The Potential for Human Evolution?
How will humanity change in the next
 50 years..
 500 years…
 5000 years…
The Potential for Human Evolution
 50 years…
 Smart prosthetics for limbs AND organs
 Genetic ID/elimination of hereditary disease
 Computers & AI improve
 Nanotechnology increases
The Potential for Human Evolution
 50 years…
 Questions…
 Fusion?
 Food?
 Water?
The Potential for Human Evolution
500 years…
Brains/Bodies enhanced (“bionics”)
Lifetimes, Adaptability increase
The Potential for Human Evolution
500 years…
 Questions…
Room to survive?
Resolve to allow “Cyborgs”?
Reasons to explore?
The Potential for Human Evolution
5000 years…
What is “human”?
Fully “artificial” 1000+ year lifetime
Able to travel for 1000 years@ high speeds
Able to reach nearby stars…
The Potential for Human Evolution
5000 years…
 Questions…
What will “we” find?
Congratulations!
You’ve made it!
Astronomy & Our Lives
What could
learning about
the planets
and stars
possibly have
in common
with my life
now??
What have we learned?
 Seven Days/Week, “Moonths” and “Dis-asters”
What have we learned?
Distance ≠ Seasons!
What have we learned?
 You most likely aren’t an Aries
(or whatever sign you thought you were!)
What have we learned?
Orbits are just controlled, continuous falling!
What have we learned?
The world will not end in 2028
(at least because of Asteroid XF11)
What have we learned?
 There are thousands of planets orbiting other stars…
Astronomers are not just men…
“Do not look at stars as bright spots only.
Try to take in the vastness of the universe.”
“We especially need imagination in science.”
– Maria Mitchell
and EVERYONE can be an
astronomer!
What have we learned?
What have we learned?
We – as humans - live for an “eye-blink” of
time relative to the stars
What have we learned?
 We humans live for an “eye-blink” of time
relative to the stars
But in that blink of an eye, we can
imagine infinity
What have we learned?
 We humans live for an “eye-blink” of time
relative to the stars
But in that blink of an eye, we can
imagine infinity, visualize black holes
What have we learned?
 We humans live for an “eye-blink” of time
relative to the stars
But in that blink of an eye, we can
imagine infinity, visualize black holes, and
explain how the Sun shines for a billion years.
What have we learned?
What have we learned?
If the Earth was a grain of cream of
wheat….
The Sun would be an orange ~12 steps away
What have we learned?
If the Earth was a grain of cream of
wheat….
The Sun would be an orange ~12 steps away
Pluto would be at Hesperian & Depot roads
What have we learned?
Ideas:
If the Earth was a grain of cream of wheat….
The Sun would be an orange ~12 steps away
Pluto would be at Hesperian & Depot roads
What have we learned?
Ideas:
If the Earth was a grain of cream of wheat….
The Sun would be an orange ~12 steps away
Pluto would be at Hesperian & Depot roads
The next nearest star would be 1000 miles away,
in El Paso Texas
What have we learned?
Nearest Star
1000
What have we learned?
If our Milky Way Galaxy was size of Bay
Area….
What have we learned?
If the Milky Way Galaxy was size of Bay
Area….
The entire Solar System (to Pluto!) would be a grain
of Cream of Wheat
=
What have we learned?
If the Milky Way Galaxy was size of Bay
Area….
The nearest stars would still be ~25 feet away
What have we learned?
If the Milky Way Galaxy was size of Bay
Area….
There would be more than ~120,000 other grains of
Cream of Wheat representing other solar systems
scattered across Chabot’s campus
How big is the universe?
And…
the Milky Way has as many stars as grains of sand
on that beach
.
How big is the universe?
Now picture just one grain of sand on your
fingertip… held up to the sky…
.
What have we learned?
Science is not about certainty
Many hypotheses start out wrong!
“We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as
quickly as possible, because only in that
way can we find progress.”
― Richard Feynman
What have we learned?
Science is not about certainty
Many hypotheses start out wrong!
But …
Science is self-correcting
Multiple tests
Independent Experiments by others
Peer Review
Publishing
Astronomy gives us a sense of who we
are…
Culture
A sense of who we are…
Technology
A sense of who we are…
Poetry
“Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
“But, soft! what light through
yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the
sun.”
― Romeo and Juliet
The Falling Star
by Sara Teasdale
I saw a star slide down the sky,
Blinding the north as it went by,
Too burning and too quick to hold,
Too lovely to be bought or sold,
Good only to make wishes on
And then forever to be gone.
Stars
Alone in the night
On a dark hill
With pines around me
Spicy and still,
And a heaven full of stars
Over my head,
White and topaz
And misty red;
Myriads with beating
Hearts of fire
That aeons
Cannot vex or tire;
Up the dome of heaven
Like a great hill,
I watch them marching
Stately and still,
And I know that I
Am honored to be
Witness
Of so much majesty.
And I know that I
Am honored to be
Witness
Of so much majesty.
- Sara Teasdale
Who will I have been
when I am gone?
- Rebecca Elson
Key Questions for YOU…
Key Questions for YOU
asked at start of our class…
How does science work?
What do we gain, as humans, by asking
questions of Nature?
Is the quest for knowledge worth the
costs?
Key Question for you NOW…
What will you do with what you now know?
“Nobody ever figures out what life is
all about, and it doesn't matter.
Explore the world.
Nearly everything is really interesting
if you go into it deeply enough.”
― Richard Feynman