Astronomer Carl Sagan, best known as the creator and host of the original Cosmos television series, was a consummate science communicator. Sagan, who is also a prolific writer, wrote the book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark in 1995. The book examines a wide range of topics, including spirituality and debunking extraterrestrial abductions, but ultimately serves as a passionate defense of science and the scientific process.
A passage from the book describes an America surprisingly comparable to its current state. Despite Sagan's tendency to exude optimism, this statement paints a picture of a society increasingly divided, dispersed, and distrustful of authority, with a widening gap between the rich and the rest of society.
The legendary Carl Sagan wrote:
“Science is a way of thinking, not just a set of knowledge.
I fear the America of my children's or grandchildren's time will be dominated by service and information industries;
When almost all major manufacturing sectors fled to neighboring countries;
When a small number of people have incredible technological ability and no one speaking on behalf of the general population can understand the problems;
When the people can no longer set their own goals or intelligently challenge those in positions of power;
When our critical faculties weaken and we cannot distinguish between what feels good and what is true, we fall back into superstition and darkness, almost without realizing it, as we frantically clutch our crystals and study our horoscopes.
It is noteworthy that in the chapter in which this quote appears, Carl Sagan includes a number of contemporary American cultural phenomena, including the Beavis and Butthead series and the film Dumb and Dumber. These were used by him as examples of the “dumbing down” of America. If he were alive now, he could only speculate about how he would revise his assessment of America's future.
Source: science astronomy
📩 13/09/2023 09:45