Article The ‘panzoic effect’: the benefits of thinking about alien life

[C C]

https://psyche.co/ideas/the-panzoic-effe...alien-life

INTRO: In 1985, the author Frank White coined the term ‘overview effect’ to describe something striking that happens to people who have been to space. The term would become the title of White’s 1987 book that popularised the concept: after gazing down at Earth, he observed, some astronauts report a change in their worldview. They describe feeling a oneness with humanity and our biosphere, and an awareness of the precarious nature of our existence.

Anousheh Ansari, the first female private space explorer, recounted that after returning from space she was never again bothered by rush-hour traffic or being late to a meeting. And after William Shatner, who played Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, returned from his own suborbital space trip in 2021, he wrote in Variety magazine that: ‘It reinforced tenfold my own view on the power of our beautiful, mysterious collective human entanglement, and eventually, it returned a feeling of hope to my heart.’

The overview effect ties into something that is much larger about humanity: we can be roused through experiences of wonder and awe to think in bigger ways about ourselves, and to be more compassionate and understanding.

I have never looked down at the Earth from space myself, but I believe it’s possible to experience a similarly profound perspective shift by looking outward from our planet, too. As an astrobiologist and science communicator, I spend my days thinking about the possibility of alien life, considering what – or who – is out there among the stars. The idea that our seemingly barren Universe might contain an abundance of living creatures fills me with a sense of awe, and it has transformed how I see the world. I call this grand shift in perspective the ‘panzoic effect’.

Looking at the night sky and wondering what those celestial lights might be is something humans have done since before written history... (MORE - details)

[Magical Realist]

I just received my 6 inch black tourmaline crystal obelisk in the mail. It is glassy black and hexagonal and shaped like the Washington Memorial. It is spiritually the most protective gem and supposedly absorbs and clears negative energy. It also has the intriguing property of being pyroelectric, meaning it conducts electricity with change in temperature. But the thing that really awes me about it is that such a rock is scientifically estimated to be around 3 billion yrs old! I have never had an object near so ancient before. I feel humbled by it, my mere lifetime of 80 odd yrs like a flash in the pan by comparison. There is a felt power in such permanence thru time, a consoling groundedness that connects my worldline directly to the primeval earth itself. Can anything be that old and NOT be sacred?

EDIT: Well it turns out that tourmaline crystals AREN'T billions of years old, more around a few million. But I just ordered a chunk of the oldest rock on earth--The Acasta Gneiss in Canada. This is over 4 billion years old. Hopefully it's authentic considering its price.

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