27 Comments

Tell me of the waters of my homeworld, Mike. Fantastic new season start, thanks a million for the shout-out! And so glad Bettys is doing well :)

Expand full comment
Feb 14, 2022Liked by Mike Sowden

Arghhhh ... nooooo!!!! This would (had I the requisite hardware) have been brilliant to take part in.

Romanticsm (nature exceeds our ability to understand; gasp in awe!) vs the Enlightenment (all happiness and knowledge is within the grasp of rational beings; education and reason offer us the key to both).

Spoiler: I lean towards the second of these, but awe can be compatible with Enlightenment values. After giving a good example of William Paley's Blind Watchmaker argument ("if walking on a moor, I found a stone, I would not think any more about how it came to be there, but if I found a pocket watch, I would deduce that such an object required a maker. The existence of something like the human eye similarly tells us that there must be a Maker"), Richard Dawkins writes, in his book The Blind Watchmaker: "I hope that the reader is as awestruck as I am and as William Paley would have been by [echo location in bats]. My aim has been in one respect identical to Paley's aim. I do not want the reader to underestimate the prodigious works of nature...". Dawkins' driving force has been wonder, and the need to understand.

Awe is good, awe with comprehension is better (so definitely looking forward to the coming series!!!)

Expand full comment

PS - Have you read "Tracking Wonder" (Jeffrey Davis)? I'm about 80% of the way through it and have found it interesting.

Expand full comment

Ok, I'm going to try this because wonder and awe are things that are on my mind right now! As you can see, it took me a week to make the space to properly read this so I may be weeks behind you but I'll be there, climbing the mountain at my own snail's pace! I need to go find this twitter thread I think. I LOVE that you are going under the sea! A few years ago when we still did things in person I went to a wonderful presentation with two under-ocean photographers. it was both stunning and sad (the damage we are doing to the ocean). Can't wait for season 4! (She says knowing she still wants to read back through all the existing seasons, but my desire to consume and read and wonder is still at odds with actual clock time, lol.)

Expand full comment
founding

You did not just assign me reading material I have so much reading material 😩 but how am I meant to pass this up?

(Can't remember if I said on the last post but that meteor -- wow!)

Expand full comment
founding
Feb 14, 2022Liked by Mike Sowden

This is going to be fantastic! Looking forward to reading together.

Expand full comment

Congrats and welcome back from the break. So excited for the new season!

Expand full comment