Chapter 18 Discussion

I have to admit that the majority of the time I was reading this chapter I was wondering why I was reading it. Initially, the rainbows interested me because what child wasn't fascinated by them? But then Darksyde starting using words that made me change my major from Biology. All familiar terms, but difficult to understand what they really mean beyond knowing they have to do with light and sound. Then the topic turned to Hubble and I thought, alright heres some interesting stuff. I like to learn how discoveries were made. Then that turned into several pages of garble about radio. I did spend several minutes looking at the pictures taken by the HST. They really were amazingly beauiful. Its astonishing how many beautiful things there are that most people never have the opportunity to see or even realize exist. I don't think that I really started to appreciate Darksyde's point until the last few pages when he began discussing the Supernova (SN1987A) and that, even though it was not observed until 1987, it had occurred in 166,000 BCE.
What caught my attention though was one of the last paragraphs when Darksyde stated that "the body of science is sustained by the life-blood of free thought, and often grows along unexpected veins of serendipity." The entire article had discussed galaxy altering discoveries that were pure chance. The antenna, the supernova discovered through binoculars, and Einsteins oversight were all chance occurrences that changed important perceptions and ways of thinking about the world. Ironically, Darksyde goes on to say that defending science is not a priority to him accept for people to realize that "its all tied together: the integrity of science, the integrity of the nation, the future of the species, the core liberties we all hold dear." These chance changes in the way the world is perceived are what makes us human. The ability to discover and evolve are inseparable and significant.