"This weekend I finally caught up with the rest of America's moviegoers and went to see Gravity, the blockbuster directed by Mexico's Alfonso Cuarón, of Harry Potter and Y Tu Mamá También fame. The movie stars Sandra Bullock as a Ph.D. medical engineer on her first space mission and George Clooney as an unflappable veteran astronaut. Somehow, Bullock, the medical engineer, is sent on a mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope. (Huh?)"

"Of the many angles that Gravity could be analyzed, today I look at how it pictures, magisterially, the hardship of surviving in outer space or, more broadly, life's fragility outside of its environment."

"Many scientists talk and write about how the universe is geared for life; some even go as far as stating that the universe has a higher purpose, that of engendering intelligent life. (Yes, it does sound like a vain God that creates humanity so that He could be admired and loved.) This cosmic teleology goes by different names, including the Strong Anthropic Principle and the Goldilocks Universe, to name a couple."