DVD:

Watching Cosmos at work, while waiting for the game to finish up its quality control review. Not a lot to do, so a DVD’s perfect. I’ve had Cosmos for a year or two, now – a gift from eingy for Christmas or my birthday a while ago. I’d only watched the first episode, ’cause I’d wanted to watch it with her, but we hadn’t had the time. Anyway – I’d read Cosmos a while back, so much of the material is familiar. But the issue is that Carl Sagan is really quite good at communicating to a reasonably educated audience. I suspect that without any context, it would be somewhat more difficult to follow, but he does have amazing skill for making complex issues quite easy to understand.

I wonder if there is a modern version of Carl Sagan. The only name that jumps to mind immediately is James Burke, but he’s almost more of a contemporary than a successor, and he’s more focused on the causality of history than say, communicating pure science to the masses. I wonder if you could put Adam Savage & Jamie Hyneman into that category. Their show, Mythbusters, is about debunking urban legends, but they do a great job of communicating the application of scientific principles and critical thinking in an entertaining, and easily-digestible way…