I can’t write about astronomy right now

Astronomy ABCs was supposed to feature something starting with “E” this month. But I can’t write about astronomy right now.

I went to the 241st AAS meeting in Phoenix at the beginning of the month and while I was there ICE shot Renée Good in the head. About two and a half weeks later they executed Alex Pretti in broad daylight. Things are heavy in a way that astronomy can’t lift right now.

I don’t actually have anything to say about the invasion of Minneapolis, at least nothing that hasn’t been said better by others. But I read something years ago that I’ve been thinking about at least a couple of times a week since.

When we were all working from home during the pandemic I decided to try to read all the Discworld books. Terry Pratchett wrote a this short story for an online game set in that world, I’m not sure. But anyway, it’s called Death and What Comes Next. In it, Death (a character that exists in the Discworld) comes to collect a philosopher, who is not ready to die. In an attempt to talk himself out of his own demise, the philosopher invokes the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, that is, that there are an infinite number of worlds and that in at least one of those the philosopher is not dying and therefore death is no long inevitable. Gotcha!

Death thinks about this, and this is what the story says next (Death always speaks in ALL CAPS):

I AM IMPRESSED AND INTRIGUED, said Death. THE CONCEPT YOU PUT BEFORE ME PROVES THE EXISTENCE OF TWO HITHERTO MYTHICAL PLACES. SOMEWHERE, THERE IS A WORLD WHERE EVERYONE MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE, THE MORAL CHOICE, THE CHOICE THAT MAXIMISED THE HAPPINESS OF THEIR FELLOW CREATURES, OF COURSE, THAT ALSO MEANS THAT SOMEWHERE ELSE IS THE SMOKING REMNANT OF THE WORLD WHERE THEY DID NOT ...

"Oh, come on! I know what you're implying, and I've never believed in any of that Heaven and Hell nonsense!"

This part always stuck with me. I, also, don’t believe in heaven or hell. I don’t believe that my soul will be rewarded or punished after I die based on how good or bad I was while I was living. But I do believe that there is a heaven and hell - at least of sorts - of our own making that we live our real lives in. And which we live in is directly related to the choices we make. We can make choices that maximize happiness, health, and peace. We can also make choices that do the opposite, that benefit a small minority while crushing everyone else. It’s always baffled me that this was even a choice.

When I was young I could at least pretend that people wanted to choose heaven, but it’s undeniable that a lot of people - normal people! - actively choose hell. I don’t understand how the hate can run so deep. I know it has existed for decades, centuries. But for a time we were in a place where it was understood that these ambitions were shameful, and now it’s very open. It’s just so deeply frustrating to know that we can choose the world we want and a bunch of people chose this, and now we all have to live with it.

None of this is groundbreaking or earth-shattering or even particularly eloquent. But I find comfort in the power of that section of story. We are all we have and we decide what our world looks like. It’s not easy, but small choices every day add up to something.

I’m reminded, too, of another Discworld novel, Hogfather. Incidentally, another Death novel. In it, Death needs to save the Hogfather, an ancient demigod similar to Santa Claus, from disappearing due to disbelief. As he tells his granddaughter Susan at the end, children needed to believe in the Hogfather because it prepared them to believe the more consequential lies on which society is based - justice, mercy, and duty.

Because these are lies. Justice, mercy, and duty exist to the extent we want them to. But you have to believe in them, or else, as Susan asks, what’s the point?

I guess I don’t know what I’m trying to say. It’s just been a particularly hard month for people who want to believe in justice, mercy, and duty and small choices seem futile even though in most cases that’s all we have.

I think about these stories a lot, because to get to this point so many people just abandoned the idea that we are powerful. We choose how to build the world. It’s hard work but it’s worth it if we do it together. And now we’re here.

Anyway…Astronomy ABCs will return…

Featured image: Minnesota Secretary of State