Andrew+M+R12

My favorite quote from the reading describes “our entire observable universe is but one of many “bubbles” in an inflationary sea” which describes how far we are from the rest the universe and how everything else in the universe is far from every other thing in the universe. The vast distances between stars paints a very insulating and somewhat lonely feeling. With the closest star, Proxima Centauri, being 4.2 light years away, travel to other solar systems seems impossible even if we could travel at the speed of light.

Such topics always led me to imagine humanity advancing to a point of travel faster than light, which then quickly leads me to think that if such speed was possible, why haven’t aliens already come to us? Maybe we’re the first forms of life to reach this level of intelligence or maybe higher forms of life with such abilities to travel the universe are so far advanced that they are unaware of our ant like existence and we are unaware, or unable to conceive of, their godlike existence.

Either way, traveling to the Alpha Centuri system would result in very unique scenery. With its 3 stars of varying size and color, the system must produce interesting day/night cycles. Information design in regards the suns, moons and seasons of a planet in that area would be an interesting challenge and would produce wildly dynamic graphs due to the complex components of the solar system.

Thoughts on the beginning of the universe always lead me to think of its end; and just as the universe has a beginning and end, I often cannot help but to wonder what happens before and after a lifetime. Life and death, beginning and end, the very small and the very large; these topics never get the attention they deserve in our culture and I’m inspired by anyone who uses them as a basis for their work because as Carl Sagan said: “We are made of star stuff. We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself.”