Seeking New Horizons

THE NEW HORIZONS space probe, launched on January 19, 2006, has not only flown past the late planet Pluto, but has now exited the solar system entirely, four billion miles from earth, becoming the fasted human made object to take its leave of the solar family. It began its quest for knowledge by swinging past Jupiter, and after snapping a few photos, using the giant planet's gravity to propel it ever faster towards eternity. "Gravitational assist", the process by which a space probe is aimed at a planet in such a manner as to encounter the planet's gravitational field at the proper angle so that the gravity actually sling shots the probe in a new direction with enhanced velocity, has been a standard technique of space probery since the late nineteen fifties, when the Russians used the moon to help a probe get to Venus faster. It works every time. A few more close up pictures of a large asteroid beyond the orbit of Pluto, and New Horizons will have done its duty to science, and will carry on, presumably forever, eventually outdistancing anything ever sent into space by humanity. But enough details. The most inspiring aspect of this endeavor is its contribution to mankind's most sublime undertaking; the pursuit of knowledge. Overwhelmingly, advances in human knowledge come from what has come to be known as 'science", aka "the study of nature". More accurately, the systematic study of everything in nature, from the tiniest particles to the entire universe itself, with rigorous standards of observation, theory formation, theory verification, fact checking and fact proving, what we have called, for four hundred years "the scientific method". In other words, science always ends up being right, no matter how long it takes, because science never stops questioning its own conclusions until its conclusions are proven correct, beyond the shadow of a doubt, by endlessly repetitive, redundant testing and retesting. Science, unlike religion or pseudo science, is self correcting, an therein lies the difference, that's why science produces results, and nothing else does. That's why we know that humans evolved from fish, and that man made climate change is real, and a clear and present danger, regardless of the misguided zealotry of the devoutly, superstitiously religious community which denies the existence anything not found in sacred scripture, which, in the case of Christians, is the Bible, that ancient miniature library of man made writings filled with fantasy, outright lies, and error. The three great enemies of scientific fact and progress are religion, pseudo science, and willful ignorance. Religion comforts and inspires those in need of such things, but at the cost of truth. Pseudo science, which regrettably has enjoyed great popularity in recent decades, entices people to believe nonsense, to specifically identify extraterrestrial beings who exist only in the imagination, and to create fantasy alternative paradigms and realities; for whatever reason, possibly personal fulfillment, or a peculiar unwillingness to study, understand, and appreciate the awesome wonder of nature for what it actually is. The sooner humanity rids itself of religion, pseudo science, and willful ignorance, the better. And the next grand exploration into the depths of the universe cannot be launched soon enough.