Cosmological thinking: cultural heritage and challenge
  The limitations of current technology do not allow one to foresee the
expansion of the humankind beyond our planet for at least a few decades.
Furthermore, the laws of physics, as for as they are known, preclude any form
of traveling beyond the speed of light, as well as any viable and stable
space-time shortcuts (wormholes, warp-drives, etc) that would facilitate cosmic
traveling. Given the vastness of the Universe these are insurmountable
obstacles for any {\it in situ} exploration of the cosmos beyond our most
immediate cosmic neighbourhood. Nevertheless, the Universe is transparent and
contains countless sources of visible light. Actually, in the last decades,
technological developments have made possible to observe the cosmos throughout
most of the electromagnetic spectrum as well as to perform dynamical studies
that allow perceiving the presence of invisible components such as black holes,
dark matter and dark energy. In this respect, humankind has then been given the
opportunity to unravel the inner workings of the cosmos and through this
process be part of the cosmic habitat. In this contribution various forms of
cosmological thinking will be discussed, from some myths of creation till some
of the latest scientific discoveries.
