Sagan's 1994 "Lost" Lecture

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Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[Fred the Cat]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Thanks Art. I wished we could have heard the answer to the anti-matter question at the end.

Listening to his thoughts on consciousness, I could imagine our thoughts exist at the interface between our future selves and our past. Our brain has developed a method for memory, but could it also sense what will be? Like the way anti-matter is thought to interact with matter - moving backwards in time. I was hoping holometers might intuit a clue. Probably not but it seems a promising step forward.

Hypothesizing that our thinking gray matter works because of a stable moment between the past and future, might we sense our holographic 3D universe because of momentum initiated 13.8 billion years ago and the nano-seconds it takes to generate consciousness? Most, probably couldn’t stand to think that’s why a modern hominid’s brain evolved on top and its cortex on the outside.

Curious if we exist and think because anti-matter was ever so slightly older. I do believe Carl would want us to keep dreaming.

[neufer]

Thanks Art. I wished we could have heard the answer to the anti-matter question at the end.

• Yes... the riddle of the Sphinx Head.

Carl Sagan's former residence at 900 Stewart Avenue, Ithaca, New York.

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<<The Sphinx Head Society is the oldest senior honor society at Cornell University. Sphinx Head recognizes Cornell senior men and women who have demonstrated respectable strength of character on top of a dedication to leadership and service at Cornell University.

Sphinx Head was founded on October 11, 1890 by a group of ten men from the senior class. The New York Times referred to Sphinx Head as "a secret senior society of the nature of Skull and Bones", a senior honor society at Yale University of which Andrew Dickson White, Cornell University's co-founder and first president, was a member. White encouraged the formation of a secret society system on the Cornell campus.

In 1926, the society built a clubhouse for itself designed to resemble an Egyptian tomb perched halfway down the cliff on the Fall Creek gorge. It sold the building in 1969, and it eventually became the home and office of astronomer Carl Sagan.

Sphinx Head has "retained an aura of mystery throughout its history on campus", holding some "closely guarded secrets and traditions."

Although membership in Sphinx Head is public, the proceedings of the Society remain concealed. Since founding the Society, Sphinx Head members have been responsible for starting many long-standing Cornell University traditions such as the annual Dragon Day celebration, the use of "The Big Red" to describe Cornell athletics, as well as Spring Fest, the precursor to the current Slope Day celebration.

Members of Sphinx Head have held many prominent positions within Cornell University serving as presidents, provosts, deans, directors of athletics, Cornell Council members, trustees and chairpersons of the board of trustees. More than one-third of the presidents of the Cornell University Alumni Association have been members and twenty percent of the chairpersons of the Cornell University Board of Trustees have been affiliated with the Society. Numerous members are also profiled in The "100 Most Notable Cornellians".>>

<<George Joseph Hecht (November 1, 1895 – *April 23*, 1980) was the owner of FAO Schwarz and the founder & publisher of Humpty Dumpty magazine. Hecht was born in New York City in 1895 in a home that once stood on the site of Radio City. He graduated from Cornell University in 1917 and was later named one of the "100 Most Notable Cornellians" in 2003.>>

<<Humpty Dumpty is a bimonthly American magazine for children 2 to 6 years old. Having been continuously produced for more than 65 years, it is one of the oldest American magazines for kids. Humpty Dumpty offers a variety of exciting and challenging puzzles and games, which promote problem-solving and independent thinking. Mathematics and science writer *Martin Gardner* was a contributing editor to Humpty Dumpty for eight years in the 1950s, creating the activity features and writing short stories about the adventures of Humpty Dumpty, Jr., as well as poems of moral advice.>>