Any archival investigations online or by hard cover, one can read that the origins of Western astronomy can be found in Mestopamia,
the "land between the rivers" Tigris and Euphrates, where the ancient
kingdoms of Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia were located. A form of writing known
as cuneiform emerged among the Sumerians around 3500–3000 BC. Our knowledge of
Sumerian astronomy is indirect, via the earliest Babylonian star catalogues
dating from about 1200 BC.
We do know that during the 8th and 7th centuries BC,
Babylonian astronomers developed a new approach to astronomy. They began
studying philosophy dealing with the ideal nature of the early universe and
began employing an internal logic within their predictive planetary systems.
This was an important contribution to astronomy and the philosophy of science and
some scholars have thus referred to this new approach as the first scientific
revolution. This new approach to astronomy was adopted and further developed in
Greek and Hellenistic astronomy.
The study of the stars was not limited to the Middle
East. China and India were engaged in the study of the cosmos almost going back
as far in time as any other group which sought to navigate and communicate with
the heavens.
In those early civilization's exploration of the heavens was also an understanding (through observation of the heavens and earth in a state of entropy) that there was a beginning to all things seen and unseen and likely an end.
Its sad that more scientists today haven't studied the social reality of man. There is only agreement reality. The sun is a star and it still is as we agree that it is. And, as we to continue to agree about other things in our 'closed entropic' universe, we mistakenly think it is all being made known to us through our 'man-made' scientific method.
But that is really beside the point given this discussion. What matters to the true sociologist is why we seek to agree on anything and in the end what we agree on or disagree on. Some agree that our universe is a closed system and some don't. Some agree that the world 'universe' is coming to an end and some don't. Perhaps, it is just the way we talk about the end of the or end of days that leads us to either agreement/disagreement. The sharing of information, the meaning in that information is important to us in terms of our agreement or not. And, what promise it holds for us.
So, why would some people want to agree that the world and or universe is coming to an end? Why do some people agree that we are in the end of days? Is it because they see it that way or there is meaning in that argument in terms of their social reality - social imagination? Perhaps, its not that the world is coming to an end but rather they may be agreeing that the world as we know it is.
It may be that their 'information' social reality - social imagination (which is the only reality) as we/they know it/use it, is expected to be re-booted. In the meaning, that things are spiraling down in this state of social reality (an entropy of the social imagination) and when they hit bottom there is only one way and that's up.
Thus, future man may not agree in the same way as we do now; but then, there is nothing new under the sun. However, that may be changed in a new information reality. And, in that, certainly the end of one means that the beginning of another. You see, information can never be destroyed. It cannot by man. But, it can be by the only one who has the authority to - the Creator of it; who can completely destroy it and re-create it according to His purpose.
Regardless of being a person of faith, our fascination with the heavens and either their end and or the end of the world/end of days are rather encoded into our information reality by the absolute Creator of the cosmos. Hence, we are witness to its entropic condition and regardless of that we are able yet to imagine and agree on or hope in its new creation or at least the expectation of its renewal.
It may be that their 'information' social reality - social imagination (which is the only reality) as we/they know it/use it, is expected to be re-booted. In the meaning, that things are spiraling down in this state of social reality (an entropy of the social imagination) and when they hit bottom there is only one way and that's up.
Thus, future man may not agree in the same way as we do now; but then, there is nothing new under the sun. However, that may be changed in a new information reality. And, in that, certainly the end of one means that the beginning of another. You see, information can never be destroyed. It cannot by man. But, it can be by the only one who has the authority to - the Creator of it; who can completely destroy it and re-create it according to His purpose.
Regardless of being a person of faith, our fascination with the heavens and either their end and or the end of the world/end of days are rather encoded into our information reality by the absolute Creator of the cosmos. Hence, we are witness to its entropic condition and regardless of that we are able yet to imagine and agree on or hope in its new creation or at least the expectation of its renewal.
