I’m very encouraged by a recent trend for science programming. The trend throughout is an agnostic view of the universe. Nothing said in the programmes denies the existence of the supernatural but at the same time they ask questions and reveal answers which directly infer that we are but microscopic motes in a macrocosm. We are certainly not in the centre of the universe.
BBC
- Wonders of the Solar System with Professor Brian Cox (to be followed up with Wonders of the Universe now filming)
- The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion with Michael Moseley
Channel 4
- Genius of Britain with Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, James Dyson, David Attenborough, Robert Winston, Paul Nurse, Jim Al-Khalili, Kathy Sykes and Olivia Judson
You can catch these programmes from these links (may be limited to UK only).
I am inspired. The story of how the Invisible College were formed, with the patronage of the king, into the Royal Society. The story of how the Penny Universities formed around coffee houses in London. The dual purpose of the Monument to the Great Fire as both memento and scientific instrument.
I know there are two humanist groups (Belfast Humanists and Humani) in Northern Ireland but I’m not interested in the Humanist agenda, per se, more in the investigation and promotion of science over superstition.
I hope I’m not alone in this.