Cosmology+Work+Sheet

=Asking Big Questions=

People have been telling stories about who we are, where we came from, and where we are going since we were first became able to ask those questions.
 * The Australian aboriginal people said humans were carved out of bundles of plants and animals.
 * The Hebrew people said Yaweh created humans in his image.
 * The Greeks said humanity was made by Prometheus out of mud and given breath by Athena.
 * The Chinese said humans were the fleas and lice that lived on Pan Gu's body.
 * The Mayans tell of the Heart of Sky asking the grandparents to carve humans out of wood.
 * The Iroquois said people were created by a toad who spit mud on the back of a turtle.
 * Modern scientists theorize that humans have evolved from star dust into a species called Homo sapiens sapiens over 13.7 billion years.

"Exploring the entire Universe requires big thinking. And there are hardly bigger ideas than cosmological ones. It is the study of the structure, evolution, and destiny of the totality of all known or supposed objects and phenomena, formerly existing, now present, or to come, taken as a whole. Here we strive to gain an appreciation for the properties of the Universe in bulk: its matter and energy, its size and scale, perhaps something about its origin and fate." ([|Chaisson])

So to blow the top of your brain before we begin, I want you to think about the universe in bulk by seriously pondering the likelihood of extraterrestrial life.

=Pre-Class Assignment:= Think about all you know about the universe. Talk to your friends and family about the likelihood of extra-terrestrial life. How likely is it that earthlings will ever be able to communicate with any other life forms in the universe? Come to class the first day with a list of at least 5 topics that you would need to know more about if you wanted to answer that question.