In the past couple of days, I have come across two TED videos that you might enjoy:
- Jill Tarter shares her TED Prize wish. Dr. Tarter is director of the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life (SETI) Institute.
- Rick Warren discusses a life of purpose. Dr. Warren is a pastor and NYT best-selling author of The Purpose-Driven Life. Thanks go to Ruud Hein for the link to Dr. Warren’s TED video.
Each video runs about 20 minutes, so you may want to bookmark this page for when you have the time available for viewing.
The talks are as different as night and day. Dr. Tarter notes that “hydrogen and helium evolved for such a long time that it began to ask where it came from” (my paraphrasing) and shows some graphics that emphasize what a small portion of the universe we occupy. Dr. Warren, on the other hand, talks about life having purpose and meaning, stating that life is not an accident.
You may ask “since Dr. Tarter’s view sounds negative, why bother telling us about it?”
Simple: it has a lot of truth in it … we do live in a universe that is so vast that it stretches our imagination to its limits. And, intelligent life has only existed on our planet for a very short amount of time on the cosmic scale.
I don’t think of this as negative. In fact, it humbles me when I think of the magnificence of our universe, and I appreciate life more when I realize how short my lifespan is on the cosmic scale of billions of years.
Of course, I cannot say for sure that you will enjoy either video. But, I think there’s a good chance you’ll like both.