

Small - olivercameron
http://blog.alexmaccaw.com/small

======
jazzychad
Two nights ago while I slept, for the first time I had a dream about going
into space on the shuttle. I have wanted to go into space since I was a child,
so in my dream I was extremely excited about going into space.

I dreamt of the launch, the G-Forces, the adrenaline rush, and finally the sky
turning from blue to black as we escaped the atmosphere.

Then the shuttle turned over so we could see the Earth. As the cockpit window
rotated and Earth came into view, the feeling of _sheer terror_ washed over me
as I saw how small the planet looked. I had a panic attack in my dream from
looking back down at Earth. I woke up a few minutes later as if from a
nightmare. It was the strangest experience, and the imagery and feelings are
extremely vivid in my memory. I wonder if humans have an innate emotional
response to this size perspective, but this seems somewhat related to the
Overview Effect described in the article.

~~~
minikomi
You might enjoy this recent podcast on radiolab.
[http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-
blog/2012/oct/08/dark...](http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-
blog/2012/oct/08/dark-side-earth/) amazing how humble and calm the guy comes
across as

~~~
charlieok
Seconded. I listened to that a few days ago and it's an incredible story.

------
mattdeboard
I breathed a sigh of relief when there wasn't some tie-in to startup culture
or programming or social media at the end of the article. Excellent post.

~~~
sneak
Top ten signs you may need to stop spending so much time on HN and thinking
about startups, number 9:

~~~
mattdeboard
Yep, big sign I spend too much time on a startup-centric news aggregation site
when I understand that most of the articles are about startups. Nailed it,
bud.

~~~
lmm
The point as I understood it is that if you were so glad to see that this
article wasn't about a startup, maybe you'd do better getting your articles
from a different source.

------
comicjk
I suspect that the thoughts people have in space will be of the same order as
those they have on the ground. Thus space tourism is unlikely to have much
mind-expanding effect. We have profound quotes from astronauts because we
don't send idiots into space. Yet.

~~~
jamesrcole
Do you think that travelling to other countries -- "seeing the world" --
changes people? Gives them a new perspective? If that can, I think going into
space can as well.

------
pdx
Regarding the pale blue dot.

Has the photo been enhanced so we can see the earth, or is that actually how
it looks?

What are those color bands I'm seeing? Does the earth stay in it's orange
color band, indicating they are orbital lines around the sun?

~~~
asolove
The Earth takes up much less than a pixel in the image, a combination of other
factors cause it to be much more visible than it "should" be, see:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot>

------
jusben1369
When you live in one town all your life you get a better/different perspective
when you travel to another city. The same goes for then visting other parts of
your country and then inbetween countries and then continents. Each time the
effect is more pronounced than before. You realize the insignificance of many
of your "problems" when you met other people from very different socioeconomic
backgrounds. I wonder if space is just the most absolute point of this effect.

Elegant blog post. If only because it didn't overcrowd us with thoughts but
rather set the stage for pondering.

------
chanux
Good discussion about 'overview effect'
[http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/05/space-
euphoria....](http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/05/space-
euphoria.html)

Also <http://www.overviewinstitute.org/>

------
Alex3917
"With more people viewing the Earth from afar, perhaps the world will gain a
little more perspective, and a better sense of proportion."

Interestingly enough the reason we have the pictures of the earth from space
is that Stewart Brand started a petition to get them declassified because he
thought seeing the pictures would induce the same sort of experience (and pro-
social behavioral shift) as LSD. Apparently he actually had the idea while on
acid, while sitting on his roof in San Francisco.

~~~
charlieok
...also the reason he named his projects "whole earth X"

Like the Whole Earth Catalog, mentioned at the end of Steve Jobs' graduation
speech (the source of the "stay hungry, stay foolish" line).

Or the Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, better known as The WELL, one of the first
"online" communities.

~~~
charlieok
oops, I just connected the op back to startup culture and to social media :-/

------
jasim
Relevant: A fascinatingly disturbing thought by Dr. Neil deGrasse -
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDRXn96HrtY>

~~~
AVTizzle
Many thanks for the share. Awesome watch.

------
arscan
I would have thought that you'd have to be a lot higher up than Felix to
experience the overview effect. Its one thing being able to see the curvature
of the earth... its another matter altogether to be be in orbit and see the
whole planet in 90 minutes (or being able to blot out the entire planet with
your thumb held at arm's distance, as was the case for the guys that made it
to the moon).

~~~
davidcuddeback
> _or being able to blot out the entire planet with your thumb held at arm's
> distance, as was the case for the guys that made it to the moon_

At first I didn't believe you, but some quick math confirms this. The angular
size of the Earth from the moon is 1.9 degrees, and the angular width of your
thumb at arm's distance is about 2 degrees.

~~~
jufo
Maybe a bit more with the spacesuit glove on!

~~~
davidcuddeback
Ha. Good point. But even without, the math checks out.

------
ultramundane8
I'd like to believe that we all experience a weak Overview Effect from time to
time. It's often a friend of existential nihilism.

But to have your entire life add up to a powerful case of that realization
must be an extremely emotional experience.

------
justatdotin
hoepfully the rest of us can rediscover a less costly way to get that same
perspective ... the fact that this author concludes with excitement at space
tourism suggests to me they totally miss the message roaring from the blue
dot.

------
Ideka
Reminds me of the Total Perspective Vortex, a torture machine from Douglas
Adams' sci-fi book The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

 __For when you are put into the Vortex you are given just one momentary
glimpse of the entire unimaginable infinity of creation, and somewhere in it a
tiny little marker, a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot, which says "You
are here." __

This, according to the book, completely annihilates your brain.

------
charlieok
I grew up with enough of an interest in space that I heard and internalized a
lot of this as a kid. I think some IMAX movies attempted to recreate this kind
of experience.

I wonder now much more impactful the real thing would be in terms of altering
a person's perspective.

------
dhruvbhatia
To contrast, I absolutely love this video where Neil deGrasse Tyson provides
an explanation as to why he _doesn't_ feel small in the Universe:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D05ej8u-gU>

------
mempko
although the first to do space tourism will be the rich.

They will hover over us and instead of thinking how small they are, will feel
at peace having escaped the rest of us... who are now too small to see.

~~~
jjb123
Does a man drifting at sea feel like he has escaped humanity? Even a wealthy
man?

~~~
sukuriant
Depends on if it's a cruise or not

------
kyleslattery
Here's Carl Sagan talking about the "Pale Blue Dot", it's definitely worth a
watch: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupToqz1e2g>

------
foxhop
[http://www.unturf.com/post/24536592330/i-dont-care-if-you-
ar...](http://www.unturf.com/post/24536592330/i-dont-care-if-you-are-a-
millionaire-a-ceo-a)

------
studyedge
Makes me want to start a small side project that routinely sends oppressors
and other individuals with ambition of world domination on a free ride into
the space.

------
vbl
Perspective is a powerful thing. How things looks depends a lot on where you
sit.

Makes me wonder how this concept can be applied to more Earthly affairs.

------
morsch
Am I the only one who assumed the Baumgartner's remarks were rehearsed or
otherwise prearranged?

------
SeoxyS
This is the kind of article that I come to Hacker News for. :)

------
kami8845
I was disappointed, a pretty inconsequential blog post reaching far for
anything worth writing.

"So while the first astronauts to the moon went as technicians, they came back
as humanitarians."

meh.

~~~
jusben1369
I wonder why you felt the need to leave this comment.

