World Wrecker
That the sun rises and sets is the most obvious phenomena - it is the archetype of obvious. It is, literally, plain as day. So why do I think that the earth rotates, and gives the appearance of a rising and setting - a moving - sun? Because of astronomy.
The data that constitutes our science of astronomy has almost completely replaced my own perceptions and thinking regarding the relevant matters. It's not just the data - the sun is 93,000,000 miles away from the earth, there are ten planets (not nine anymore), the surface of Venus is dry and rocky and extremely hot. It is the scaffolding of method, theory, and explanation that have themselves become part of the phenomena.
It's one thing to read the sentence "the surface of Venus is dry and rocky and extremely hot." Just reading that sentence, my mind and imagination are engaged. It is another matter entirely to look at this image:
It is one thing to read the sentence "Surface photographs from the Soviet Venera 13 spacecraft." It is another to see this image:
So what? First, in each instance, reading the sentence and looking at the image each engage different aspects of my awareness - my senses, my thinking, my imagination. The sentences in a way direct our thinking and imagination directly. The images engage our senses - one of them, sight.
Second, the two images, though they engage our sense of sight, have significantly different suggestions: With the first image, we the viewers are on the planet Venus, seeing it with our own eyes - seeing Venus for ourselves. In the second image, we, the viewers, are beyond or above or outside the solar system itself, able to see a grand panorama - the sun, the planets, the Venera spacecraft itself. We experience ourselves in a new way.
In each instance, the two suggestions are false. We are not seeing Venus with our own eyes, nor are we actually floating up above the solar system.
The data that constitutes our science of astronomy has almost completely replaced my own perceptions and thinking regarding the relevant matters. It's not just the data - the sun is 93,000,000 miles away from the earth, there are ten planets (not nine anymore), the surface of Venus is dry and rocky and extremely hot. It is the scaffolding of method, theory, and explanation that have themselves become part of the phenomena.
It's one thing to read the sentence "the surface of Venus is dry and rocky and extremely hot." Just reading that sentence, my mind and imagination are engaged. It is another matter entirely to look at this image:
It is one thing to read the sentence "Surface photographs from the Soviet Venera 13 spacecraft." It is another to see this image:
So what? First, in each instance, reading the sentence and looking at the image each engage different aspects of my awareness - my senses, my thinking, my imagination. The sentences in a way direct our thinking and imagination directly. The images engage our senses - one of them, sight.
Second, the two images, though they engage our sense of sight, have significantly different suggestions: With the first image, we the viewers are on the planet Venus, seeing it with our own eyes - seeing Venus for ourselves. In the second image, we, the viewers, are beyond or above or outside the solar system itself, able to see a grand panorama - the sun, the planets, the Venera spacecraft itself. We experience ourselves in a new way.
In each instance, the two suggestions are false. We are not seeing Venus with our own eyes, nor are we actually floating up above the solar system.
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