I found the podcast discussion with Katherine Blundell to be very interesting. I think she raised a very interesting point about human expectation/intuition being a salient aspect that was missing from the Pandua Rainbow. Through this discussion, she began talking about the way in which human expectation played a role in ancient Mesopotamia. In the podcast she said that their interest in trying to predict eclipses and perfect motion of planets was to be able to know when there was any abnormalities in this cycle. For the ancient Mesopotamians, abnormalities in this cycle would indicate that the gods were trying to send them a message. I think this is an interesting framework, but I do not think that it would have entirely solved their concerns. Even if the Mesopotamians could accurately detect abnormalities, then there would become another issue of trying to decipher the message being sent to them from the gods. Some individuals might have viewed certain abnormalities as a positive sign while others might have viewed it as negative or insignificant. However, this was definitely an interesting revelation as I thought that most ancient civilizations’ interest in the solar system stemmed predominantly from curiosity. If I were conducting the interview, I think I would have tried to challenge Ms. Blundell’s assertion that human expectation is a necessary element in discovering and explaining phenomena. I certainly do think that human expectation can serve a positive role in the discovery and explanation of phenomena. However, I also think that it can, at times, thwart this process as well. In the Path to Newton assignment, we analyzed many theories that were incorrect - some more than others. A common theme amongst many of these incorrect theories was the fact that they relied on incorrect assumptions. In other words, the theorist had already set out what they predicted to be the truth and then looked to curtail their observations of the actual phenomena to match their initial expectations. Often times, not having any expectations can actually lead an individual to be more open-minded and account for other potential explanations rather than being blinded by one.

I really enjoyed listening to this week’s podcast. I thought an interesting point was raised that I had not previously thought of in regards to space exploration. Martin Rees made the point that space exploration endeavours should, at this point, be left to the private sector rather than the public sector. He claimed that the private sector has sufficient enough resources and can afford the elevated level of risks associated with space exploration and research. I wholeheartedly agree with this point as there are so many pressing issues on this Earth that need to be addressed. Now, I do certainly acknowledge that space exploration has helped to address certain problems and to advance the quality of human life. However, I think that projects that involve exploration of things beyond our solar system and beyond the scope of being able to directly help human life should not be given public funding - especially when there are ample private sectors in these fields. It is also interesting that many people suggest that we should do Mars exploration as a way of preparing for a future in which Earth is no longer habitable. However, in the podcast, Martin seems to suggest that it is very unlikely that we will ever be able to colonize Mars. In the interview, Martin briefly talked about nuclear energy and he also talked about the importance of prominent people’s impact on climate change efforts. If I were interviewing him, I would like to reconcile these two topics into a question about Bill Gates’ recent efforts to make nuclear energy safer. In a recent documentary titled Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates, it takes a look at the way in which Bill Gates has been trying to redesign nuclear reactors to make nuclear energy safer, cleaner, cheaper, and more accessible as an alternative to traditional fossil fuels. I would be curious to hear Martin’s thoughts on this project and how he thinks it can/cannot impact the climate change crisis in a significant manner.