Dr. Brian Keating

Yeah, I've read the first couple chapters online, and it starts, you know, just to think about the connection as I start my cosmology class at Peterson Academy. You know, I start off by saying, you know, what is the most important day on the calendar? Let me say it to you. Like, what is the most important day on your calendar every year? It's probably Christmas, I would say. Yeah.

Yeah, I've read the first couple chapters online, and it starts, you know, just to think about the connection as I start my cosmology class at Peterson Academy. You know, I start off by saying, you know, what is the most important day on the calendar? Let me say it to you. Like, what is the most important day on your calendar every year? It's probably Christmas, I would say. Yeah.

So what is Christmas? It's a birth. It's a beginning. It's a new—but what is the only event for which there might not have been a preceding day, let alone, you know, a repetition of that day, the origin of the universe? If we go back from now, late 2024, we go back 13.8 billion years. Let's say we're talking on a Thursday today. We'll come back. There'll be some Thursday. Just counting 24 hours.

So what is Christmas? It's a birth. It's a beginning. It's a new—but what is the only event for which there might not have been a preceding day, let alone, you know, a repetition of that day, the origin of the universe? If we go back from now, late 2024, we go back 13.8 billion years. Let's say we're talking on a Thursday today. We'll come back. There'll be some Thursday. Just counting 24 hours.

So what is Christmas? It's a birth. It's a beginning. It's a new—but what is the only event for which there might not have been a preceding day, let alone, you know, a repetition of that day, the origin of the universe? If we go back from now, late 2024, we go back 13.8 billion years. Let's say we're talking on a Thursday today. We'll come back. There'll be some Thursday. Just counting 24 hours.

Doesn't mean the Earth was here. Doesn't mean the sun was here. Just counting back in units of 24 hours. Back, back, back, back, back. Come to some Thursday, and, you know, perhaps that was the day the actual Big Bang occurred on, if we could keep track of it. I mean, it's totally practical to do this type of calculation. And we don't actually know what happened on the Wednesday before that day.

Doesn't mean the Earth was here. Doesn't mean the sun was here. Just counting back in units of 24 hours. Back, back, back, back, back. Come to some Thursday, and, you know, perhaps that was the day the actual Big Bang occurred on, if we could keep track of it. I mean, it's totally practical to do this type of calculation. And we don't actually know what happened on the Wednesday before that day.

Doesn't mean the Earth was here. Doesn't mean the sun was here. Just counting back in units of 24 hours. Back, back, back, back, back. Come to some Thursday, and, you know, perhaps that was the day the actual Big Bang occurred on, if we could keep track of it. I mean, it's totally practical to do this type of calculation. And we don't actually know what happened on the Wednesday before that day.

It's a concept. You can think about it, but you can't actually necessarily know what happened. And so that is why I feel like cosmology is the ultimate, the most primitive, primordial subject and why it evokes something in people. There's reasons why the caves of Lascaux, you know, 40,000 years ago, they weren't depicting like, well, here's how you make a good atlatl or spear, you know, whatever.

It's a concept. You can think about it, but you can't actually necessarily know what happened. And so that is why I feel like cosmology is the ultimate, the most primitive, primordial subject and why it evokes something in people. There's reasons why the caves of Lascaux, you know, 40,000 years ago, they weren't depicting like, well, here's how you make a good atlatl or spear, you know, whatever.

It's a concept. You can think about it, but you can't actually necessarily know what happened. And so that is why I feel like cosmology is the ultimate, the most primitive, primordial subject and why it evokes something in people. There's reasons why the caves of Lascaux, you know, 40,000 years ago, they weren't depicting like, well, here's how you make a good atlatl or spear, you know, whatever.

They were depicting like the stars and the movements.

They were depicting like the stars and the movements.

They were depicting like the stars and the movements.

It's visceral, right. By the way, it didn't have to be that way. Most stars are not like our sun. Our sun is not unique. I shouldn't say unique, sorry. Our sun is unusual in that it's a singular star. The preponderance of stars that you look up and see on a dark night sky... are multiples, pairs, binaries, triples, maybe even clusters of stars. And that would be very different.

It's visceral, right. By the way, it didn't have to be that way. Most stars are not like our sun. Our sun is not unique. I shouldn't say unique, sorry. Our sun is unusual in that it's a singular star. The preponderance of stars that you look up and see on a dark night sky... are multiples, pairs, binaries, triples, maybe even clusters of stars. And that would be very different.

It's visceral, right. By the way, it didn't have to be that way. Most stars are not like our sun. Our sun is not unique. I shouldn't say unique, sorry. Our sun is unusual in that it's a singular star. The preponderance of stars that you look up and see on a dark night sky... are multiples, pairs, binaries, triples, maybe even clusters of stars. And that would be very different.

That would mean you wouldn't have the ability to see because there'd always be a star out, effectively. They won't orbit right next to each other like in Tatooine in Star Wars. Remember, there's a red sun. But you don't have constellations. You don't have seasons and tracking. You don't have agriculture, the human being's first technology.

That would mean you wouldn't have the ability to see because there'd always be a star out, effectively. They won't orbit right next to each other like in Tatooine in Star Wars. Remember, there's a red sun. But you don't have constellations. You don't have seasons and tracking. You don't have agriculture, the human being's first technology.

That would mean you wouldn't have the ability to see because there'd always be a star out, effectively. They won't orbit right next to each other like in Tatooine in Star Wars. Remember, there's a red sun. But you don't have constellations. You don't have seasons and tracking. You don't have agriculture, the human being's first technology.