural selection since human being is homo sapiens, a natural species. "The secret of evolution are time and death. Time for the slow accumulation of favorable mutations and Death to make room for new species". It condenses 6 billion years of cosmic history with a 40-second computer animation. It also illustrates what happened in the last 15 days of the cosmic calendar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSnhugfPMGY&t=1571s

12/15: Cambrian explosion
12/18: Trilobites appear
12/19: First fish and vertebrate appear
12/20: Plants begin to colonize the land
12/22: First winged insects & amphibians appear
12/23: First tree and first reptile appear
12/24: Dinosaurs rule the earth
12/26: First mammal appears
12/27: Birds appear, dinosaurs disappear & flowers appear
12/30: Human like mammals appear

Episode 13: Who Speaks for Earth
This episode summarizes the beginning of the cosmos and how it is heading in the future. "We, as a human species, speak for earth. Our loyalties are to the species and 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."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGds93obhpM&t=3217s

While I watched this last episode 13, I was deeply moved when I discovered Beethoven’s symphony #7 dancing around the scenes. The second movement’s main theme came out when Sagan talked about a civilization may destroy itself before it acquires way to escape the planet. The music is like a meditation, murmur and sad. The first movement popped up when the last astrologer and first astronomer Johannes Kepler showed up. He deciphered the mystery of the cosmos. Suddenly I felt the power of Beethoven’s #7, the 1st movement was so mysterious and yet so powerful that moved me immensely. This happens when video, audio and the narration played out in sequence. Then Sagan continued to talk about the struggles of science, hard work and how to be objective to find the truth. Here the 3rd movement ushered in, struggled, toiled, failed miserably, limped around but made progress. Finally, human being conquered the obstacles and achieved the success. At this moment, the 4th movement marched in, head high with its brilliant theme. The whole episode and series end with the final section of the Beethoven #7, powerful and triumphant. It moved me to tears.

Every episode of Cosmos starts with a cosmic call, a piece of mysterious tune and a flying dandelion---let the imagination fly and mind explore. The tune is peaceful, yet mysterious and haunting. It talks about big bang, evolution, history, religions, DNA, memory, where we are from and where we are heading.

If you think 朝聞道,夕死可也 (or 朝聞道,夕可安枕也), Sagan's COSMOS is for you.

If you are interested in listening to the complete Symphony #7 of Beethoven, please visit the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiG31BRHWkA&list=RDkiG31BRHWkA&start_radio=1&t=2534

Darwin & Lincoln

This is the year of 2009. Two hundred years ago, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same date February 12, 1809. It was a very good day for our planet because Lincoln became the great emancipator of the slaves in America, and Darwin became the great emancipator of the human mind, so they both deserve to be celebrated.

Time magazine had one article in July issue of 2008, talks about the greatness of both men. The article seemed to indicate Lincoln is more influential. New Yorker reports there are 15,000 books about Abraham Lincoln in existence. It has been estimated that more books have been written about him than any other human being except Jesus. With our economic situation in dire condition, most college graduates are worrying about their jobs. Someone got a new idea of getting a stress-free career: get yourself a job in the Abraham Lincoln book publishing business and stay there for the rest of your life.

If they were not born on the same date, who will think about comparing their greatness? Of course, both of them are great men, but isn’t it true that compare Lincoln and Darwin is like compare orange and apple? Both of them are human beings but their profession and field of activities are quite different. However, comparing their influences on our civilization perhaps can be done.

American people tend to overemphasize the importance of their culture. I bet people outside America know Darwin more than Lincoln. Darwin’s influence on human thought has been great and huge. He revolutionized the entire subject of biology. Natural selection is a very broad and versatile principle indeed, and attempts have been made to apply it to other fields, such as anthropology, sociology, political science and economics. “Darwinian” becomes very popular in our common vocabulary. Even more important has been the impact of his theory upon religious thought. Until today, some states like Kansas or Mississippi still argue whether the evolution theory should be taught in the school. Some states introduce Intelligent Design Theory or Creation Theory in parallel with Evolution Theory in the school curriculum.

Both of them are great men. However, I rate Darwin’s influence to our civilization one level higher than Lincoln.

PS0: A good old movie (1960) “Inherit the Wind” documented the “Scopes Monkey Trial” of 1925. This is the Evolution versus Bible played out in the court. If you haven’t seen this movie, you should get one from Netflix. I watched it in 1961 and used to talk about it with 王澤霖 while riding bicycle back home from Taida.

PS1: As to Lincoln, there is a little book “Lincoln The Unknown” by Dale Carnegie. Chinese translation by 張心漪 titled "林肯外傳". This is a very good book about Lincoln & civil war. I read it in 1956. Dale Carnegie was the same author who wrote “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. It was on the best-seller list for several years (Chinese translation title: 處世教育).

PS2: The following persons were also born in 1809:

Felix Mendelssohn: Great composer, "Mid-Summer Night's Dream"

Alfred Lord Tennyson: English poet, "Charge of the Light Brigade"

Edgar Allan Poe: Thriller short stories writer, 愛倫坡

Oliver Wendell Holmes: Writer & poet, mentioned in the movie "Judgement at Nuremberg"

William Gladstone: Prime minister during Queen Victoria's era