Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think Prof Cox was being a bit heavy last night on his new series?

83 replies

GabbyLoggon · 07/03/2011 12:19

I know a woman who worships the guy. But even B.B rhought he was depressing last night.

He was putting the popular version among scientists about the end of the universe.

But does anyone really know what will happen billions of years hence...

Next week Mr Cox will be more upbeat.

( Later I thought Patrick M was in good form And the impressionist was bril)

OP posts:
tiktok · 07/03/2011 12:42

Blimey, I thought he was fantastic.

I learnt loads of stuff and while I thought some of it was repetitive, I needed that in order to understand it.

I know what 'entropy' is now :)

I also marvel at the way he explained that life of all kinds in the cosmos is taking place, here and now, in a relatively teeny-tiny-weeny window of time compared to the amazingly long life of the universe. And that we are in way priveleged to exist, here and now, and to have developed an understanding of ourselves and the cosmos.

DH sniffed a bit and said 'but how does he know?' and I said 'go away and do a physics degree, then get a PhD in astrophysics, then come back and argue with him.' I accept that what the lovely Brian is telling us is the consensus of scientific opinion at the moment - this is mainstream stuff in his field. It hangs together as an evidence base, and is a coherent explanation of how the cosmos exists and will, eventually, not.

Maybe in a few thousand years we'll know a bit more :)

BibiBlocksberg · 07/03/2011 12:42

:) YANBY, we called it Professor Cox's doomsday edition at work this morning.

BibiBlocksberg · 07/03/2011 12:43

YANBU to Y Blush

woopsidaisy · 07/03/2011 12:44

He is starting to annoy me a little bit. Always spouting on about that Hadron Collider stuff. Yes,yes,you're terribly clever...

tiktok · 07/03/2011 12:48

Why is it depressing?

The cosmos is a wonderful, beautiful, amazing thing. It changes over time. In a zillion trillion squillion years (I think my maths are correct here :) ) it will have changed so much it will cease to exist - and nothingness will prevail just as nothingness existed before something.

That's just how things are. Life will have died out a few billion years before then - no need for us to be upset about it :)

Original poster
GabbyLoggon · 07/03/2011 12:51

yes, Bibi, even a lot of his fans would find it depressing.. No one doubts his knowledge

But the death of the Univerese is something no one can prove or disprove...it is a theory.

So is the "big bang" ...it is the popular theory at the moment among scietists.

We have to be a little careful. At one time even our best brains thought the earth was flat.

I do think the picture taken of our tiny blue earth from the surface of the moon was fantastic.
My guess would be the next episode of the series will be upbeat and pleasing to "Cliffs" female fans. cheers "Gabby"

OP posts:
TattyDevine · 07/03/2011 12:52

He is the Nigella of astrophysics. All pouty and flirty with the camera.

That sequence of him explaining the Heat Death of the Universe should really have ended with him shooting an armful of smack.

lookatmewhenImtalkingtoyou · 07/03/2011 12:52

I miss carl sagan

BitOfFun · 07/03/2011 12:55

I really enjoyed the stuff about entropy last night, even though my brain was aching slightly. And the photography was beautiful- those shots of the abandoned diamond mine buildings filling up with sand were so elegiac, it was quite beautiful.

Original poster
GabbyLoggon · 07/03/2011 12:57

Tatty, I am amused by the "Nigella" suggestion.

In general if you make predictions for billions of years hence, it can only be intelligent guesswork.
I have a problem forecasting a week next wednesday. cheers anyway.

OP posts:
BooyFuckingHoo · 07/03/2011 12:58
Sad

i missed him!!!

mumdrivenmad · 07/03/2011 13:03

Iplayer it or catch it again in tuesday. BTW I thought it was bloody fantastic.

MillyR · 07/03/2011 13:04

GL

There is no proof of anything in science. Proof is a term used in mathematics. Many theories in Physics have a mathematical framework and so proof can apply.

The word 'theory' in science does not mean speculative. The idea that the earth revolves around the sun is a scientific theory.

Did our best minds ever believe that the earth was flat? I thought that was a myth, but am happy to be shown evidence of it.

hatwoman · 07/03/2011 13:04

I liked this review. I find him pretty annoying tbh. dh was shouting at the telly about his failure to explain in any depth something actually very interesting. I wasn't listening.

ladyfirenze · 07/03/2011 13:04

i watched it on iplayer. couldn't absorb a bloody word of it as knackered. fell asleep. seriously might have to watch again now.

PigValentine · 07/03/2011 13:17

I wasn't listening. I was looking at his pretty face.

xStarGirl · 07/03/2011 13:23

Actually, no-one ever thought the world was flat, that's just a common misconception that nobody bothers to correct Smile

I love Mr. Cox but unfortunately DS hasn't been letting me sleep lately so I couldn't even stay up to watch it. Shall be Iplayering it shortly - was it really depressing? I can't imagine Smiley-Happy-Physics-Man being all doom and gloom Shock

tiktok · 07/03/2011 13:39

It was only doom and gloom if you get depressed at the sun, stars, earth 'n' everything else having a finite existence.

I don't see why that is anything to be sad about.

He explained pretty clearly that it isn't going to happen for a Very Long Time Indeed.

Time = Change, and where there is no Change, there is no Time.

That's another thing I learnt.

Malificence · 07/03/2011 13:40

I think DH has more of crush on Prof. Cox than I do.Wink
I just kept saying "but how do they know that" every time he surmised something.
The thing about scientists is that they are always convinced they're right, until they're proved wrong ( which is quite a lot) .
He has unnaturally shiney lips, it's really quite distracting.

tiktok · 07/03/2011 13:41

My understanding is that from what we can tell, even early societies knew the earth was not flat.

Original poster
GabbyLoggon · 07/03/2011 13:44

well, it was a suspringly downbeat start to the series.

Milly I think if you bat on a wicket that is billions of years hence; you are playing safe.

Young Cox is a populist in TV terms (not Einstein,) Though albert put it about a bit,

We should extract the urine from pompous forecasting.

"Billions of years ago all the matter in the universe was smaller than a pinhead"

That was a former TV populist trying to amaze us with daftness cheers "Gabby"

OP posts:
ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 07/03/2011 13:45

I didn't find it depressing. I found it threw up more questions than it answered, which always intrigues me. Anyway, it's only one theory isn't it? I thought that the general vibe was that the universe was going to collapse back in on itself in a Big Crunch

rickymummy · 07/03/2011 13:46

I found it depressing, and I normally love Brian Cox. By the end, I was left thinking, is it worth getting up and going to work tommorrow:)

Also, I think he is danger of becoming a bit of a caricature of himself. Bit too much looking pretty on top of mountains as the sun rises/sets etc, and not enough science for my liking.

Jajas · 07/03/2011 13:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ormirian · 07/03/2011 13:48

Just watched it! Brilliant. Not depressing at all.

Personally I don't intend to be about for that long. Even if I ran more and gave up the booze I'd be lucky to be around for more than another 50! Grin