{"id":66444,"date":"2018-10-19T09:28:39","date_gmt":"2018-10-19T15:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=66444"},"modified":"2018-10-19T09:31:30","modified_gmt":"2018-10-19T15:31:30","slug":"edgar-allan-poe-vladimir-putin-and-a-cosmos-full-of-galaxies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/edgar-allan-poe-vladimir-putin-and-a-cosmos-full-of-galaxies.html","title":{"rendered":"Edgar Allan Poe, Vladimir Putin, and a Cosmos Full of Galaxies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>
NGC 1300, a barred spiral galaxy \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0(NASA\/ESA\/Hubble Heritage Team)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The story this morning is that Vladimir Putin hasn\u2019t yet seen enough evidence, in the case of the apparent murder of Jamal Khashoggi, that he would be williing to imperil Saud-Russian relations over the issue.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is really big news, of course, since we all know Mr. Putin\u2019s deep, even passionate, moral opposition to the idea of assassinating dissident fellow citizens, especially on foreign soil.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But now, on to some science matters:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Good Is Evolutionary Psychology?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I used it just this morning to open a can of tuna!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Is How We Know There Are Two Trillion Galaxies In The Universe\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The cosmos, in other words, seems to be fairly large.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think that I\u2019ve already posted something on this wonderful story. \u00a0But several people have called my attention to another piece about it in The Atlantic<\/em>, which is well worth reading:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat an Audacious Hoax Reveals About Academia: Three scholars wrote 20 fake papers using fashionable jargon to argue for ridiculous conclusions.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve said before, I would love to have perpetrated this hoax myself. \u00a0And someday, perhaps, I\u2019ll reveal some of my own distinctly minor-league efforts along similar lines.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

One complaint that is sometimes heard is that modern science, with its tendency toward reductionism, has demythologized or, perhaps better, disenchanted the world. \u00a0I understand the criticism, and I\u2019m not entirely unsympathetic. \u00a0On the whole, though, I\u2019m perfectly fine \u2014 nay, enthusiastic \u2014 about the world that contemporary science has revealed to us, and about the new and more accurate worldview that it\u2019s allowing us to construct. \u00a0I actually believe, in fact, that recent developments in science have, to a certain degree and in a certain way, been nudging us toward a re-enchantment of our world and of the cosmos.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s that complaint expressed in poetic form by the early-nineteenth-century American writer Edgar Allan Poe, in his \u201cSonnet \u2014 To Science\u201d:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Why preyest thou thus upon the poet\u2019s heart,\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise,\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies,\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car,\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And driven the Hamadryad from the wood\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
To seek a shelter in some happier star?\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood,\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
The Elfin from the green grass, and from me\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 The story this morning is that Vladimir Putin hasn\u2019t yet seen enough evidence, in the case of the apparent murder of Jamal Khashoggi, that he would be williing to imperil Saud-Russian relations over the issue. \u00a0 This is really big news, of course, since we all know Mr. Putin\u2019s deep, even passionate, moral […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nEdgar Allan Poe, Vladimir Putin, and a Cosmos Full of Galaxies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    The story this morning is that Vladimir Putin hasn't yet seen enough evidence, in the case of the apparent murder of Jamal Khashoggi, that\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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