20 – The Value of Life, Part II; Other Bad Aspects of Death, Part I

20 – The Value of Life, Part II; Other Bad Aspects of Death, Part I

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Lecture 20 continues the discussion of the value of life. It considers the neutral container theory, which holds that the value of life is simply a function of its contents, both pleasant and painful, and contrasts this with the valuable container theory, which assigns value to being alive itself. The lecture then turns to a consideration of some of the other aspects of death that may contribute to the badness of death. Among the issues addressed are the inevitability, variability and unpredictability of death.

17 – Hubble’s Law and the Big Bang pt 2

17 – Hubble’s Law and the Big Bang pt 2

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Class begins with a review of magnitudes and the problem set involving magnitude equations. Implications of the Hubble Law and Hubble Diagram are discussed. Professor Bailyn elaborates on the Big Bang theory of cosmology and addresses controversial questions related to the age, development, and boundaries of the universe. The fate of the universe, and possibly its end (known as the Big Crunch) are addressed. Imagining an expanding three-dimensional universe is proposed. The lecture ends with a question-and-answer session during which students inquire about a variety of topics related to cosmology, such as the center of the universe, its current expansion, and hypothetical collapse.

19 – Immortality Part II; The Value of Life, Part I

19 – Immortality Part II; The Value of Life, Part I

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The lecture begins with further exploration of the question of whether it is desirable to live forever under the right circumstances, and then turns to consideration of some alternative theories of the nature of well-being. What makes a life worth living? One popular theory is hedonism, but the thought experiment of being on an “experience machine” suggests that this view may be inadequate.

16 – Hubble’s Law and the Big Bang

16 – Hubble’s Law and the Big Bang

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The third and final part of the course begins, consisting of a series of lectures on cosmology. A brief history of how cosmology developed into a scientific subject is offered. The discovery of dark energy, along with dark matter, played a crucial role in the development of cosmology. The lecture then discusses the discovery of spiral nebulae in 1920, as well as the “Great Debate” over what they were. Hubble’s famous redshift diagram is presented as the basis for Hubble’s Constant and Big Bang cosmology. The difficulty of measuring distance of objects in space, and how to do it using the parallax method and the standard candle method, are discussed. Measure brightness using the magnitude scale is explained. Class ends with a review of logarithms.

18 – The Badness of Death, Part III; Immortality, Part I

18 – The Badness of Death, Part III; Immortality, Part I

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The discussion of the badness of death continues by asking whether it is bad that we do not exist before our birth. The views of a number of contemporary philosophers, such as Tom Nagle, Fred Feldman, and Derek Parfit, are introduced. Then Professor Kagan turns to the subject of immortality. Would it be desirable to live forever, and if so, under what circumstances one might enjoy such a prolonged existence? The lecture concludes with Bernard Williams’ take on immortality which posits that no kind of human life can continue to be enjoyable and attractive for eternity.

17 – The Badness of Death, Part II: The Deprivation Account

17 – The Badness of Death, Part II: The Deprivation Account

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This lecture continues to explore the issue of why death may be bad. According to the deprivation account, what is bad about death is the fact that because one ceases to exist, one becomes deprived of the good things in life. Being dead is not intrinsically bad; it is comparatively bad and one is worse off only by virtue of not being able to enjoy the things one enjoyed while alive, such as watching the sunset, listening to music, and discussing philosophy.

15 – Supermassive Black Holes

15 – Supermassive Black Holes

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The lecture begins with a question-and-answer session about black holes. Topics include the extent to which we are sure black holes exist in the center of all galaxies, how massive they are, and how we can observe them. The lecture then turns to strong-field relativity: relativistic effects that are unrelated to Newtonian theory. The possibility of testing predictions of the existence of black holes is discussed in the context of strong-field relativity. One way we might learn about black holes is through observation of the orbit of the companion star in an X-ray binary star system. Through this we can estimate the mass of the compact object. The lecture ends with an explanation of how astronomers find black holes, and how Professor Bailyn was able to discover one himself.

16 – Dying Alone; The Badness of Death, Part I

16 – Dying Alone; The Badness of Death, Part I

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Professor Kagan puts forward the claim that Tolstoy’s character Ivan Ilych is quite the typical man in terms of his views on mortality. All of his life he has known that death is imminent but has never really believed it. When he suddenly falls ill and is about to die, the fact of his mortality shocks him. In trying to further access how people think about death, Professor Kagan explores the claim that “we all die alone,” presents a variety of arguments against it and ends by considering whether the primary badness of death could lie in the effects on those who are left behind.

14 – Pulsars

14 – Pulsars

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Professor Bailyn begins with a summary of the four post-Newtonian effects of general relativity that were introduced and explained last time: precession of the perihelion, the deflection of light, the gravitational redshift, and gravitational waves. The concept of gravitational lensing is discussed as predicted by Einstein’s general relativity theory. The formation of a gravitational lens can be observed when light from a bright distant source bends around a massive object between the source (such as a quasar) and the observer. Professor Bailyn then offers a slideshow of gravitational lenses. The issue of finding suitable astronomical objects that lend the opportunity to observe post-Newtonian relativistic effects is addressed. The lecture ends with Jocelyn Bell and the discovery of pulsars.

15 – The Nature of Death (cont.); Believing You Will Die

15 – The Nature of Death (cont.); Believing You Will Die

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The lecture explores the question of the state of being dead. Even though the most logical claim seems to be that when a person stops P-functioning he or she is dead, a more careful consideration must allow for exceptions, such as when one is asleep or in a coma. Professor Kagan then suggests that on some level nobody believes that he or she is going to die. As a case in point, he takes Tolstoy’s famous character Ivan Ilych.