My favorite quote by Carl Sagan. 😀

My favorite quote by Carl Sagan. I took this quote from Carl Sagan's TV show "Cosmos", Episode 11, "The Persistence of Memory".

Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 -- December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He spent most of his career as a professor of astronomy at Cornell University where he directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books. He advocated scientifically skeptical inquiry and the scientific method, pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

Quotes:

Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and courage. But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us -- and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along. [Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection]

You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe. [Dr. Arroway in Carl Sagan's Contact (New York: Pocket Books, 1985]

A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism. [Carl Sagan, Contact, pg 244]

The major religions on the Earth contradict each other left and right. You can't all be correct. And what if all of you are wrong? It's a possibility, you know. You must care about the truth, right? Well, the way to winnow through all the differing contentions is to be skeptical. I'm not any more skeptical about your religious beliefs than I am about every new scientific idea I hear about. But in my line of work, they're called hypotheses, not inspiration and not revelation. [Dr. Arroway in Carl Sagan's Contact (New York: Pocket Books, 1985), p. 162. ]

You see, the religious people -- most of them -- really think this planet is an experiment. That's what their beliefs come down to. Some god or other is always fixing and poking, messing around with tradesmen's wives, giving tablets on mountains, commanding you to mutilate your children, telling people what words they can say and what words they can't say, making people feel guilty about enjoying themselves, and like that. Why can't the gods leave well enough alone? All this intervention speaks of incompetence. If God didn't want Lot's wife to look back, why didn't he make her obedient, so she'd do what her husband told her? Or if he hadn't made Lot such a shithead, maybe she would've listened to him more. If God is omnipotent and omniscient, why didn't he start the universe out in the first place so it would come out the way he wants? Why's he constantly repairing and complaining? No, there's one thing the Bible makes clear: The biblical God is a sloppy manufacturer. He's not good at design, he's not good at execution. He'd be out of business if there was any competition. [Sol Hadden in Carl Sagan's Contact (New York: Pocket Books, 1985), p. 285.]

On atheism, Sagan commented in 1981:

An atheist is someone who is certain that God does not exist, someone who has compelling evidence against the existence of God. I know of no such compelling evidence. Because God can be relegated to remote times and places and to ultimate causes, we would have to know a great deal more about the universe than we do now to be sure that no such God exists. To be certain of the existence of God and to be certain of the nonexistence of God seem to me to be the confident extremes in a subject so riddled with doubt and uncertainty as to inspire very little confidence indeed.[50]

Sagan also commented on Christianity, stating "My long-time view about Christianity is that it represents an amalgam of two seemingly immiscible parts, the religion of Jesus and the religion of Paul. Thomas Jefferson attempted to excise the Pauline parts of the New Testament. There wasn't much left when he was done, but it was an inspiring document."

In reply to a question in 1996 about his religious beliefs, Sagan answered, "I'm agnostic". Sagan's views on religion have been interpreted as a form of pantheism comparable to Einstein's belief in Spinoza's God. Sagan maintained that the idea of a creator of the universe was difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could challenge it would be an infinitely old universe

[Mattspace]

"WOOP, OOAH. WOOP, OOAH, OOAH."
-Carl Sagan

[camwrenholman]

Try it with me now...


-Off the Air

[ploppysonofploppy]

Makes more sense in 30 seconds than Trump has in 70 years.

[liamailiam]

"WOOOP, OAAAH" - Carl Sagan

[MadScientist]

The best quote ever! The next time anyone cites nonsense from their religious book, I'll highly recommend this video.

[iamessence]

Life is just a dream world of endless possibilities.

[MadScientist]

Do come back when our scientific instruments can easily spot your god.

[MadScientist]

The quote reminds me of Russell's Teapot. Joel Achenbach should have cited its source. We can't prove that Carl Sagan didn't say so. Who knows, maybe Joel Achenbach and Carl Sagan went on a long walk deep in the woods, and when it was getting dark, Carl Sagan whispered it in his ear.

[sarabellumm]

All I did was quote Sagan, if you disagree with his statement, blame him. I don't know of any situations that denying Invisible Pink Unicorns or the Flying Spaghetti Monster would be stupid.


P.S. The one miracle that the FSM did perform is it taught me how to spell Spaghetti. I never could before I heard of him.

[ogjuanshinobi]

*when King Dedede does Down B in Smash Bros*

[MadScientist]

Agreed! So, can you prove that the Invisible Pink Unicorn or the Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn't exist? By some definitions, denying their existence is very stupid, in the same way as 'atheism is very stupid.' You have to know a lot more than I know to deny their existence.

[sarabellumm]

"The believes of sarabellum and the believes of other Christians are based on archaic and irrational superstition."

I would say, for me, it is based on modern physics and what we are learning about our universe through science.

[Woopnik]

Your comment was marked Spam. I unmarked it. Even an opinion I do not like should have the opportunity to be heard.

[sarabellumm]

"An atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An atheist is someone who knows there is no god. By some definitions atheism is very stupid."
--Carl Sagan

As quoted in "A tribute to Carl Sagan: A Sagan File" by Joel Achenbach in Skeptic Magazine, Vol 13, No. 1 (2006)

[sarabellumm]

I know of Russell's teapot idea. Of course he is obviously wrong. We can easily prove that no teapot is orbiting our Sun. As long as the Teapot masses at least three times the size of Jupiter, our scientific instruments could easily spot it anywhere within range of orbiting the Sun. For smaller Teapots we just need the sensitivity of our instruments to catch up with the size of the particular teapot. I have no doubt in a century we would be able to identify even micron sized teapots.

[Woopnik]

I don't think that you can attribute this quote to Sagan. I researched this quote on the Internet and I found nothing but people quoting people quoting people quoting people. None of these people ever gives a citation, except for the last person who quoted it. So where did Sagan actually say this? I am very much disinclined to believe he ever actually did say that. It’s beginning to look like a rootless meme. And when you JUST quote it, what is your point?

[MadScientist]

Thanks. See you after the final judgement.

[Woopnik]

I wish we had a world without religions. A world of reason and common sense. A world where no one can tell anyone else what to do or think just because some book written by an unknown author thousands of years prior says so.

Wake up people, and smell the bullshit.

[sarabellumm]

As for Epicurus riddle, the obvious defect was pointed out centuries ago. In the line: "Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent." That simply doesn't follow. God could have higher reasons for not preventing evil at any particular moment. He knows what the results would be. Not to mention that in Christian theology, God does defeat evil, permanently and for all time in a final judgment.

[Woopnik]

You never told me what your point is when you "JUST" quote this rootless meme. You just like to quote something, attribute it to somebody and see what the reaction of other people is?