It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas … If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you … On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish the useful ideas from the worthless ones. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2022 | You Ought To Be Having Fun |
2021 | Democrats Talking To Republicans |
Talkin’ To Myself And Feelin’ Old | |
2020 | You Are Not Late (Yet) |
2019 | Too Difficult To Try |
2018 | Hold Fast |
2017 | The Only Real Security |
2016 | Time Said |
2015 | If Only Common Sense Were More Common |
2014 | PTI |
2013 | What Now, Then? |
2012 | Big C, Little B |
Duty, Honor, Country | |
Posts Tagged ‘Carl Sagan’
An Exquisite Balance
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Balance, Carl Sagan, Gullible, Hypotheses, Ideas, Philosophy, Quotes, Skepticism on January 11, 2023| Leave a Comment »
No Implication Of Reasonableness
Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged American Politics, Carl Sagan, Human Nature, Philosophy, Pseudo-Science, Quotes, Science and Learning, Scientists on December 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Very few scientists actually plunge into the murky waters of testing or challenging borderline or pseudo-scientific beliefs. The chance of finding out something really interesting — except about human nature — seems small, and the amount of time required seems large. I believe that scientists should spend more time in discussing these issues, but the fact that a given contention lacks vigorous scientific opposition in no way implies that scientists think it is reasonable. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Let Yourself Soar In 2022 |
Where You’re Concerned | |
2020 | The Most Dynamic Link |
Looking Forward To 2021 | |
2019 | A Proud Assertion |
2018 | Ask #45 About Anything |
2017 | Playing Makes Sense |
2016 | And Fathers, Sons |
2015 | My Suspect Confidence |
2014 | Disguised Blessings |
2013 | Be |
2012 | The Only Way to Win |
2011 | Honest Writing |
Only Through Love
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Carl Sagan, Love, Philosophy, Quotes, Small Creatures, Vastness on December 21, 2022| Leave a Comment »
For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Being Constantly Great |
Hopeful Realization | |
2020 | Sapping Joy |
Blew Out My Flip-Flop | |
Really Wheelie | |
2019 | Word Up |
2018 | But Much Is Worth Learning |
2017 | Mr. President, About Global Warming |
2016 | Starting To Stumble |
2015 | Begin Combat |
I Am A Runner | |
2014 | Just Dig ‘N It, Why? |
2013 | Additions |
The Object Of Instruction | |
2012 | Telling Her |
2011 | On Torture |
Closer And Closer Possibilities
Posted in Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Carl Sagan, Experiments, Philosophy, Preferences, Quotes, Science, Truth on November 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what’s true. We have a method, and that method helps us to reach not absolute truth, only asymptotic approaches to the truth — never there, just closer and closer, always finding vast new oceans of undiscovered possibilities. Cleverly designed experiments are the key. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Fighting New Guitar Fever |
Bad Trades In The Tunnel | |
2020 | Give And Gain |
Can We Talk For A Second | |
Almost Ready To Take A Breath | |
2019 | Transfiguration |
2018 | 2018 Mid-Terms |
Praying For A Blue Tsunami Election | |
2017 | Islam Is Not The Enemy |
2016 | A Checkered Past, A Checkered Future |
2015 | Preferences |
2014 | Have You Taken The Pledge? |
2013 | Nurture Tolerance |
2012 | Election Day – Please Hear What I’m Not Saying |
2011 | Mostly Strange, Always Blue |
What Is It You Want? | |
2010 | MSNBC, Bring Back Keith !!! |
Value.. | |
Worse Still… | |
Afraid So… | |
Making It | |
Don’t Jump Small | |
Time | |
Push!! | |
I’m Still Here… (A Message To Keith Olbermann) | |
Choose | |
Not Yet… | |
Mean Too | |
Still Building (and Planning) | |
Hangin’ High | |
Always… | |
A Way Of Thinking, An Essential Tool
Posted in Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged A Way Of Thinking, Carl Sagan, Democracy, Facts, Hypotheses, Knowledge, New Ideas, Philosophy, Preconceptions, Quotes, Science, Scientists, Skeptical Scrutiny, Wisdom on November 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Science is much more than a body of knowledge. It is a way of thinking. This is central to its success. Science invites us to let the facts in, even when they don’t conform to our preconceptions. It counsels us to carry alternative hypotheses in our heads and see which ones best match the facts. It urges on us a fine balance between no-holds-barred openness to new ideas, however heretical, and the most rigorous skeptical scrutiny of everything — new ideas and established wisdom. We need wide appreciation of this kind of thinking. It works. It’s an essential tool for a democracy in an age of change. Our task is not just to train more scientists but also to deepen public understanding of science. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Experience A Simple Whatever |
A Thousand Kisses | |
2020 | Talking Politics With Trump Republicans |
In Another Lifetime | |
2019 | People Will Come |
Change Is Here… | |
2018 | Be My Hero – Vote Tomorrow! |
He Was All Of Us… | |
2017 | Black And White |
Advice For #DumbDonald | |
2016 | Mirror, Mirror |
2015 | Speaking With Forked Tongue |
2014 | The Code |
2013 | Eventually Formed |
2012 | Remember To Vote Tomorrow |
2011 | It Sounds Like Chaos Theory To Me |
In The Beginning…
Posted in Humor, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Apple Pie, Carl Sagan, Creation, Humor, Philosophy, Quotes, Science, The Universe on November 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Are We Talking About Health Insurance / Oil Companies, Facebook Or Faux News? |
When MTV Was Young (And Fun) | |
2020 | Resting |
A New Day Just Means We Continue The Struggle (With A Smile) | |
2019 | One For Two |
Why Trump Insults Pelosi and Schiff | |
2018 | The Worst |
2017 | #DonTheCon In The Oval Office |
2016 | Are You Like #AmnestyDon And Sarah Palin? |
2015 | Begin Today |
2014 | Look Again (At Life’s Illusions) |
2013 | None Knows |
2012 | Yet |
2011 | No End In Sight |
2010 | Back At It… |
Just Waiting
Posted in Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Carl Sagan, Discovery, Education, Knowledge, Philosophy, Quotes, Science, Waiting on September 21, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | I’ll Keep Trying To Anyway |
She Knows | |
2020 | Respond |
Still Trying To Adjust | |
2019 | The Limits Of My Knowledge |
2018 | Even Tiny Progress |
2017 | Real Conservatism |
2016 | The Business Of Life |
2015 | Alone Again, Naturally |
2014 | Agreed |
2013 | Smile From Your Heart! |
2012 | Like You |
2011 | Got Days? |
2010 | K9 Humor – Has Anyone Seen My Setter? (Must read!!) |
A Longer Blog Than You Want To Read (Probably) | |
2009 | Back and Forth and Round Again… |
Preparation
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Carl Sagan, Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science, Thesis on July 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »
If you take a look at science in its everyday function, of course you find that scientists run the gamut of human emotions and personalities and character and so on. But there’s one thing that is really striking to the outsider, and that is the gauntlet of criticism that is considered acceptable or even desirable. The poor graduate student at his or her Ph.D. oral exam is subjected to a withering crossfire of questions that sometimes seem hostile or contemptuous; this from the professors who have the candidate’s future in their grasp. The students naturally are nervous; who wouldn’t be? True, they’ve prepared for it for years. But they understand that at that critical moment they really have to be able to answer questions. So in preparing to defend their theses, they must anticipate questions; they have to think, “Where in my thesis is there a weakness that someone else might find — because I sure better find it before they do, because if they find it and I’m not prepared, I’m in deep trouble.” | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | No Profit Without Risk |
And One For Me | |
2020 | He’s Forgotten About Drugs And Rock ‘N Roll |
2019 | I Still Walk Daily |
A Windy Monday | |
2018 | No Religious Test, Yes Religious Ban |
2017 | Looking At #DumbDonald |
2016 | No Great Thing |
2015 | Happy Memory |
Of Two Minds | |
2014 | Sums |
2013 | Memories & Binging |
Admiration Due | |
2012 | Choices Matter |
2011 | Acceptance Is The Key |
2010 | Just A Permanent Crease… |
Bodily Functions | |
Tinges…
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Animals, Behaviour, Carl Sagan, Eating Flesh, Feeling Pain, Philosophy, Quotes, Suffering on July 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Humans — who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals — have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain. A sharp distinction between humans and ‘animals’ is essential if we are to bend them to our will, make them work for us, wear them, eat them — without any disquieting tinges of guilt or regret. It is unseemly of us, who often behave so unfeelingly toward other animals, to contend that only humans can suffer. The behavior of other animals renders such pretensions specious. They are just too much like us. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | The Truth Shall Keep Us Free |
Let Your Hair Down | |
2020 | But What About Tomorrow’s Blog Post? |
2019 | Don’t Forget Obstruction Of Justice |
An Honest, Unvarnished Assessment | |
2018 | #45 And The Republicans Are Pretending (So Far) |
2017 | Made |
2016 | Halves |
Accepted Fraud | |
2015 | Even The Little Ones |
2014 | Who’s On First? |
2013 | No Equal Measure |
2012 | A Single Host |
2011 | No Exemptions |
2010 | Memories Of KSA – Inside The Fire |
We Need Both
Posted in Economics, Environment, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Carl Sagan, Imagination, Philosophy, Quotes, Skepticism, Truth on June 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »
We wish to pursue the truth no matter where it leads. But to find the truth, we need imagination and skepticism both. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Broaden The Circle |
The Phone Keeps Ringing | |
2020 | Stay Gentle |
2019 | Immoral #45 |
2018 | From My Soapbox |
2017 | The Single Most Effective Thing For Health |
2016 | A Trumpet Solo |
2015 | Potential Is A Heavy Burden |
2014 | Fear Not, Weep Not |
2013 | Half Way There |
2012 | Sacrificed Any Lately? |
2011 | The Value Of One’s Character |
2010 | Intervals |
On Being Human | |
Non-predictive Emergence | |
Events | |
Bodily Functions | |
Standing Thoughts | |
Sent Home Is Better Than Fixed | |
Sort Of
Posted in Education, Health, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Carl Sagan, Food, Growth, Health, Learning, Nutritional Triage, Philosophy, Quotes, Stupidity, Survival on June 27, 2022| Leave a Comment »
When there isn’t enough food, the body has to make a decision on how to invest the limited foodstuff available to it. Survival comes first, growth comes second. And in this kind of nutritional triage, the body seems obliged to rank learning, last. It sort of it’s better to be stupid and alive, than smart and dead. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Life Finds A Way |
In The Palm Of My Hand | |
2020 | I’m Not Worried |
2019 | Forgiving The Chasm |
2018 | A Sure Sign Of Age |
Before The Fall – Cheat | |
2017 | Distant Goal |
2016 | More Lives |
2015 | Go Shopping More |
2014 | Say What? |
2013 | Accepting Beauty |
2012 | Transitional Choice To Ride The Wave |
2011 | Freedom Isn’t Always Perfect |
Just That Simple | |
This Dot – Our Home
Posted in Environment, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Carl Sagan, Earth, Environment, Philosophy, Planet, Quotes, Science on April 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar”, every “supreme leader”, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. | |
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. | |
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. | |
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. | |
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | The Imposition Of Position |
Rainin’ Fire In The Sky | |
2020 | Stand Up! |
Crowd Sourced Scouting Report | |
2019 | Only One Direction |
2018 | Respect Is Long Gone |
2017 | Dream Of Dreamers |
2016 | Dear Automakers |
2015 | And Some Not So Brave Too |
2014 | In My Lifetime… |
2013 | Democracy |
2012 | Borrowed Expectations |
2011 | Not Necessarily True |
Or Less Perceptive
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Carl Sagan, Dust, Earth, Human Beings, Perception, Philosophy, Planets, Quotes, Sand, Solar System, Space, Stars on April 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Even these stars, which seem so numerous, are as sand, as dust – or less than dust – in the enormity of the space in which there is nothing. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
No other planet in the solar system is a suitable home for human beings; it’s this world or nothing. That’s a very powerful perception. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | We Need Professional Journalists AND The First Amendment |
It Was Rainin’ Hard | |
2020 | Neither Alone, Nor Lonely |
Giving | |
2019 | That’s Why It’s Called Faith |
2018 | So We Agree, #45 Is Dumb – Too |
2017 | The Morality Of Spying |
2016 | He Doesn’t Remind Me Of Me |
The First Rule | |
2015 | Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow |
The Man Without Fear | |
2014 | I Blame Robocop |
2013 | Future Trustees |
2012 | Praise Not The Day… |
2011 | Educated Living |
Working Out
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Brains, Carl Sagan, Joy, Muscles, Philosophy, Quotes, Understanding on April 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Fortes Fortuna Juvat* |
Layin’ In Bed | |
2020 | For Sale |
2019 | Letting Go |
2018 | Trying To Give More |
2017 | The Reproductive Value Of A Presidential Election |
2016 | For Me It’s Been Faith |
2015 | Where Many Paths And Errands Meet |
2014 | Rimmed Out |
2013 | Likeness |
2012 | Sums It Up Quite Well, Actually |
2011 | Momentary Abandonment |
A Little Perspective
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Carl Sagan, Earth, Galaxies, Humanity, Philosophy, Quotes, Science, Stars on February 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2022 | A Little Perspective |
2021 | Put ‘Er There |
Are You Goin’ On Again? | |
2020 | And In The Back |
2019 | Sunlight Stream |
2018 | Wars Without Taxes |
2017 | Multiplication And Division |
2016 | I Went To The Woods… |
2015 | I’ve Got To Run |
2014 | Which Is It? |
2013 | Making You Stronger |
2012 | Sick Of Being Sick |
Greater Than Power | |
2011 | Clear, Specific And Measurable |
2010 | The Runner’s High |
Into The Dark… | |