 “We've arranged a society based on #science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science and technology. This combustible mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces.” - Carl Sagan, in his last interview to Charlie Rose https://charlierose.com/videos/9094 38 comments
@Sheril "The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir." How I miss Carl. How. 📷 Evelyn Hofer @Sheril Honestly, you could substitute #democracy for "science and technology" and the statement would be equally true  @Sheril very true. Most people faithfully believe in electrons with no better evidence than once supported their belief in angels. @Sheril Millions dead from a virus, 50 years of largely unabated climate change - his analysis was prescient.  @Sheril At a local laundromat, a lady and I were chatting about the volcano that might erupt soon on the big island of Hawai'i. Another lady interruped, "Like that Mt St Helens!" I explained that was a different type of volcano but she expressed skepticism so I suggested Wikipedia. She replied geologists are a bunch of liars because she's from Alaska and the USGS are the bad guys. So nobody should ever use Wikipedia to look up types of volcanoes. She was very agitated.  Slow the orbital decay: Find "device" command line interface. If device doesn't include a command line interface, it's an example of what being taught down looks like. Consider rejecting the device and finding another implementation more friendly to intelligence. Being trained into ignorance is not fate, more a matter of loss of situational awareness. @Sheril Favorite Sagan quote (use on UFO believers): "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" @Sheril The most compelling and concerning part of that quote was that he said so, decades ago! Perhaps we’ve been on the slide for longer than most can even remember, our care to. #carlsagan #science @Sheril Thankfully, many teachers in the #MakerEd movement have been pushing back against those dynamics for years now. #EduTooter @Sheril Carl was a gift whom very few Americans apparently even know about! Not sure how the hell that happens? The Pale Blue Dot was the 8th large book I read as a preteen. I still flip through it for inspiration to this day. (Yes, I still have those heavy things called books that collect dust.)  @Sheril his book "The Demon-Haunted World" goes into detail on his concerns about this subject, and his hopes that we would overcome our ignorance. It's a great book - one of my favorites - but I do think he'd be saddened to see the current state of affairs in the US with regards to understanding basic science and reasoning. @Sheril Thank you for sharing this. It made me watch the video, then read Sagan‘s Wikipedia page, from there on to some awe inspiring Voyager photos and finally to this beautiful Planetary Radio podcast episode with his partner: https://overcast.fm/+vWjKW0pgg |
Gregory's Server
@Sheril His “Demon-Haunted World” should be required reading for every lawmaker, CEO, college freshman, et al.