The Truth Is in the Stars Page #8

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You're a little bit older.

When I'd enter a room,

I used to go,

"Wow, I'm the youngest here,

now I'm the oldest,

I can't figure it out."

A lot of people

when they get older,

they take themselves

very, very seriously,

and I love the fact that

you send yourself up

in-in commercials

and things.

What would happen if I was

really being truthful?

And you thought I was

sending myself up?

No, I mean, you know,

you know, uh, on a deeper level,

it's over so briefly,

I mean, how can you

take it seriously?

Yeah!

The cosmic joke is, we

think it's important,

but we're just a

continuation, aren't we?

Exactly.

Why don't we talk about that?

I mean, the water

is right there.

The ocean is right

by your doorstep.

Will it be in your

doorstep at some point?

Well, that's the big question.

Fortunately, we're

high up enough here

where even with a sea level

rise of, say, a meter,

it still won't be here,

but the storms will come

into our yard for sure.

All right, so, now

people as old as us say,

well, you know,

the water isn't up yet,

well we're good,

but then you look

at your children,

what do the children do?

And what do the children do?

They've gotta

tell their parents,

who have all the power

and the money now,

if you really love me,

you bloody well

have to get us onto

a different path.

We know that climate change

and the change in the

world is happening

at an accelerating

pace far faster

than you thought 40 years ago.

I learned about climate

change in the '70s

and then I-I

wrote an article.

I said, this is a

slow-motion catastrophe.

It was only in the

late '80s I said,

"Oh, my God,

we gotta act now!"

This is the time in

geological history

when humans are the major force

shaping the physical, chemical,

and biological properties

of the planet.

We are

the force that is determining

where the planet

itself is going.

When they sent astronauts

into outer space,

one of the things they did,

is they went and took

a picture of Earth

and that picture of

Earth from space

gave us a view of our home,

like we never had before.

It was-was one

single system,

the air, the water, the land,

they were all just a part of

that beautiful marble of blue.

Humans invented the

idea of a future,

and because of that,

we are the only

creature that realized

we can affect the future

by what we do today.

But look at what a

lot of people say,

"Well, we've ruined this planet,

we've gotta find

somewhere else."

- Let's talk about that. Okay.

- "Let's go to Mars."

Let's go to Mars".

- Let's ruin Mars.

- The nuttiest...

The nuttiest idea.

We're gonna go to

Mars and terraform it.

We're gonna make it

into like Earth.

It's crazy!

F*** up your own planet and

then say we're so smart,

we're gonna go and

colonize somewhere else.

I mean, what the hell?

Let's take care

of our home first.

There goes science fiction.

Our lives are very, very brief,

but you and I have something

no other group in society has.

We've lived an entire life.

You've lived life enough

for five or six people.

We've had a lot of experiences!

Those experiences are lessons!

We've learned a lot

through that life.

- No we haven't.

- Yes we have, and if you...

- Yeah, but I don't know anything!

- Come on.

I'm this old guy and I have

no idea what I'm doing.

That is a lesson

well worth knowing!

That's the lesson.

Nobody knows anything.

I don't know sh*t!

But we're both

looking at the end.

What do you see happening?

Well, one thing I've

learned is that

we're not separate

from our environment.

It's embedded in us.

When we die, we don't

suddenly disappear.

Our atoms, they're

all still there,

they just take a different form,

and when you put

them out like that,

they're recycled,

but that's our immortality.

Perfect.

So it is a great city, isn't it?

Ah, God, yeah.

What a humbling

experience I've had,

trying to get to know

some of the exquisite

mysteries of our universe

and the people who

devote their lives

to its understanding.

It's been said that magic

is the knowledge of angels.

In fact, the great

thinkers of ancient times

were considered not scientists,

but sorcerers,

and so,

my journey has taken me

to Cambridge, England,

one of the pillars of

knowledge in the modern world,

and the home

of Professor Stephen Hawking.

Founded in 1209,

Cambridge University

is where Sir Isaac Newton

established the principals

of modern physics,

where Charles Darwin

proposed the theory

of evolution,

where the atom was split

for the first time.

Great minds of the past,

800 years of knowledge.

Xu Zhimo,

a Chinese poet,

came to Cambridge.

Round 1928, he wrote a poem.

He wrote a poem that

became famous in China.

China sent over a large stone

to commemorate the poem,

placed it under the willow tree

to which he wrote this poem,

and since then,

thousands have come to Cambridge

to pay respect to the

poet and the poem.

"The golden willows

by the riverside."

Are young brides

in the setting sun.

Their glittering reflections.

On the shimmering river.

Keep undulating in my heart.

That pool in the

shade of elm trees.

Holds not clear spring

water, but a rainbow.

Crumpled in the

midst of duckweeds,

Where rainbow-like

dreams settle.

Yet now I cannot sing out loud,

Peace is my farewell music.

Quietly I am leaving,

Just as quietly as I came.

Gently waving my sleeve,

I am not taking away

a single cloud...

King's College Chapel,

more than a century to build,

its construction overseen

by a succession of kings,

kings I know through the

words of William Shakespeare

as an actor on stage

in some of those plays.

Time traveling,

this place echoes with

the passage of time.

Imagine what has

been accomplished

over those centuries

and where will we be in

the era of Star Trek?

That's just 250 years from now.

How will future generations

judge us when they look back

on our time in 800 years?

I've come to the chapel

to collect my thoughts

before meeting one of the

great minds of our time,

Professor Stephen Hawking.

Meeting Professor Hawking

is a rare privilege.

Being invited into his home,

what an honor.

What do I ask a

man of such genius?

Without technology his

dreams would be trapped,

so I've had to prepare my

questions long in advance

so he could spend time

composing his answers.

If this is at all

purposed in some way,

what is that?

So many people

can't do math at all,

and he's just doin'

it in his head.

What is your best

guess as to the actual

physical nature of the universe?

The only thing you got,

is what you've done!

We gain immortality.

This is all an illusion.

We have an unprecedented

moment in time

to move beyond the earth.

To colonize somewhere

else it is crazy!

So the probability

that there are

intelligent life

forms in the universe

other than us is near a 100%.

Dr. Hawking.

How are you?

I'm so delighted to be here.

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