When a movie comes into circulation that includes space travel, humankind’s extinction, alien planets, and the future, it’s usually one I like to put on my ever-expanding ‘movies to watch’ list.
These types of themes, among with elements and plot lines within the movie of Interstellar, had me hooked from the get-go.
Warning: spoilers definitely show up in this article, so please turn away now if you’re thinking about watching it!
What is time?
The concept of time is a weird one to wrap your head around. I mean, what is it really?
Is it the ticking of each second on your analogue watch? The small and brief flashing of the colon upon your digital?
Is it the rising and setting of our Sun (which doesn’t actually “rise” or “set”)? Is it the way you notice just a little bit more every day that those small wrinkles are becoming more and more defined (stop being so happy, damn it)? Or is it that the younger people around you, just don’t seem so young anymore?
Well, superficially speaking, it’s probably all of those, right?
But, the true concept of time is certainly a hard one to grasp.
Time is…
We all know that with each rotation of our tiny planet, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.1 seconds passes us by, and an entire rotation around our sun, a whole 365.25 days passes us.
Unfortunately, thanks to time, as soon as we are born we begin to age, and there really is no stopping this inevitable tick-tock of the time clock.
It makes you think though, doesn’t it? With every tick, a preceding and inevitable tock shows up next, which also means that you will never get that tick (or tock) back. Ever.
Time dilation?
Within the movie of Interstellar, one thing that stands out happens to the main character Joseph Cooper (played by Matthew McConaughey, for all you giggly schoolgirls out there). On the mission to find new planets that could sustain human life, his team goes to check out a couple of planets.
One in particular – due to time dilation from a nearby black hole – has a 1:61360 hour ratio.
Meaning, for every hour that passes back on Earth, a whole 61,360 pass on this planet (that’s seven years, for those playing at home).
Of course, by checking out this planet also came a huge risk for everyone they knew back there – including Joseph’s daughter Murph – to age considerably.
Reality check.
After returning back to the orbiting ship, they were told that the cost of their journey to the planet, being down there, and returning, was a total of 23 years on Earth.
Just think about that for a second. 23 years of life as they knew it on Earth, gone.
For Joseph, at the conclusion of the movie (again: SPOILERS!! Turn back now), and after leaving his daughter at the age of ten, returns to find her in her deathbed. Her whole life, gone.
It’s a sad moment in the movie, I would say. And it got me thinking: was the attempt to save humanity even worth missing out on something like your daughter’s life?
What is important?
What is important to people is of course all relative. But I would say, not too many people would disregard holding on to every moment in their life, or cherishing their family, relationships, their health, their time.
These kinds of things seem to be what really is most important.
Petty things like arguments, grudges, being angry at someone, being bored, being arrogant, just don’t seem worth anything when digesting the reality of how precious our lives are.
Even making excuses that we’re too “busy” to look after ourselves, or too cool to spend time with people without looking at our iPhones, just don’t seem to stack up, right?
The rapidity.
It’s kind of a weird thought that we all just go about our day, like we’re going to get another one. It’s even weirder how we go about our lives, like we’re going to get another one, too.
We all really only have one shot at making the most of our time on Earth.
Just today, in fact, one of my clients turned 30 (happy b’day, Mandi). Also today, another client told me that her brother (whom I also train – hi, Trent), who has down syndrome, has a life expectancy of only another 20 or so years.
Isn’t that somewhat ghastly? No matter who you are, or how you look at life, both of these situations are a reality check.
For Mandi, 30 years has passed her by. For Trent, he’s nearing his “expected” halfway point.
Sombre end.
To keep with my slightly bitter-themed article, I want to leave you with one website that has taken the liberty of designing an algorithm code that calculates your life expectancy.
Of course it’s all baloney, but it’s still creepy to see –> Death Clock.
Tip: don’t stay on it too long. It’s a little peculiar watching the seconds on the screen tick by.
I also want to leave you with a video:
Thanks for reading.