Powers of Ten

The concept of humanity's place in the universe is an interesting one. Throughout history people have continually re-evaluated or resisted the evidence that, in a cosmological sense, has made us seem so insignificant. It is not surprising that the Earth was once considered to be the centre of the universe. It is very important to us: it is the cradle of life, and our only home. But then the process of revision began in earnest when Nicolaus Copernicus first proved that the geocentric model was wrong; the Earth orbits the sun and not the other way round. Later, spectroscopy was discovered. The chemical composition of stars could be studied by looking at the light they shone, which indicated that they were much like the sun but at incredibly great distances (so great that we measure their distances by the number of years it takes their light to reach the Earth). The next monumental change in perspective occurred at the beginning of the twentieth century. Until the 1920s it was widely believed that the extent of the Universe was our Milky Way galaxy. Edwin Hubble proved that the Andromeda nebula was in fact a distant spiral galaxy, and there many more galaxies, most of them moving away from us. The universe is expanding, continually, beyond already incomprehensible dimensions.

Charles and Ray Eames' documentary film Powers of Ten is a successful attempt to communicate the scale of the universe. Based on the graphic essay Cosmic View by Kees Broeke, the film explores the effect of 'adding another nought'. The view begins with a picnic viewed from 1m away. The camera then pulls back to 10m, 100m, 1000m etc. Using a logarithmic scale is a simple and elegant solution for allowing great distances to be travelled in a short time. Soon the entire earth is visible, then our sun and our Milky Way galaxy. It is applied not just to the macro universe, but the micro universe as well, right down to the nucleus of an atom. An awareness of what we are made of means that we consider our place in the universe more accurately. Human beings may seem small and trivial when the billions of stars and planets in the universe are considered, but we are probably the most complex and intricate entities that exist as a result of billions of years of evolution. I'd rather be me than a gigantic fiery ball of plasma.

Not quite an epitaph but getting there.