The Rebirth Of Wonder: Reflections on the James Webb Telescope’s First Imagery

Like many citizens of the world I was left in sheer blissful awe of the first pictures from the James Webb Telescope. How could you not be? It’s not everyday that you’re faced with the sheer power of the cosmos. The images were shared across social media (the image above has over 117K retweets on the official NASA post) and countless friends and family shared them with me. As a “space guy” I was thrilled - this is an incredible image - but in the days since the Universe’s grand reboot in popular culture I’ve found myself wondering - what are we talking about when we say this photo is amazing? Why are we sharing it?

Don’t get me wrong - I’m impressed by the sheer power of engineering involved in getting to this point (check out the New Yorker’s incredible piece on the telescope from last year) - but I’ve also seen amazing engineering feats in my lifetime (including some incredible rocket launches and landings). I’m mesmerized by the visuals here - the kaleidoscope of colors - the incredible detail in every corner, yet killer astronomy photos are not new to me (I’m a power user on Astronomy Picture of the Day) and while this one is the most killer - I’ve seen it’s kind before. You see - when I see this photo and I suspect when many people see this photo it triggers a deep sense of wonder within us. 

Wonder is a funny word. When we think of it as a noun we think of “a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.” As a verb it can be  “to desire or be curious to know something” and it can also mean to “feel doubt” All of those definitions are applicable here. This photo is surely something amazing, we’ve covered that already. And surely the photo sparks all types of thoughts, mainly of course being “where are the aliens at?” but the doubt part of the image also rumbles within my soul. All this is out there (and this is only a TINY TINY TINY piece of the universe) and no one has contacted us yet? Are we in a simulation? How do I matter in the scope of this? You can get lost in a real black hole of existential anxiety after this. I mean this really is staring into the abyss/void - right?

Wrong (at least for me). When I see this photo I see God’s Majesty. I mean how can you not. This photo is just the next chapter search for meaning, truth, the ultimate, whatever you want to call it. I choose to say the G word because that’s how I identify it but you can call it whatever you want. After all we can follow the history but scientists don’t know what existed before the big bang! Perhaps we’ll find the answer through this telescope and CERN or perhaps we never will. Either way I know I know we’re going to continue to look to the heavens to help define us as a species.  We’ve been looking to the sky for meaning since the dawn of civilizations. A huge chunk of constellations and planets are named after Greek, Roman, and Middle Eastern mythology. Some of the best films, books, TV shows and more have to deal with us searching for truth in the cosmos and I hope this photo is inspiring a whole generation of artists to consider the infinite possibility of the heavens. 

For some reason, though, I feel like we’re afraid to acknowledge this wonder - the deep feelings of this image and it kind of bums me out.  We should be able to talk openly about how this photo makes us feel - In ways both comforting and terrifying.  I’m not trying to dismiss the science here at all, for it is true and majestic - I’m only saying that by refusing to acknowledge the mystical and wondrous power of space we miss the opportunity to have it guide us. It’s there, it’s above us, it’s around us - and it’s beautiful.

Clubhouse: Why It's A Game Changer For Brands

The new invite only app Clubhouse seems to be everywhere these days. People are scrambling to get invites even though it’s still an iphone only service. It was recently valued at a billion dollars, and it’s already smartly working on ways to empower it’s rising stars. Today I want to talk about the two reasons I think the app is so intriguing to people and then close this bad boy out with why I think the app is going to be wild for brands.

The first reason Clubhouse is connecting is that the human voice is popular. I’m not talking about the metaphorical impact of one person’s voice to move millions (although that is cool) - I’m talking about the actual impact of a human voice. Think about it - huge innovations in culture: radio broadcasts, movies becoming “talkies,” and even the telephone supercharged our capacity for connection. Enter Clubhouse - where instead of @ replying people on Twitter, DM’ing on Instagram, or texting your friends - you actually hear other strangers' voices. It’s so simple that it’s actually pretty wild. For the first time you know what that woman who’s always tweeting about zodiac signs actually sounds like. Does she sound like what you imagined? Hard to say!

The other secret sauce of Clubhouse is how it organizes all the action into “Ted Talk” style rooms where there is an expert that can allow people in the room who “raise their hand” to talk. This empowers leaders of the room to keep the conversation on track. No one wants to be part of some bogus meandering conversation, but people also want to be engaged. They want to be heard and, of course, they want to be part of the story. Clubhouse is successful because humans by their nature want to be connected to others. Maybe they don’t want to talk and instead just care to listen, but for now Clubhouse feels like a virtual town square where you can soak up knowledge and share some as well, and that’s powerful.

Speaking of powerful, soon I think brands are going to join the app. Here’s where it gets interesting to me because while it’s easy to establish a communications guide for a brand for a static platform (Twitter, Facebook) or even a reactive platform (like Twitch) - having to lead the conversation is going to be a new one. Who’s going to lead it? The CEO? The VP of Communications? The highly charismatic sales guy? Remember this isn’t just giving a speech, but rather being able to manage the flow of a conversation while dropping knowledge along the way. The influencer space could prove the answer but I think many brands may not want their celebrity/influencer to say the wrong thing. This is tricky too because what if they can’t keep the conversation moving? Tom Brady may be great in TV commercials and look great in ads for Under Armour - but what if he’s boring or can’t go deep on certain topics if the conversation goes there? 

Secondly, will the platform force brands to really identify what they stand for? I think so. Who wants to hear your favorite brand talk about their cool products for an hour? Perhaps some, but it better be interesting! I believe that Clubhouse will expose brands who don’t stand for anything as ultimately standing for nothing. It will be the next evolution of the sometimes wacky world of brand twitter - except this time a human voice will be speaking for them and answering questions in real time. Let’s just hope brands are ready to keep it engaging.