{"id":709,"date":"2010-06-02T15:38:09","date_gmt":"2010-06-02T15:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/roddreher\/2010\/06\/icarus-and-the-black-hole.html"},"modified":"2010-06-02T15:38:09","modified_gmt":"2010-06-02T15:38:09","slug":"icarus-and-the-black-hole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/roddreher\/2010\/06\/icarus-and-the-black-hole.html","title":{"rendered":"Icarus and the Black Hole"},"content":{"rendered":"

Astrophysicist Brian Greene talks with an Atlantic correspondent about his work with composer Philip Glass <\/a>on “Icarus At the Edge of Time,” a re-imagining of the Icarus myth. The work debuts this week at the World Science Festival in NYC. Excerpt:<\/p>\n

Why did you think it was important to recast the Icarus story?<\/strong>
\nTwo reasons, really. The first is when I first was introduced to Icarus as a kid, the story always bothered me. Here you have a young boy. He goes against authority, he does what he’s not supposed to do, and what does he get for it? He pays with his life for it. Whereas when I got older–and even intuitively when I was young–it was so clear to me that the way you change the world, the way you make great discoveries is by doing just that: by not doing what you’re told, by going against perceived wisdom, by going against authority.
\nAnd that’s what makes a great scientist. It’s not that you pay for such revolutionary acts with your life, but you do however sometimes change the world in a very traumatic way, and you may have to cope with a very unfamiliar reality based on your own exploration. And indeed, that’s what happens in the story. He has to cope with a new reality, and that ends up being a wonderful, more accurate reflection what discovery is all about.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Greene goes on to say that he thinks science and religion can co-exist, though he himself is not a believer, because there are some questions science just can’t answer — and because he doesn’t find those questions personally compelling is no reason to tell others they must share his disinterest. Excerpt:<\/p>\n

For some of those very deep questions, I can go back and it’s very clear I can’t answer them, and for some people that’s not really enough. And that’s ok with me. The fact that I don’t have any particular need for religion doesn’t mean that I have a need to cast religion aside the way some of my colleagues do. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Astrophysicist Brian Greene talks with an Atlantic correspondent about his work with composer Philip Glass on “Icarus At the Edge of Time,” a re-imagining of the Icarus myth. The work debuts this week at the World Science Festival in NYC. Excerpt: Why did you think it was important to recast the Icarus story? Two reasons,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science"],"yoast_head":"\nIcarus and the Black Hole - Rod Dreher<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Icarus and the Black Hole - Rod Dreher\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Astrophysicist Brian Greene talks with an Atlantic correspondent about his work with composer Philip Glass on “Icarus At the Edge of Time,” a re-imagining of the Icarus myth. The work debuts this week at the World Science Festival in NYC. Excerpt: Why did you think it was important to recast the Icarus story? 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