A glorious dawn? : Respectful Insolence

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Orac is the nom de blog of a (not so) humble pseudonymous surgeon/scientist with an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his miscellaneous verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few will. (Continued here, along with a DISCLAIMER that you should read before reading any medical discussions here.)

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A glorious dawn?

Category: Entertainment/culture • Music • Science
Posted on: September 29, 2009 3:00 PM, by Orac

I realize that every blogger and his or her grandmother has been posting this lately, but I only just got around to watching it last night. It's surprisingly pleasant and tuneful:

Really cool.

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Comments

I don't think its possible for too many people to post that. I've listened to it dozens of times in the past few days. Such a very beautiful and inspiring video. I listened to that then turned on the news to hear everyone rattling sabers over this that and the other thing, what a downer. I'm not usually a big fan of brainwashing, but I think the planet would be a better place if we put all world leaders in a room with a big screen TV and their eyes pried open and make them listen watch than on infinite loop for about a year or so :)

Posted by: Party Cactus | September 29, 2009 3:29 PM

Sagan's words, spoken in his own voice, are beautiful, poetic. Cosmos is available on DVD -- put it in your NetFlix queue, borrow it from your library, or purchase it from Amazon or elsewhere. His vision of the universe and humanity's place in it is indeed inspiring.

On the other hand, this particular application of Auto-Tune™ is criminal. Sorry.

Posted by: modus potus | September 29, 2009 4:49 PM

Why is it I feel I should be smoking genetically modified cloned pot out of a bong shaped like the Hubble telescope??

Posted by: Jacob V | September 29, 2009 4:57 PM

I've been one of the mob posting that - it's very very cool. In contrast to modus potus, I think it's about the only use of auto-tune I've liked ;-) I hate the hip-hop robot voice thing, and I really really really hate the practice of "fixing" slightly off notes.

However, I really must get my posterior into gear and get hold of Cosmos ...

Posted by: tsuken | September 29, 2009 8:30 PM

I've got it on my ipod, and whenever the time comes to restart my playlist, I'm starting there...

Posted by: wazza | September 29, 2009 8:35 PM

It was done with Vocoder, not Auto Tune. Apparently there's a big difference to people who work with the softwares.

I've had the song stuck in my head for days now.

Posted by: Ken | September 29, 2009 9:03 PM

Actually, AutoTune is essentially a software sequencer wrapped around a phase vocoder.

Posted by: idlemind | September 29, 2009 9:36 PM

Orac, I don't agree with most of what you post, but I must say that I am very thankful that you posted this. I've always been a Sagan and Hawking fan, and this is the 1st time I've seen this. I love it. Very cool!

Thank you.

Posted by: Craig Willoughby | September 29, 2009 10:02 PM

I also love this video and posted it on Facebook. I was watching it a few days ago and my 4 year old came over and kicked me off my chair and proceeded to watch it about 6 times in a row. The first couple times he watched I said: Oh, there's Stephen Hawking, in the wheelchair. Then someone else sent me a different video and Stephen Hawking happened to be in it and my 4 year old said: There's Stephen Hawking. Now that is the kind of brainwashing that I don't mind. I'd rather he have famous scientists names in his head than "Jesus Loves Me" in his head.

Posted by: Lilie Schoenack | September 29, 2009 11:10 PM

I *heart* Sagan.

Have you ever heard the MC Hawking tracks? They're very old news, now, and might be a little juvenile for this bunch, but many of them are funny.

My oldest daughter, who was 3 at the time, used to keep a copy of "A Brief History of Time" on her nightstand and would pitch a fit if I tried to put it back on the bookshelf. I guess she liked the diagrams or something...

Posted by: Liz | September 30, 2009 11:12 AM

Comments: Love this. I even downloaded it from the guy's site, which is well worth it.

Yep, it's a Vocoder, not auto-tune.

Finally, First season of Cosmos is available for free on Hulu (.com) right now. Enjoy!

Posted by: Seer | September 30, 2009 2:45 PM