A gold medal for NASA

I spent the better portion of my night watching history in the making.

These images would, under normal circumstances, appear to be dull and unassuming. That is until you realize that they are the first two pictures sent from NASA's Curiosity rover, which just landed on Mars about an hour and a half ago. MARS, bitches. Incredible is too weak of a word to describe the magnitude of this success: the completion of a 352 million mile journey with a landing that was so mind-bogglingly technical only a video from NASA could begin to do it justice:

Seven Minutes of Terror

With one window streaming the video from NASA's control room and another streaming a live simulation of the Curiosity's descent, I sat there with my eyes glued to my monitor as the nail-biting coverage unfolded. It's amazing how watching a room full of people and a computer simulation could have a far more exhilarating effect on me than any of the Olympic events I've witnessed this past week. It's simply more fun when I'm not just rooting for my country, but for humanity as a whole. And as the ping of Curiosity's successful landing reached the control room and everyone began cheering in celebration, I couldn't help but feel awesome for being part of a species capable of pulling off such a feat. Mankind, I am proud.

Remembering a Fallen Antihero

While most people seem to be preoccupied with the superstitious implications of this Friday the 13^th, my thoughts are focused on someone who, ironically, was a champion in the debate against superstition, irrationality, and all manners of dogmatic nonsense. This man was Christopher Hitchens, and today would have been his 63^rd birthday. The news of his death – which sent ripples throughout many online communities, including Reddit’s atheism board – is actually what led to my discovery of his work. And as I sat there at my desk watching videos of his speeches and debates on YouTube, I began to grasp the significance of his passing. It wasn’t simply the fact that we had lost a brilliant freethinker; rather, it was the loss of a man who had mastered the ability to challenge and provoke the thoughts of others. Even if you disagreed with Hitchens – and I certainly did on some topics – you had no choice but to respect the logic and research that he put behind his arguments, as well the linguistically masterful way in which he expressed them. Humanity is left intellectually poorer in the wake of his death.

I originally planned for this post to be a eulogy of sorts, but really, my feelings about his passing have already been more than adequately expressed by Sam Harris, Juli Weiner, and numerous contributors in the Reddit and NeoGAF threads. What I will say is this: Hitchens ignited my enthusiasm to read more, write more, to think more critically and question more. While he was never my absolute favorite freethinker, his thirst for knowledge, oratory skill and razor-sharp arguments against theism had an inspiring effect on me. In the four months that have passed since his death I have watched hours and hours of footage of his debates and lectures. I am reading one of his books. The only fitting tribute I can think of – even if it only reaches one viewer of this meager blog – is to share some of my favorite Hitchens moments:

Hitchens on the only conversation worth having – Here we get a glimpse of what motivated him to live the life that he did. I can’t help but wonder if he was thinking about his own immortality when he mentioned Shakespeare, and if he was thinking about his own death sentence when he mentioned Socrates.

On heaven watching with indifference – Hitchens' take on the age-old question of God’s apparent oversights, and, if He really exists, whether or not this god really cares about its creations.

On a celestial North Korea – I particularly enjoyed this segment because Hitchens borrowed from his experience as a journalist to help support his claim of the totalitarian aspects of God. He often used this “celestial dictatorship” argument, and it always served as excellent food for thought.

Playing games with an evangelical radio show host – This is an excellent follow-up to the above video, as here we see Hitchens and his ideas in action. This is from Wretched Radio, an evangelical show hosted by Todd Friel. An already great showing turned into an instant classic near the end when Hitchens responded to the question of whether he had ever committed adultery by saying: "None of your fucking business." This is the kind of attitude that made him such a polarizing figure – people either thought he was smug and rude, or witty and hilarious.

On dying and the current state of religion – Just as I started with a video of him near the end of his life, this video shows an ailing Hitchens musing about the idea of death, and why he would surely not have lasted as long as he did if he had been born in past eras.

I will end with my favorite quote from the NeoGAF thread, written by member NullPointer:

“The way I see it is that he was starkly against the lies and hypocrisy of religious dogma and its effect upon society . . . I found his harsh tone to be somewhat of an antidote to the poisonously weak-willed nonsense that goes for conversation in many forums nowadays.

Right or wrong he fought the best fight that he could, and was always open to testing himself and exploring new perspectives. I did truly love the man for what he managed to inspire within me. He will be sorely missed.”