Carl Sagan - "The Demon-Haunted World : &q...

by nicolaou 6 Replies latest social entertainment

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  nicolaou

  Carl Sagan
  The Demon-Haunted World : Science As a Candle in the Dark

  
  
  "I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges near, pseudoscience and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us - then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls. The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir."

  This book should be on everyone's shelf. It should be required reading before kids finish school and for adults before they decide to raise their children up in any given religion, JW or otherwise.

  Sagan does a masterful job explaining what science is and what it isn't. He clearly shows that the wonders of science are just as interesting (and far more reliable) than the wonders of other disciplines which rely on tradition, superstition, myth, or ignorance.

  The chapters range in content from debunking UFO and alien abduction stories to calling for a higher realm of ethics for those who are scientists. In between are a couple dozen chapters that touch on a variety of issues that everyone should appreciate. The book is devoted to ridding the world of non-existant demons and allowing us all to experience more light and knowledge.

  Especially useful is Sagan's baloney detection tool kit. Given the current widely held beliefs (regarding UFOs, the face on Mars, an afterlife, religion, etc.) that are on the rise, this tool kit should be implemented by anyone who wants to help others see the light of reason rather than the darkness and ignorance that seems to loom in the minds of so many.

  Sagan is practically prophetic with regard to the recent case of the Heaven's Gate cult.

  Go find this book, and read it so you too can enjoy a life "obsessed with reality".

  Sagan's book ends with this reminder:

  "If we can't think for ourselves, if we're unwilling to question authority, then we're just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness"
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  HappyHeathen

  Nicolau,

  Thanks for your post. This books seems like fascinating reading, and I'll look for it on Amazon as soon as the ol' book budget allows. Carl Sagan is one of the great intellects of our time.

  Faith
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  funkyderek

  nicolau,

  I agree completely. It's an excellent book, and should be read by everyone.

  When I become Emperor of the world, it'll be required reading!
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  jst2laws

  Hello nicolaou,

  Good to hear from you. I actually picked this book up and reviewed it at the library about a week ago. It looked real good but I already had five books under my arm.

  I will keep it high on my list since you recommended it.

  Jst2laws
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  SixofNine

  Nicolaou,

  I agree totally. In fact, I wish it was bound with every copy of CofC, lol.

  Thanks for reminding me that while I may be a freak for it, I should stand proud for being "obsessed with reality". It's a great way to live.
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  nicolaou

  For Jeff . . .
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  Frank.L

  I read the book a few yrs ago.....it was the first time I read that 'More ppl had been killed in the name of God than in the name of Satan'...it was quite an astonishing an intresting read...but I think you paint a harsh picture of Sagans UFO views. It wasnt a total balony write-off for him. In 1966 his views were quite different.....He kept an open mind about the subject(an interview i heard on Coast to Coast radio) and dismissed obvious hoaxes....but toyed with interstellar travel......From Wikipedia:

  Sagan had some interest in UFO reports from at least 1964, when he had several conversations on the subject with Jacques Vallee.[21] Though quite skeptical of any extraordinary answer to the UFO question, Sagan thought that science should study the phenomenon, at least because there was widespread public interest in UFO reports.
  
  Stuart Appelle notes that Sagan "wrote frequently on what he perceived as the logical and empirical fallacies regarding UFOs and the abduction experience. Sagan rejected an extraterrestrial explanation for the phenomenon but felt there were both empirical and pedagogical benefits for examining UFO reports and that the subject was, therefore, a legitimate topic of study."[22]
  
  In 1966, Sagan was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project Blue Book. The committee concluded that the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book had been lacking as a scientific study, and recommended a university-based project to give the UFO phenomenon closer scientific scrutiny. The Condon Committee (1966-1968), led by physicist Edward Condon, and their still-controversial final report, formally concluded that there was nothing anomalous about UFO reports.
  
  Ron Westrum writes that "The high point of Sagan's treatment of the UFO question was the AAAS's symposium in 1969. A wide range of educated opinions on the subject were offered by participants, including not only proponents as James McDonald and J. Allen Hynek but also skeptics like astronomers William Hartmann and Donald Menzel. The roster of speakers was balanced, and it is to Sagan's credit that this event was presented in spite of pressure from Edward Condon".[21] With physicist Thornton Page, Sagan edited the lectures and discussions given at the symposium; these were published in 1972 as UFO's: A Scientific Debate. Jerome Clark writes that Sagan's perspective on UFO's irked Condon: "... though a skeptic, [Sagan] was too soft on UFOs for Condon's taste. In 1971, he considered blackballing Sagan from the prestigious Cosmos Club".[23]
  
  Some of Sagan's many books examine UFOs (as did one episode of Cosmos) and he recognized a religious undercurrent to the phenomenon. However, Westrum writes that "Sagan spent very little time researching UFOs ... he thought that little evidence existed to show that the UFO phenomenon represented alien spacecraft and that the motivation for interpreting UFO observations as spacecraft was emotional".[21]
  
  It is sometimes noted that Sagan's generally skeptical attitude to UFOs conflicted sharply with his views in a 1966 book he wrote with Russian astronomer and astrophysicist I.S. Shklovskii, Intelligent Life in the Universe. Here Sagan instead argued that technologically advanced alien civilizations were common and he considered it very probable that Earth had been visited many times in the past. Yet only a few years later in UFO's: A Scientific Debate, Sagan was now highly skeptical of interstellar visitation. As to the physical possibility of interstellar travel, Sagan brought up the proposed Bussard ramjet as an interstellar vehicle. While not terribly practical, Sagan thought such proposed propulsion systems were nevertheless important because they demonstrated that there were conceivable ways of accomplishing interstellar travel "without bumping into fundamental physical constraints. And this suggests that it is premature to say that interstellar space flight is out of the question." But to this Sagan added, "I believe the numbers work out in such a way that UFO's as interstellar vehicles is extremely unlikely, but I think it is an equally bad mistake to say that interstellar space flight is impossible."
  
  Sagan again revealed his views on interstellar travel in his 1980 Cosmos series. He rejected the idea that UFOs are visiting Earth, maintaining that the chances any alien spacecraft would visit the Earth are vanishingly small. However, in another episode he said the stars would "beckon" to humanity, and described the Bussard ramjet as one way humans might achieve interstellar travel. In one of his last written works, Sagan again claimed that there was no evidence that aliens have actually visited the Earth, either in the past or present (Sagan, 1996: 81-96, 99-104).