Remembering Carl Sagan on the anniversary of his death

[Maxmars]

The year was 1996, on December 20th when we were told of the death of Carl Sagan, astrobiologist and astronomer of world renown.

He supported the 'search' for extraterrestrial intelligence.  He was a best-selling author, receiving the Pulitzer prize for "The Dragons of Eden."

I would rather appreciate his countless contributions, and regrettable abuse by establishment authorities trying to curtail his public works...

Many of you will know his story, and what he offered the world as knowledge... I will leave it to you all to bring up those things which speak to you about his life.
 

[quintessentone]

I've always had a place in my heart for his philosophical approach found in his many quotes, especially pointing out the truth that we have only one home and that we should take care of it and each other.
 

"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."

https://www.newsweek.com/arl-sagan-quote...rs-1661545

[Karl12]

Lots to be said in other fields about Carl but reckon this is the most 'human-centric' thing he ever said (very apt).

• "Imagine a room awash in gasoline. And there are two implacable enemies in that room. One of them has 9,000 matches. The other has 7,000 matches. Each of them is concerned about who's ahead, who's stronger. Well, that's the kind of situation we are actually in."

Carl Sagan, ABC News Viewpoint, "The Day After," November 20th, 1983.

I know it's Christmas but there's also this rather mind-blowing video which in some way is quite positive.

Are there any serious, rational men left lol?

[theshadowknows]

Taken on February 14, 1990, by the Voyager 1 space probe from an unprecedented distance of

approximately 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles, 40.5 AU)

 

From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. 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

[sahgwa]

Billions and billions.

Super smart, and showed us what a true thinker and scientist is.

Not one to belittle others, or use Science like a stupid club of a religion, like so many today, but a scientist who celebrated NOT KNOWING and DISCOVERY, not dogmatism.