FADE IN.
Act 1
INT. STUDY - DAY
PETER is watching TV news. We hear:...closest ever pictures taken of the Sun...
PETER (V.O.): Oh, the moving images were taken 77,000,000 km from the Sun's surface.
From screen, we hear: ...relatively cool surface...5,500 degrees...surrounded by a super hot atmosphere...over 1,000,000 degrees.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Solar Obiter's mission is to reveal the secret of the Sun's behaviour - not just to take high-resolution pictures, but to study the solar wind particles and magnetic field in a closer distance and to take data of the Sun's surface and its surrounding.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The story reminds me of the my thoughts when I studied the Philosophy of Cosmology. It is speculative and can be religious. Shouldn't the subject fall into the mainstream of physics and astronomy to cover the large-scale structure of the physical Universe?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): But the Philosophy of Cosmology differs from other sciences in two respects.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): First, there's only one Universe without other provable universes, and the philosophical pursuit investigates if the so-called Laws of the Universe explain anything.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Second, the Universe has such a nature that makes the existence of humankind possible, and the philosophical pursuit investigates if the existence of humankind has any destiny at all.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): The elements that made up the human body are from the distant stars. As an instant of the species of humankind, what is my destiny in this Universe?
Act 2
INT. STUDY - CONTINUOUS
Peter is reading something on his phone screen.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The first stars were born 13-14 billion years ago with the Big Bang. Then, only the lightest elements such as hydrogen and helium existed.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The stars were formed from lumps of combustible gas, causing nuclear reaction in their centers.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And they're 50 times greater than the size of the Sun. The bigger the star, the faster they burned their fuel, generating some heavier elements.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): They expelled the heavier elements and seeded the next generation of stars when they went supernova.
FLASHBACK
INT. MIT - DAY (2003)
A PROFESSOR is presenting with visuals before a group of GUESTS including Peter (49).
PROFESSOR: In 1987, there was a rare supernova occurrence that made it possible for watching and recording a ring of material being ejected...
PETER (V.O.): It's eye-opening. Our Harvard classmate responsible for a NASA project facilitates this engagement.
PROFESSOR: It's spectacular...
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Indeed. And it's observable. I used to study the Philosophy of Cosmology and Space Law in the abstract.
END FLASHBACK
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Then, the next generation of stars produced other heavier elements such as carbon and magnesium. So, the element in my body that is heavier than iron has travelled through at least one supernova.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Over 99% of the mass of our Solar System (formed 4.5 billion years ago) is our Sun. The energy created by the Sun counteracts the squeeze of gravity to maintain the Sun's stability.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Stars stay in such equilibrium with gravity until they burn out of fuel. Large stars die in a few million years, while the smaller ones over 10 billion years.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When stars die, their elements are swept out into space to form other generation of stars.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Through such a galactic chemical evolution, elements combine in different ways to form gases and minerals to asteroids and planets. Then, water and other life ingredients. Eventually, the species of humankind.
Pondering.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): How big are stardust then?
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It can only be seen under an electronic microscope. It's a few microns in size - 100 times smaller than the width of human hair.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And so my body is made up of stardust that are billions years old, and the hydrogen and lithium in me might have originated from the Big Bang.
Pondering.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): What a galactic chemical evolutionary legacy that my body has been beholding!
Wondering.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): How about the elements that make a human being to be aware of his/her experience, to think and to feel?
Peter looks out of the window for the Sun.
Act 3
INT. STUDY - CONTINUOUS
Reading.
PETER (V.O.): Physics studies the structure of matter and how elements of the Universe interact.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Using mathematics, physics and chemistry, Astronomy studies celestial objects and phenomena, explaining their origin and evolution.
Thinking
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): That intelligent human beings including me can be around in the time-space of the Universe is unique.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Have people lived up to their universal destiny under the Sun?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In pandemic time, livelihoods have become more important than lives.
From TV, we hear news about Hong Kong pandemic lockdown.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Fortunately, Chinese values lives. After all, humans have just one life.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And one life doesn't come easy.
THE END
FADE OUT.
Comments