Whether intelligence is rare or abundant, whether extraterrestrial life is of a lower order or a higher order than Homo sapiens, human destiny is intimately connected with cosmic evolution. Driven by the astronomical, biological, and cultur…7. On Lowell as Spencerian, and as influenced by Spencer’s American disciple John Fiske, see David Strauss, Percival Lowell: The Culture and Science of a Boston Brahmin (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), pp. 97–165.
8. W. W. …
David DeVorkin
historian · 2 mentions across 1 reading
In this course
DeVorkin appears primarily as a historiographic reference in the course materials, likely known for work on the history of astronomy and cosmic thinking. He surfaces in citations regarding Percival Lowell and the cultural history of astronomical observation, enabling discussions of how scientific speculation about extraterrestrial life has been entangled with broader ideas about cosmic evolution and human destiny. His work seems instrumental to unpacking how Victorian-era astronomical culture shaped modern frameworks for thinking about intelligence, life, and our place in the cosmos—concerns central to the seminar's interrogation of how systems thinking emerged from scientific and speculative domains.
Mentioned in 1 reading
Appears alongside
People mentioned in the same passages — sorted by co-occurrence weight.
George Ellery Hale 2Percival Lowell 2Alfred Russel Wallace 1Charles Darwin 1Charles H. Smith 1David Strauss 1George Beccaloni 1Helge Kragh 1Herbert Spencer 1John Fiske 1June Goodfield 1Michael Shermer 1Stephen Toulmin 1Steven J. Dick 1William Wallace Campbell 1Ann Druyan 1Carl Sagan 1David Morrison 1Freeman Dyson 1