The Cataclysm Sentence

Published: June 30, 2023, 2 p.m.

Sad news for all of us: producer Rachael Cusick\u2014 who brought us soul-stirring stories rethinking grief (https://zpr.io/GZ6xEvpzsbHU) and solitude (https://zpr.io/eT5tAX6JtYra), as well as colorful musings on airplane farts (https://zpr.io/CNpgUijZiuZ4) and belly flops (https://zpr.io/uZrEz27z63CB) and Blueberry Earths (https://zpr.io/EzxgtdTRGVzz)\u2014 is leaving the show. So we thought it perfect timing to sit down with her and revisit another brainchild of hers, The Cataclysm Sentence, a collection of advice for The End.\nTo explain: one day in 1961, the famous physicist Richard Feynman stepped in front of a Caltech lecture hall and posed this question to a group of undergraduate students: \u201cIf, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence was passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words?\u201d Now, Feynman had an answer to his own question\u2014a good one. But his question got the entire team at Radiolab wondering, what did his sentence leave out? So we posed Feynman\u2019s cataclysm question to some of our favorite writers, artists, historians, futurists\u2014all kinds of great thinkers. We asked them \u201cWhat\u2019s the one sentence you would want to pass on to the next generation that would contain the most information in the fewest words?\u201d What came back was an explosive collage of what it means to be alive right here and now, and what we want to say before we go.\nFeaturing:\nRichard Feynman, physicist - The Pleasure of Finding Things Out (https://zpr.io/5KngTGibPVDw)\nCaitlin Doughty, mortician - Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs (https://zpr.io/Wn4bQgHzDRDB)\nEsperanza Spalding, musician - 12 Little Spells (https://zpr.io/KMjYrkwrz9dy)\xa0\nCord Jefferson, writer - Watchmen (https://zpr.io/ruqKDQGy5Rv8)\xa0\nMerrill Garbus, musician - I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life (https://zpr.io/HmrqFX8RKuFq)\nJenny Odell, writer - How to do Nothing (https://zpr.io/JrUHu8dviFqc)\nMaria Popova, writer - Brainpickings (https://zpr.io/vsHXphrqbHiN)\nAlison Gopnik, developmental psychologist - The Gardener and the Carpenter (https://zpr.io/ewtJpUYxpYqh)\nRebecca Sugar, animator - Steven Universe (https://zpr.io/KTtSrdsBtXB7)\nNicholson Baker, writer - Substitute (https://zpr.io/QAh2d7J9QJf2)\nJames Gleick, writer - Time Travel (https://zpr.io/9CWX9q3KmZj8)\nLady Pink, artist - too many amazing works to pick just one (https://zpr.io/FkJh6edDBgRL)\nJenny Hollwell, writer - Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe (https://zpr.io/MjP5UJb3mMYP)\nJaron Lanier, futurist - Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now (https://zpr.io/bxWiHLhPyuEK)\nMissy Mazzoli, composer - Proving Up (https://zpr.io/hTwGcHGk93Ty)\n\xa0\nSpecial Thanks to:\nElla Frances Sanders, and her book, "Eating the Sun" (https://zpr.io/KSX6DruwRaYL), for inspiring this whole episode.\nCaltech for letting us use original audio of The Feynman Lectures on Physics. The entirety of the lectures are available to read for free online at www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu.All the musicians who helped make the Primordial Chord, including:\nSiavash Kamkar (https://zpr.io/2ZT46XsMRdhg), from Iran\xa0\nKoosha Pashangpour (https://zpr.io/etWDXuCctrzE), from Iran\nCurtis MacDonald (https://zpr.io/HQ8uskA44BUh), from Canada\nMeade Bernard (https://zpr.io/gbxDPPzHFvme), from US\nBarnaby Rea (https://zpr.io/9ULsQh5iGUPa), from UK\nLiav Kerbel (https://zpr.io/BA4DBwMhwZDU), from Belgium\nSam Crittenden (https://zpr.io/EtQZmAk2XrCQ), from US\nSaskia Lankhoorn (https://zpr.io/YiH6QWJreR7p), from Netherlands\nBryan Harris (https://zpr.io/HMiyy2TGcuwE), from US\nAmelia Watkins (https://zpr.io/6pWEw3y754me), from Canada\nClaire James (https://zpr.io/HFpHTUwkQ2ss), from US\nIlario Morciano (https://zpr.io/zXvM7cvnLHW6), from Italy\nMatthias Kowalczyk, from Germany (https://zpr.io/ANkRQMp6NtHR)\nSolmaz Badri (https://zpr.io/MQ5VAaKieuyN), from IranAll the wonderful people we interviewed for sentences but weren\u2019t able to fit in this episode, including: Daniel Abrahm, Julia Alvarez, Aimee Bender, Sandra Cisneros, Stanley Chen, Lewis Dartnell, Ann Druyan, Rose Eveleth, Ty Frank, Julia Galef, Ross Gay, Gary Green, Cesar Harada, Dolores Huerta, Robin Hunicke, Brittany Kamai, Priya Krishna, Ken Liu, Carmen Maria Machado, James Martin, Judith Matloff, Ryan McMahon, Hasan Minhaj, Lorrie Moore, Priya Natarajan, Larry Owens, Sunni Patterson, Amy Pearl, Alison Roman, Domee Shi, Will Shortz, Sam Stein, Sohaib Sultan, Kara Swisher, Jill Tarter, Olive Watkins, Reggie Watts, Deborah Waxman, Alex Wellerstein, Caveh Zahedi.EPISODE CREDITS\nReported by - Rachael Cusick (https://www.rachaelcusick.com/)Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!\nRadiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.\nFollow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org\n\nLeadership support for Radiolab\u2019s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.