![]() ![]() About Interstellar’s representation of Gargantua and its accretion disk, Thorne exclaims: After working with Nolan’s team on the development of Gargantua, Thorne claims the computer models taught him new insights into the behavior of black holes, which physicists will be exploring in future scientific papers. According to Thorne, the rendering of Gargantua is a scientifically valid depiction of a possible black hole, which Thorne spends several chapters explaining in his book. The climax of Interstellar occurs inside Gargantua and the Tesseract, in one of the most spellbinding cosmic scenes ever filmed, rivaling the trippy Star-Gate sequence and hotel suite in 2001. The feelings of the sublime run throughout Interstellar and are best symbolized by Gargantua and the Tesseract. Interstellar promotional images copyright Paramount Pictures, 2014. Rather, it is a complex existential and aesthetic experience that at once emphasizes our cosmic significance and connection to the universe while it humbles us, reminding us of our temporal place in the cosmos. ![]() There is nothing mystical or religious about the sublime. Because the sublime affirms humanity’s right to exist at the same time that it draws attention to the inevitability of our own extinction, it evokes paradoxical emotions in us that coexist, side by side, such as pleasure and pain, attraction and repulsion, and power and fear. The sublime moment is poignant with emotional and cognitive overload we realize we are no physical match for nature and the cosmos, yet we’re confident of our ability to tackle the intellectual challenge of exploring them via science and technology. In our infinitesimalness, we can feel connected to the universe or crushed by its infiniteness. In such we grasp the affirmation of human rationality and annihilation of our centrality, our exaltation before the cosmos in tandem with the extinction of our species’ dominant narratives, and the sense of human freedom in conjunction with our void in meaning. The features of the vast universe - immense scales of space and time dynamic systems of stars, galaxies, supernovas, and black holes limitless arrangements of energy and matter sprawling voids and seeming emptinesses immeasurable realms of cosmic destruction and renewal - confront and stimulate our imaginations in awe-inspiring experiences. ![]() Table designed by Barry Vacker used with permission.īorrowing from Kant, Lyotard, and other thinkers, here is what I mean by the cosmic sublime: We encounter the cosmic sublime when there’s a tension between our perceptions and our reason, when our senses are overwhelmed, yet our minds can still order the percepts into knowable, pleasurable, and terrifying concepts. Table from Chapter 1 of Specter of the Monolith (2017) written by Barry Vacker. ![]()
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