Adboy151

This is failing to scratch an itch. It's generally well made, but for some reason the effects meshed with score, it's coming off as little Star Trek-y.

There's no sense of energy in the presentation. I guess I just expected to be a little more wow-ed like, say BBC's Planet Earth or Life.

ben12

I was wowed several times, but not by spectacle.

arminius

I can't wait for the big one.

Nausicaa

Just caught up on the first two episodes. I have mixed feelings, but mostly I've really enjoyed it. I like Tyson (I laughed at his "star stuff" line, great delivery), and they are doing a good job breaking down complex topics in a way they're easy to understand and visualize. I really liked the "cosmic address" portion of the first episode.

The evolutionary biology stuff was well done in the second episode. And I love that they briefly explored the idea that life might take totally different forms on other planets. Their breakdown of the evolution of the eye was also a nice touch. It's a shame people who should watch this episode won't.

The animated segments are pretty weak, and I'm not totally sure how I feel about discussing religion. It's only the first two episodes, but the show sometimes comes across like the creators summarized the "intelligent design" arguments and designed the show as a response to them (like the eye segment).

Red Dog

I thought the eye analysis was great.

Baron Of Hell

I liked it. Those 6 legged smaller than the tip of pin things creep me out. The eye stuff was great. I liked the dog stuff but everyone already knows that.

JeffTheAlpaca

but not the creationists

beyond

I am an evolutionary ecologist and I can say that the second episode has been the best treatment of evolution that I have seen, hands down.

Baron Of Hell

You study how vaginas evolve?

ben12

I thought that's what those 6 legged smaller than the tip of a needle things were.

beyond

A-wha??

Ah, those are tardigrades (or 'water bears'): they are freaking sweet!!

wmermine

Are you aware of any writings on the subject of the evolution of consciousness (of the self)?

I'm interested in studying this topic as I see it being much more vague than understanding the evolution of the eye and other overtly physical processes. l think the more compelling argument to be had vis-à-vis evolution deals with the self. If creationists wanted to have a better argument, I think they'd discuss this topic more (I don't really follow this debate, though, so maybe they do).

ben12

There are people working on it but it's difficult to study and there is debate over whether it is even a thing to study.

But yes, creationists do much better when they pick vague areas we don't have a full understanding of because it gives them plenty of room to cram in their god (at least until we understand it and then they have to shift the goal posts).

Raul3

I've been watching the show with 7 years old (soon 8 years old) daughter and she loves the show. She's like a sponge with all the content is thrown at her. During the show she said "when I grow up, I want to be a science teacher".

But she also said that she wants to create her own dog breed and name it, of course.

I'm not as excited with the show, but I think it's fine. And I really like Neil. The part where he talked about Carl Sagan was really touching.

Jay G.

This is called "God of the gaps" reasoning, and is generally thought of as a fallacy in terms of scientific reasoning about evolution:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_the_gaps


Searching for "evolution of consciousness" brings up a lot of info on the study into this area:
https://www.google.com/search?q=evol...f+conciousness

PhantomStranger

What do you think dog breeders do? They create new breeds all the time, though most don't turn out that successfully.

dhmac

I found this link (someone's blog) that has images of a "2014 version" of the Cosmic Calendar from the new series for download ( LINK ).

(NOTE: they did a dumb thing to it and added the "real calendar" premiere date of the new "Cosmos" on March 9th to the Cosmic Calendar, so that it appears "Cosmos" began before the Milky Way galaxy formed)

beyond

Ah, this is a little out of my field and probably better suited for a psychologist or neurobiologist. I study how the shared or unshared evolutionary history leads to patterns of species coexistence, and what that means for the processes that occur within ecosystems.

dave-o

I thought this week's episode was the best yet. I loved the treatment of Haley and Newton and how their works led to the dawn of a new era of scientific discovery.

Decker

Just watched the evolution episode with the kids and I thought it was spectacular and terrific.

Bill Needle

I was really looking forward to this, but am underwhelmed to say the least. It didn't help that I rewatched the original series before starting the new one, which really causes it to pale by comparison. As an example, the entire Giordano Bruno sequence which took up a notable chunk of the first episode was particularly poorly done and virtually pointless had it even bothered to be complete and accurate. Even the show summed him up by stating he based his assertions not on science, but dreams and guesses. The only point seemed to be that religion suppressed and persecuted scientific thought, which a.) is a ridiculous oversimplification, and b.) Bruno was not engaged in any sort of science except by the most lackadaisical definition imaginable.

I'll check out the next few in case it gets better, but so far mostly a disappointment.

Geofferson

Man, too bad we won't be around in several billion years to witness the combining of the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies -- that light show sounds fantastic.

I thought this 3rd episode was the best yet.

RichC2

The Giordano Bruno bit has been written about to death, and the second episode was kind of lackluster. Third episode was pretty solid so I hope it continues improving.

Baron Of Hell

To bad everyone knows the name of serial killers like Jack the Ripper but nobody knows the name of of of the guy in the hat. I think he was called hat guy.

Geofferson

Yeah, I thought that line was dumb. What does that say about YOU?