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Dec. 21st, 2010 06:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
opusculusSo I realized today that the Nemesis villains in Sailor Moon R was actually a reference to the Nemesis hypothesis, which is basically that the sun has a dwarf twin with a bunch of comets around it that comes around every 26 million years to cause a major extinction because of the comet bombardment that comes with it. You have no idea how gleeful I am that the sun has an evil twin is an actual scientific hypothesis, guys.
In related news! In that way of Wikipedia where you can't stop clicking, finding that out sidetracked me onto being reminded of Asimov's When Night Falls story. Oh my god, that story drives me nuts. A civilization constantly surrounded by light faces the first night of darkness in a very long time, and it's not the darkness that drives them mad but the stars? Seriously? No one looked at that and said "It's a sign that even in the dark there must always be light!" and started a whole new religion based on that and they all just went mad instead? Because instantaneously upon seeing the stars means that you know you're not the center of the universe? Seriously, how long did Earth people stare at the stars without figuring out that they were exactly the same thing as the sun? I highly doubt that everyone seeing all those billions of stars immediately knew they were not alone in the universe. And that still doesn't explain how that immediately drove an entire civilization into burning themselves into ruins because no really I want a better reason for that than THE STARS DROVE THEM MAD.
...Yes, that has bugged me for years.
In related news! In that way of Wikipedia where you can't stop clicking, finding that out sidetracked me onto being reminded of Asimov's When Night Falls story. Oh my god, that story drives me nuts. A civilization constantly surrounded by light faces the first night of darkness in a very long time, and it's not the darkness that drives them mad but the stars? Seriously? No one looked at that and said "It's a sign that even in the dark there must always be light!" and started a whole new religion based on that and they all just went mad instead? Because instantaneously upon seeing the stars means that you know you're not the center of the universe? Seriously, how long did Earth people stare at the stars without figuring out that they were exactly the same thing as the sun? I highly doubt that everyone seeing all those billions of stars immediately knew they were not alone in the universe. And that still doesn't explain how that immediately drove an entire civilization into burning themselves into ruins because no really I want a better reason for that than THE STARS DROVE THEM MAD.
...Yes, that has bugged me for years.
