Science

"The life and death of hypotheses.  From the equation - me as part of the Cosmos - to the axiom - the Cosmos as part of me.  Subsistence.  Knowledge.  Anthropophagy."
(Anthropophagite Manifesto, Revista de Antropofagia, (São Paulo), no. 1, May 1928)

I didn't know what to make of this manifesto when I read it.  I still don't.  But the quote above immediately reminded me of the following:

That dialogue was taken from an interview of Neil deGrasse Tyson, perhaps the most well-known astrophysicist of this generation.  (He even came and spoke at a forum at BYU a few years back.)  The interviewer asks him to share the most astounding fact about the universe.  Tyson responds by explaining how our bodies are made up of atoms that were formed from the supernovae of stars, and then says:

“…when I look up at the night sky… I know that yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the universe is in us.  When I reflect on that fact… I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars.  There’s a level of connectivity… You want to feel relevant; you want to feel like you’re a participant in the goings-on of activities and events around you.  That’s precisely what we are just by being alive.”

What a humanities quote from a scientist, right?!?!  I'm a science major, but I still think that humanities are important and that the two fields of study have much to learn from each other.  The manifesto talks about “the Cosmos as part of me,” which is literally true.  The tone of this video clip may not match the tone of the manifesto, but I think anthropophagy relates to both.  We consume subsistence, knowledge, and the world around us.  We take in the universe because we want to be a part of it and we want it to be a part of us.  There’s something very natural and very human about being curious about the world around us; we explore and do experiments to learn more about it.  From a certain point of view, in this process the universe is trying to understand itself.

The works of God continue,

And worlds and lives abound;

Improvement and progression

Have one eternal round.

There is no end to matter;

There is no end to space;

There is no end to spirit;

There is no end to race.

-W.W. Phelps