Flutterby™! : I want to smell dark matter

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I want to smell dark matter

2013-03-07 21:51:41.959136+01 by Dan Lyke 3 comments

Okay, this is a brilliant little monologue from popular culture: Battlestar Galactica (the new version): "I don't want to be human" (YouTube audio):

Brother Cavil: In all your travels, have you ever seen a star go supernova?

Ellen Tigh: No.

Brother Cavil: No? Well, I have. I saw a star explode and send out the building blocks of the Universe. Other stars, other planets and eventually other life. A supernova! Creation itself! I was there. I wanted to see it and be part of the moment. And you know how I perceived one of the most glorious events in the universe? With these ridiculous gelatinous orbs in my skull! With eyes designed to perceive only a tiny fraction of the EM spectrum. With ears designed only to hear vibrations in the air.

Ellen Tigh: The five of us designed you to be as human as possible.

Brother Cavil: I don't want to be human! I want to see gamma rays! I want to hear X-rays! And I want to - I want to smell dark matter! Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can't even express these things properly because I have to - I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid limiting spoken language! But I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws! And feel the wind of a supernova flowing over me! I'm a machine! And I can know much more! I can experience so much more. But I'm trapped in this absurd body!

[ related topics: Movies Invention and Design Space & Astronomy Sociology California Culture Aviation - Helicopters Woodworking hubris ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2013-03-08 04:45:43.387002+01 by: Mars Saxman

Oh, that's what that's from! There's a fairly decent prog-psy track which samples that speech and I always wondered what the context was.

#Comment Re: made: 2013-03-08 17:29:16.42345+01 by: Dan Lyke

Yeah, seemed like one of those "this is an important cultural reference for a certain subculture" speeches.

#Comment Re: made: 2013-03-13 05:11:36.633884+01 by: crasch

Great quote. Mars, do you recall which track samples that speech? I'd love to hear it.

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