Cosmotheoros

I can't even remember why I decided to read Cosmotheoros by Christian Huygens. I think it was partly because I was intrigued at the idea of reading a scientific work written over three hundred years ago, partly because the thesis of the book is the probability of extra terrestrial life elsewhere in the universe, and lastly because I found a free English translation of the book on the Internet.
It was pretty interesting, but more in a "history of science" kind of way than a technical one. Cosmotheoros was Huygens last book, and it wasn't even published until after he died. It was his most controversial book, which is why he probably saved it for last. In it he discusses all the reasons why he believed that life existed elsewhere in the universe (well, solar system actually, but in the late 1600's that pretty much was the universe). He laid out his arguments , and explained his reasoning quite thoroughly I thought. It was a strange mixture of accurate science, and divine interpretation. He would, for example, discuss (more or less accurately) the length of a day on Jupiter, and say something like "But in the length of their years, that is in the revolution of the Planets around the Sun, there is an exact proportion to their distance from the Sun followed. For the Cubes of their distances, so are the Squares of their Revolutions..." blah blah blah... And then further down the page he would shift gears and say something to the effect of why would God create moons around other planets if there were no people there to appreciate them?
It's weird to contemplate because in a way his reasoning is sound. Based on scientific understanding at the time, no one questioned whether or not God made the universe. People actually believed that everything was made by God for the sole benefit of man. The moon didn't just exist for no reason, it existed to light the sky at night, keep track of time, usher in the tides, and provide direction to sailors wandering the ocean at night.
It's amusing to think that Huygens had greater expectations for extra terrestrial life than our modern day scientists do. Especially because he claims he was a Christian. (I say "claims" because while reading I couldn't help but notice many of his references to God seem like  they were added to appease others, not himself. It was like he was saying "OK calm down. Put your pitch fork and Bible down and give me a chance. Yes, God is awesome, and we are the best thing He ever made, but...") Anyway, that's pure conjecture on my part. It's pretty impossible to know what someone who lived 300 years ago really thought. But I'd still like to share a couple quotes with you from the book that either struck me inspirationally (or spiritually some might say) or as modern, and applicable to the world we live in today.

"There's one sort who know nothing of Geometry or Mathematicks, will laugh at it as a whimsical and ridiculous undertaking. It's mere conjecture to them to talk of measuring the Distance or Magnitude of the Stars...What should we answer to these men, but that their ignorance is the cause of their Dislike , and if they had more Sense they would have fewer Scruples?" SNAP! (Just to be clear, I added the "snap". I am pretty sure it was implied though.)

"For here we may mount from this dull Earth, and viewing it from on high, consider whether Nature has laid out all her cost and finery upon this small speck of Dirt....We shall be less apt to admire what this World calls great...when we know that there are a multitude of such Earths inhabited and adorned as well as our own."

"If anyone is resolved to find fault with it (meaning the truth of what Huygens is arguing) let him first be sure he understands it."

"Certainly when I consider all these things, how great, noble, and useful they are; when I consider what an admirable providence it is that there 's such a thing as Pleasure in the world, I can't but think that our Earth, the smallest part almost of the Universe, was never designed to monopolize so great a blessing."

OK, last one:)

"But there are other pleasures which men enjoy, which their Soul only and Reason can relish: some airy and brisk, others grave and solid, and yet nevertheless Pleasures, as arising from the Satisfaction which we feel in Knowledge and Inventions and searches after Truth."

Much of what I read in Cosmotheoros was ridiculous, and technically untrue, but I can't deny the respect I feel for the scientist who wrote it. Christian Huygens may not have had all his facts straight, but what he wrote is still (in my humble opinion) a great work of science. He wrote a book in the 1600's hypothesising about aliens for crying out loud!  AWESOME! I'll never know who he really was, but from quotes like the ones I mentioned above, I like to think that if he were living now, or if I'd been born three centuries ago (and a man I guess) we would have been kindred persons. We'd have sat having tea (or martini's depending on the century) and  he would have shouted "There's got to be life elsewhere in the universe right?!? I mean how could there not be!?!" And I would have responded by raising my hand in the air, and saying "High five dude. You are awesome!"